Training with Strangers
1526 Words
The sun was barely rising when Kiara stepped onto the training grounds of the Silvercrest Pack. Morning mist still covered the field, soft and cold like breath on glass. Warriors were already stretching, warming up, and swinging wooden practice swords. None of them knew who she really was. None of them knew she had died once and returned.
And she preferred it that way.
“Breathe, Kiara,” her wolf, Aria, whispered calmly inside her mind.
“We are safe here. For now.”
Kiara swallowed. Safe. The word felt like a lie. But she nodded to herself anyway. “Let’s just get this training done.”
As she stepped forward, several warriors turned to look at her. Some curious. Some confused. Some amused. She knew she didn’t look like them — small, thin, with a quiet presence. None of them could guess how much fire she carried inside.
A tall man with ash-brown hair and sharp eyes walked toward her. He looked like the type who laughed rarely, slept lightly, and fought like his life depended on it.
“Kiara, right?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I’m Rowan,” he introduced. “Beta of the Silvercrest Pack. I heard Alpha Daniel accepted you yesterday.”
“Yes,” she replied softly. “Thank you… for letting me be here.”
Rowan studied her for a long moment, his eyes narrowing like he was trying to understand something hidden under her skin.
“You want to train with the warriors?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?” he pressed. “Training is rough. We don’t hold back.”
Kiara hesitated.
But Aria spoke inside her:
“Say yes. We need this. We must grow stronger.”
So she lifted her chin. “I’m sure.”
Rowan nodded and turned to the rest of the warriors. “Listen up! We have a newcomer. Kiara will be joining training from today. Treat her like any trainee. No special treatment.”
A few warriors snickered. One whispered loudly, “She looks like a weak pup.”
Aria growled.
Kiara didn’t.
She simply walked to the training line and stood tall.
“Pair up!” Rowan ordered.
Kiara ended up standing in front of a muscular she-wolf with broad shoulders and scars on her arms. Her name, she soon learned, was Mara. Older, experienced, and not friendly.
“So you’re the new girl who wants to train with warriors?” Mara asked with a smirk.
Kiara nodded.
Mara raised a brow. “Why? Did you get chased out of your old pack for being weak?”
Kiara’s heart squeezed painfully. If she told the truth, they would call her crazy. If she lied, they would believe her more.
She simply said, “I want to become stronger.”
Mara laughed. “Good answer. But strength is earned. You ready?”
Kiara took a deep breath. “Yes.”
Rowan blew a whistle. “Begin!”
Before Kiara could blink, Mara slammed her shoulder into her chest. Kiara stumbled back, pain flaring through her ribs. The other warriors snorted.
“Come on, little girl!” Mara mocked. “Fight back!”
Aria’s voice echoed in her mind.
“Left side! Protect your ribs!”
Kiara moved instinctively. When Mara charged again, Kiara twisted away. Her body remembered things she didn't know she knew — the reflexes of someone who had survived death once already.
Mara’s eyes widened a little. “Oh? The pup can dodge.”
Kiara didn’t smile. She wasn’t here to impress anyone.
She was here to survive.
Mara attacked again, faster this time. Kiara ducked, rolled, and stood up quickly. She felt Aria guiding her movements, a whisper of instincts she never understood in her last life.
“Good, Kiara,” Aria murmured. “Trust me. Trust yourself.”
Kiara inhaled sharply and moved forward instead of back. For the first time, she attacked. Her fist swung toward Mara’s side, landing with more strength than she expected.
Mara hissed in pain. “Not bad.”
Around them, some warriors murmured, surprised.
Rowan watched closely, arms folded, expression unreadable.
When the whistle blew again, Mara stepped back. “You’re not weak,” she admitted grudgingly. “Just… untrained.”
Kiara breathed hard, sweat rolling down her temple. “I’ll learn.”
Mara cracked a grin. “We’ll see.”
After sparring came stamina training. Running laps. Obstacle climbing. Jumping. Crawling.
Kiara’s muscles screamed. Her breath tore through her lungs like fire. She had never trained like this before, not even in her previous life.
Aria filled her mind with her calm voice.
