Primitive Instincts

Chapter 26

"In your old pack, but not here. You still have lots to improve on. You have to learn to control your aggression, it makes you vulnerable to any attacker with experience in reading their opponent. They'd see you and goad you into a blind fury. You'd be on the ground before you could even blink. You have potential, but your technique is... unpolished."

My face became hot and I tried to ignore the pit of thorns growing in the bottom of my stomach. I took a deep breath and looked up at him with a malicious glint in my eyes.

"If I'm so unpolished, then how come it took you so long to pin me down when we fought back in Silverpaw."

Hunter returned his gaze to his pack, watching a young man flip another during a sparring match.

"I held back. I wanted to evaluate your skill level and see what you were capable of. To my surprise you weren't as bad as I figured you would be. I mean, I didn't have high expectations for a small female coming from a little nobody pack, but you didn't completely fail." He smirked at the last part and I swear my head near exploded.

I gritted my teeth and cracked my neck slowly. "How about a rematch?" I spoke lowly with an underlying threat laced in my voice. my eyes burning a hole into the side of his face.

Unfazed, Hunter didn't acknowledge my challenge. "No time. You have training practice right now."

That snapped me out of my rage. Training practice? I looked around a saw a sea of people training. I wondered if I'd be put in a group or it'd be more one on one.

"With who?" I asked

Hunter looked down with pure unadulterated glee and I knew by his evil smirk I wouldn't like the answer.

~

I stood next to a pimply 16 year old boy and a girl who keep sniffling her nose. The adolescent group smelled like acne cream and desperation. Just perfect.

I can't believe Hunter put me with children. I should've expected as much coming from him, he never missed an opportunity to embarrass me.

The teenagers all stared at me like I was an alien from another planet. I heard whispers and two girls snickering at the end of the line up. I overheard the word 'Luna' and 'pathetic'. If they weren't still in training bras I would've slapped them so hard their braces would fall out.

Obviously I'm making friends.

"Alright class, today we are going to be reviewing..."

I zoned out, uninteresting in listening to the middle aged women drone on about proper form or footwork. I looked passed her and spied the more advanced groups. The one at the very end caught my attention.

They were the real deal. Men and women who looked fierce and deadly. Currently they were doing warm up drills, waiting for their instructor. I watched as some sparred with each other, their reflexes honed and muscles loose but pumping with adrenaline. A girl threw a punch so fast I would've missed it if I blinked. Some of the others were warming up on an obstacle course set up in their section, it was like a raised beam with alternating poles on either side so you had to swing to reach the next. It looked difficult, but they didn't show it, their bodies fluent in motions and swift.

'That's where we should be, not with these pups." Magara grumbled, she was offended our mate had little faith in our fighting skills.

"Yeah I know, I bet I could match those guys over there. They aren't that great." I lied through my teeth. For the first time in a long time I felt inferior. Something I promised myself I would never be again, but it seemed history had a way of repeating itself.