The Scared and The Scarred

Chapter 16

By the time morning came I was still exhausted, I had tossed and turned for hours last night trying to sleep.  I finally pulled myself out of bed and into the shower. Once I had showered, brushed my teeth, the basics, I went to my closet, pulling out a pair of black and white Nike shorts, with a matching white t-shirt. My Nike shoes were also black an white, making my outfit match perfectly.

 I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to fix any flaw that I felt might stand out. I was shaking, and picking myself apart in the mirror was only making it worse. I finally just pushed myself to stop, and walked out the door. 

I went to Luca's office, knocking softly on the door. He opened it immediately, smiling when he saw me. It was hard to get used to seeing him like this. I was nervous and scared but I knew me cooperating and going to training made him happy, and helped him relax about everything, so I wasn't backing out. 

"Ready to go?" He asked. 

"Sure." I answered in a slightly shaky voice. 

I followed him down the hallways and out the door. We walked through the yard towards the woods, where I saw a path, worn by how often it had been walked on. We followed the winding path through the woods until it opened up to a clearing full of huge wolves and training equipment. 

There were large round mats laid in different areas, each being occupied by a set of wolves, fighting. Some were running laps on the track that surrounded the entire training field, and a group of younger warriors were being trained by the retired ones, in the middle of everything. 

I feared everyone would stop and turn to look at us, but they didn't. They continued with their training as if we weren't even there. I was surprised to see just as many female warriors as male. Back at my pack the females didn't care much for the job and there were very few female warriors.  They looked to be very evenly matched with the males as they fought. 

I stood by Luca as he spoke to one of the older trainers, a retired warrior I'd heard him call Mark. As I waited for them to finish talking, I felt as if I was being watched. My eyes scanned the crowd of warriors and finally fell on a girl with dark hair and mean eyes. Her glare was filled with so much hate that I couldn't help but stare back, curious at why she was looking at me like that. I'd never even met her. 

"Celia." I snapped out of it and looked to Luca. "Yeah?" I asked. 

"Are you ready? I already asked you twice." He laughed. Mark gave Luca a funny look as he laughed, as if he'd never seen it before. 

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." I smiled. 

"Ok then, lets go." 

Luca led me across the field, to the very front where he whistled loudly, gaining everyones attention. They all quickly stopped what they were doing and made their way to the middle, in front of us. My hands shook as I looked at the huge army before me, and it became difficult to breath. I looked at the grass and started counting the pieces, trying to calm myself down before I freaked out. 

"Thank you all for your attention." Luca began. "I'm sure by now you've all learned of the threat against our pack, and against your Luna." Word had spread that Luca had found me, but I'd only met a few members of the pack. They all looked to me as he spoke and I couldn't help but look away, overwhelmed by it all. 

"I know you all would give your lives to protect her, and I thank you for your loyalty." The crowd cheered. "But because of the possibility that there may be a moment where your Luna is not being protected, although there'd better not be, I want her to be able to protect herself. She will be training with you all from now on. I expect you to respect her as you would me. That is all." The crowd bowed their heads, and went back to what they were doing. 

"Mark, I think we should start with the fight just to see where we need to start her training." Luca told him. "Of course, sir." He answered. "Lets go." 

We followed Mark to one of the round mats. Luca made his way to one of the others. I was shocked when he removed his shirt, revealing all the scars he'd seemed so angry at revealing to me before. There were so many on his back and arms, I felt my eyes fill with tears at what he'd gone through. He looked at me giving me a small smile which I returned. 

"Alright, step onto the mat, I'll find you a challenger." Mark said to me. I had just stepped on the mat when the girl who had been glaring at me approached Mark. 

"I'll fight her." She said confidently.

"You're a very advanced fighter Bree, thats probably not a good idea." He replied. 

"Were supposed to train her right? I'm sure Alpha wouldn't want us taking it easy on her, she won't learn anything that way." She answered stepping onto the mat as well. 

As the people around us saw what was happening, they stopped their training and gathered around the mat. 

"Fine." Said Mark. 

I was nervous and shaky, but I didn't want to appear weak in front of Luca, who I could see among the crowd gathered around us. He looked proud, and gave me an encouraging smile. I couldn't let him down. 

"Alright" Mark began, "The fight is in human form only. First to be pinned or knocked out loses. Those are the only rules. FIGHT!" 

We began circling each other and my fear was replaced with determination, and my shaking hands quickly grew steady. The smirk on her face gave me all the more reason to want to win. 

She lunged quickly, punching me in the nose before I had a chance to react. I stumbled a few steps, but regained my footing quickly. I felt the blood running down my face,and wiped it away with the back of my hand, never letting my eyes leave hers. 

Her smirk had grown into a smile. "Aw, little Luna too weak to fight back? The Alpha is strong, I don't know why he'd get paired with someone like you." I heard the jealousy in her tone and knew I could use it to my advantage.

"Whats the matter, jealous?" I taunted. 

Her eyes narrowed. She lunged again but this time I expected it. I moved out of the way quickly, and she missed. She didn't stop though, she came towards me again, but I got a hit to her stomach before she could reach me. We finally met in the middle, getting an equal amount of hits in as we fought, I couldn't feel anything for all the adrenaline, but I knew when it wore off I'd be hurting. 

She suddenly swiped my legs out from under me with hers, successfully knocking me down. She didn't waste any time, and was on top of me before I knew it, landing punch after punch to my face and stomach. 

I looked at her face and saw her narrowed eyes and smile as she hit me, and was overcome with anger. She would not beat me in front of my mate. 

I growled and quickly pressed my hand to her chest, stealing most of her energy away from her. She stumbled away, looking confused as to what just happened. I got up slowly, making my way towards her. She had fear in her eyes now. 

"What was that?" She asked when I finally reached her. 

"Me winning." I answered before landing one last punch to her nose, successfully knocking her out. 

The crowd's cheers were so loud I couldn't hear Luca approaching. I jumped when he hugged me, his eyes full of pride. "You did it." He said. I watched as his face went from pride, to concern as he looked at my nose, and eye. 

"Come on, we should get you to the pack doctor." He spoke, taking my hand and pulling me through the crowd. 

I turned just in time to see the girl from the fight sitting up, Mark stood above her offering her a cup of water which she angrily hit from his hands. 

I thought the first glare I'd gotten was hateful, the one she was giving me now was murderous.