From Beta to Luna

Chapter 11 — The Training Session

Raina

    My head was reeling with all the events that had transpired today. After Damien left to go back to his own room, the adrenaline of the sudden kiss and sudden wave of the most intense emotions I’d ever experience had worn off, and I found myself sobbing by myself, unsure of how to cope. 

    I felt like my entire life—my entire identity—was beginning to unravel. I’d always been so firm about never wanting a mate, and then when I did find him, I completely melted because he said all the right words, and I almost f****d him literally right after meeting him because my damn body was like putty in his hands. I did everything I swore to both Xander and Nathan I’d never do, and I honestly felt disgusted with myself. 

    Was I that weak? Did I have that little self control? Did I even really love and deserve to be Silver Moon’s Beta, or was that also a lie I just kept telling myself?

    I was in such personal turmoil and in such conflict with who I believed I was versus who I actually was, that I didn’t know how to cope with the onslaught of emotions, so I just cried about it. After I felt like I might be consumed by my own tears, I finally mindlinked Nathan for him to please hurry to my room. 

    He had showed up instantly and immediately began asking what was wrong, trying to calm me down. But I just held onto him and cried, so he said nothing more and simply carried me to the bed and allowed me to cling onto him and keep crying until I felt like I had cried all the tears that were left in my body. 

    That was about two hours ago. 

    Now it was almost 8PM, and we were still laying in my bed, a stray sniffle escaping every now and then, while he just held me, gently stroking my hair in a soothing manner. 

    Without meeting his eyes, I quietly mumbled, “Thank you, Nathan. I really love you, you know that? Thank you for always being there for me.”

    He chuckled in response, moving his hand that was stroking my hair to place it under my chin. He lifted my face so I was now looking at him. Relief now flooded his eyes, replacing the concern and fear that had previously been there. 

    “Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked softly. 

    “Yeah, I think I need to,” I responded, sitting up from his arms. 

    Shifting in the bed, I grabbed a pillow to place behind my back and sat against the wall, Nathan following suit and doing the same. 

    When I didn’t immediately start speaking, Nathan calmly asked, “Is this about Owen?”

    I laughed at this, shaking my head silently. 

    “So Damien then, your mate?”

    I nodded my head in response before spilling my guts out to him about everything. About when Damien first came into the room, about him losing his temper and accidentally hurting me—“I’ll f*****g kill him!” he had snarled when he forced me to show him the now fading bruises—to my trying to reject him but realizing I couldn’t, to him saying all the most perfect things I didn’t even know I wanted to hear, to the kiss. 

    “Goddess, Nathan, the kiss!” I gushed feverently. “I’d never experienced anything like that. I thought Owen was a good kisser, but Goddess, Damien was amazing. Kissing your mate is just— it’s indescribable!”

    Nathan laughed at this, throwing his arm across my shoulder and pulling me into his side.

    “I never thought I’d live to see the day that Raina Sterling of all people would be this excited about finally finding her mate,” he joked. 

    I quieted suddenly, feeling my insides twist at his words. 

    “Do you think I’m losing sense of who I am?” I questioned softly. 

    “What do you mean?” he asked. 

    “I mean… All my life, I’d always said that I never wanted a mate. I never wanted to find him, and I’m so angry that you were right about meeting him this week,” I began, closing my eyes and leaning my head back to rest against the wall. “But now that I’ve found him, it’s like I’m suddenly going back on everything that made me who I am, all because my mate ended up being stupidly gorgeous and an amazing kisser and someone who is so incredibly sweet and understanding of me. I don’t even know who I am anymore!”

    Nathan laughed fully at me, reaching forward to flick me on the forehead. I yelped in surprise, my eyes snapping open to glare at him. 

    “I don’t think this means you’re losing sense of who you are, Raina,” he replied quietly. “If anything, I think this just means you’re now finding out more about who you actually are, which is the whole point of mates. They help complete you in ways you didn’t even know you needed.”

    I mulled over his words thoughtfully before smiling at him. “That’s surprisingly very wise of you.”

    Nathan chuckled. “I’m happy for you, Rain. I hope it works out for you, but if he ever lays his hands on you again, just know that you won’t have to worry about a mate anymore because Xander and I are both gonna kill him.”

    I smiled. 

    “Deal.”

————

    The next morning, I was a complete bundle of nerves. I had one hour until the training session began, and I had decided that I was going to go down early to warm up by myself before everyone else would show up. 

    I had on a pair of black spandex shorts with a black Nike sports bra—my go to training attire since it was easiest for me to move around in. Reaching down to pull on my usual black Nike tennis shoes, I gathered my hair into a high ponytail and made my way out the door. 

