Chapter 11
Evie
I walk in front, leading my targets towards the training field. Danny is carrying Sonja, who flanks my right, and Isabella, the mud on her arms dry and flaky, flanks my left. We breach the forest’s edge, and my eyelids begin to flicker as I get used to the change in light. I shade my eyes to get a better view of the two people watching us.
“What?” I ask, stopping in front of the two women.
“That was quick,” Lana replies, looking at her stopwatch and then back at me.
“Oh. Well, Danny-boy here made it easy,” I state, looking at Danny, who shrugs.
“Yup. He thought he was being clever!” Sonja says, sliding off Danny’s back.
“I thought you were good at this,” Rhiannon says, giving Danny a look.
“She can tell how old scent trails are. How was I to know,” Danny grumbles.
“Yeah, we found him easy!” Sonja grins, her smile big.
“Who was the first person she found?” Lana asks.
“Me!” Sonja chirps happily.
“Really? Were you up a tree?”
“Yup.”
“Did you wade through the pond before you got there?”
“Yup. Can I have candy floss now?” Sonja asks.
“I should take you back to daycare and then shower. Maybe your sister can get you candy floss after?” Isabella asks Sonja.
“Okay,” Sonja reluctantly agrees.
“One moment. At any time did Evie shift?” Lana asks.
“Nope. She’s that good,” Danny answers.
“We’ll see you later,” Isabella says, waving us goodbye.
“Bye. And remember Can-Dee Floss!” Sonja calls out, emphasising each syllable of the word as she holds Isabella’s hand. I giggle as I watch them go.
“Well done, Evie. You took thirty minutes. It usually takes our trainee trackers half a day to track all three and bring them back,” the other she-wolf says, bringing my focus back to them.
“Thanks. It wasn’t hard,” I answer.
“Take her to the gym next. Let’s see how good she is with weapons,” Danny says.
“Oh, I suck at that,” I comment.
“All you need is practice. I was watching. You have potential,” the she-wolf, who hasn’t introduced herself but reeks of power, remarks. I nod, not believing her.
“I thought you said your favourite weapon was the staff,” Lana says as we enter the training rooms.
“I’m rusty,” I admit. I haven’t handled a staff for a long time. Like the violin, I don’t know how good I’ll be.
Lana leads me to a room where I see a group of Deltas in different sparring modes, some with staffs, some without. She walks over to the side, where a bunch of staffs sit inside a large plastic bucket. I watch as she takes one from the bucket and hands it to me.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” Lana says, walking to a free mat.
“Oh, this should be good,” a voice calls out. I turn to see a familiar figure walking over to us.
“Hey Dharia. How are you?” Lana smiles.
“Great. How come you’re with this runt? Being punished for something?” Dharia asks, a smug look on her face.
“Uh… no… Alaric asked me to see how good she is,” Lana says, looking confused. Dharia snorts.
“I bet. Let’s see. I’ll fight her with the staff. That’ll show you how good she is, huh?”
“Um…” Lana begins.
I look at Lana, who looks unsure, but quite frankly, I don’t care. She may have had my mate a few days ago, but he’s been hands-off ever since I came into the picture.
“Sure. Whatever,” I reply.
“You don’t have to… Evie… are you sure?” Lana asks, sounding worried. I shrug.
“Yeah. I’m good,” I reply.
“This’ll be fun,” Dharia grins. She walks over to the mat and begins twirling her staff. I tilt my head, watching her, before standing on the mat opposite her.
I haven’t handled a staff in a while, and I place my hands in the middle, rolling it between the arch of my thumb and pointer finger as I get used to its weight. The staff in my hands suddenly tilts upwards due to Dharia beginning the spar.
Her actions surprise me, but I grin as the fight begins. Muscle memory sets in as I hold my staff, securing it from flying into the air. Dharia smirked and went for a hit, holding one end of the staff and using it like a sword to swing at me. I respond, jarring my staff forward, making Dharia take several steps back. Quickly, she runs forward and starts swinging her staff wildly towards my body. I meet every swing with one of my own, using my staff to defend myself. I can see Dharia beginning to get frustrated with me, her hands sliding to the bottom to extend her swing. She manages to hit me in the stomach, the tip grazing roughly against my abdomen. It hurts, but it is part of the course. However, the look in Dharia’s eyes disturbs me. They sparkle with glee that she’s made contact.
I feign more pain than reality, holding my stomach as I step back. Everything slows down while I concentrate on my surroundings. I can hear the people coming up to watch, their feet moving in anticipation, their hearts beating in their chests. They talk, cheering one of us on, but it’s slow, steady. Dharia steps forward and takes another swing at me, aiming for my head.
