When we came back to the pack, there were people buzzing all around the area. Most people were in their skin, but there was some wolves sparring with each other in their fur. It was fascinating to see how this pack worked in comparison to mine.
Henry shifted back into his skin and I avoided my eyes from his naked body as he reached into the trunk of a tree and pulled out clothes. He pulled on a pair of shorts and then tossed clothes to the two males and handed me a shirt. I took it and rushed behind a bush to shift back and pull on the shirt.
I wasn't comfortable with anyone seeing me naked. I knew that most wolves didn't even care, but I did. I cared too much.
I slipped the oversized shirt over my head and then came out the bushes. I walked hesitantly over to where Henry was now standing with a group of other wolves. I noticed that Kade was walking away to the sparring rings.
Alfie approached me as Henry was rushed away. I assumed that he had Alpha business to attend to. I wasn't bothered by his absence. There was something about him that put my beast on edge. Maybe I wasn't used to being around another Alpha.
"You kept up well on that run, Alison. Quite impressive. Newbies usually struggle on those hills," Alfie told me. I beamed at him. My beast swirled with pride. We were glad that were were getting the recognition we deserved.
"There are some trails back home with a few hills. They were somewhat familiar," I told Alfie, who smiled and nodded at me. He chuckled a little and he crossed his arms.
"I think my son enjoyed you coming. He always says that I force him to be serious all the time. It was good to see him be a little playful," Alfie added. He cocked his head in the direction of the sparring rings, motioning for me to follow him.
Alfie began to lead me in the direction that Kade had walked off in. As we walked, I realised that I really did like Alfie. He was a good wolf and I could tell just by the way he spoke. My beast felt comforted by him and I liked the feeling. It didn't like being intimidated by other males.
"So, the training program for you is quite simple. You're not pack, so you won't train with the other pack wolves. You'll mostly train with Kade, and the other kids from your pack," Alfie explained to me briefly. I nodded at him.
I understood that. I knew that if I wanted to spar with anyone from this pack, I would have to join the pack itself. It was the rules and I wasn't about to try argue with them.
"But, currently, Henry's Beta is out on business. He took a few pack members with him and there's two that you'll definitely spar with when they return. They're just a couple of cocky males, I'm sure you'll be fine with them," Alfie told me, making me feel a little confident.
I wasn't sure if Alfie was telling me that I would show up fine with the boys because he believed it. I knew that I was a strong wolf, and I knew that my blood hummed just like any other wolf. Well, I thought it did.
But I also knew that I wasn't as strong as I could be. There had been so many setbacks in my life that my training was barely an option anymore. I was too caught up in other things to focus on my training.
But maybe being with Takiani for a month would help fix that?
"Okay, so over here are obviously all your sparring rings. We are really big on sparring here. Majority of the days you train, you'll spar with someone," Alfie explained to me. I nodded at him, knowingly smiling.
I wondered who I would spar with first. No one that came from my pack was an Alpha, and I was sure that none of them would want to spar with me. An Alpha against an omega was unfair.
"I want to see what you've got first. I'll call Kade over here," Alfie told me quickly. I nodded anxiously at him and my blood buzzed at the thought of my first spar only happening in a few moments. I stepped into the ring that Alfie stopped in front of and watched as Kade appeared.
He grinned at Alfie and I. He ran a hand through his brown hair and stepped into the ring. I gulped nervously. I hadn't sparred with anyone in a while.
I wondered how good I'd be. Would Kade kick my ass or would he be an easy challenge?
I knew that I wouldn't win this fight. I hadn't been keeping up with my training back home and I knew that beating a wolf who trained every day would be hard.
"No claws or fangs until I say," Alfie said from outside the ring. Kade and I both nodded and we began to circle each other.
I stalked around the ring, eyeing Kade. I was nervous, but I knew that I had to push that aside. I had to show Alfie and Kade that I was more than a girl from Terialta. I had to show them that I was a damn Alpha female.
Kade lunged for me. He swung a fist at my face, and I ducked quickly. He missed me, and then quickly swung again. This time, he nailed me in the kidney. I found myself stumbling back.
He was strong. Kade was definitely strong.
I retaliated fast. I sent my elbow into his stomach and then nailed him hard in the jaw. But Kade wasn't fazed. He socked me in the sternum so hard that it almost took my breath away. My chest ached painfully.
I was too busy worrying about my throbbing sternum that I didn't duck in time to avoid a hard blow to the cheek by Kade's fist. I tasted blood almost immediately.