    Heading downstairs, I passed by some random Crystal Moon members, smiling at them politely as I passed them. I headed out the front door and towards the training field, where I found Owen already there sparring with someone. I stood off to the distance for a moment, watching as he easily overpowered the other fighter, and after a couple more minutes, he had the other guy pinned on his back, signaling his victory. 

    I clapped my hands, giving a low whistle, which caused Owen to look up at me and flash me a bright smile. 

    “Well hello there, Beta Raina,” he greeted with a boyish grin. 

    I smiled in return, glad to see him back to his usual cheery self and that he wasn’t treating me any differently despite the news that I had found my mate. He eyed me up and down for a moment, his eyes meeting mine in a slightly darkened gaze, and I chuckled, holding up my hand to stop him. 

    “Hold up, buddy, remember what we talked about yesterday,” I said with a laugh. 

    “I know, I know,” he responded with his hands up in mock surrender. “Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the view, right?”

    I rolled my eyes when he winked at me as I walked over to set my phone and water bottle that I had grabbed from the packhouse onto the bench near the sparring ring. Stretching my arms above my head, I leaned over to the right to stretch out my back then did the same to the left side. 

    “Are you nervous?” Owen asked, bounding over to take a seat on the bench in front of me. 

    I took a seat in the grass and straightened my legs out in front of me. Leaning forward all the way to grab my toes, I groaned a bit at the feeling of the back of my quads loosening from the stretch. 

    “A little,” I admitted once I straightened up from the stretch. 

    “Don’t be,” Owen reassured with his signature grin. “You’ll do great. Do you wanna warm up with a quick spar?”

    I threw my head back and laughed at this before looking at him with a knowing look. “You’ve just been dying to spar with me from the moment I got here. You sure your ego can handle losing to me?”

    “Hey, I might surprise you,” he retorted with a playful shrug of his shoulders. 

    Nodding my head, I took the hand he was offering me and pulled myself up. I brushed off the grass stuck to the back of my spandex before walking into the sparring ring with Owen. I was suddenly hyper aware that everyone that had been doing their own training around us suddenly stopped what they were doing, as hushed whispering began spreading. 

    Everyone’s attention was now on Owen and me. 

    I gulped slightly, suddenly extremely nervous about all the extra attention, when I felt strong, familiar hands come down to rest on my shoulders. I looked up to find Owen smiling down at me reassuringly. 

    “Hey, don’t pay any attention to them,” he whispered quietly so only I could hear him. “It’s just you and me, okay?”

    I nodded before taking a deep breath and nodded at him once again, signaling I was ready to begin. He came at me full force, his leg swinging up in aim for my head, which I easily brought both my arms up to block. While he was distracted by my block, I brought my right leg forward, hooking it with the back of his left knee, and tugged, hard. Instantly, he was down on one knee in front of me, and I took this time to kick him square in the abdomen. 

    He lost his balance and fell backwards onto his back, and before he could scramble up, I was straddling him, my knees pinning his hands down, with my fist aimed at his throat. 

    He blinked at me in surprise before his expression gave way to full admiration. I heard clapping around us and looked up to see that everyone who had been watching was now clapping and talking amongst themselves, nodding in approval. 

    I smiled sheepishly. For a moment, I really did forget we had an audience. 

    “Two minutes and fourteen seconds,” Owen said, looking at his watch on the wrist he had managed to free from under my knee. “I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever been pinned.”

    I threw my head back in laughter before teasing, “Make sure you don’t go crying to mommy about it now.”

    He growled playfully in response, but before he could say anything, I was suddenly snatched away from Owen by the arm. 

    “Hey, what the—” I began, but was cut off by a shirt suddenly thrown in my face. 

    “What are you doing on top of him!” a loud voice echoed, and I knew instantly who it was. “And while practically naked! Put that on, right now!”

    My face flushed in a mixture of anger and embarrassment as I threw the shirt to the ground and glared at the shirtless man in front of me. 

    My mouth almost watered at the sight of him, but I didn’t give in to the temptations. Not this time. 

    “Damien, we talked about this. You have no right to be bossing me around!” I countered angrily, my finger in his face. “And don’t you ever try and tell me what I can and can’t wear, that’s none of your concern!”

    He roughly grabbed me by the arm and brought me closer to him so I was now face to face with his chest, but before he could say or do anything, I was pulled away from him, two protective bodies now shielding me from him. 