I move, sliding onto my knees as she comes down at me using the staff like an axe, and I raise my hands and catch it. The minutes it takes for Dharia to realise what I’ve done is her undoing. I pull the staff out of her hands and chuck it into the crowd. By the time she’s focused again, I’m standing in a crouched position, my staff in my right hand, which I’m holding behind my back. I have my left arm ahead of me for balance and am still.
Quickly, I spin onto the balls of my feet, taking a ballet step with my left foot and swinging my staff out with my right hand. My speed, coupled with the unexpected hit to Dharia’s abdomen, makes her stumble back this time. Instead of giving her a breather, like she had done with me, I spin again, stepping closer towards her and round kick her in the stomach. As her hands go for her abdomen, I take my staff and jab it at her, purposely missing her chin by millimetres.
“Concede?” I ask.
“Fuck you,” Dharia wheezes. Her staff is thrown to her, and she immediately attempts to swing it out, but this time, I apply more force and flick her staff out of her hand.
“Concede?” I ask again as her staff rattles onto the floor.
“No!” Dharia roars, this time running for me, her fingers beginning to shift into claws. I step to the side at the last moment and watch her run forward.
Dharia stops and turns to look at me, her blonde hair stuck to her forehead in sweat.
“Fucking cunt,” Dharia growls. I shake my head at her, passing my staff from my right hand to my left and twirling it around my fingers. Dharia makes another run at me, and I move. Left foot, spin, right foot, leap. The staff spins in my hand, and in my final movement, both feet planted on the floor, both hands firmly on the wooden staff, I jab and push my weapons outwards, effectively hitting Dharia’s arm side on as she runs past, changing her trajectory and making her stumble across the floor like a puppet with freshly cut strings.
Dharia cries out in pain, holding her arm as she looks at me.
“You…!” she begins when her expression changes. Suddenly, tears fall down her face.
“Alaric! She attacked me!” Dharia cries out, her voice strained in pain.
I turn and see my mate pushing through the crowd.
“What’s going on here?” Alaric growls, scanning the crowd as he comforts Dharia.
“We were… they were…” Lana stutters, trying to explain what is going on.
“Fuck, Lana! I asked you to observe her, not get her sparring with one of our best fighters! You have no clue what you’ve done! Do you?” Alaric growls, picking Dharia up in his arms. He looks at me, anger evident in his eyes.
“And you! We need to talk!”
Alaric looks at the crowd, watching in fury. “Go! Everyone! Out! I’m taking her to medical!”
Alaric storms off with Dharia in his arms, and I watch them as Dharia grins at me from behind his shoulder.
“Wow,” Lana comments as the door to the room closes behind them. Those watching my fight have returned to their positions on the mat, looking guilty.
“Yeah,” I comment. That was unexpected.
“I thought he said…” I give Lana a look, and she stops talking.
My throat feels itchy, and I cough.
“You, okay?” Lana asks.
“Yeah, must be a bit of dust,” I admit, taking my hand away from my mouth. I see light red spots on my hand, and my stomach drops. I know what this means. Alaric is beginning to reject me. A second of sadness flushes through me when Lana asks if I’m hungry and if I want a break.
“I am, let’s go.”
I follow Lana through the pack house, lost in thought about coughing blood. Or specks of blood. I didn’t feel the pain associated with Alaric having pleasure, and I felt my throat going itchy when I watched him take her away. So it can’t be that that’s causing me pain. Tears form in my eyes when I realise why I coughed blood. The mate bond. By taking Dharia’s side and comforting her, he’s hurting our bond.
“Where are we?” I ask, finally noticing my surroundings.
“The dorm kitchens. Some of us like to make our own food. Can I make you a sandwich?”
“Oh, this is wonderful,” I comment, spinning around and taking the room in. It looks like an ordinary kitchen but with a stack of mini fridges lined up on one wall and benches and ovens on the other. Lana laughs.
“Sick of the Food Court already?”
“Yeah, I mean, I like the idea of the Food Court. Pack kitchens are great as a whole. But I can’t imagine living off the food daily. I need home-cooked meals, you know?”
“I get you. That’s why we have this. Where have you been staying?” Lana asks. She was surprised when I told her I’d been living in a room on the third floor.
“Those rooms are usually reserved for guests. I’m surprised you were put there and not here,” Lana comments.
“Yeah, well, maybe they’ll move me now,” I muse.
“Usually, they do that straight away,” Lana mutters.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing. I hope you like eggs,” Lana says, pushing an egg sandwich towards me.
“I love eggs,” I sigh.
After lunch, Lana let me have the rest of the afternoon off because I had apparently exceeded her expectations about when her observations of me would finish. I was relieved because the morning tracking task had me tired, and after seeing Alaric walk off with Dharia, I didn’t know how I would last the day.
I could feel the tears build in my eyes as I walked back to my room. I spend the next half an hour in the shower, sulking on the floor before dressing in a shirt and undies and crawling under the covers of my bed to read.
