The Haunted Memories (Forgotten Series, #4)

Chapter 8

I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched the training. I had been thankful my dreams hadn't been as rough as the past few days. Just fighting with a touch of fear. Faced blurred and darkened and actions were unable to be seen. Impression of things, of people and situations. It had a faint tinge of fear and hopelessness but nothing like what I had experienced yesterday or the day before. I was thankful for it as even the thought of them had a large lump appearing in my throat.

I shook it off and looked around. Emerson was standing beside his father, watching the pack warriors train. I was happy to see that the number of females had increased. I scanned the crowd from my place on the bleachers, looking for any signs of tension. Veritas had a serious issue with sexism. I spotted a male blatantly ogling one of the female trainees before mocking her to one of his friends.

I turned my gaze to Bryon, staring at the male until he looked at me. I jerked my head towards the male I witnessed and he looked over before I pointed towards the female he had been ogling. He gave a short nod and lifted his hand. "Jacob." At his booming voice the male stood up straight and pulled his shoulder back. Bryon pointed to the center mat and Jacob moved his way to it quickly.

"We are doing a demonstration. Jacob is going to be a participant." Bryon waved his hand and the rest of the warriors stopped their grappling practice to form the standard circle. I let my gaze land on the female. Linnette had been teaching many of the females in her spare time. I knew quite a few of them were more advanced than they let on. "And you, Marian." He pointed at the female and she simply nodded as she stepped into the circle. Jacob looked amused and Cai leaned towards me.

"She decent?" He seemed to eye her up slightly and I slapped his arm with the back of my hand.

"Watch." I pointed to the circle and waited patiently. Jacob was also scoffing at Marian and Bryon caught my eye with a faint nod. He signalled for the fight to start and in one smooth move the female slid towards Jacob, threw him over her shoulder and pinned him to the mats with an aggressive arm bar. The crowd gave a small gasp of surprise at the efficiently quick take down.

"She's decent." Cai gave a nod of appreciation and I glanced back at the fight as Bryon signalled to Marian that the match was over. I closed my eyes and searched for my link to her.

Good match. I watched as her gaze snapped up and she looked around with a shocked expression until she spotted me. A pleased flush crossed her face as she beamed at me. I kept my expression even as I pointed at Jacob. He was mocking you as a fighter. Show him your worth and break his collarbone. Marian looked confused before there was a flicker of a dark expression on her face as she turned to look at Jacob as he pulled himself off of the mat with a dark scowl.

I normally didn't encourage violence within the pack but the sexist attitude was really starting to grate on me. A broken collar bone hurt like hell and it wasn't considered a major break that required a healer. It would heal on its own in a few days, hurt the entire fucking time but it would heal fine.

No submissions this time. Make it a true fight. I nodded at Bryon and gave a curt one back. I noticed how Emerson watched the interaction. He kept his mouth shut, which was good because I would have had to go down and have a round with him in the ring if he had decided to comment on it. "No pins or submissions. You go until I say stop. Again." Bryon lifted his hand and closed his fist. Marion's form was tense and I gave a small smirk.

"This will be fun." I knew it would be, Jacob looked more intent on the fight but I gave Marian a need to prove herself and to teach a lesson. I watched as Jacob lunged at her and she quickly dodged it before she threw a couple half-hearted punches at him. He swatted them and when he stepped forward to throw a punch, she stepped on his bent leg and jumped. As she fell back down she drove her elbow down onto his collarbone. The snap echoed in the gym and he gave a sharp cry as he dropped to the mats.