    I looked around Owen and Nathan who were standing in front of me to see Xander standing there, holding Damien by the wrist. I could feel the seething anger radiating off of him from all the way over here and slightly gulped. Xander was terrifying when he was truly angry, and I had no doubt that although he was also an Alpha, Damien wouldn’t stand a chance against him. 

    “Alpha Damien,” Xander warned in a steely tone, and I could tell he was struggling to keep his voice even, “I kindly ask you to refrain from laying your hands on my Beta again.”

    I gulped again, my eyes flickering to my wrists which were still faintly bruised from Damien grabbing me yesterday. I should’ve figured Nathan would tell Xander about what happened. 

    “If I find that you’ve left any other marks on her,” Xander continued, his voice dropping to almost a murderous whisper, “I can’t say the outcome will be favorable to either you or your pack.”

    I saw Damien marrow his eyes at Xander before countering, “Is that a threat, Alpha Xander?”

    Xander dropped Damien’s wrist and stared fully into his eyes now—his way of asserting dominance—before simply stating, “Yes. It is.”

    “My, my, this sure is a lively bunch this morning isn’t it?” a sudden voice sounded, cutting into the staring contest between the two Alphas. 

    I turned around to see that it was Alpha Lucas, the one from the pack that’s trying to join the Allyship. His Beta, Xavier, was walking behind him, and before long, they were both standing with the group. He looked between Xander and Damien before his eyes landed on me with a grin breaking out onto his face. I shuddered slightly under his gaze. Something about those eyes made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I felt the same way when he had looked at me during the meeting yesterday as well. 

    He walked towards me, and I felt Owen and Nathan stiffen in front of me. I placed a hand on each of their shoulders, letting them know I was okay, and I felt them relax a little under my touch. 

    “Beta Raina,” Lucas called, never breaking eye contact with me, “it’s an honor to meet you. I wanted to formally introduce myself to you yesterday, but you took off from the conference hall so soon after the meeting that I didn’t get the chance to.”

    “Uh, yeah,” I responded tentatively, “there was something I had to deal with.”

    “And has it been dealt with?”

    My brows knit together in confusion. Something about this guy was off to me. The way he stared at me in such a calculating manner, it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. It was almost as though he were undressing me with his eyes. 

    “It’s in the process of being dealt with,” I finally responded vaguely. 

    His eyes traveled down and landed on my wrists, and before anybody could react, he had grabbed me and pulled me from behind Owen and Nathan, closer towards him. I recoiled slightly at his touch as I felt everybody stiffen around me, ready to pounce if Lucas so much as said the wrong thing. 

    “My, my, what happened here?” Lucas questioned, lightly running his fingers over the yellowing bruises.

    “It’s nothing,” I snapped as I snatched my hands away from him. “I just got hurt yesterday after the meeting during a sparring session, but I’m fine.”

    I felt Damien shift a little at my blatant lie, but I paid him no mind. I was more focused on Lucas, wondering what kind of game he was playing at. 

    “And you haven’t healed yet?” Lucas continued pushing. 

    I frowned slightly at him before answering, “My healing abilities are a little… slower, I guess, than other wolves. But I’ll heal just fine by tomorrow.”

    Lucas only continued staring at me, the expression behind his eyes unreadable, before another grin broke out on his face. 

    “Well then!” Lucas suddenly boomed. “I guess this means we’ll just have to be extra careful not to hurt you during this training session.”

    As he said this, he carefully brought a hand forward to stroke my face, and finished with, “We wouldn’t want to scar this pretty face of yours.”

    That was it. 

    I hated being touched without my consent, and I hated being patronized. I was about two seconds away from punching this guy square in the face, not giving two shits that he was an Alpha. 

    I angrily smacked his hand away from me and glared at him. 

    “Alpha Lucas, with all due respect, I’m going to have to ask you to not touch me without my consent,” I ordered, my voice laced with venom, “and I’m not some delicate flower made of glass. I’m Silver Moon’s Beta, one of the best fighters in the whole pack, and I will not be underestimated. Now if you’ll excuse me, the other members are here, and I’m going to get this training session started.”

    With that, I broke away from the group. Damien followed me, and I felt Xander step forward, ready to intervene, but I placed a hand on Xander’s arm, letting him know it was okay. When we were a little way’s from the others, I turned and glared at him, my arms crossed against my chest. I stared at him, waiting to hear what his apology would sound like. 

    “Raina, I’m sorry,” he began, trying to grab hold of me again, but I moved away from him. 

    I knew if he touched me, my resolve would melt, and it’d be too hard to try and stay mad at him while also trying to ignore the way my skin lit on fire every time our skin met. 

