Not Just a Luna

Chapter 20

I sit up suddenly as I hear a knock on my bedroom door. Moonlight streams in through the window since it's a clear night, as he opens the door to my room.

The plan was easy to pull off, as now that Alex moved into one of the spare rooms, he could come and wake me up and even if father heard he'd suspect we were doing something 'romantic', and likely would ignore it.

He walks in, and I jump out of bed. Already dressed, I pull off the bed covers, and I slip my shoes on. No time to tie them.

"Come on," Alex whispers, walking out the door, his tall figure causing a massive shadow as he turns away. I stand up and follow him, trying to carefully tiptoe down the stairs, although, the one who is more likely to make the stairs creak is Alex.

Luckily, nothing makes a sound, except the miniscule sound of dragging the door dragging across the floor as we open it. Although, I don't think Father would get woken up by that.

Neither of us talk, and as Alex shuts the door, I hear the lock behind us. It's going to be 'fun' getting back in. We're both silent as we walk, and I decide against transforming as if we do need to say anything, anyone around could drop in a lot easier than they could normally.

We reach the forest, and once we are well into it, Alex finally speaks, "This is just like when we were kids."

"Huh?"

"Y'know, when we used to run off and try to go hunting."

"Oh, and neither of us ever caught a thing."

"We almost did once."

"I almost did, you never got close." Although I had always been fast, as a kid I wasn't quite fast enough to catch a rabbit with a headstart.

"Oh, and you didn't either, really." 

"Shut up." 

We continue walking for a while, and soon, we reach a clearing.

The grass that remains is cut short, but most of it is gone, and only the dry brown dirt remains. A rusty, small shed stands on the opposite side of the clearing, and it smells slightly like blood. There are many sacks on sticks are around the yard, some of them with targets, and a few that look vaguely humanoid.

Alex walks out in front of me and gestures around him. "Welcome to the Nightingale training grounds."

I snicker at him, "I've been here before, y'know."

"Huh, when?"

I snort, as he was there every time I've been here, "For the ceremonial events. The graduation of Gammas, every year."

"Oh, right."

"For someone who's supposed to be 'so smart', you sure are daft, Alexandra."

"Don't call me that. Anyway, why don't we begin?"

I nod my head in agreement and lift my arm up.

As my wrist touches my mouth, Alex asks, "What are you doing?"

"Transforming."

"No point. Sadly, we don't just fight wolves these days."

"Huh? Who, then?"

"Well, they have a different name for themselves, but basically... Witches."

I cock my head to the side in confusion, this is the first I've heard of magic users. "But when we were in the city, wasn't it other wolves who were after us?"

"Ah, Vi, you're so naive. Ever thought that rogues and other wolf packs could work with them?"

"Oh... But why would they?"

"I don't know... They likely have many motives." His solemn face then turns to a grin, "So, we'll fight hand to hand. Show me what you've got, Vi."

He brings his hands up in front of him, in a fighting stance. I copy it, and we begin to circle each other. After a while, I grow impatient, and so I throw the first punch.

Then immediately regret it.

He catches my hand, and then flips my whole body weight over, with a simple flick of his own wrist. He tosses me a few metres away, and for a brief second, I am scared.

I hit the ground, hard. Quickly scrambling to my feet, I run back at him, trying to kick him in between the legs. He steps back, and I lose my balance and stumble. I then feel a blow to my nose and go to grab it. I place my hand over it, putting pressure on it as it throbs immensely and hurts like hell.

As I take my hand off it, I look at it in amazement as it comes back covered in blood.

I laugh at the stupidity of it all. I look at Alex and say, "That was all you got?" I feign that it doesn't hurt.

"Violet, your nose is like a bloody faucet right now. I don't think I'm going to do anything else right now."

I sit down on the ground, not bothering to do anything about my blood-nose. As I sit down, I place my hands on the ground as support and immediately realise that it was the wrong decision as dirt sticks to my blood-covered hands.

"You alright?" Alex asks, sitting down next to me.

"I'm fine. I heal quickly. Faster than you even." I point to my nose, where the blood has stopped flowing, although it still hasn't stopped hurting.

"Ah, I forget about that. Anyway, you aren't that bad at fighting."

"I lost immediately!"

"To me. Most people do." He grins. I know that he wasn't trying, though. I saw him a year back at his graduation, against his Gamma peers. None of them could last more than 2 minutes with him, and he tried a lot harder than he did against me. "You're just too rash. You need patience."

"You can't train that."

"Wanna bet? I'd say they've made me learn discipline." Huh, maybe he's onto something. As a kid, Alex was more stubborn and impulsive than me, by far. I actually used to be the responsible one, although that wasn't saying much.

"Then, surely I can do the same."

Although I said that, after a few hours of punching the same bloody sack, my body definitely doesn't agree with me there. My knuckles are covered in blood, although they heal just before I strike it again, the scars open up immediately once I come into contact with the bag once more.

"You can take a break," Alex says, and I let out a breath, panting. I flop to the ground, extremely grateful for the rest.

Then, I see his foot come towards my head.

I slam my back into the ground and look up at his grinning face. "What was that for?" I question.

"You always have to be ready." He tells me, and his words ring true as an unfamiliar smell comes to my nose.

And then, a figure comes out of the bushes.

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Hey, my superb readers!

So, 20 chapters. This is the most I've ever written for a book in my life, and honestly, I'm proud of myself for keeping a plot for this long. It's you guys who give me inspiration, though. Thank you so much for sticking through this book so far!

Anyway, thank you again for reading, and it would be greatly appreciated if you voted. I also love feedback and comments of any sort!

Hope to see you in the next chapter!