Abandoned Love.

Chapter 1 ~ Jace ~

‘Focus, stay alert and don’t panic.’ My father’s words ran through my head as I jumped backwards dodging another hit, a thousand thoughts were running through my head and adrenaline was pumping through my veins as I stared my opponent straight in the eyes. ‘Don’t look away Jace, stare him down. Make him tremble in your presence.’ I sucked in a ragged breath before forcing my gaze to lock with the challenger, my eyes desperately wanted to flinch away but I held them there slowly watching the enemy’s gaze droop. ‘Now’s your chance, strike!’ I swung my arm back before launching my fist forward, I felt a throbbing sensation rip through my arm as my hand came into contact with his face. I let out a small gasp of pain before going for another punch, my fist smashed him straight in the stomach. He doubled over in pain before collapsing to the ground and letting out a cry of agony.

“Nice work son!” I heard my father cry from behind me, I turned around to find him beaming at me. He gave me a rough pat on the back, “You’ll make a fine Alpha someday, you’re fighting skills are brilliant.”

“Thanks.” I mumbled flexing my hands and wincing when the bones in my fingers made a strange cracking sound.

My father looked at my hands, “Get some ice on that.” He ordered before jogging off to help some of our other fighters.

I sighed and stretched my arms feeling the muscles tighten, I looked around the clearing, our packs finest fighters had gathered for our annual training session. I could see people working on defence, learning how to stand their ground and how to stare a ruthless opponent down, others were working on attack, practicing punching and using their ragged, razored wolf teeth as a weapon. A few people were practicing speed and agility in their wolf forms towards the edge of the clearing, every so often I could see a figure rush through the thick branches of the trees and I could hear the occasional howl echo through the trees making the bird's flee from their trees. I know this was supposed to be beneficial and help us create a stronger and undefeatable pack but a big part of me thought it was just plain stupid.

I turned back around to find my best friend, Bentley still lying on the ground. I held out my hand and hauled him out of the mud and dirt, he cringed and rubbed the side of his face. “Holy shit Jace, jeez you punch hard.” He chuckled moving his hand to reveal a dark purple bruise slowly forming on his left cheek.

“I’m so sorry man.” I muttered running a hand through my hair, “I still can’t believe we have to do this. I mean what kind of alpha makes me beat up my best friend?”

Bentley shook his head at me, “You know this is important. We are one of the strongest packs in the continent. We must always be ready for an attack, your father has the right intentions.” He explained.

I groaned, “Dude shut up, you’re not only starting to sound like my dad but you’re acting like him too.” 

Bentley snickered his light grey eyes lighting up as he flicked his tangled black hair out of his dirt stained face.

“Come on.” I huffed pulling him by his jacket, “Let’s get out of here.”

We made our way through the commotion, dodging people as they fought, ran, jumped, leaped etc.

We exited the forest quickly and ran up the concrete pathway to my house. My house was located in a rather isolated place our neighbours were about 15 minutes away. We climbed the steps through the front garden of the house, my mother had quite the green thumb. She spent hours trying to make the garden perfect and it was, completely perfect. It had perfect, evenly cut, square hedges along the edges of the property, the grass was evenly cut and also extremely green and lush. There were pretty rose bushes and archways decorated with the most unique kinds of flowers the colours ranging from deep red to a light, soft purple which merged into a deep orange. There were fountains and cute little sitting areas with the old fashioned wooden chairs. It was amazing. The house itself looked quite antique and rustic from the outside, it had two levels complete with wooden panelling and balconies coming out from each room. The balcony railing was a dark brown wood that twisted into spiralling patterns. It looked like a vintage house but inside it was decorated with modern furnishing. My mother said she wanted to bring old and modern style together. It worked well.