My Own Destiny

Training

The next morning I was nervous, I had not trained with the pack since I was ten. Natalia was forced to go to training as well and was not at all happy about it.

I dressed in black leggings, a sports bra and a loose fitting tank top. I had my hair in a ponytail which I then braided to keep out of my way. I applied only the slightest bit of make-up and rushed out so I wouldn’t be late.

Lucian was waiting at the end of the hallway near the stairs.

“Nervous?” He asked me with a smile.

“Why would I be nervous?” I asked sarcastically.

His face grew more serious, “My father plans to pair you with Natalia.”

I only nodded. I knew that Lucian's father knew Lucian had been training me but I was not sure just how much Lucian had told him.

The training Lucian provided me was intense. I could probably kick the a** of most of the wolves here and even give my brother a run for his money, but I didn’t want everyone to know what I was capable of.

My anxiety picked up as we walked to the field. Most of the pack that trained were already there.

“Come up front with me.” Lucian said softly. Great, I would have preferred to hang back and not make it so obvious I was here.

My father was up front with our Gamma Lucus. Jacques and Jullian were off to the side. Natalia was up near the front blowing a big bubble, twirling her hair. She had on a pair of light pink designer sweatpants and a white t-shirt. She had left her hair down. I sighed as I watched her. She should have some training. I am not ever sure if my parents made her train until she was ten, like I did.

As we approached the group, I gave Natalia a nudge and handed her the extra hair tie I had around my wrist.

She gave me an odd look, “Trust me, put your hair up.”

She just shrugged and put her hair in a high pony.

I could see a number of pack members looking towards our visitors and whispering. We did not often have visitors from other packs.

“Welcome and good morning, Midnight Moon pack.” My father smiled as he glanced around the pack. “As I am sure many of you noticed, we have a couple of visitors with us today.”

Stepping closer to Jacques, “We have Alpha Jacques DePont and his son, soon to be Alpha Jullian DePont from the Crimson Moon Pack. They will be training with us today.”

My father turned it back over to Gamma Lucas, who used his outside voice to address everyone.

“Today we will finish up with what we learned this week. Lucian and I will give a brief demonstration for those that were not here this week, then we will break off into our usual groups and find a partner.”

Lucian and his father gave the demonstration, walking through the steps of defense and attack moves. They were similar to what Lucian and I had been working on, so I knew the moves well.

Once the demonstration was done, everyone started breaking off into groups.

“We have everyone in groups based on their skill. Within those groups, they pick a teammate, but we make them switch teammates randomly since everyone’s fighting style is different.”

Jacques shook his head in agreement.

“I figured the girls could pair up; Lucian can help guide them. Jullian, you can team up with Nate and Jacques. How would you like us to go a couple rounds?”

Jullian stepped up beside me, “I thought I could pair up with Aurora. It will help me see where she needs help.”

‘Ohhh, he can’t wait to put his hands on us.’ Mia sang out in my head. Mia and I had such mixed feelings about Jullian.

“Oh, okay.” Lucas said rubbing his chin with his fingers, “Nate, you take Natalia.”

Our Gamma, Lucas, gave me a quick look, searching my face, I gave a small nod in agreement that it was okay.

We all went to a designated section of the field to practice. I could see my brother and sister just off to my left, just over Jullian’s right shoulder. My sister looked awkward trying to do the moves. I felt bad. I should have tried harder to convince her to train with Lucian and I.

“You know these moves already?” Jullian asked, bringing my attention back to him.

“Yes.” I said softly, not wanting others to hear.

He made a grab for me, and I quickly maneuvered out of his reach. We did this a few times, but I knew Jullian was holding back, just testing me out.

I heard talking and turned my head, losing concentration.

Lucian had joined Nate and Natalia.

“Here, let me help.” Lucian said with his big grin, showing off his dimples.

