“I need all of you to pay attention,” I called as I clapped my hands.
Devon had ordered all the children to be escorted to the square. Parents and caretakers lingered close by. I ignored the glares and looks of distaste coming from a few of them. They weren’t happy to be here with a woman they refused to accept as their Alpha Female. They didn’t want me anywhere near their children. If it didn’t concern the safety of the children, I wouldn’t have been so adamant about this.
The children continued to chat with each other despite me trying to catch their attention. I sighed and glanced around. Devon and David were in a meeting. I knew that if I had asked, they both would be here with me, but I needed to do this on my own. Wrin stood off to the side along with another man I’ve never met before.
I raised my hand and placed my forefinger and thumb into my mouth and whistled. I winced along with them. It hurt my ears but it worked because they instantly fell silent. All attention was focused on me. I slowly blew out a breath and took a step forward.
“Listen up,” I called. “I need you to work with me please.”
“We don’t want our children involved in this war,” someone called out. “We don’t want them to learn how to fight.”
“It’s not about what you want,” I yelled over the rise of voices. “It’s about what your children want. It’s about their safety.” I waited until everybody fell silent. “If you’re not interested in learning to fight then you can leave.”
I waited for them to leave, but to my surprise and those of the parents, none of the children ran off. They stood staring up at me with excited eyes. I smiled at them. At least I was doing something right. I clasped my hands together in front of my body and took a deep breath which I slowly blew out.
“Okay, I need you to divide into groups according to your age.” I pointed to the left. “Teenagers that side, young ones on the other.”
I glanced over at Wrin as the kids started to move. He was smiling at me. I returned the smile. My eyes darted around the kids scrambling the find their age group. Longing filled me but I pushed it away. One day I’ll have a family of my own. I wasn’t ready—we weren’t ready just yet. I was a teenager myself. Funny how our age difference never bothered me or them. I bit my lip as a thought struck. Was it bothering them but they just weren’t saying anything?
“We’re done, Luna.”
I snapped back to reality. My smile widened when I saw that they were all standing neatly in a row. Where do I go from here? I haven’t planned things past this. A brush against my arm made me turn towards it. Wrin stepped closer and bent slightly until his lips were close to mine.
“I’ll train the boys, ages eleven and up. My friend’s sister over there will take the girls. I’ve talked to a few other trainers. All the age groups have a trainer apart from the young ones.”
My eyes darted over to them. They were a small group, about fifteen girls and boys. I knew the basics of fighting to teach them something. “I’ll train them.”
“Are you sure?” Wrin asked softly.
I nodded. “I know the basics, and I’m sure I could handle them.”
“I wish you luck then.” He smirked.
He turned to the front. After a few minutes, the groups were introduced to their trainers. We worked out a schedule that would work for everybody. The teenagers would be training in the afternoon since school would be starting up again on Wednesday. After that was sorted I led the group I’d be training towards the training building.
I was aware of the caretakers and mothers following closely behind. The training room was empty, something Wrin must have organized when we were making our way here. Big mats covered the whole floor. The equipment had been moved to the far corner of the room, out of the children’s reach. It had been transformed into a safe place for the kids within minutes—something I hadn’t thought about.
I kicked off my shoes before making my way to the middle of the room. I watched as they all took their shoes off and walked over to me. They were between the ages of three to seven. Uncertainty filled me as I stared at them. Where to begin? I pushed all the doubts to the back of my mind. Ignoring the adults lingering about the room was another problem, but I managed to keep my attention focused on the kids.
“I want you all to form a circle around me. Straighten your arms so you can make sure that there is enough space for you to move.” I held my arms out at my sides and watched as they followed my orders.
“Okay. Before we start, we need to warm up.”
“Why?” someone called from the back.
I turned towards the voice. The smile naturally slipped onto my face. “So we don’t get hurt while we train. It’s important to stretch our muscles and everything.”
“What do we do?”
“Hold your arms out at your sides and slowly moved them like this.” I turned in a circle to make sure that everybody was doing the same thing. “Okay, now a little faster.”
In no time we were all a giggling mess. I made them do all the warm-ups Devon made me do before we started the lesson. Of course, I didn’t push them as hard as he pushed me. I made it fun and encouraged them when they felt like they couldn’t do it.
After the warm-ups, I divided the boys and the girls and had them choose someone to work with. I showed them how to block a hit and let them practice it as I moved between them to correct their postures. They were eager to learn and please me. I covered the basics and then made them pretend to fight with their partners. The younger ones were still a little clumsy but a little more practice and they would be pros.
“That’s enough for today.”
I glanced up when I heard Devon. They were both standing by the door with two elders beside them. By the looks of it, they’ve been standing there for a while. David looked angry which had me wondering if I had done something wrong.
I walked back to the middle of the circle and clapped my hands. They instantly turned towards me. “You all did great today. I’m very proud of you. Now we need to cool off before you can go home.”
“Do we have to leave?”
My eyes widened. Did they want to stay? My eyes darted over to my mates in question. I didn’t want them to go either but I didn’t know how long we’ve been busy here for. David muttered something to Devon. He nodded before straightening and making his way towards me. His hands brushed the head of the children he passed.
“Unfortunately your training for today is over,” he told them softly. His eyes locked with mine when they all moaned. “But if you asked nicely, I’m sure your parents will bring you over to the packhouse for lunch.”
“Bye, Luna!”
I greeted them and watched as they darted away before turning my attention to Devon. His eyes were already focused on me. My smile slipped slightly when he didn’t return it. I glanced at the door. David was talking to one of the parents. Devon moved, snapping my attention towards him again.
