CHAPTER 10 – FIRST DAY

CHAPTER 10 – FIRST DAY
Sloane P.O.V.

Yesterday, I’ve not being able to find more information on the orphanage, and what could be hiding behind it.
Before walking out of the washroom, I flushed the paper in the toilet, not wanting the small paper to end in the wrong ends; I wouldn’t put it above Axel to have someone go through the stuff in our rooms daily.
Axel wanted to take me out to dinner after our visit, but I declined saying that I wasn’t feeling well, he didn’t seem to buy it, but thankfully he didn’t insist. When I asked him why he brought me to see the children, he just said that I seemed a little upset lately, and wanted to cheer me up, knowing I like to be around children. How he knows this piece of information is beyond me, but I didn’t dare ask him; sometimes it is better not to pry too much, curiosity kills the cat and all.
As soon as we got back to the packhouse, I filled Daniel in on everything, and he agreed with me that the children might be exploited for some illegal business, like child trafficking, child labor, prostitution or even organ trafficking. All the options are chilling, and if we find our suspicions to be true, we need to act immediately to put a stop to it.
The difficult part will be scooping around and finding proof; Axel is not an idiot; he will have covered his traces well and will definitely have put up strict security around the pack. Now the gigantic iron gate and surrounding tall walls make much more sense.
As this wasn’t enough to worry about, meeting Nathan again after what happened yesterday in the restroom is making my stomach cramp with nerves. How will he behave? Will he pretend that nothing happened, will he be angry, or will he be warmer towards me? 
Not surprisingly we are assigned to the same training group, as I’m the one who made up the teams. There will be forty students in total around 15- to 17-year-old for 4 teachers. It’s going to be a challenge, but the teachers are all experienced warriors, and I am positive we will manage to handle them.
I put on black leggings, a matching black sports bra, topped by a white tank top and black trainers to finish the look. I put my hair into a bun, to avoid anyone using my hair as a weapon against me during combat. 
No make up today, I am confident enough in my looks that I don’t feel the need to put any on. Also, I am not sure it could withstand a whole day of training, better going natural than looking like a panda at the end of the day.
I have breakfast with Daniel, he gives me a few suggestions on how to handle Nathan during training, which I am very grateful for, and then I walk to the training grounds, where the other trainers have already gathered. I can see the silhouette of Nathan from here, and nerves immediately kick in. My heart thumps insanely fast, and my mind goes completely blank. Why do I have to feel like a schoolgirl around him, when he is completely unphased, like he doesn’t feel anything at all? Is the bond working only for me?
“Morning, Alpha Moore!” one of my fellow teachers greets me, he is from Axel’s pack, a seasoned warrior, around 30, tall and muscular, like all warriors are, but he is also very handsome, black hair, squared jaw, grey eyes, and a smile that would make any woman swoon. Pity I am already swooning for someone else.
“Morning! You must be Matteo; it’s a pleasure to meet you. Just call me Sloane, we are all the same here, teachers ready to be slaughtered by evil teenage students.”
He laughs at my stupid joke, and his laughter is way better than his smile, goddess this man is just perfection. I am so dazed that I completely forget about Nathan and feeling nervous.
“Morning,” Nathan says grumpily, attracting my attention again. Someone sounds jealous, I smile internally at his reaction.
“Morning,” I reply with a smile, getting a completely impassive stare in return. Grumpy mate.
“Morning, Alpha! Morning, everyone!” Mason, one of my warriors, and the last member of our teaching squad. He is a very tall guy, around 1 metre 90, but with a slenderer figure than Matteo and Nathan. He is a good-natured giant with loads of patience and a contagious smile that always manages to cheer me up. 
He gives me a tight hug as greeting, as we always do when we meet for training in the morning, and I hear Nathan scoff in the background. Someone is really in a bad mood today, marvellous.
We make our way in front of the class, we are on a small stage, this way the students can see us more clearly, even from the back rows. The kids are completely unaware of our presence, too focused in their games and gossips.
I clear my throat and push out my Alpha aura to get their attention, and in a few seconds, they are all in line and on attention. Good boys!
 “Hi everyone, I want to thank you for participating to this course, and I hope you will learn a lot in these two weeks. Your instructors are all experienced high-level warriors, you are very lucky to have them as your teachers, and I really hope you will try to learn as much as possible from them. Make the best of this great opportunity.”
They all clap in approval, and I smile satisfied by their welcoming attitude.
“You can address me as Alpha Sloane, I will be one of your teachers too, together with Mr. Rogers (Matteo), Mr. Cooper (Mason) and Mr. Anderson (Nathan).” I put Nathan last on purpose, hoping to rile him up a little bit more, and he looks just a little more pissed. Good!
“Now, we will start with some warm-up, we’ll run ten laps on the field and then do some stretching.” 
The students all answer with a groan, which was to be expected, no ones like to run laps, and ten laps are quite a distance, but they need to build up stamina. I jump down the stage and start running, yelling, “Who can outrun me gets to skip tomorrow’s warm up!”
The incentive seems to work, because the kids all start running at top speed after me; pity they are never going to outrun me, I am too fast for them, I have trained since I was little, and I can keep running for hours without slowing down. Bring it on kids!
I feel Nathan’s presence right behind me, and I can’t stop myself from having a dig at him. 
“Hoping to skip tomorrow’s warm up, Anderson? Too bad you can’t outrun me,” I say with a laugh, sure that he won’t be able to keep up.
“You’re a bit too full of yourself, Alpha Sloane,” he comments, while speeding up, trying to outdo me. Not happening, cutie. I speed up too, and we run at top speed side by side the remaining nine laps, no one able to outrun the other. We end up completely out of breath and doubled over, trying to get our bearings. 
“Overdoing it a little, Alpha?” Mason calls, while passing by, followed by the students who look now a little disheartened. Damn, I lost focused of the training, because of my stupid ego; I must do better, I owe it to these kids.
When they are done with the laps, we do some simple stretching and move on to the real training.
“Today we’ll do self-defence and combat training in human form, while next week we will move to combat in wolf form and shifting between the two. We will show you the moves and then you will practice them in couples. Mr. Rogers, would you be my partner?”
“Sure thing, and that’s Matteo for you,” he replies with a wink and a smile.
Nathan seems surprised my choice, maybe he thought I would choose my own warrior, or him, instead of Matteo; but as my aim is to get a reaction out of him, Matteo is definitely the right choice for me. Game on mate!