The Archer And Her Wolf

Chapter 18 Thea

The next morning I was awake at my normal time, the unholy hour of 4:00 am. I stretched in the unfamiliar bed and rolled onto my elbows, looking around. I blinked against the darkness and reached over to switch on the bedside lamp. I wasn't used to my surroundings, so I fumbled around in the dimly lit room until I found the bathroom. I switched on the light and quickly showered before dressing in a pair of black capri leggings and a blue tunic. I tied my hair back into a high ponytail and finished brushing my teeth.

I walked through the sitting room and towards the large window that looked out across the courtyard. On the far side of the grounds was what looked like a training area. There was a big open field with sparring equipment set up and a large gym next door. There were a few people already out on the sparring field and I decided to join them.

I jogged across the courtyard and entered the training grounds. Everyone stopped what they were doing when I entered, eyeing me cautiously. I didn't know who a single one of them were, but it was very obvious that they knew me.

"Luna?" One of them ran up to me, wiping the sweat from his face with a white towel.

"It's just Thea." I sighed.

"I'm Danny, a warrior wolf, ma'am." The man, Danny, introduced himself, offering me his hand.

"It's Thea." I said again, shaking his hand.

"Right, sorry." He grumbled, "Can we help you with something?" Danny asked.

"These are the training grounds aren't they?" I asked.

"Uhm....yeah?" Danny looked confused.

"Then, I guess I'm here to train." I mocked him.

"Danny, are you giving our Luna a hard time?" A familiar voice snorted from behind me. I rolled my eyes just as Lion joined us.

"N...no." Danny looked terrified.

"I'm just here to train. What's the big deal?" I huffed in annoyance.

"Don't worry about them, Thea, they just aren't used to having a Luna around let alone one that wants to train. They're just sticker shock." Lion laughed.

"I'm not their Luna." I said stubbornly, storming away from the pair of them, "I'm an Archer."

"You heard her, boys. You better not let your Alpha see you being afraid of a little Archer." Lion egged them on and I smirked,

"I guess you're first then, Lion." I inched my finger towards him, beckoning him forward. Lion laughed and joined me in the center of the field.

Two hours passed and the wolves were finally loosening up. By now, half the warriors were out on the training fields and a crowd had gathered around us. One by one, I took down each of the warriors after handing Lion his ass first.

A large, brute man stepped up to me next. He had dark curly hair and brown eyes with huge arms and even bigger thighs. He grinned at me. All formalities about me being the Luna were long gone at this point.

"I'm Curtis." He announced.

The one thing this little exercise was giving me, besides respect and a good work out, were names. It was an easy enough way to learn the pack members' names.

I nodded once at Curtis and moved to a fighting stance. Curtis joined me and the match began, proving to be one of the best yet. Curtis wasn't just bronze, he had the brains as well. He must've been studying my moves earlier and he was able to anticipate them before they happened. He even managed to land the first blow. He slammed his fist into my face and I yelped, my head snapping to the side. I rolled my neck and laughed at him, spitting out a mouthful of blood.