Chapter 89: Violet

Within fifteen minutes we were all down in Simon’s office. He was sitting in his chair; I was on the couch on the far side of the wall and Jared and Greta sat in the chairs on the other side of the desk across form Simon.

I listened as Simon went over what we discussed in our room. He was serious, down to business. This was what made him a good Alpha. Jared asked a few questions here and there but overall, only listened. Greta didn’t say a word. I could feel her concern, she glanced back at me every so often, questions in her eyes.

“How does that sound?” Simon said when he finished his rundown.

“I think it’s the best we can hope for. We have gone into battle with a lot less information. At least we have Violet with any and all information that we can glean from her.” Jared said, nodding to me.

Greta turned around and stared at me. “How do you feel about this?” I didn’t know this Greta. She was all business and no fun. She would normally crack a few jokes when the air got too serious. Now there were no jokes to share.

“If I’m being honest, I wanted to leave for a while, just to protect the pack.” I said quietly. Even uttering the words about leaving made my stomach drop. I didn’t want to leave, but that would have been the best option, to protect more people.

“No!” Simon yelled, he stood. “I already told you that is out of the question.”

“I know, I just wanted to let them know there is always another option. One that would put fewer pack members at risk.” I stood, taking a few steps closer to the desk.

Jared nodded. “That would be a good option if you weren’t part of the pack.” He looked at me and then at Greta. “You’re our Luna, no matter what happens, and we fight as a pack.”

Simon looked at Jared with a proud face. It seemed that he finally accepted me, now whether he was afraid of me or not was a different question.

“You see?” Simon pointed at Jared. “Out of the question. You can’t just abandon your pack. And the pack won’t abandon you.”

“I wouldn’t be abandoning the pack. I just think that if I took the fight elsewhere, there would be fewer casualties.” I looked at each of them. “You don’t know what he is capable of. I’ve seen him destroy a strong witch with a blink of an eye.” My words caught as I thought back about Myrtle.

The room fell silent. I knew I wasn’t going to win this fight. Simon was hell bent on keeping me here, protecting me as best as he could. But he wouldn’t be prepared, no matter how much information I shared with him.

I looked over to Greta who was quiet. “What do you think?”

She turned her chair, scraping the legs against the floorboards. “You’re my Luna and best friend. I go where you go.” She gave me a weak smile.

I shook my head. “Can this at least be a plan b? If something happens, if the protection spell breaks for whatever reason sooner than we anticipated I can leave.”

Simon looked at me. I could feel him and Remus battling with each other. Simon used logic and Remus used his animal instincts. He was my familiar, he had a bond with me that no one could really understand. That connection went deep, deeper than the mate bond I had with Simon. I was stronger with Remus around; he was like a conductor for my powers. Without him, I was still powerful, but with him I was downright destructive.

I have felt powerful witches in the past, even Myrtle. But nothing compares to the power that flowed through my veins. I haven’t even trained with him, it’s been a matter of a couple weeks since I’ve found him and we have had little to no interaction, save for the first initial meeting and him coming through Simon not an hour before.

“I don’t like it.” Simon said gently. “But it can be plan b. And only when I say so.” He put both of his hands on his desk and stared at me. Waiting for my understanding.

I nodded. “I can agree to that.”

Greta cleared her throat. “What does this training for Vi entail?”

I talked through what I thought the best way to prepare me for what was to come. How I need to hone my skills and learn everything in the book that Myrtle gave me. The faster I learned the better off we would be.

“What you’re saying is, you need some crash test dummies?” Greta said with a smirk.

“I need to fight against something. I wouldn’t hurt anyone. Just need some opposition.”

“You’ll get all the help you need.” Simon chimed in. “We can have some of the guards’ help, they can do it in rotations. Just let them know what you are working on so they can be prepared.”

I nodded to Simon.

“I can volunteer first.” Greta said. “I’m off today and would kill to see what you got.” She smiled.

“Did you just come off of long guard duty?”

“Psf, whatever. This is way more interesting.” She stood and stretched her arms over her. “Let’s go!” She made her way through the door.

I looked at Simon, he shrugged.

“Are you ok with this?” I asked Jared.

He gave me a half smile. “Do you think I can tell her what to do?”

I laughed. “Very true.”

I followed Greta. She made her way out the backdoor to the training grounds. It was empty except for a few stragglers still sparing. I had an idea.

“Do you think they would be able to help as well?” I pointed to the others in the training area. Simon and Jared were behind us, they took a seat on the patio to watch what was about to happen. I looked to Simon, “you can help as well.”

“Yup.” He said and stood and walked over to me arm around my waist holding my hip.

Greta looked over to the others, brought her fingers to her mouth and let out a loud, shrill whistle. The looked over and she waved her hand for them to come over. Seven wolves surrounded me. I looked at each of them. “We are going to play a game.” Greta’s eyes lit up.

“What sort of game?” One of the younger wolves said. He had sandy, long hair. He was no more than eighteen.

“Tag.”

Simon chuckled behind me, knowing where I was going. The others looked at each other confused. Greta started shuffling in place, warming up.

“The only difference is you all are it and you need to tag me.”

“Easy!” Another wolf shouted, she had long black hair tied up in a ponytail. She was young as well.

“Don’t underestimate your Luna.” Simon said with a smile.

“She can’t be faster than us.” Another wolf said, this one had short blond hair, taller than the other sparring mates.

“Looks can be deceiving.” I smiled.

“Ok, when do we start?” the sandy haired wolf asked.

“Now.” I quick stepped away from the group, only a few yards.

The wolves looked around, confused.

“Not as easy as you thought, huh?” I shouted from my new position.

The young wolves spotted me and charged. I quick stepped further away. Simon watched from his original position, amused at the young wolves chasing after me. He finally started to jog in my direction. The chase continued for well over thirty minutes. No one was even close to getting me. Simon wasn’t even trying. He was just following behind the others, keeping up, laughing.

I paused a distance away, trying to catch my breath. Simon saw me pause and darted full speed at me, going past the others. He was a few feet away when I quick stepped back. Not as far as I would have liked. I was exhausted. He was waiting for me to tire out. He knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. He just needed to buy his time.

I tried to quick step away, but my powers were exhausted. Simon lunged at me, wrapping his arms around me, tackling me to the ground. He shifted his weight so I would land on him. “You’re it.”

I lay on top of him and looked into his eyes. Amusement replaced his serious gaze. He leaned up and kissed me. I pulled away. “You’re a dirty cheat.” I smiled.

“I played the game…and won.”

I looked over at the others, some were bent over gasping for breath, others lay on the grass spread out. Greta and Jared lay next to each other, holding hands, trying to catch their breath.

“I think you killed my pack.” Simon said.

“They are just tired.” I laughed.

“I think today was a success.” He said with a serious look in his eye. “But I think going forward you need to get a little more serious about training. It can’t all be a game.”

I took a moment to let his words sink in. “Do you think I’m not taking this seriously?” I said, pulling further away from him.

“No, it’s not that.” he said quickly.

I stood and walked toward the house. I was furious. This training was for me, no matter how I trained it was going to benefit me. So that I can protect the pack as well as figure out a way to get my coven back. This really affected me more than him and yet he acted as if I wasn’t taking this seriously. I looked over at Greta and Jared who watched me walk by. Greta looked at me and I just shrugged and shook my head at her.