First, he pulled his t-shirt up over his head, so he was now bare chested. I couldn’t help but let my eyes drag down the length of his body. He used his shirt to wipe sweat off his forehead, then threw it to the ground. After checking him out a little, I noticed my sister. Her face had a flushed look she had not had a few moments earlier. I saw her trying not to stare at his body, but she kept sneaking glances. It suddenly occurred to me; my sister had a thing for Lucian. Cr*p, that is why she acts so jealous of me all the time. Lucian has had a crush on me since puberty and she has a crush on him.

“Aurora.”

“Aurora!” I heard growled out, making me jump and look at Jullian.

He held his two fingers up pointing to his eyes. “Eyes on me babe.” I could see his jaw tight and his eyes flickering on the edge of anger.

“Pardon?” I asked, a little unsure what his problem was.

He stood straighter and took a couple quick steps towards me. “Keep your eyes from wondering. Its disrespectful.”

I know my mouth must have hung open, surprised by what he was saying and that he had the nerve to talk like that to me.

I glared at him, “I did nothing wrong.”

“You were ogling your lover boy over there.”

I put my hands on my hips, “First of all, I do not think I owe you an explanation, but I was not ogling anyone. I have just now realized, I think my sister has a crush on Lucian.”

Jullian narrowed his eyes at me, like he was trying to determine if I was being truthful.

“You aren’t very observant, are you? I noticed that within minutes yesterday. Your sister has a thing for your future Gamma, and he has the hots for you.”

I know I must have looked skeptical, “Really, you picked up on all of that?”

“Yes, now fight with me.”

His hand shot out towards me and I blocked it. He tried a few more times, faster each time, until I was not always able to block him.

One time he got me in the face, I knew he was holding back so he wouldn’t hit me at full force. I could feel a slight metallic taste in my mouth from the inside of my cheek.

I finally had enough and punched back. He was fast and was able to block every move I made, every punch and every kick. I was getting frustrated, he had gotten me a few times, once in the face and twice in the ribs.

This time when he moved to hit me, I didn’t block because he was being carless, leaving himself open every time he swung towards me.

When he connected, it hurt like hell. I know it was harder than he intended because he expected me to dodge. Right after he connected, I gave him a hard hook, then kicked him right in his middle, making him stumble back a few steps.

It only took him seconds to recover, while my vision was a bit blurry from the pain in my jaw.

He had his hand on his jaw, “Nice.” He said, then rushed towards me, catching me completely off guard.

On instinct, I turned and was in the process of running away from him. Unfortunately, I had hesitated a few seconds too long and he grabbed me from behind, wrapping his arms around me, just below my breast. My arms were trapped under his tight grasp as he lifted me off the ground.

On instinct, I began squirming as he placed his mouth near my ear.

“This is the easiest way to just pick a tiny little female like you up and take off with ya.” He whispered in my ear as I continued to struggle and grunt.

As he held me with my feet dangling off the ground, “Calm down.” He whispered. “Think, how would you get out of this? You can’t easily kick me in the balls, you can’t bite me, your arms are of no use. What do you do?”

I took a deep breath, calming my breathing and my mind. He was right. I needed to calm myself and think. The only thing I could think of doing was to pull my head forward and when I knew his face was right behind my head, I threw my head back.

When it connected, I could feel that I connected with his nose. I almost felt bad as I felt the hot fluid on my neck, but I had no time to waste. As he grunted “Ahh f**k!” I pulled my legs up high and swung them down quickly, making him lose his balance, falling forward. It did not have the desired effect as he went down forward, landing on top of me. Now it was my turn to grunt and he knocked the wind out of me.

As I was trying to get air back into my lungs, gasping, I could hear voices, yelling but could not make out the words.

I felt Jullian move off me, allowing me to finally take a shallow breath as I began to breathe again.

I could see Jullian hovering above me on all fours and could decipher Lucian and Alpha Jacques' voices as the loudest amongst the various chatter.

“What did you do to her!”

“Why is my son bleeding?”

“Call the Doctor, there’s a lot of blood!”

“Oh, my goddess what happened?”

I watched Jullian stand, he was wiggling his nose a little, the bleeding had stopped and was now drying on his chin and chest as he held the other hand out to me as an offering to help me stand.

