THE LOST SON OF THE ALPHA

Chapter Six: THE TRAININGS...

TONY’S POV~

All the time I thought the Pack to be a huge bush of thorny trees with a space under where wolves lived. I expected it to be like that with a lot of wild wolves in human forms and female wolves with cubs. But it turns out I was wrong.

The Pack, my Pack was not a bush. Right in the heart of the forest there was a town! Mansions and bungalows were built there in the magnificent way, also there were swimming pools and sport grounds! There was a big fenced arena for the strong boxers, a power house for power supply and a factory.

Also, in my pack, there was two huge military camps with a lot of strong-looking soldiers who when they saw me pass by, they bared their fangs and some showed their claws, some showed their weapons which made me to gulp!

My brother, Martin introduced me and my Aunt Mariam to many necessary people – wolves – pack members – whatever, and many of them seemed to know Aunt Mariam and they bowed in respect.

Their clothes were old fashioned and soldiers had old fashioned clothes. They had no guns, no bombers – what I saw were knives, swords, bows and arrows and other weird traditional weapons. I hoped that they did not need more weapons for them, themselves were weapons!

The day we arrived I was taken to the Castle, the Alpha’s house. Martin led me and Aunt Mariam to the castle where we found a lot of warriors standing on the door. I sensed their smells and they smelled peculiar. Their smell was not like of the guy we killed at the hotel.

When we entered the castle, we were taken to the leader, the Alpha himself. It was a strongest man I’d ever seed – strong arms, serious face and really tall. When we got in front of him, we bowed before him, which hurt my back.

“Tony!” The man’s voice boomed as we still bowed to him, “Welcome to the White Moon Pack. I am Juma, the Alpha king. I had the information of your arrival, so you have to feel ready to be in your home!”

I stood up, so did Aunt Mariam and Martin.

“Well,” I said, “nice to meet you King Juma.” He nodded, “But if I may ask, why are we wolves?”

“Can’t answer that!” King Juma said, “It is not important. What is important to you young prince is that you have to learn how to control your powers. You must learn to live in two different worlds – the Pack and the human world. If you don’t learn how to control yourself, you are going to cause a lot of chaos in the pack!”

“Wow, I was told that earlier!” I said and was about to add a word when Martin knocked me on my leg secretly as the sign of warning.

“Kid, behave! If you don’t want to die right now!” Martin whispered.

“Well then, my boy,” King Juma said, “I guess it is the time you are handed to your trainer.”

I was about to ask about that but Martin had told me to behave! So I just nodded in respect. I wondered how my trainer would look like: wolfish man with a lot of muscles and longer fangs; less talking and more action – more likely to say do or die, every time he tells me to jump over the fire. Suddenly I started thinking on how my training would be… harsh, painful and killing. I knew where this was going. I had seen the soldiers earlier and saw how they looked at me with scary looks. And I knew the trainer would be the very trainer who trained soldiers. I shivered.

“Bring in the trainer of our Prince!” King Juma ordered loudly, the way a person orders the killer bear to be release because the first killer was killed! It sounded like:

Release the big killer bear! Let us see if you can defeat this, fool! Ha! Ha! Ha!

And when my trainer come out, I couldn’t believe it at all! It was a little girl!

My trainer was a girl about my age, or maybe less. She was beautiful with bigger eyes and smooth hair. Her attire was old fashioned but elegant. She had sparkling eyes and beautiful cheeks. I must admit, when I saw her, I forgot about training issues and things! That girl was too pretty to be in the wolves Pack!

When she looked at me, she smiled. Her smile was shiny like the crescent moon, which was every wolf’s bad moment.

“Tony,” King Juma said and that is when I realized I was staring at the girl non-stop, “meet Sophia, your trainer. She will be with you in trainings until the full moon of the next Luna month is over. Tony, Sophia here is our Omega, very skilled and strong.”

“Hello Sophia!” I said trying as hard I could to sound confident.

“Hello Tony.” Sophia said and her voice was so soft I immediately again forgot about the trainings.