The next thing I know, a loud knocking rattles the door, disturbing my sleep. I flutter my eyelids and groan as whoever it is knocks loudly on my door again.
“Hold on!” I yell. For some reason, probably because they’re an arsehole, the person knocking continues banging on my door, but louder.
I chain the door before I open it, not wanting to let whoever it is on the other side in.
“Yeah?” I mumble, sleep evident in my voice as I open the door to its full five centimetres.
“Evie?” Alaric asks. Shit.
“Can I come in?” he asks.
“No. I’m tired,” I reply. And I don’t really want you in my space.
“I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the sparring room.”
“What about it?”
“You really hurt Dharia,” Alaric states.
“How did I manage to do that?” I ask. I’m too tired to think straight.
“In the sparring room, you’re only meant to practice. Not fight for real.”
“She challenged me, Alaric,” I say tiredly.
“She did not. Dharia was only helping Lana to help you demonstrate your skills so she could see how good you are.”
“Aha. Look, Alaric. I don’t want to fight with you,” I reply.
“I’m not fighting with you, Evie. I’m just telling you… you shouldn’t have been so aggressive…”
“Isn’t Dharia one of your best fighters?” I ask, cutting him off.
“Well, yeah…”
“So, pairing me up with one of your best fighters from the beginning is a good way to demonstrate my skills accurately, especially when she didn’t hold back…”
“Hold on…”
“Excuse me,” I cut him off, folding my arms unhappily.
“She attacked me from the get-go to the point she partially shifted her hands in an attempt to cause physical damage. And me, the one you have no idea what skill level I have, is the one that gets in trouble?”
“I had to take her to medical Evie! She had bruises on her arms!”
“So? She’s a fricken werewolf! She’ll heal!” I yell.
“You gave her bruises!” Alaric yells back.
“Well, it’s nice to know whose side you’re on,” I snarl, letting Pandora come through. Alaric opens his mouth to say something, but I shake my head.
“Fuck you!” I yell, slamming the door and locking it.
I half expect him to bang on the door again, but he doesn’t. I’m so angry; I can feel my heart racing as I try to control my breathing.
“Arrghh!” I scream. The nerve of that man. I begin to pace the room. After everything I’d told him, he didn’t want to listen. He chose her side and refused to budge. Arsehole! Bastard! Fucktard! I continue to pace as I can feel my fury build up. How can he do that? How can he choose her over me? We were sparring, and I beat her. She wouldn’t forfeit. She refused! And that’s meant to be my fault? Fuck! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!
My throat begins to feel sore, and I place my hand around it. I feel the need to cough, but I try to hold off. The cough forms in my throat like a balloon that needs to escape. I run to the bathroom sink just in time as I splutter a mixture of air and blood onto the white porcelain.
Tears form in my eyes again, and I sniff as I wipe my mouth. This isn’t good. It’s not good.
I find myself lying in bed staring at the ceiling all night. I want to sleep but can’t. My brain is too busy. I don’t want to run again. I’m done with that. And I know, I know… this is it. I can’t go back. If he verbally rejects me or not… I’m done.
Tears roll down my face, but I don’t care to stop them. I guess I’ll have to wait to see if he accepts me. But with my luck and experience of having a mate… I don’t see that happening.
When I wake up the following day, I don’t feel rested. It’s early, and I plan on joining the morning training group. Once dressed, I head to the Food Court, grabbing an apple from one of the vendors before going to the field.
I’m one of the first to arrive, and I hang around the outskirts of those already here, watching for a familiar face. Lana sees me almost straight away and walks to greet me.
“Good morning! You’re early!” Lana happily chirps.
“Yeah. I wanted to start…” I admit.
“I need to introduce you to Drew,” Lana says, grabbing my hand. I let her lead me towards a group of older men standing together and talking.
“Drew! Drew!” Lana calls out, making the men stop and look at her. She ignores the stares and focuses on the oldest one.
“Drew! This is the she-wolf I told you about, Evie. She found the targets in thirty minutes!” Lana says proudly. Drew looks at me and smiles.
“Hi. I’ve heard about you. I’ve been told you have a strong sense of smell. Is that true?” Drew asks. I shrug.
“What can you tell me about me?” one of the younger men asks. I look at him up and down. Like most werewolves, this one is tall and easy on the eyes. Without smelling him, I can tell he knows he’s hot.
“Well…” I begin, observing him. I’ve been getting better at controlling my sense of smell. The scents in this pack house were overwhelming at first, but I’ve gotten better at controlling when to use my nose.
“I know you had bacon and eggs this morning, and by the scents of the men around you… you held off on the hazelnut hot chocolate, which they all had. I can tell the reason for this is because hazelnuts don’t…”
“Okay! Okay! I believe you!” the wolf cries out, stopping me. I smirk.