I took it, a little afraid. I had broken his nose. Sure that didn’t mean a lot to someone like us. I mean our wolves would heal that pretty fast.

Once I was standing, we were rushed by Lucian, Jacques, Lucas, Nate and a few others. I could see my father at the end of the field stalking towards us.

Jullian held his hands up, “Its fine, there is nothing to be concerned over.” He touched his nose again.

Lucian mind linked me to ask what happened, so I explained to him exactly what happened.

“Maybe you too should sit the rest of training out.” Lucas addressed us with concern.

My father had just made it to us, “What happened?” His eyes were wide. I tilted my head slightly, watching my father’s facial expression and body language. He was afraid. I could see it and practically taste it in the air. My father was terrified of the DePonts.

I looked back at Jacques who was looking at Jullian. I could tell they were mind linking. Jullian was right, I hadn’t been very observant. That had to change.

Jullian stepped forward, “Just give us a couple minutes, we will continue to train with everyone else.”

Then Jullian looked my way, his gaze was heavy, “I put her in a tough position and told her to try and get out.” He looked like he was sizing me up.

“Damn, you are a feisty little thing.” A grin broke out on his face that slowly turned into a gruff laugh.

His father, Alph Jacques, gave a chuckle. “Ahhh our little future Luna is more than meets the eye. Jacques clasped his hand on my father's shoulder. “The kids are getting along just fine,. Let's talk while we observe training.”

My father's eyes moved through the group of us, then landed on me.

‘Is everything okay?’ My father mind linked me.

‘Yes, father, it is fine.’ Relief flooded his face and he smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes, he looked pale, like he might vomit at any moment.

“Let’s get some water.” Jullian said, bringing my attention back to him.

He grabbed two waters, handing one to me, he sat on one of the smaller bleachers that was in a shaded area, away from the others.

“I’m sorry about the nose.” I made a pained face, not knowing what to expect from him.

He shrugged it off, “This?” He pointed towards his face, “This is nothing. You should see when my Beta Roman and I spar.

I opened my water and drank, not sure what else to say.

“I’m glad to see you didn’t hold back. You purposely took a hit to make a move of your own.”

I shrugged, “Sometimes you just have to take a hit, but you were holding back. If you hadn’t been holding back I am not sure I would have risked it.”

“You have to be able to judge your opponent. Are they looking to knock you out, capture you or kill you? If they are looking to knock you out or capture you, they will not be using full force, but if they are looking to kill you, that move may not work.”

I couldn’t help giving a sly smile, “If someone were trying to kill me I would use claws.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You can partial shift? Most females can’t do that.” I felt like his eyes were looking into my soul, trying to see everything. “Show me.” He demanded in a low growl. I could feel his wolf close. It brought goose bumps along my skin. I wasn’t sure of his reaction, was he angry, did he not believe me?

I looked around in a panic, others did not know I could do this, only Lucian. “I…” I stuttered out, meeting his eyes again.

“I would rather not, not here with everyone around.” I said softly.

His eyes narrowed at me, “Why do you hide what you are? I can barely feel your wolf, which feels only average.”

‘Average!” Mia yelled in my head, ‘I’ll show him average!’

‘Calm down, you know I hide my strength from the others.’

I had an image of Mia rolling her eyes at me and pouting.

I was about to answer when my father and Jacques walked over to us, talking. They seemed to be getting along fine, my father's coloring had returned to its normal skin tone with a slight rosiness from the heat of the sun.

“Well, the two of you seem to be getting along quite well.” My father said joyfully.

Mia and I on the other hand were not sure. Jullian seemed to run hot and cold, one minute I thought we were making progress then the next he was back to being cold and distant.

“Yes, well, we should be getting back to training.” Jullian said, standing and holding his hand out for me to take.

I took his hand and let him lead me back to our training area.

We trained for the next couple hours, keeping it simple. Jullian showed me a few variations of some moves I already knew but kept it light until it was time for showers.