Shift | Complete ✔️

20 | Lost for Words

I'd literally been spending every waking hour at the Pack House training under Harlow. Sessions were relentless. There were no shortcuts and there were no excuses. She expected nothing but the best from me. Which, to be clear, wasn't very much. But it was a start at least.

Being around other members of the pack was nothing short of intimidating. I'd try to go in under the radar early in the mornings, but there was always someone already there.

I tried to keep my head low, and aside from offering a shy wave to those passing by, I didn't go out of my way to initiate conversation.

It seemed that they too, were cautious of me. I'd seen the whispers from the utterly gorgeous females. Some would stare, others would be a little more discreet with their intrigue.

I wasn't sure if it was the fact I came in with Phelan every morning, or the fact I made an absolute fool out of my self every time I set foot on the gym mats with Harlow.

Probably both.

Either way, it made me feel self-conscious. I had never really put emphasis on whether I was attractive or not, but being around athletically gifted supermodel types didn't do much for my self-esteem.

I didn't understand what Phelan saw in me, and for the first time in my life, I was really struggling with feeling insecure.

I wasn't hard and chiselled like these women. I was softer. Curvier. And for a human, I looked much like every other regular girl, but for a werewolf, I looked like a... joke.

Maybe that was why everyone else was not allowed to train with me yet. It was like I still had training wheels on, while everyone else around me was turbo charged.

There was progress though. Instead of me being on the offense every session, I was beginning to learn some really good defence strategies. And although I was still full of doubt, Harlow was insistent that she wasn't going soft on me, at least not too soft.

She had said, that because I was a hybrid I was actually far stronger than an average human. But because prior to my time here, I'd never trained before, I simply hadn't realised what I was capable of.

I guess looking at things subjectively, although I was nothing remotely close to the level of a well trained werewolf, I was doing really well for a hybrid with zero experience.

I'd also found out that the pack had all originally been trained by Phelan. Apparently those that had developed to be lethal and highly skilled, branched off to mentor and train younger pack members. It was sort of like a type of school, where training was levelled based on aptitude and experience, and that you were grouped accordingly with others of similar ability before moving up once all relevant skills and concepts had been mastered.

However, I wasn't grouped with anyone. It was just Harlow and I. She'd said that it meant that training was intensive and targeted, and while I'd benefit from learning in a group environment, I would learn more from her without the exposure to others bad habits.

I knew that Harlow had been keeping Phelan up to date with my progress too. Sometimes I'd catch him watching as he observed the various training sessions.

He was always adding advice to others.

'Your weight isn't on your back leg.'

"You aren't protecting your head.'

'Keep your hands up.'

'Your faints aren't convincing. Too slow. Predictable."

But when it came to me, he was a silent observer. He would simply watch, nod, and walk away.