I growled at Kade and he just laughed. I didn't like his cockiness so I lunged for him. I hit him in the abdomen with my elbow and then uppercut him in the chin.
Kade looked shocked by my blows on him but he didn't let it distract him. He growled back at me, spitting blood. I had made him bleed.
Good.
My wolf yipped in approval as we heard Alfie speak from the sidelines. "Shift."
Kade was quicker than I was. He tore into his beast and lunged at me instantly. I only just managed to get out the way and I let my beast come forwards and out her little shell.
Kade slammed into me before I had a chance to move out the way. He took us to the ground and we yelped as his heavy weight pressed down on us.
We threw him off and we growled at him, a warning to not do that again. My beast and I did not like being sat on. We weren't a damn couch.
Kade snarled at us. I leaped at him. I jumped onto his back and clawed hard. He just easily threw me off. Kade jumped on me before I could get up. He clawed across my belly and then my back. I wanted to stop the fight, my wounds bleeding.
But I remembered that I needed to like the blood. I need to like letting the wounds bleed. It showed other wolves that I didn't care how injured I was.
I was a fighter and I wasn't going down so easily.
I snapped at Kade. I bit into his paw and I bit hard. Before I could feel my teeth touch the bone, he slammed me into the dirt, my mouth coming away from him.
Kade pinned me down. He bit my neck, clamping down hard. I sighed, realising that I had lost.
I thrust my neck towards him as best as I could and he got the message and stepped away from me. I felt my blood ooze and I tried hard to ignore it.
Kade shifted back into his skin. Yet again, I avoided my eyes as he was handed a pair of shorts. Then, he hold out a shirt to me with a small. I took it in my mouth and bounded away to change.
When I shifted back, I slipped the shirt over my head and sighed as my blood and sweat made the shirt stick to my skin. But I ignored it as I stepped out from the bush and walked over to where Kade and Alfie are still standing.
"You did good," Kade told me with a kind smile before he walked away to treat his injures. I couldn't help but grin in satisfaction.
I had done good.
Ezra sat me down at the dining table. I lifted my shirt up just enough so that he could see my wounds. He chuckled a little and shook his head."Alfie told me you did well today," Ezra told me as he opened the box of first aid. I nodded at him and yawned. I was exhausted and I needed food. The first day of training was hard, but I knew it was going to get harder. I had to toughen up."He made me spar with Kade. He was a good fighter. He bested me," I sighed as I felt a cotton pad touch my wounds. Ezra cleaned away the blood that was still sleeping from the gashes."Kade is the son of the Master of Arms. He has to be a good fighter," Ezra laughed at me. I smiled and rolled my eyes, sipping on my beer. Ezra continued to pat at the blood with the cotton pad, shifting around the first aid box."Don't worry about it, princess. Alfie told me that you had a lot of work to be done. These next four weeks are going to be absolute hell for you," Ezra laughed at me. I smiled but I nodded knowingl
"Morning, princess," Ezra greeted as I walked into the kitchen. I looked up at him and smiled as I yawned. I took his coffee mug from his hands and quickly sipped from the warm liquid. I handed his mug to him and pulled my hair behind my ears."Morning," I mumbled.My body was still sore from the day before. The gashes hadn't completely healed yet but they were fading quickly. I was happy that they were healing so fast."You going for a run this morning?" Ezra asked me, sipping on his coffee. I nodded at him and stretched. My back cracked and I smiled.Ezra didn't asked about what happened the night before and I was glad. I didn't need him trying to pry his way into my personal life. I wasn't ready to share that part of myself with anyone. I didn't think I ever would be.When the knock on the door came, I bounded towards it. I called goodbye to Ezra. I heard his light chuckles as I reached the door and pulled it open. I expected to see Kade and Alfie.Instead, I saw Lila and Brayleigh
Ezra stared at me as I sat with my head in my hands at the dinner table. He sipped slowly on his coffee and didn't take his eyes off of me.My mind whirled with so many different thoughts. Memories of my mother flashed through my mind like a slideshow. I felt the pain of losing her all over again.It'd been almost ten years, and I still wasn't over it. I couldn't help but miss her. I couldn't help but be bitter about her death. Alfie was right. It shouldn't have happened. But it did.My mind switched to my beast. She whined sadly in the back of my mind. She paced back and forward, her head down and her whines low and painful to listen to. She was upset. So damn upset.She knew what Alfie said was true. She knew it and so did I.Our fire was gone.Every wolf had a fire. Whether it was hot or not was the important part. I knew what Alfie meant when he spoke about my father.When anyone walked into a room with my father in it, they knew who was in control. Whenever I was in a room with h
The rest of the week I trained hard. I ran every day, either with Ezra, Alfie or Lila and Brayleigh. Each day, they pushed me harder and harder. I remember the morning after my run with Ezra that I collapsed to the ground. I had run with Alfie that morning. It was just him and I.Alfie was ruthless. He made us take a new track, one that extended all the way around Takiani. He told me it was the trail that the tracker wolves run, as it went along the borders of the pack. It was a long run, the longest one I'd ever been on.But I loved it.Alfie pushed me and pushed me. He wouldn't let me slow down and only let me get faster and faster. He raced me, purposely getting me angry to try and bring out my beast's fire. He said it worked, but he said it didn't work enough.After the run, I had to sit down. I was panting hard, my heart was beating so fast that I felt it in my throat. My arms and legs were tingling with energy.I felt different. I felt great. Something I hadn't felt in a while.
