I jog over to the training fields the next morning, trying to get my blood pumping after a terrible sleep. First, horrible nightmares of Andreas and Dad’s deaths, then they’d mix and form what I can only describe as a super nightmare that kept me up most of the night. Enyo yawns in the back of my mind, stretching and trying to give me some of her energy, but she slept as badly as I did.
‘*Can’t we skip training*?’ She whines.
‘*Come on, don’t go soft on me now. This will do us some good. We haven’t had a proper workout since Catherine*.’
Enyo growls at the mention of Catherine’s name, making me giggle. I feel a burst of energy, so I jog a little faster, making my way to the group of warriors stretching and getting ready for training. I make my way to the front of the group and stand next to Uncle Alex and Ryna, jogging on the spot and stretching my arms.
‘*Where’s Alpha Damon*?’ I ask Ryna.
He snorts, ‘*The Alpha hasn’t been to training in months. Apparently, now that he found his Luna, he doesn’t need to train anymore*.’
‘*Just because you’re stronger with your Luna, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to train*?’ I raise my eyebrow at Ryna in surprise and he just shrugs.
“Good morning, warriors!” Uncle Alex’s voice booms across the field, bringing everyone to attention. “I hope you haven’t been slacking off while I’ve been gone because, as you can see, Athena is joining us today,” Uncle Alex says with a lopsided grin. “And you all know what she thinks of slackers.” Uncle Alex tries hard not to laugh as half of the warriors groan, and the others whoop.
“Get to your mats with your fight partner, and let’s show your future Gamma that you’re not a bunch of slackers!” He instructs them.
The warriors pair off and start training, and I walk around the mats, observing them. A few lycans have turned 16 and become warriors since I left, and I focus on them first, walking between the mats and watching what skills they’ve learned. One particular guy catches my eye because I’ve never seen him before. “Who’s that?” I ask Uncle Alex, nodding towards the guy.
“That would be Tony,” he says with a sigh. “Absolute pain in my ass. He came to us as a rogue and finds it hard to follow orders. He picks on the younger boys a lot too,” Uncle Alex explains.
I walk closer to him, and I can hear Tony taunting his training partner, Ross, who is on the ground.
“Come on, Ross, ya big wimp! Or are you too scared to take me on properly!” Tony laughs in Ross’s face as he gets up off the ground.
“Maybe if you fought fairly, Tony!“ Ross says, and Tony pushes him down to the ground again.
“Hey!” I yell, causing everybody to stop sparring and look in our direction. “Fight fair or get off my field,” I growl.
Tony laughs, “who’s the chick?” He motions with his thumb towards me, addressing Uncle Alex.
“Mind your place, boy, or she’ll put you in it,” Uncle Alex growls, making Tony laugh harder.
“Please,“ he snickers. “I’d like to see her try,” he smirks at me.
“That’s your future Gamma that you’re disrespecting,” Ryna growls from behind me.
“A chick as a Gamma?!” He laughs again. “What a joke. Come on, baby, why don’t you show me what you’ve got?”
Uncle Alex moves towards Tony, but I put my hand on his chest to stop him. I remove my lightweight jacket and hand it to Ryna as I turn and ask, “how old is this mutt?”
“He’s 23,” Ryna says, with a knowing grin on his face. “Old enough for you to kick his ass.”
Ross scurries off the mat and joins the group that has now surrounded us as I step onto the mat and face Tony.
“Kick his ass, Athena!” someone yells.
“Yeah! Show him what an actual warrior looks like!” someone else yells.
“Shall we set some rules?” I ask.
“Nah, baby. I’ll make sure I don’t scar your pretty face even more than it already is,” he says.
The warriors growl at Tony for disrespecting me, and the circle gets smaller as they move in closer.
I turn in a circle and instruct the warriors. “He’s mine. No one gets involved.”
They all nod and take a step back, and I turn to face Tony again.
“Oh baby, you’re getting me all hard with your tough act,” he says, grabbing himself provocatively.
I give him my biggest smile and saunter towards him, making him think I’m hot for him. Then, as I stand in front of him, I trail my finger down his chest and lean in to whisper in his ear. “You will learn your place, mutt.” Then I grab him by the throat, lift him and slam him hard to the mat, the impact winding him and causing him to gasp for air.
“Ooooh,” the warriors around us say and wince or laugh as Tony rolls onto his stomach and stands up, stumbling a little. Then, when he steadies himself and turns around, he gives me a smile. “Is that all you’ve got?”
I smile and take a fighting stance as Tony stalks towards me. When he gets closer to me, I draw my arm back and punch him hard in the nose. I feel and hear the bones break as he stumbles backwards and grabs his nose.