“It’s nothing to be secretive about. It happens to the best of us,” I smile.
“What’s the issue with hazelnuts?” another Delta asks, smiling.
“That’s enough boys. Well, Evie. You’re with us then,” Drew smirks.
“All good?” Lana asks. I nod.
“I’ll leave you to it then,” Lana tells me.
“Thanks,” I reply before turning to my new team leader.
“Evie, we always join the pack runs in our human form, and then we break for breakfast. After that we walk the territory perimeter in our wolves. We’re usually back by lunch and then have time off to train. You cool with that?” Drew asks. I nod.
A whistle is blown, and people assemble in front of Raven, Alaric and the she-wolf from yesterday.
“That’s Beta Rhiannon,” the Delta who asked about the hazelnuts tells me. I nod. So this is Alaric’s sister. I can see the family similarities between Rhiannon and her brother and father. I can also see where Mabel gets her looks.
“Alright. Runners, with me!” Beta Rhiannon calls out.
“Coming?” the Delta then asks.
“Yup,” I agree.
“My name’s Rob, by the way,” the Delta tells me.
“Evie,” I reply. Rob nods. I scan the crowd as I watch it split into groups. I also scan for Alaric, curious to know where he is going and what he’s doing.
“Ready?” Rob asks, breaking me from my spell.
“Yes, sorry,” I reply, smiling. I can smell Alaric, but his scent is mixed in with others. I could find him if I wanted. But after yesterday… I want him to come to me.
“Evie?” Rob asks again.
“Oh, sorry,” I smile, following him to where Rhiannon stands. She blows her whistle, and mostly everyone except for my team runs for the trees, coming out in their wolf forms.
Rhiannon, who I can tell from her scent, barks once, and we all take off after her.
After our run, we walk to the Food Court and eat together. I tried finding my own table, only for Rob to grab my wrist and lead me towards theirs.
“You’re one of us, now,” he tells me. The others nod their heads in agreement, and I smile.
During breakfast, Drew explained that the team splits to patrol the border and that we rotate every week. He paired me with Rob and Ben (Mr. No Hazelnuts) so I could learn the ropes. I also noticed that both men are closer to my age than the others, which I appreciate.
Rob and Ben’s patrol is on the west border, near the national park, and on the other side of town. They park the car in the driveway of a small cottage, which I’m told is a ‘station’, and we relieve the two Deltas that are already there. The Deltas, who introduce themselves as Axel and Mitchell, do a handover with us before we start our trek in the forest.
While we walked, I learned that all the trackers except Ben and Rob have mates, so Ben and Rob both live in the dorms at the pack house.
“Lana told me you’re not living in the dorms yet. Is this true?” Ben asks as we walk the perimeter.
“Yeah. They put me in the guest room straight away,” I agree, stepping over a fallen branch. I walk the perimeter to check for unusual scents, but all I can smell, besides the fresh markings of urine, are the many small animals that live near it and walk through it.
“You should ask Beta Raven or Rhiannon to put you in a dorm,” Rob says.
“Yeah, I guess. When I get around to it,” I reply. But I know they won’t put me in a dorm. They’re probably waiting for me to move in with Alaric. But I doubt that’s going to happen. I won’t ask to go into a dorm because they’ll know something is up, and maybe intervene. I’d rather deal with this on my own.
“If you lived in a dorm, you’d at least have access to a kitchen, then you wouldn’t have to eat here,” Rob states when we walk into the Food Court. I shrug.
“Yeah. I’d like that. I guess I could ask Alpha Jed… or one of the Betas…” I admit. Rob and Ben smile, happy with this answer.
“Hello. Can we join?” a sweet voice asks.
“Sure, yeah,” Rob smiles at Erin, who stands there with a tray of food in her hands. We all move to allow Erin and Isabella to sit and join us.
Erin begins asking the boys questions, lapping up the attention she’s getting from them.
“So… you’re a tracker, huh?” Isabella asks with a smile.
“I am,” I agree, returning her smile.
“How is it?”
“Easy,” I reply.
“Easy? You think it’s easy?” Ben asks, stopping his conversation with Erin to join mine and Isabella’s.
“Well, she could tell you didn’t have hazelnuts this morning…” Rob begins with a smirk.
“Shut up.”
“What’s wrong with hazelnuts?” Erin asks.
“Nothing,” Ben replies. I hear a thud, and then Rob makes a noise. I realise Ben has just kicked him underneath the table.
“What are you doing on Friday?” Isabella asks when we don’t reply.
“Nothing. Why?”
“Want to come with us to Howling Moon? It’s a pub in Little Vallis,” Isabella asks. I look across the table at Ben, Rob and Erin.
“Sure. Why not?”
