The rest of the week I trained hard. I ran every day, either with Ezra, Alfie or Lila and Brayleigh. Each
day, they pushed me harder and harder. I remember the morning after my run with Ezra that I collapsed
to the ground. I had run with Alfie that morning. It was just him and I.
Alfie was ruthless. He made us take a new track, one that extended all the way around Takiani. He told
me it was the trail that the tracker wolves run, as it went along the borders of the pack. It was a long
run, the longest one I'd ever been on.
But I loved it.
Alfie pushed me and pushed me. He wouldn't let me slow down and only let me get faster and faster.
He raced me, purposely getting me angry to try and bring out my beast's fire. He said it worked, but he
said it didn't work enough.
After the run, I had to sit down. I was panting hard, my heart was beating so fast that I felt it in my
throat. My arms and legs were tingling with energy.
I felt different. I felt great. Something I hadn't felt in a while.
But it wasn't enough. So straight after my run, Alfie had me spar with Kade yet again. It was a good
one, apparently. Alfie said that he saw a real change in the way I fought, and Kade even told me
afterwards that I had improved since the first time we'd sparred.
Although, Kade did beat me. It felt good to have him compliment me, coming from a wolf who could
have just been cocky and rubbed it in my face that he won.
It was a new morning, and I ran with Kade. He came to my door and made a joke about getting my
'lazy ass out into the wild'. Which made my beast twitch. She didn't like being called lazy, but she knew
it was Kade trying to get us angry. He was challenging us to make our blood hum that same way other
Alphas did.
"You're pretty fast... you should focus on channeling that in the rings. You could zip around your
opponents pretty easy," Kade told me as we walked towards the sparring rings together.
My beast swirled with pride. She was proud of me. She was proud of us. We liked getting good
feedback from others, because it proved that we were doing at least one thing right.
"My mother was fast. She was like a blur," I said to Kade. He started to speak to me, but my ears
picked up on another conversation and I stopped listening to Kade to listen to this new one.
"That's her... the transfer. She's an Alpha, but I think I could kick her ass. She looks weak," a girl voice
said. I furrowed my eyebrows at the statement.
They were talking about me. There weren't any other Alphas that transferred from Terialta to Takiani.
"By the looks of it, she's sucking up to Kade so that Alfie will go easy on her," another girl scoffed. I
heard my beast rumble angrily at their comments.
Who the hell did they think they were? Talking about me like that? Did they know I could hear them?
"Morning Kade, Alison. I hope you both had a good run this morning, but it's time to start training," Alfie
greeted us as we approached him. Kade and I both nodded at him and I crossed my arms bitterly.
I was still angry about what those girls were saying. Did they know who I was? What I was capable of
doing?
I had never lost my shit before, but I was sure that if they kept talking smack, they would see me lose it.
Alfie trained me hard that morning. He helped me work on my punches and my defence. He taught me
about looking for weaknesses in my opponents and he told me all about using their strength against
them if I wasn't strong enough to hold my ground.
He explained to me that wolves would pick on me once they knew that there was something that pissed
me off. He said that some wolves were cocky and liked to push buttons. He said that I would face that
exact problem.
"In a fight, your opponent is going to want to rowdy you up. They're going to get under your skin to
make you angry. Once they find something that they know is weakness, whether it's an injury or
something to do with your hair. They'll use it against you," Alfie explained to me. His examples made
my blood boil. I didn't like that other wolves would try to get me angry like that.
I didn't like how people would try and challenge me like that.
"It's going to happen, and the only thing you can do is channel your anger into your strength so you can
beat their ass. It takes a lot of strength, but practise makes perfect," Alfie told me. I nodded and tied my
hair up into a ponytail, keeping it out my face.
"I'm going to get you to spar with me today. I think I'll enjoy putting your ass in the dirt," Alfie laughed at
me. I rolled my eyes at him playfully but felt my beast rumble. She didn't like that he was already
thinking that he could beat us.
"I won't be leaving this ring without seeing you bleed, even if it's just a little," I said quickly. Alfie
laughed at this and we stepped into a ring. Alfie put down his clipboard outside the ring and then
cracked his knuckles and stretched his arm.
"No shifting until say... oh wow, that feels good to say," Kade chuckled from the sidelines. Alfie rolled
his eyes at his son and then looked to me.
We began to to circle each other, stalking around in the circle. My beast snapped at Alfie in our mind.
She wanted a piece of his hide to show him that we were stronger than we looked. We could put up a
challenge for him.
We wanted to be hard to beat.
I lunged at Alfie first. He blocked my punch and then hit me hard in the stomach, sending me toppling
to the dirt. I grunted but pushed myself back up.
Alfie came at me this time. He threw his fist at my nose, but I jumped out the way and then nailed him
hard in the collar bone. Alfie didn't look fazed, and that bothered me.
I swung at him again and realised I was too slow. Alfie grabbed my wrist and he flipped me onto my
back. I thudded in the dirt and groaned as I got up and growled at him.
My beast was snapping and howling. She wanted to be let out. She wanted a bite of his ass.
Alfie tried to punch me, and he missed as I ducked out the way. I hit him in the kidney with my elbow,
and he took a step back. I nailed him hard in the ribs and then tried to punch him.
When my fist made contact with Alfie's jaw, he looked stunned. He wasn't hurt, clearly, but he looked
surprised. I took that to my advantage.
I punched Alfie in the humerus, hard. I heard a crack, and Alfie winced. I frowned, but I kept going. But
my moment of shock lasted too long.
Alfie punched me in the mouth. I tasted blood immediately and my beast growled loudly. She was
getting angry now.
"Shift," Kade said from outside the ring. I didn't hesitate. I lurched forwards, swiping at Alfie with my
paw. He ducked out the way and shifted.
