In my dream, snow was falling.
Tiny delicate flakes fell from the clear cerulean sky and covered my red hair in white. Wind howled in my ears and the electric blue that I loved faded into a murky gray. Snow collected in a flurry and transformed the earth from spring to winter.
I reached a hand out and waited for the ice to melt on my skin. Yet when I curled my fingers into a fist and unfolded them to the world, there was no water.
Snow caught fire and burned two crescent moons into my palm.
I woke up and the dream was lost. Orange sunlight was already leaking through the curtains to signal that the day was here. Ares was sleeping soundly by my side. Unable to fall back asleep, I carefully crept out of bed so I wouldn't disturb him and walked out to the balcony.
It was another beautiful day—the air was warm and inviting, the sky clear and safe. I saw Blake and his younger cousin Conrad as pale colored wolves patrolling the perimeter. Since our biggest enemy was locked up underground and there wasn't really anyone to watch out for anymore, they spent their time playfully attacking each other now and then.
Ares stirred in bed and joined me outside on the balcony.
"You're up early," Ares kissed my cheek and wrapped his arms around me from behind, "I opened my eyes and you weren't there."
"Yeah. I kind of just woke up ready to start the day." I rarely woke up before sunrise—believe me when I said I wasn't a morning person at all—yet here I was. It was because I finally had something to live for.
"It will be another beautiful day."
An entire season had gone by without an incident.
The Jackson pack had gone relatively quiet now that Troy was captured. I still braced for repercussions as wolves were loyal and were not known to forget the past so easily, but the others didn't worry. If they had called their allies to rally against us then they would've done it already, so says Blake.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Just. . . how lucky we are. To have all of this."
We had a huge comfortable castle with strong walls to protect us, acres of land to explore, good people to call family, and enough fresh food to feed a town. This was ours and both of us would rule it together.
He thought for a moment. "Are you in the mood for another training session?"
"Always." I smiled.
.•*•.
Ares always started me off on easy mode. I knew he was holding back whenever we trained together because I'd seen him fight and it was nowhere near what we were doing.
"You're going to get soft if you keep holding back." I said as he pulled one of his punches. He moved slower, too, when in reality he was so fast that he blurred sometimes.
"That's what Marvel is for." Marvel was the next best fighter after Ares. He was the only one who came close to defeating him in single hand-to-hand combat.
"I'm serious. How will I ever learn to fight if you don't give me the real thing?"
"Because you won't have to." He said stubbornly.
"You saw me at the evaluation. I took down fifteen people. I can do it."
"Your instincts are good, even for a human, but can you really say that you could fully defend yourself from wolves like Troy?"
That was a big fat no. Life was so unfair.
Still, I gave it my all.
"You've improved a lot since we started."
"I should hope so. It would be pretty sad if I regressed."
"Give yourself more credit, Alex."
A little boy no older than six came up to us as we practiced. He watched from a distance, completely wide-eyed. Maybe a few months ago I would have felt self-conscious but I knew I was improving.
"Luna!" The boy cheered to get my attention. "I'm your biggest fan!"
I stopped fighting Ares for a moment and smiled.
"Thank you." I met his eyes and noticed they were different colors. I'd never seen that before.
"And what about me?" Ares spoke up and the boy seemed to be more timid around him.
"Alpha," he did a cute little bow, "Of course, everyone knows you're the best fighter in our pack."
"Oh, I'm sure you're stronger than him." I joked and he shook his head rapidly.
"It is true you're really just human?" He asked in awe and I nodded. He seemed shocked by this. "Wow. You're really, really strong. You know my mom says it's more common for wolves and humans to be mates now. I think it's awesome! I hope I have a human mate someday." He said wistfully.
"Landon, there you are," Landon's mom Joanna rushed over to us.
"Hi, mom!" Landon hugged her and she bent down to kiss the top of his head.
She bowed and straightened her posture in our presence, "I'm sorry if he caused you trouble, Alpha and Luna."
"Oh no, not at all," I smiled, "He was a good cheerleader."
"Thank you for taking care of him," she nodded graciously at me while she took her son's hand and led him back inside.
"Can I join?" Milla asked and I hadn't been aware that she had also been watching. I wasn't surprised as she was the only early bird in our friend group.
"Of course." I stepped off to the side. "I'm getting a little tired. Tag team it?"
"Put me in, coach." We high-fived and she took my spot across Ares.
"I heard you gave my Gamma quite a challenge." Ares said.
"Yes, it was fun."
"Let's see how you do against me."
Just like that, he was all business.
I watched to see if he dialed his strength down for Milla. He started off at an easygoing pace which she had no problem keeping up with. They were analyzing each other's moves to spot a weakness.
The game changed when she faked a punch and he dodged out of the way, right into her other fist. Her rings struck him on his cheekbone and Ares seemed genuinely caught off guard. An ache of worry surged through me. Seeing him get hurt was hard even though I knew he'd been through worse.
She jabbed again but he blocked her with his forearm. Her knuckles connected with pure muscle—then in less than a second, he grabbed her arm and flipped her in the air. She took that opportunity to kick him square in the chest and almost landed on both feet, but not before Ares recovered and swept his legs from underneath her.
Milla wasn't fast enough and her legs snagged on his. She fell on her side.
So I was right.
He was treating me differently.
"Where did you learn that little trick?" Ares helped her up and she shrugged.
"The only thing that matters is that it worked." She grinned. "Sorry about your face."
"It'll heal."
"Very nice." I clapped. "You gave him a run for his money."
I wanted to point out to Ares that Milla held up her own against him and she was human but something in my stomach felt weird. A wave of nausea rushed over me and I closed my eyes.
"I don't feel too good. . ."
As soon as I said that Ares rushed to my side.
"Was it something you ate?" Milla asked.
"No, she didn't eat anything today."
"Well there you go." She shook her head. "You really should eat breakfast or else you won't have any energy in you."
Strangely enough, it felt like there was something bubbling up in my stomach even though it was empty.
We made our way up the path when the nausea subsided. Maybe the heat was too much.
"Tasha and I are leaving today, probably after we eat." Milla said.
"Already?"
"Yeah. We have a lot to do when we get back. You can still come with us if you want."
I tried to keep my face neutral since Ares was right there.
"I'm visiting my parents in a week so I'll be back in town. We could have a Friday night sleepover and watch horror movies like old times."
"About that," Milla tucked a strand of her curly hair behind her ear. "I don't know if I'm going to be around for the rest of the year. Classes start soon and the drive's about eight hours from here to Columbia so it would be tough. And I know Tasha has an internship in New York City so she might be busy, too, but you could try asking her."
I deflated a little.
I had the best life in the world which I wouldn't trade for anything. . . so why did I feel like I was missing out? That could have been me going to dorm in a college or earning a coveted spot in a some sort of internship. It would have been me if it weren't for Ares.
My friends were moving on with their lives without me. I should do the same.
"That's okay. We can meet up another time." I forced a smile as we went back inside the castle. "Good luck in college. You're going to kick butt."
Hi everyone, just wanted to give you all a little update: Wattpad invited me to be a Creator and today is officially my first day in the program! This means I'll be updating this story every week and hopefully expanding on my other ones. My life has been a little chaotic so this gives me a deadline to stop me from procrastinating lmao. Thank you for reading, voting and commenting, it means a lot :)