“One more step. One more breath. You can do this.”
“I can’t,” Kiara whispered under her breath as she pushed herself over a wooden beam. “My legs hurt…”
“You’ve endured worse,” Aria reminded her gently.
“You died once, Kiara. This is nothing.”
Kiara blinked back tears. She didn’t want to remember her death. The pain. The fear. The betrayal.
But maybe Aria was right. Living was harder, but she wasn’t alone now.
“Fine,” she muttered. “One more step.”
She jumped from the beam and started running again.
One warrior jogged beside her — a young man named Finn, cheerful and curious.
“You’re surprisingly fast,” he said breathlessly. “Where did you train before? You’re not from here, right?”
“No,” Kiara answered simply.
He smiled friendly. “Well, if anyone gives you trouble, tell me. I’ll help.”
Kiara blinked. Help? Why would a stranger offer her that?
Aria giggled softly in her mind.
“Not everyone is like the wolves who betrayed us.”
Kiara felt warmth grow in her chest. Maybe Aria was right.
Later that day, Rowan gathered the warriors under a tree for weapon practice. Kiara stood quietly at the edge, listening, observing, trying to understand every detail.
While she watched Rowan demonstrate a sword stance, Aria suddenly tensed.
“Kiara.”
Her voice was sharp. Alert.
“Something is wrong.”
Kiara froze. “What is it?”
“A scent. Too familiar. Too dangerous.”
Kiara’s heart began pounding. She turned slowly, scanning the trees surrounding the field. Nothing looked unusual. Warriors were laughing, training, talking. The forest seemed calm.
“Aria… I don’t see anything.”
“But I smell it,” Aria insisted.
“Someone… from your old life.”
Kiara’s blood turned cold.
“Are you sure?”
“A wolf who carried death on their paws,” Aria whispered. “Someone connected to the attack that killed us.”
Kiara’s breath caught. Her hands trembled lightly. She stepped backward, nearly stumbling.
“Kiara?” Rowan called suddenly, breaking her panic. “You okay?”
She forced a nod. “Yes. Just… tired.”
Rowan narrowed his eyes like he didn’t fully believe her, but he didn’t push.
The training continued. But Kiara couldn’t relax anymore. She felt watched. Hunted.
Aria stayed alert the entire time.
“Stay calm,” she warned.
“We are stronger now. And we are not alone.”
Kiara exhaled shakily and lifted the wooden sword again. She would not be weak. Not anymore.
By the end of training, Kiara was exhausted. Her legs felt like water. Her throat burned. Every muscle screamed.
Yet warriors she’d never spoken to before approached her.
“You did good today.”
“That dodge you made was clean.”
“You learn fast.”
Kiara stared, surprised. In her old pack, she had been invisible… or worse, unwanted. But here?
Here she was seen.
Finn grinned at her. “See? I told you, you’ll fit in.”
Mara slapped her shoulder. “You’re annoying, but you’re strong. Keep coming.”
Rowan approached last, looking thoughtful. “You fought like someone who has something to prove.”
Kiara held his gaze and said quietly, “I do.”
He nodded once. “Then come tomorrow at dawn. I’ll train you personally.”
Her stomach flipped. “Why?”
Rowan’s expression darkened slightly. “Because you’re hiding something. And wolves who hide things either become threats… or heroes.”
Kiara swallowed. “I won’t be a threat.”
“We’ll see,” he said simply before walking away.
As Kiara headed back to the small cabin the pack provided her, Aria spoke softly.
“We did well today.”
Kiara smiled faintly. “We’re alive.”
“More than alive,” Aria corrected.
“We are rewriting our fate.”
Kiara touched her chest. “Aria… do you think we can really become strong enough? Strong enough to stop what happened? Strong enough to face him… the Alpha who rejected us?”
Aria hummed softly, like a warm breeze.
“Kiara… destiny brought us back for a reason.”
“And strength… is only the beginning.”
Kiara looked up at the sky, where the sun was setting in gold and red.
For the first time since her rebirth, she believed her wolf might be right.
She wasn’t a victim anymore.
She was a survivor.
- Writer
