His Second Chance

Chapter 8

Happiness POV

I managed to wake up bright and early today as it was training day. I got dressed in my usual training attires before making my way downstairs for a hearty breakfast. The house was still pretty quiet as I assume everyone was still asleep. It was peaceful sitting there, nursing a cup of tea and listening to the birds outside chirp their songs. I suddenly heard footsteps approaching me,

"Oh, good morning Happiness! Wait…Happiness? The same Happiness we have to practically drag out of bed each morning? What are you doing here and awake?" exclaimed Claudia in a complete state of shock. I laughed at her disbelief,

"Oh come on, I am capable of waking up on my own sometimes. I had to get up early today I wanted to head down to the training fields to practice before the duels take place." Claudia got over her initial shock and smiled,

"That is a great idea! Well, you are going to need to fuel up if you are going to practice that much! A cup of tea is not enough, what would you like for breakfast? I can make anything!" I grinned,

"Anything? Well, then I request chicken noodle soup." Claudia gave me a weird look but did not argue. She grabbed a can of chicken noodle soup from the pantry,

"I am not even going to ask…" Claudia shook her head as she started to prepare the soup. I beamed from my seat,

"It was something that my mom always made for me when I was little. I love chicken noodle soup so much that she allowed me to eat it for breakfast on occasions." Claudia turned to look at me and carefully said,

"You must miss her a lot." I smiled sadly and looked down at my almost emptied cup of tea,

"I do, she was the best mom anyone could ask for."

Once the soup was ready and served, I thanked Claudia and started eating. "How is it?" asked Claudia as she cleaned the pots and ladle used to make my soup. I gulped the warm liquid before answering,

"It is delicious! I am going to have so much energy to let out on the training grounds!" Claudia smiled,

"You better dominate out there happie! Get a good tan in for me too, I can not attend training today as Matthew requested me to help him with some pack work." I nodded,

"I will! Good luck with the pack work Claudia." She smiled once again before exiting the room.

"Mandel? Are you ready to train?" I asked my wolf.

"You bet I am! That soup was tasty and restored my energy to the maximum!" she answered cheerfully.

I walked on the crisp, newly watered grass and inhaled the fresh morning air, mentally preparing myself for the exercise that was to follow.

"Alright, let's do this Mandel!" I let my wolf take over my human side and soon I was on all fours. We first warmed up by sprinting laps around the vast field and then we took time to stretch. Once all of our muscles were warmed up, we started practicing all of the techniques we learned since the first day of training. "We are looking good Happiness!" Mandel huffed out during our quick break.

"I agree, I just hope we will be able to do well during the duels today," I replied.

"I am positive that we will be fine!" Mandel assured me. We continued our individual training until we spotted Louis and a few other pack members come to view,

"Good morning Happiness and Mandel. Please do not mind us and carry on with your training while we wait for the rest of the students to arrive," he said, in full Alpha mode. We nodded our understanding and carried on with our solo training until more and more students showed up. Once everyone was present, we hid behind a tree to shift back into our human self.

"Alright class, gather round everyone and listen up," commanded Louis in his powerful Alpha voice. I walked over and joined the rest of the group.

"Today is going to be a very special training session. As you all know we are not going to teach any new techniques today and are going to only do duels today. I will be choosing who you will be going against so please listening carefully when your names are called." We listened attentively as Louis read out all of the pair names until finally, he called out Mandel and me,

"Happiness and Mandel, you will be up against, Tiona and Tilla." I looked over at a tall blonde guy who was grinning and waving at us, that must be Terry, he looks quite strong. I thought to myself as I walked towards him,

"Hi! Nice to meet you fighting partner." Tiona smiled back,

"Nice to meet you, Happiness, I have heard a lot about you. You are the werewolf that beat Marcus's ass on your very first day of training." I grinned,

"Sure did! Are you a friend of Marcus?" Tiona smirked,

"Well, he is my twin brother so yeah, I'd say we are pretty good friends." My eyes grew wide,

"Twin brother? But you guys don't look anything alike! I would have never guessed." Tiona shrugged,

"We get that a lot but yes we are twins, at least, I hope that the truth and that mom did not lie to us." I laughed,

"Let us hope not, what a revelation that would be. Anyways, that is so cool though, I have always wanted to befriend twins!" Tiona chuckled,

"Well your wish is now granted."