    “Damien, if this has any chance in hell of working out, then you have to control yourself,” I snapped back, careful to keep my distance from him. “You cannot order me around, you cannot dictate what I can and can’t wear, and you cannot decide who I can and can’t interact with.”

    He scowled slightly at this before quietly asking, “I just need to know… You and Owen…?”

    I sighed, my lips pressed in a thin line of annoyance. 

    Deciding it was better to just come out with it rather than lying and risk having it come back and bite me in the ass later, I answered, “Before any of the other packs arrived, we went out on a date.”

    “And…?”

    “And we slept together.”

    He staggered back a few steps away from me, his face staring at me in a pained expression. Guilt flooded my body for a moment, but I immediately dismissed it. This was before I had found out he was my mate, before I even knew he existed. I’m sure he had been with women before me as well, so he had no right to get jealous or possessive over something I did before he was in my life!

    “Do you have feelings for him?” he finally asked, his voice low and uneven.

    “No,” I responded, suddenly more sure of myself than I had been in days. 

    I know I had wrestled with my feelings for Owen since I had met him, but standing here in this moment with Damien, I knew with complete clarity that the feelings weren’t genuine. It really was just pure, physical attraction. 

    “And we haven’t done anything or even kissed again since we found out you were my mate,” I clarified truthfully, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. “Until we figure this out between us, I promise no other man will ever get to have me in that way again. I won’t hurt you like that.”

    He breathed a sigh of relief, as he smiled slightly at me, seemingly content with my answer. 

    “But you have to understand that while there is nothing between Owen and me anymore, I do still consider him a friend. I’ll be around him whether you like it or not; he’s my Luna’s brother, and Xander’s future brother-in-law. Our packs are tied,” I concluded with finality, letting him know that he had to find a way to control his jealous tendencies.

    But even I knew that was easier said than done. Like I said, werewolves were extremely possessive creatures over their mates. Sometimes, it was just impossible to control our wolf, and we end up feeling blinded by the overwhelming feelings. 

    Damien sighed, understanding what I was saying, before responding, “I promise I’ll do my best. Please, can you just… Can you just promise to keep the touching to a minimum? Alexander has already been on edge from not being able to mate and mark you, and he’s harder to control when he sees other unmated males around you.”

    I gulped slightly at his words. 

    I was so swept up in everything that had happened so far, I completely forgot that if I did decide I wanted to pursue this with him, I would eventually be marked by him, and tied to him and his pack forever. My breathing quickened again as I felt a panic attack slowly threatening to come to surface. If he marked me, I wouldn’t belong to Silver Moon anymore. I wouldn’t be their Beta anymore. I would lose Nathan and Xander, the only two people who mattered to me.

    “Hey, hey, calm down,” Damien said in a soothing manner, placing his hands on my arms. 

    I relaxed a little from his comforting touch, but I didn’t feel completely at ease. He pulled me into an embrace, gently stroking my hair. 

    “I promise we’ll take things slow,” he murmured quietly to me. “I won’t do anything you aren’t ready to do. I won’t mark you until you tell me that’s what you want. I promise, okay?”

    I wanted to be comforted by his words. I wanted to believe that everything would be okay, but I was too anxious about the uncertainties this whole mate thing brought into my life. Breaking out of his arms, I mumbled quietly that I had to get the training session started, and made my way back to the now gathered group of men and even some women standing before me. I plastered a smile on my face, suddenly feeling excited and extremely honored that Xander and John had trusted me to do something like this. 

    “Good afternoon, everyone,” I greeted, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Damien had made his way to join the rest of the group. “For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’m Raina Sterling, Silver Moon’s Beta. Alpha John and Alpha Xander both felt that everyone here might be a little unsure of my abilities as a female Beta, so they asked me to lead this training session so our allies can get a better feel of what I’m like as both a leader and a trainer.”

    My eyes scanned the crowd, and I was pleased to see that the overwhelming majority all seemed excited. There were one or two faces who seemed skeptical, but one look at Nathan’s reassuring smile gave me the confidence I needed to continue. 

    “Rest assured, my appearance is deceiving,” I continued authoritatively, “I may be small, but I guarantee that this will be the most tiring training session you’ve ever experienced. I’m going to give you a little taste of what makes Silver Moon one of the most formidable packs of fighters, and I can only hope you can keep up.”

    With one last smile, the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I ordered, “Now, we’ll start off with a simple three mile run. The last one to finish will owe me one hundred push ups in front of the whole group, and I don’t like waiting, so let’s get to it!”