Sleeping With The Moon Goddess

What It Takes to be An Elite Alpha

Camille

We all make our way down into the training area and I head out onto the mat with Aiden and Damien following me.

“Baby girl, you know that we would never push you into something we knew you couldn’t handle right?”

“I know, I trust you both, and if you think I need this extra training to become better, that is what I will do.”

“I am so proud of you princess! I love you.” Aiden said as he brought his lips down to mine.

“I love you too,” I smiled up at him before bringing our lips together one more time.

“Baby girl, I need you to listen to me very carefully now. Beta Ian is one of the most skilled warriors that I have ever trained with. I promise you that he knows exactly what he is doing, and I need you to trust in him. Can you do that for me baby?”

I looked at Beta Ian and then back at Damien,

“If you trust him, then of course I do too.”

Beta Ian spoke, suddenly any light-heartedness was gone, and his words were more serious than I have ever known him to be.

“Alphas, are you sure that you wish to remain present during this training?”

“Yes” Aiden and Damien said together. They both went off of the mat and sat down on the floor.

“Very well then,” Beta Ian seemed like an entirely different person. He seemed cold.

“Alpha’s, do I have your permission to touch your mate and to do as I see fit for the sake of the training?”

“You have my permission.” Damien spoke through gritted teeth; he clearly wasn’t happy about the touching part.

“You have my permission as well,” Aiden followed.

“And do I have your word that you will not interfere until which time I call the training complete?”

Aiden and Damien glanced at each other, Aiden then spoke. “You have our word as Alpha’s.”

It was weird to hear him speak to his Alphas in such an authoritative tone.

Ian now looked at me, “Luna, today you are going to learn how to give away your pain; this training will be different than anything we have done before, it will be rigorous and push you past your limits. I will test your body and your mind. Do you give your consent for me to train you?”

“Yes” I said as confidently as I could manage.

“Then let’s begin.” Beta Ian called out.

Beta Ian walked up to me on the mat and took my left hand into his right. “My Luna, have you ever done battle?”

“No I haven’t.”

“Then today you are going to learn a very important lesson. I will push you harder than what I have pushed any previous elite warrior. I will also push your boundaries as a woman, for in battle there is no fairness. There is only pain and there is death.”

Still holding my small hand in his, he wrapped his other arm around my back and pulled me into him, holding me flush against his strong body, my head against his chest. He leaned down into my ear and in a soft whisper, “please forgive me Camille.”

What is he tal . . . “AHHHHH” I screamed into his chest as his hand squeezed down on mine, crushing my fingers and the bones in my hand.

“Ow, what the hell?!”

“Today you will learn how to suppress your pain. Giving into your pain and allowing it to control you during a fight will be a death sentence. It clouds your judgment.”

I looked at him confused at what had just happened. I glance over at my mates, both expressionless as they sit and watch.

“Now hit me!” Ian calls, bringing my attention back to him.

I tried to quickly process what was happening. I threw a punch with my right, and he blocked while immediately countering with a hook, forcing me to bring up my injured arm in an attempt to block, taking the brunt of his full strength.

I could feel the broken bones in my hand shift, shooting pain up my arm, causing me to cry out and drop my arm. Before I had time to fully register what was happening, he repeated his strike, and this time I took the full force of his punch into the side of my face.

Ouch! I could feel that he had cracked my cheek bone, I could feel where he split skin and warm blood began trickling down my cheek, my face felt like it was on fire. I could feel tears prickling my eyes, threatening to fall.

“Why didn’t you block me that time?” He asked very matter of fact, circling around me.

“Because my arm . . . . .”

I didn’t finish my sentence because there was no need to. I now understood what lesson he was trying to teach me. By dropping my hand and giving into the pain, I opened myself up, allowing him to hit me square in the face.

I remembered the first time I had watched Damien and Aiden spar together and the sheer brutality of it as they broke ribs and tore skin from one another, but neither did a single one of them falter as a result. If my mates could be that strong for their pack, well then damn if I couldn’t be strong for them now!

I held back my tears and set myself back up against Ian, he could tell that I had figured it out.

He quickly struck again to my left, forcing me to either block him or risk shattering my already broken cheek bone. I raised my arm up to block him as I struck him in the side of his ribs with my other arm simultaneously. The pain I felt in my arm sucked all the air from my lungs.

I closed my eyes for a second trying to focus on my breathing, but a second was all it took for Ian to land a powerful kick to the side of my ribs. The cracking of ribs echoed throughout the gym.

“You must stay focused.”

He went for a powerful kick on the other side of my ribs, but I was able to turn and dodge the kick, his foot just grazing my side. My breathing was jagged; It hurt to take air into my lungs. Every breath was like breathing in fire burning me from the inside.

“Quit thinking about the pain,” he landed a quick punch to my rib cage, shifting my broken ribs even further.

“Your cuts are already beginning to heal, your bruising will be gone by tonight, and your broken bones will have healed by tomorrow, but your body does not get that time to heal if you are dead.”

Damn it, everything hurt, but f**k he was right, the only thing left for me to do was surrender.

“How do I accept the pain?”

He smiled slightly for a second, “You must take all of your pain and take it deep within your mind, handing it completely over to your wolf. Let your wolf shoulder the pain for they are stronger. They will carry the pain just as they in turn will heal you from it.”

“Close your eyes. Now focus, separate yourself from the pain.”