"Alright class, now that you are acquainted with your partner, please shift!" commanded Louis. On cue, everyone shifted instantly into their wolves, the sound of clothes ripping echoed throughout the training grounds. "Please spread out and get into a fighting stance," he ordered. We crouched down and took a fighting stance in front of Tiona and Tilla, ready to attack. They mirrored our actions as did the rest of the werewolves around us. "You guys are going down." Mandel and I mind-linked Tiona and Tilla.

"Sweetheart, we are the stronger twin." they mind-linked back.

"Good positions everyone, I will be counting down from three and on my mark, the duels will begin. 3…2…1!" Louis announced. Tiona and Tilla initiated the first move, they leaped into the air and landed right in front of us. Jaws snapping, they lunged, aiming for our neck to pin us down. We felt their teeth sink into our neck, not hard enough to kill but there was enough power to render us immobile for a few seconds.

Fighting back, once we got over our initial shock, Mandel and I quickly bit their hind leg causing them to whimper and fall to the ground, successfully us from their hold. We took that as our advantage and proceeded to take the chance to attack, leaping onto them to in turn pin them down. Despite their pain, Tiona and Tilla dodged swiftly causing Winter and I to miss.

"Mandel, we need to come up with a plan to take them down," I told my wolf, as tried to catch our breath.

"I have one, let me fight. Happiness, let me take over completely. You have to trust me." answered Mandel, full of confidence.

"Are you sure?" I asked, letting a wolf take over completely was something that was rarely done amongst werewolves, you need a strong bond with your wolf or the consequences could be dire.

"Yes," Mandel replied.

"Alright, I trust you, Winter. Be careful." I took a deep breath and let my wolf side take over my human side, allowing Mandel to take over my soul completely.

"Happiness, come back." called out Mandel. I slowly let my human side come back,

"What happened?" I asked, unable to remember anything that just took place. Mandel cheered,

"I did it, Happiness! Tiona and Tilla lost although I do have to say it was a tough duel, they are commendable opponents." I grinned, feeling immensely proud of my wolf,.

"I knew you could do it, Mandel!" Mandel beamed,

"Thank you for trusting me Happiness. I know most werewolves would have never let their wolf take over completely in fear of losing their human self forever." I nodded my head,

"Of course I trust you, Mandel. You are a part of me and will always be. We are one." Tiona had already shifted back to his human form and came out from behind the tree, looking stunned. I mirrored his actions and shifted back before going up to talk to him.

Before I could say anything, try Tiona exclaimed,

"Happiness! You let your wolf take over completely. That was amazing. Not a lot of werewolves can do what you just did and come back as their human self. Most werewolves become wild and lose their human side forever! To be honest, I am not even mad that you guys beat us, that was an impressive fight." I smiled at him,

"Thank you, Tiona. The key is trust between you and your wolf. I am sure that you and Tilla put up a great fight." Louis approached me,

"Happiness, I was watching your duel and I have to say, you are a special werewolf. I have never seen someone so in control and sync with their wolf." I beamed at the compliment.

"As Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack, I have decided to make you a warrior. In the short amount of time you have been here, you have shown passion, dedication, skill and most of all built an unbreakable bond with Mandel. Being a warrior means being completely synced and one with your wolf. Today, you have shown all of the following. You deserve the official title of the warrior, so congratulations Happiness and Mandel on your new status in our pack." Louis smiled at us, overflowing pride in his voice.

I stood there with my mouth agape at the announcement of my new status,

"Me? A warrior? Are you…are you sure?" I gasped out. Louis grinned and pulled me into a swift hug,

"Yes Happiness, I am quite sure. I know a true warrior when I see one." Unable to stop myself from getting emotional, tears of joy started to rain down my face. I felt like for the first time in my life, I was worth something.

"Thank you, Louis, you have no idea how much this means to me. I feel like I am finally something other than worthless. I feel strong. I promise to protect this pack with my life." Louis's eyes softened as he gazed down and noticed my emotional state,

"You were never worthless, just gone unnoticed by fools. You are strong and have so much potential to grow and get even stronger. That bond between you and Mandel is truly special and everlasting, that alone is an admirable thing."

Marcus and Tiona came up to me and both squished me into a hug between them.

"Congrats Happiness! We are so happy for you and Mandel!" said Marcus.

"Yeah! You deserve that status!" Tiona exclaimed as he patted my back. I smiled and warmly hugged the twins back,

"Thank you two! That means the world." After that, I received loads of congratulations and hugs from all of my training mates.