“Agh! Bitch!” He yells as he puts his nose back into place. “You’re going to regret that!” He yells as he runs towards me again., and I hook my arm around his and use the momentum to flip him over and slam him hard onto his back.
I bend over and look at him. “Give up yet?”
“You wish,” he says as he gets back to his feet.
I shrug and step back, getting into a fighting stance again. He comes at me, throwing punches, and I block every punch. Frustrated, Tony tries to get me into a headlock, but I counter it and put him in a sleeper hold, barely applying pressure.
“How about now?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he reaches up and grabs me by my ponytail and tries to flip me over his shoulder. When he fails, I laugh in his ear, release my hold, and push him away from me.
“If you want a place in this pack, Tony, you will learn to respect your leaders and fellow warriors. You not only answer to the Alpha, but you also answer to your Gamma and those in charge as well. If you can’t do that, then you have no place as a warrior,” I say to him.
“I will never take orders from a woman,” he snarls, his face red with rage.
“You will submit to me, mutt,” Enyo growls, pushing herself forward.
When he sees Enyo’s glowing blue eyes, Tony falters, “What the fuck? What are you? Some kind of freak?”
Enyo growls as we stalk towards him. Tony takes a couple of steps back, looking around, unsure what to do. Then, he cracks his neck, and Enyo can tell he’s about to shift, so she does too.
Enyo towers over his pathetic excuse for a wolf, a small and shaggy, plain-looking wolf, who doesn’t even look like he should be a warrior.
Enyo asks Tony’s wolf through mind-link, ‘*What’s your name, wolf*?’
His wolf whimpers and takes another step back. ‘*Vik*,’ he responds with a small growl.
‘*Are you going to submit*?’ Enyo asks.
Vik looks around at the warriors surrounding us, then back to Enyo. ‘*Make me*.’
He tries pouncing at us, but Enyo dodges him, and he lands nose-first on the mat. Vik gets up quickly and tries to grab Enyo around the throat, but she raises her huge paw and strikes him hard across the face, drawing blood. He falls onto his stomach again, and Enyo places her huge paw on his back and holds him down, leaning down and growling loudly in his ear. ‘*Submit*.’
‘NO!’ He yells through the mind-link.
Vik tries to get up, but Enyo pushes him back down again, showing her dominance over him. ‘*SUBMIT*!’ She yells, her growl rumbling across the field.
When he doesn’t answer, she grabs him by the scruff of the neck with her mouth and throws him across the mat. He lands hard and rolls onto his back. Enyo dives on top of him quickly, takes his throat in her mouth, and applies pressure. Vik tries to struggle out of her hold, but it’s useless.
After a few moments of struggling aimlessly, Vik yells, ‘*Fine! I Submit*!’
Enyo releases his throat and shifts back, as does Vik.
“I want to hear it from you too, Tony. Do you submit?” I ask.
He bows his head to me and then to Uncle Alex and Ryna. “Yes, I submit.”
I motion for Tony to join the others as I turn my attention to the rest of the warriors. “When you became a warrior, you vowed to protect our pack with your life,” I say, addressing them all. “To do that, you need to trust and respect each other, and know that the men and women by your side would die for you. You need to respect your leaders and trust them with your lives. Gamma Alex and Ryna would sacrifice their lives for you. If you don’t believe that, or can’t do the same for them or your fellow warriors, then you have no business being here!“ I yell, walking inside the circle. “A lot of you have never seen or been in an actual fight. But there may come a day when you’re asked to risk you life to protect this pack. Someone has attacked us before, and we lost our Alpha, Gamma, and many innocent pack members. If those enemies come knocking again, and you don’t think that you can defend this pack, then leave this field right now!”
It’s quiet for a few moments as everyone looks around at each other. Then, the warrior Harry, starts beating his chest with his fist in a slow beat. The rest start to follow the rhythm with low grunts and growls as everyone starts to get riled up.
“ARE YOU WARRIORS?” I yell above the noise.
“YES!” they respond in unison.
“WILL YOU DEFEND THIS PACK?!”
“YES!”
“WILL YOU SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE FOR THIS PACK?!”
“YES!”
“WILL YOU DIE PROTECTING THE WARRIORS BESIDE YOU?!”
“YES!”
I shift again, and everyone follows. Towering over the warriors, Enyo addresses them as well. ‘*We are the Blood-Moon pack! For two centuries, we have lived and fought for this territory, and we will show all of our enemies that we will never forfeit our home! That we are to be feared! That anyone who challenges us will die before they can take anyone from us again!*’ Enyo then raises her head high and howls, and everyone howls with her. The howl is loud and echoes around us, causing birds to fly off and wildlife to scatter.