Mate I never wanted

Let the training begin

Lucien

The moment we landed at the academy, I was greeted by the school's principal.

He bowed in respect, not daring to meet my eyes.

"It's an honor to see you, prince. What can we do for his excellence?"

"I'm here to see Vivian Cliffwind ."

"Ummm... may I ask why?"

"No, you may not. Now tell me where she is."

The man flinched at my strict tone.

"Yes, sir... just a moment..."

He pulled out his tablet and tapped a few times.

"Miss Vivian, alongside all other second years, is at military training."

"And when will she be returning?"

"The second years have a month of training to go through, so she will return with the rest."

"Fine, thank you for the information."

Without saying another word, I turned on my heel and walked back into the spacecraft, with Richard following me.

"Sir? Where are we going now?"

"We will go to the training planet they are on."

"Yes, sir."

I pretended not to notice the tiny smile on Richards' face when he heard my answer.

He started the spacecraft, inputting the coordinates, as I sat down in my seat and pulled out my tablet. There were many notifications from many different people, requesting my help or information, or decision from me, but I was interested in only one. The email from the elder council that talked about the annulment of my mating match to Vivian Cliffwind .

I answered the email saying that I do not agree with the annulment, knowing full well that this means that we are stuck together for now. In the morning, I was not sure if I wanted to keep the match... no, I was sure that I had to get the match annulated as soon as possible, but after seeing the happiness on my mother's face... the hope she had that I would go through with the mating... I could not take that away from her. I will keep the match at least until I figure out another way to keep her happy like this.

Happy with the decision, I emailed the center's director informing him of my visit and started working on the other task that needed my attention the most.

***

Vivian

I remember almost nothing of the whole ceremony.

My mind was too busy coming up with reasons as to why Lucien could be coming here. I only noticed that it was over when the crowd around me started to move. I followed the direction everyone was moving in.

I saw everyone stopping by the instructors, who were handing out what I guess are the key codes to our dorms. While staying here, we will all be assigned a bed in a four-bed dorm room that we will only be using for sleep. This training will be brutal and physically challenging, and there won't be any moments of free time. We will train, sleep and then train again.

This is the most challenging part of the whole academy experience and, statistically speaking, it will wipe out at least sixty percent of students that do not meet the standard.

The instructor handed me a six-number combination and a room number that would be my home for the next month. I made my way through the crowd, ignoring whispers and stares at me. I guess the gossip about me has not died down as I hoped it would.

When I stopped by my assigned room and entered it, I saw that my other roommates were already there. The two girls I had not met before, but I am pretty sure belonged to the medicine department. They occupied the bunk bed on one side of the room. On the other side of the room, I saw Rebeca sitting on the bottom bunk digging through her backpack.

She lifted her eyes to meet mine and sent me a little smile. I nodded at her, ignoring the two other girls in the room, and took the only available bed in the room, the top bunk.

The moment I settled on the bed and my tired body relaxed onto the hard bed, a loud voice spoke through the speaker.

"All students report to the training area number twenty-five in ten minutes. Anyone late will be sent home immediately and their time in the academy will be over."

Well, that is a fun start.

The girls on the other side of the room released a cry of panic and took off running out the door. With a little sigh, I jumped off the top bunk and landed right next to Rebeca.

"Did not think that they would start the training right away."

"Yeah, well there is a reason why most third years refer to this place as hell. Most of the trainers here are sadistic assholes that will enjoy nothing more than to see their students crumble to pieces, from the pressure."

I answered her as we both walked out of the room, locking the door after us.

"Do you know what will happen now?"

"No idea, most of the training is secret and gets switched up every year, so this could be anything."

"I hope it's not swimming..."

The cat hybrid murmured under her breath as we entered the training area. It was already full and everyone looked tired, concussed or terrified. Most had a mixture of all three radiating from them.

A loud ding indicated that the time to get here was over and the doors we walked through were closed, locking everyone who was late out.

There was a commotion at the front of the class, but the crowd was too thick to see what was going on there.

"We are handing out bracelets that will track your progress. Keep them on the whole time you are here. It will scan your body abilities and power levels. It will divide you into groups depending on the results you get. It will let you know when your training starts and ends, it will let the academy staff track you down when you get lost or killed. It will let the staff communicate with you. If, at any point, you are in danger, or you want to end the training early, you just hold the button on the side and someone from the staff will come to get you. After putting on the bracelets, you will have to run thirty kilometers and only after finishing them can you return to your rooms for the night. If you have any questions, ask one of the trainers handing out the bracelets."

The trainers were handing out bracelets and I waited for my turn to get mine.

As I was fastening mine, the man in the front of the crowd started to speak again.

"Vivian Cliffwind , report to the front, you have been summoned by the director of the facility. You will finish your run after the meeting."

Okay, that is not weird at all.

I made my way through the crows and stopped by the man that was taking before.

"Vivian Cliffwind , sir."

He turned to me with a strange look on his face.

"Okay, Miss Cliffwind . Follow me."

Without waiting for me or an answer, he just turned and walked to one of the doors. Using his staff card, he opened the door and we both walked out of the training room. Outside the door, there were around ten students crying as the staff gathered them and led them out. These were the ones that were late.

A part of me was sorry for them, but maybe it is good that they were sent home before the real training started. If you can't follow a simple task of getting here on time, then this is not a place for you.

"This way, miss Cliffwind ."

The man reminded me that I was going to meet the director... the only question was why.