When I got back from my run, I felt better. I had run until my legs gave out, and then I hauled myself to the river and slid into the water. I washed away the sweat and blood and then found some clothes stashed away in a hollow tree. I slipped on the clothes and walked back to my cabin.Upon entering my cabin, I smelt the wolves that were sitting inside. As I pushed the door open, I already knew who I was.I walked into the dining room where everyone was sitting at the table. Lila got up the moment she saw me and rushed over to me. She embraced me in a tight hug and rubbed my cheek with hers.I calmed my beast only a little. But it was enough to keep me relaxed.Brayleigh and Kade sat next to each other at the table. Kade had his arm around her shoulders and had her close to him. I looked at them longingly before tearing my eyes away.I met eyes with Alfie and smiled weakly at him. Then I did the same with Ezra.They were all sat, drinking wine and beer with a large box of biscuits in
I woke up early the next morning. My sleep hadn't been peaceful, as the nightmares had come in the night. They shocked me awake and kept me up for most of the night. But I knew that nightmares weren't an excuse to not train the next morning.I dressed in tight leggings and a tank top. I didn't intend on shifting into my fur on the run. I still had healing wounds from the day before and I didn't want to risk hurting them more whilst I ran. I decided I would wait until I sparred later on."Morning, Ali. You still coming on the run this morning?" Lila greeted me. I smiled warmly as I slipped on my sneakers and tied the laces."Hey. I'm running but I won't shift. Still have some injuries that I don't want to make bleed," I told her. I heard her wolf yip in approval in my mind and I stood up. I made my way out my room and into the kitchen where Ezra was standing.He shot me a sincere look that made me feel better. I liked that he cared for me. I hadn't known him long but we already had a c
That night, there was a bonfire. It was someone's idea to start one and let whoever wanted to come join in on the fun of roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. There was music playing somewhere in the distance. An old Katy Perry song was playing and I could hear people humming along to the tune.I was sat on log, waiting for Ezra and the others to return with the things needed to make s'mores. They were taking ages and my belly was beginning to rumble.The night was chilly. The air was bitter and my toes were cold. But the fire helped with that. It kept away the unwanted bugs and brought warmth to the area. I watched the fire and focused on it dance.I grew more and more tired as I watched it. I knew that I wouldn't be staying awake much longer. It's been a long day."You missing home yet?" A voice asked me as a figure sat down beside me on the thick log. I looked over and realised it was a girl named Gale from my pack. I smiled at her and she returned the gesture."I guess... it's
The run back to the pack was agonising. My leg was bleeding badly and it throbbed painfully. Trying to run was ridiculous, but Kade and Alfie held me up as best as they could. They pushed me to run faster so we could get back to the pack doctor quicker."I could speed you back to the pack, Ali. It would take a few seconds," Ezra told me. I shook my head as Kade pushed me back up again.I was in pain. I was hurting so badly that I felt like I might pass out. But I knew that I couldn't give in and let Ezra take me back. I had to show everyone that I was capable of taking the hard route and getting back to the pack without Ezra's help."It's fine, Ezra. It doesn't hurt that bad anyway," I told him. I looked down at my leg, noticing that the bullet hadn't even gone through my leg. It had only grazed the skin, but it still hurt. It was still going to need medical attention.When we reached the pack, all eyes turned to us almost immediately. Henry and Melissa rushed off. I could feel Henry'