“Prince Tony!” King Juma said fiercely looking at the Omega, “Call him Prince Tony. You are going to be training the prince!”

“Yes my king!” Sophia said with so much respect.

“Now,” said King Juma, “go with the prince. Show him the place to stay and teach him some of the rules of the Pack. He is new here.”

Sophia came from beside the king’s throne and reached in front of me. She stood in front of me for a second and looked in my eyes. We locked eyes and when I looked in her eyes, I saw the expression I’d never seen in anyone’s eyes. It was like the mixture of pity, fear, respect and… love? Nah! No! Not at all!

“Let’s go!” Sophia said softly, “I must take you to your training house.”

“Now?” I asked, thinking going to the house full of knives hanging on the ceiling and wolf warriors around it training fiercely.

“Yes.” She said.

Sophia took me to the training house which turned out to be a fine bungalow with comfortable beds and rugs, and there was no knife hanging up the ceiling.

When we reached at the house, Sophia looked very sad now. And I understood that look she gave at the castle, it was sadness! When I asked her questions, she answered very shortly and specifically, making me not add another question about the matter. When she delivered me to the house, she said good night and promised to see me in the morning, then she ran and disappeared behind the trees. I was surprised, and I wondered if she was going back to the castle.

That night I dreamt about Sophia! I dreamt her teaching me killing practices the next day.

The next day I woke up with the Pack Warriors making a lot of howling outside my bungalow. I washed my body with warm water, because this place if I hadn’t mentioned earlier, this place was very cold. I put on the clothes I found beside my bed, the same clothes the Pack Warriors had, some clothes I didn’t know what they were made of.

I got out of the house to see if I could create rapport with some warriors and begin associating with some of them as a start. I got out of the house and found many guys mainly guys of twenties around a bonfire, some of them sharpening their spears and others wrestling fiercely in a wolf way. I started wondering if they would even answer me if I asked.

“Good morning guys!” I shouted loudly to pass their howling voices. No warrior looked at me, they all seemed busy and nobody even bothered to look at me. I was embarrassed and a little angry with them. I suddenly felt the urge to interrupt their activities and show them The Prince was here! I felt my claws begin to form and the fangs began to appear in my mouth. I growled angrily. When I was about to charge, the voice shut me down!

“That’s not how it is done, Prince Tony!” It was Sophia!

She was behind me and when she spoke, her voice shut down my angry actions and I returned back to normal. When I looked at her, my jaws dropped.

She looked so beautiful and prettier than the way I saw her last night. She had on the special warrior clothes, two swords were crossed behind her back. She had a long, strong iron spear in her right hand and she stood in a warrior stance. Her skin glowed in the morning sun. The sunlight penetrated through tree leaves and the whole place looked shadowy.

When she looked at me, she smiled happily. I smiled too. Despite the scary custom she had on, she looked more beautiful. I felt my heart begin to thump in excitement.

“Are you ready to train with me, Prince Tony?” She asked in her normal brave voice which sounded prettier.

“Sure!” I said. But I must admit: I felt uncomfortable hearing her call me Prince Tony. It made me look superior to her, regarding she was just an Omega.

“Ok, let’s start our training, Prince Tony.” She said, calling me the name I totally didn’t prefer.

“I don’t have a sword.” I said.

“You won’t use the sword this hour, Prince…”

“Excuse me, Sophia! I’m so sorry to interrupt, but do you really need to call me Prince Tony?”

Suddenly, the charming look on Sophia’s face turned to sadness! She looked suddenly sad and guilty. She looked me in the eyes for a second, but seemed to be avoiding my eyes. She looked away.

“Ok, I’ll call you Mighty Prince.” She decided.

“No!” I said confidently, “You don’t have to call me Prince or Mighty Prince. Just call me Tony. I am not used to royalty.”

She looked even sadder! Her face twisted like she wanted to cry. When she looked at me and noticed that I was looking at her, she turned around and started walking away, and I followed her. I wondered what her problem would be!

“Sophi, what’s wrong?” I called sympathetically.

