The True Alpha {2}

Chapter 10

Finley

"Yes, Pebble!" I shouted. "That was incredibly well done!"

Pebble looked up at me from her position near the forest floor green eyes shining. Her tail wagged happily at the praise. Beneath her, pinned to the ground, was Daisy. Daisy growled at her once and Pebble hopped off her, bowing her head slightly. Daisy climbed to her paws, shaking out her fur before transforming. I nodded to Pebble that she could also transform.

"That move was well executed." Daisy conceded. "But never lose focus. If someone compliments your move in battle are you going to look away from your opponent to look at them?"

"No Daisy." Pebble said softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. You're learning. That's what's important." I told her. I nudged Pebble's shoulder lightly. "That's the whole point of these training sessions, to learn new moves and to learn from our mistakes before an actual fight."

"That's right." Daisy agreed. "So what have you learned from this mock exercise?"

Pebble perked up. "I learned how to pin down a larger, more experienced opponent, and not to get distracted from my opponent during a fight."

"Exactly." I told her. "Now let's go see how some of the others are fairing."

Everyone in the patrol had paired off to do some training, I told Pebble and Dark to pick more experienced pack members who were older to give them more experience.

Each pair in the clearing continued to fight, with the exception of River who I had paired off with. He was leaning against a tree watching Sunny and Gwen spar against each other.

I headed over with Daisy and Pebble right behind me. River looked up and nodded at us when we reached him. Sunny and Gwen were locked in a ferocious spar, each trying to pin the other down but neither willing to risk yielding.

There was a small squak of surprise from Sunshine as Gwen launched herself forward and caught her by surprise. Sunny was thrown backward and stunned. Gwen instantly jumped on top of her and forced Sunshine's muzzle into the dirt.

Sunny lashed her tail angrily before going limp. Gwen purred and loosened her grip. There was an explosion of fur as Sunny leaped to her paws, throwing Gwen off of her back. Gwen hit the hard earth with a dull thud and Sunny raced after her foe. Sunny pinned Gwen down and then snapped her teeth next to Gwen's neck, a mock killing move.

"Well done, both of you." River said. Sunshine stood and began to transform. Gwen struggled to her paws and did the same.

"Excellent work, Sunshine. You have improved greatly." Gwen told her gracefully.

"Thank you, Gwen. I appreciate it." Sunshine smiled at her former mentor.

"That was so cool!" Pebble said excitedly. "The way you pretended to be defeated to trick her was so awesome!"

Gwen laughed. "It is a good technique if you get pinned on your stomach, but try not to get into that position to begin with."

Sunny scowled slightly before seeing the teasing glint in Gwen's eyes. "She's right." Sunny sighed. "I got distracted and she caught me off guard."

Gwen smiled and put a hand on Sunshine's shoulder. "And it's a mistake you'll learn from."

Sunny smiled back at her. "You're right."

"I think we should probably spar now, don't you?" River challenged me.

"I think that would be wise." I agreed.

Sunny and Gwen both looked at each other before hastily trading places with River and I.

We nodded to each other once before crouching down and beginning to shift. I looked up at River and fluffed out my fur. The last rays of the sun as it began to descend into the sky lighting it up and making me look like my fur was on fire. River and I began to circle the outer edge of the area that we were in.

River bared his teeth and I hissed back at him. I could feel the eyes of not only Sunny, Gwen, Daisy, and Pebble, but several other pack members who had finished sparring and wanted to see who would win this fight.

River launched himself across the open space, aiming to catch me off guard as Gwen had done to Sunny. Acting quickly, I dove to my belly and rolled out of the way, ending neatly on my paws. Without pausing for even a beat I hurled myself back at River, pretending to aim low as if I was going to dive under him. As I expected River reared up on his hind legs aiming to crush me underneath him. At the last second I switched positions and launched myself upwards in a powerful leap that hit River in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

Immediately I flung myself on top of him to pin him down. I've got to end this quickly! He's so much bigger than me he can just fling me off!

I planted my paws as best I could and threw my head forward, baring my teeth against the fur at his throat.

River rubbed his nose against my cheek to acknowledge that the fight was over. I scrambled off of him so that both of us could transform.

"Well fought." River whispered into my ear while the rest of the patrol loudly called out their congratulations.

I smiled. "You too." Around me the rest of the patrol was smiling and laughing. Today was a successful day. But I wish it could always be like this.

"Let's head back to camp." I called out. "Well done today everybody. But remember: there's always something you can improve on so I want everybody to be thinking about what they can do better before the next training patrol."

There were murmurs of agreement from pack members as they headed past me to head back to camp. Heading back I can take the rear of the patrol which is nice because it allows me time to think.

As the rest of the patrol headed forwards I noticed River hang back to walk alongside me as we headed back to camp. Side by side both lost in our own thoughts we walked back to camp in a companionable silence while the rest of the patrol talked and laughed together.

Without a word River grabbed my hand in his, intertwining our fingers. I stumbled in shock and butterflies erupted in my stomach. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. I knew what he was trying to tell me. We'll be okay.