"Alright, guys, good job today, and once again congratulations to our new warriors, Happiness and Mandel! The ceremony will be tonight so please get some rest before. You are all dismissed." concluded Louis.

I said my goodbyes to Tiona and Marcus and came over to Louis's side to walk back together to the packhouse. I sped walk, easily keeping up with Louis's long strides, I could not wait to announce the news to the rest of the pack. Everyone should normally be back for lunch by now,

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" I called out as soon as I walked through the front door.

"We are all in here Happiness!" I heard Claudia call out from the kitchen. I made my way to the kitchen, where everyone was. Louis followed suit behind me, "What happened Happiness?" he asked with a smile, pretending not to know the reason for my excitement. I beamed, "Guess who is a new warrior in this pack?" Everyone's, except for Louis, eyes grew wide and huge smiles lit up their faces as they started congratulating me. "Happinesl! Oh my goodness! Congratulations girl!" Claudia screamed as she tackled me in a hug. The rest of the gang soon joined in, forming a warm cocoon with me in the center.

"So proud of you Happiness!" said Jude as he affectionately patted my head. "Yeah! That is amazing! You and Winter must be skilled to be able to have warrior status already!" exclaimed Taylor. Once I was released from the group hug and we all settled down for a much-deserved lunch.

We finished off lunch quickly and then everyone scattered and were all busy preparing the last-minute ceremony for tonight. Juliet and Jade were in charge of food and drinks, Taylor and Terry were in charge of invites, and Claudia and Matthew were in charge of decorations. Louis had to finish up some of his Alpha work so that he could be free tonight and I was banned from helping and told to take time to pamper myself and get ready. I first took a hot shower and then caught up on movies that I have not gotten the chance to watch yet as I waited for my newly painted nails and clay mud facemask to dry.

After the second movie ended, Claudia came into my room and insisted that she helped me get ready by doing my hair and makeup. She also had a big pale pink box in her hand and after noticing my curious look, Claudia smiled and handed me the box,

"Louis wanted me to give you this." I carefully opened the box and pulled back the tissue papers to reveal a breathtaking short snow-white dress with matching sparkling white high heel shoes nestled next to it.

"Wow…it is beautiful, I can not believe Louis got them for me," I said as I stared in awe at the delicate dress and shoes. "It sure is! I have to admit that that man got taste. Now, what are you waiting for? Go try it on chica! We have one hour to get you ready!" Claudia giggled as she playfully ushered me to the bathroom.

I changed into the dress and slipped on the shoes. Twirling in front of my floor-length mirror once I was done.

"Are you all ready?" called out Claudia from behind the door. I twirled around once more and glanced at my reflection, the dress fit me perfectly, gleaming under the light like a million jewels and the matching shoes looked delicate and beautiful, I was almost afraid to walk with them. For the first time in forever, I felt like a princess.

"Yes, I am! I am coming out now!" I called back.

I slowly walked out of the bathroom and Claudia eyes opened wide, her jaw-dropping to the floor as soon as she saw me.

"Happiness! You look stunning! Gorgeous! Oh my goodness, Louis will not be able to take his eyes off of you all night." I smiled shyly, blushing at all of the compliments,

"Thank you so much Claudia!" She giggled with glee,

"You are so welcome, now let's finish getting you ready." She proceeded to expertly curl my naturally straight hair and skillfully applied natural-looking makeup onto my face. Once Claudia announced that she was done, I looked at myself in the mirror to admire her work.

"I look…I look…beautiful." I said in surprise, not believe that the girl staring back was me.

"You have always looked beautiful, even more, at this moment," Claudia told me, sweetly.

"Happiness Merry Westlife and her wolf Winter, I, Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack, am honored to grant you both the status warriors of this pack. Do you swear to protect this pack with courage, compassion, and honor?" asked Louis.

"I, Happiness Merry Westlife and my wolf Mandel swear to protect this pack with courage, compassion, and honor," I answered with a smile.

"Then I, Alpha of the Crescent Moon, declare you as a new warrior of the Crescent Moon Pack. Congratulations." Louis announced in a loud booming voice. Ear-splitting cheers and clapping could be heard all around as the whole pack celebrated their new warrior. The night was filled with laughter, dancing, and chatters as everyone enjoyed the feast that had been prepared and the wild party.

A new warrior was born.