“I’m sorry Tony,” she said, “I train different warriors of different size and age. That is what I do here in the pack. That is my job. My only payment is… is…”

“Is… what?” I asked.

“Is staying alive.” She said.

“Wait, what?!” I stopped walking.

Sophia stopped too and faced me. She was crying now.

“Who threatens you that way?”

“The king.” She said, “The Alpha King!”

“But why? What happened?”

“You see,” she said, “I’m going to tell you a little bit about me. I am from the Black Moon Pack!”

I almost shrieked in terror running through the forest all the way to the castle! She was from the same pack that sent a guy to kill me at the hotel.

“I was born here though,” Sophia went on, “my mother was captured during the war! She was pregnant when she was captured, so she gave birth to me in the castle where she was a slave. My mom told me that the time I was born the White Moon Pack had no king because both the King and the Queen were killed by the Black Moon warriors. Then his brother, Juma took the throne and he was more powerful than his dead brother.

“He set new war plans and there was no more invasion from the Black Moon pack, that is why the slaves from the Black Moon never returned to their home, and they were turned to be loyal warriors of the White Moon Pack. I was twelve when my mom died. So I was given the severe trainings from the Princess and she told me that I had natural abilities of fighting. So she made me the official trainer of other soldiers.

“It is not that I am strong, but because I am skilled and have natural Black Moon skills of fighting which are the best among packs.”

“I am really sorry, Sophi,” I said, still feeling a slight fear towards her, “so why do you like to call me Price?” I tried to change her story that way.

“My trainer, the princess, told me that my job was training others until the end of my life. Every young soldier, every new soldier, I had to start the basic trainings to them and teach them how to control their powers. I am not allowed to outside my job. I never had friends, I never had someone to share stories with, but the raging princess and stupid, ogling soldiers! I never trained someone my age before. All I train are small kids or grown up soldiers. Those my age are trained by other advanced trainers.”

That is when I felt something in my heart that was not necessary. I felt a lot of pity and felt like holding her hand and soothing her.

“So are you happy with your job? It seems cruel.” I admitted.

“Do I look happy to you?” She asked angrily.

“Uh! No!” I said.

She glared at me and her eyes were watery.

“I’m sorry Sophi,” I said, “I know how it feels. I have my story too. I ate my friend!”

Sophia smiled. The way she smiled, it looked like that happened every time: her trainees telling her how they ate their best friends at their birthday parties.

“What do you love, Tony?” Sophia asked me. Well that was pretty tricky. And that is when I suddenly remembered Fatuma. I had forgotten about her since the moment I saw Sophia. What the stupid guy I was! But I wasn’t going to say it to her. It was shame.

“What do you mean, ‘love’?” I asked.

“Don’t play you don’t know what LOVE does mean!” She said angrily!

“Ok, my girlfriend!” I said.

“WHAT?!!” She asked in shock and misunderstanding.

“I said my girlfriend is the one I love.” I said.

Suddenly, her shocked look vanished. And she looked me with the same sad look.

“Ok, are you sure you love her with all your heart?” She asked, trying to make her voice sound braver.

“Yes. I love her with all my heart.” I said bravely although this was burning me so much inside!

“Then think about her!” She whispered.

“What?!” I asked slowly, not understanding what her intention was.

She suddenly held my throat, made a sharp step forward and tripped me over her leg and made me fall backward and my butt hit the ground. It happened so suddenly I was too late to react. She roared and bore fangs and drew one of her swords and rose it up.

“Do you love your girlfriend?!” She screamed, drawing her sword.

I tried to answer, but I was too shocked to answer.

“THEN LIVE FOR HER!” Sophia screamed and brought the sword down to my belly with much force that I had no time to think it was a joke!

I rolled on the side and found myself in that spider man’s stance. She turned around swinging her sword fiercely and brought it to my throat! I back-flipped and the sword passed under me.

Oh! Then she wasn’t joking. She wanted to kill me. She wanted the real killing fight. She wanted to kill me because of my girlfriend. That is what I thought. The made three quick steps while swinging her sword and almost got me when I caught her hand and tried to disarm her. I succeeded to take away her sword buy she had another sword just in the same second.