Alfie slammed into me, hard. He knocked me to the dirt and clawed at my back. I bit back a yelp and
growled instead. I rolled, Alfie's wolf toppling over me.
I got up to my feet quickly and shook out my fur. It felt good.
I ran at Alfie. But he dodged out the way and pushed me into the dirt. I growled, getting an awful
mouthful of dirt. But I got up anyway and turned around again.
Alfie rumbled at me. His chest vibrated and he stood tall. Alfie was bigger than I was. He was a strong
wolf, and I knew that I would not beat him in the fight. But I could at least get a few good hits in.
I ran at Alfie fast. I faked left but then moved right. Alfie's wolf was confused, and I took that opportunity
to jump on his back. I clawed at him hard, feeling my claws break open his skin.
I cheered for my beast. She was doing so well.
She pushed forwards, snapping her teeth. She was about to bite Alfie's shoulder but he threw us off,
hard. He sent us flying across the dirt. We groaned and got up anyway.
Alfie was too fast for us to dodge out the way. He slashed our leg with his teeth and then clawed at our
back. We were sent into the dirt yet again, and finally, Alfie backed off.
The fight was over.
I sighed and got up. Kade walked over to us, handing his father a pair of shorts and then me a baggy
shirt. I took it in my mouth and bounded off into the trees to shift back.
I slipped the shirt over my head and then walked back out to where Alfie and Kade were. My wolf was
still pissed that we hadn't gotten much out of Alfie, but she was proud at what we had done.
"That was much better, Alison! You were humming real loud that time. Very impressive," Alfie told me
as he beamed. Kade nodded in agreement and grinned at me.
I felt even more proud.
"I guess you could say we really wanted a bite out of your ass," I said as I laughed. The two males
laughed also and it made me feel much better about losing the fight.
I felt like they had a new respect for me. They knew I was capable of being a good fighter.
"Hey, Ali!" I heard a shout. I looked up, watching Ezra walk towards me with a phone in his hand.
"What's up?" I asked him with a huff. I was tired and I needed a nice long shower.
"Your brother is on the phone," Ezra told me, holding out the phone to me. I grinned and quickly
grabbed the phone from him.
I hadn't spoken to my brothers a lot in the past week. I linked with Samaya the night before. He asked
me how I was, and told me he missed me and worried about me. It wasn't a long conversation,
because I was drifting to sleep as we spoke, but it was nice to hear from one of them.
I held the phone to my ear as Alfie waved me off. I waved goodbye to him and Kade as Ezra and I
walked back to my cabin.
"Hello?" I called into the phone. I heard voices on the other side of the phone and I walked into my
cabin.
"Hey, Ali!" Jax's voice sounded through the phone. I grinned and leant against the kitchen counter. Ezra
pulled beers out the refrigerator and opened one from me. I thanked him as I took it.
"Hi Jax," I greeted him. I heard more voices on the other line.
"You're on loudspeaker. Samaya, Beckett and Rae are here too," Jax said, and I smiled warmly. It felt
good to know that all my brothers were together just to talk to me.
"Hi everyone," I greeted them all. I heard them calling back to me.
"How's Takiani? Not as good as Terialta, right?" Rae asked me. I rolled my eyes. Rae had always been
a cocky wolf.
"It's good here. The people are nice," I replied. I sipped on my beer and Ezra left the room to give me
privacy with my brothers. I was thankful to have met such a good guy. Ezra was the best.
"That's good! You haven't had any... incidents?" Beckett spoke next. I heard the growl in his throat and I
gulped anxiously. I knew what he meant.
"No," I replied bluntly. I didn't want to talk about it.
"Good... well, we thought we should tell you that he's not being punished. Dad said it was a mistake
and that it wouldn't happen again. He let that monster off with a warning," Samaya growled lowly. I
heard the anger in his voice and felt myself get angry too.
What?! He's not being punished? Why?
"We begged Dad to banish him. We pleaded and pleaded, but he didn't budge," Rae told me, sounding
bitter. I felt my wolf howl.
She was upset and angry. We were pissed. We were really damn pissed.
How could this monster not be punished for what he had done? How was it fair that I was hurt and
nothing was being done about it? It hardly made sense, and it made my head pound.
I felt my chest rumble, the vibrations rolling off me. I felt my blood heat up with anger that I'd never felt
before. I gritted my teeth and tried to hold my breath.
"We're really sorry, Ali. But we promise that we're going to make his life hell from now on," Beckett
apologised sadly. I sucked in a deep breath and lowly exhaled.
"I don't know if I'll be able to come home if he's there. I—I can't face him again," I said truthfully. My
beast paced in my mid. She was torn.
We didn't know what to do. We knew that we had three more weeks left before we either transitioned
into Takiani or went back to Terialta. My beast nor I wanted to do either.
We didn't want to join Takiani because it wasn't our home. We didn't want to go home because of the
monster that we would see once we went back.
"Ali... are you alright?" I hear a voice from behind me. I turned around, facing Ezra who was walking
back into the room. He walked slowly, cautiously.
"I'm fine. Boys, I have to go. I'll... talk later," I said bitterly before I hung up and put the phone down on
the counter.
Ezra walked towards me. He seemed careful, and I didn't blame him. I could smell my own anger and
feel the emotion flowing off me like a damn river. I wanted blood, revenge for what had happened.
"I think you need to go for a run," Ezra told me with a nod. I huffed angrily but nodded anyway.
I left the cabin, heading towards the trail that Lila and Brayleigh had showed me. I shifted into my fur
and tore out into the forest. My wolf growled and whined angrily as we sped up, running fast into the
forest to try and calm ourselves down.
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