“One of the parents went to the elders to complain about this,” he muttered, gesturing around. “They called us and demanded that we put a stop to this.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I—”
“Don’t,” he growled. “We have already decided to go through with this—with or without their permission.”
“Good.”
Guilt flooded me. I reached out and placed my hand on his arm. Devon instantly tugged my body against his. His arms wrapped around my waist and his head moved to the crook of my neck. I heard him suck in a deep breath. My hesitation only lasted a second. I buried my hands in his hair and held him close. It was obvious that something was bothering him.
“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
“I don’t want to,” he muttered.
My knees weakened when he licked the skin under my ear. One thing I loved about them, was their sex drive. I didn’t have to feel shy about it because they felt the same.
Devon suddenly bit down on my earlobe. I gasped, pulling away from him. His dark eyes caught mine before dropping to my chest. “You’re not changing the subject here by turning me on. I can sense that something is bothering you. Having met the elders, I know it has to do with me. Tell me.”
“I really don’t want to, Val,” he said softly. “It’s not important.”
“Now that is a lie!”
I turned my head to the right to watch David move closer. He was frowning at Devon with displeasure. Their eyes locked. I sighed and stepped away from Devon. Silent communication. I still needed to ask them about it. Wrin had assured me that Lycan’s had no mind-reading abilities at all—that was after he had stopped laughing at me for asking him that.
“Would you stop doing that and just tell me what the hell is wrong?” I yelled.
Both men jerked as if they’ve been startled. Their eyes snapped to me. Now both of them were frowning in displeasure. The only time they acted like this was if it was bad news or something to do with me. Was it another threat? Anger filled me when neither of them said anything. I sucked in a breath and then threw a punch at David and kicked out at Devon.
They both grunted as they stumbled backward.
“What the hell Val?” David breathed.
I actually hit him hard enough to hurt. I smirked. “You wouldn’t answer me.”
“You want to play, little dove?”
My smirk turned into a full-on smile. “Bring it on pretty boys.”
Devon kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt up and over his head. Dropping it by his shoes, he stretched his arms and neck as he moved towards me. I rocked back on the balls of my feet as I watched him. His lips were twitching, but he wasn’t allowing the smile to slip onto his face. We silently circled each other. Devon threw the first punch which I instantly dodged.
I managed to hit him twice and get a kick in before he got me. The kick to the hip made me stumble backward. If it wasn’t for the punch he threw to my middle, I would’ve regained my balance. The air was knocked from my lungs when I hit the mat. I sucked in a breath as I climbed to my feet. Devon was full-on smiling at me now. I hesitated but reached for the hem of my shirt.
David’s loud growl made me pause. “Don’t you dare take that off!”
“It’s hot. I’ll move easier without the shirt clinging to my body.”
“I won’t have other men staring at your body.”
I made a point of glancing around the empty room. Before he could utter another word, I pulled the shirt off and over my head and threw it aside. When I glanced up at them they were staring at me with their mouths hanging open. I glanced down at my chest and then back up at them.
“You don’t like it?” I asked softly. “Mel helped me pick it out. It fits better than the ones I had.”
I glanced down at my body again. Self-consciousness filled me. I had lost a lot of weight but I had regained it again the moment we returned home. It’s been a week and I was almost back to my usual weight. Devon cleared his throat, making me look back up at him.
“It looks really good, baby.” He swallowed. “Now put your shirt back on.”
“We can’t concentrate when you’re half-naked.”
“Then we’re even.” I smiled at them.
I felt a little better knowing that they still found me attractive even after the weight loss. My eyes darted down to their crotches as I turned away from them. I still made them hard. Turning around, I held up my arms and gestured for them to come at me.
They both stepped closer. This time I fought against two. Since the time I grew claws and fangs other things had changed too. I had better hearing and a scene of smell. I was stronger and the bruises faded faster. I loved it. A tiny part of me wanted to know what it’ll feel like shifting forms and running in the woods with them. I had seen how they mated in shifted form. What would it be like between the three of us?
“You’re not concentrating, Val,” Devon called as he hit me again. “What are you thinking about?”
“Shifting.”
My answer seemed to catch both of them off guard. They froze, glanced at each other, and then started circling me again. I turned slightly to keep them both in my line of sight.
“What about shifting?”
I was thankful that my face was already flushed from the exercise otherwise they would be able to pick up on my thoughts. But even then David seemed to be reading my mind. He smirked and glanced over my shoulder at Devon.
“She’s thinking about how we fuck in shifted from.”
“I’m not,” I instantly denied.
His smirk widened. “No? So you’re not thinking about Moon and his female fucking?”
“N-no.”
I gasped when both of them moved at the same time. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge their hands. Within seconds I was trapped between their warm bodies. I moaned when Devon’s lips attached to my neck. David nibbled my lips with his sharp teeth. They were being unfair.
“I’m sure we could show you how we fuck in shifted for,” David breathed against my lips.
Devon raised his head. “We could?”
David’s smirk widened. “Of course we can. I think I know what we’ll be doing tonight.”
“Breaking furniture?”
They both chuckled.
“Amongst other things.”
I arched between them, pressing my breast against David’s chest and my ass against Devon’s crotch. I couldn’t wait to watch them kissing and touching each other. Just the thought of it made heat flood my panties. Yeah, I could imagine it.
“Well, well, well,” a cold voice called from the doorway. “Now I know what the Alphas are up to when they should be talking war strategies.”