Now I didn’t know how to fight with swords. I started slashing the air so as if the strike got her, it would tear her apart. But I realized then that I almost fully turned into the wolf. My claws were long and my fangs were stronger. I was hairy and every move I made was followed by the growl and roar.

My sword-fighting disabilities gave her a good chance. She dodged some of my blows and caught my arms completely from behind, so I had no chance and I couldn’t move a muscle. She was stronger than she looked and when she caught me, I had nothing but to calm down.

“Oh gee!” She said, panting, “You have nasty anger issues! A little disappointment, you turn into a wolf! First lesson, you passed. Staying alive!”

I popped my eyes.

I had now calmed down and I was back in my human form.

“Wait,” I said shyly, “that was not a fight. You were not trying to kill me?”

“I was teaching you how to be alive. Any time you have to stay alive.” She explained.

“Wow.” I said. She released me and took her sword from me. I couldn’t believe it.

“But you have to control your wolf. We turn into our true form when it is time to fight the enemy, or when it is the full moon. If you don’t control that, you will be killing more innocent people in and outside the pack. Like the way how you killed your friend.” She explained.

“So how do I control my wolf?” I asked.

“Think of what and who you love. Imagine you are with her, I mean your girl, imagine she… is she human?” She asked.

“Yes,” I said, “We left her in the city.”

“In the human world?” She asked.

“Yes.” I said, “Wait! The human world?”

She nodded and went on with the explanations, “If it is not full moon, or when you are fighting another wolf, NO TURNING INTO A WOLF! You get me?”

“Okay,” I said.

“Look at me, Tony.” She said softly, picking up her spear, “I am your girlfriend. We are looking forward to you marrying me and we have cubs… I mean kids. We have a big family with much love and bright future of forever happiness.”

It damned worked! In front of me was Fatuma talking with a strong spear in her hands. He was walking in circles slowly as I followed her not losing the sight of her.

“My love,” She said, “my only one. My husband! I want you to… DIE RIGHT NOW!” Then she charged!

The spear would had got me if I didn’t turn aside and let it pass aside! She started whirling her spear… but I still saw her in Fatuma’s form. The spear almost got my face and tore me to pieces, but I dodged it and ran behind her! I was about to turn into a wolf and jump towards her, I really felt like that, and eat her head off. My claws grew bigger.

I growled, but suddenly remembered the words she said earlier: having kids, loving me so much, having forever happiness? I suddenly felt weak and my claws went back. I was about to fall down when I saw the spear right above me, still whirling. I rolled aside, making the spear stab the ground. The next second I was ready. She brought down the spear and I caught it tactically. I pulled it and got it away from her hands. Then I made a step, and before she drew her sword, I quickly held her hands and pulled her closer and held her against my body. She gasped as I pressed her against my body and wrapped my left hand around her small of the back while my right hand resisted the other hand of hers to draw the sword.

She looked helpless and defeated. She panted and gasped, skipping a lot of air in her lungs. Her eyes looked wider and more beautiful, and that is when I saw her in her true Sophia form. The previous Fatuma form was just the illusion of my mind. And it really worked.

We stood like that for a minute, and nobody talked to one another as we held each other. Sophia’s eyes looked beautiful, watery and afraid. Her heart thumped faster than normal.

“You learn fast!” She whispered sheepishly.

I felt the urge to tell her she was more beautiful than any time I’ve ever looked at her.

“Sophi.” I whispered.

She shrugged off my hands and stood in front of me, looking me in the eyes. The same sad look showed up in her eyes. She tried to smile but failed.

“Sophi,” I called slowly, “are you okay?”

“Yes, totally,” she forced happiness in her voice, “I hope your girl loves you like you do.”

My heart now began to feel something weird towards Sophia. I refused to accept the possible fact that I was falling in love with her. I just stared her in her eyes.

“Hope she is alright.” Sophia said. “Don’t be sad! She misses you too.” She stuck out her tongue jokingly and laughed.