*Photo: Anniston
Without a moment's pause, Soleil pounced, plunging her fist down at my face. I quickly stepped to the side and landed a side punch to her arm as I stepped back from her. Her face whipped around in surprise but quickly turned to anger at the contact. She turned and lunged at me, but I blocked her and scooted back again. This time, she grunted and charged, stepping to my left. I countered to the right and was stunned when she quickly shifted positions, her fist connecting with the side of my face. She smirked and followed it with a quick kick to my side.
Ivy stepped to my side, holding her hand up to make Soleil pause. She whispered lowly, advising me on how to move. "Look. When she draws you off sides, she opens up to strike. Instead of countering your weight, go straight for her. Don't pause. Then kick her legs and pin her. You'll get her no problem."
I nodded and as she stepped away, Soleil charged again. This time coming straight for me. I shifted out of her way and landed another quick punch to her side before she turned and kicked at my face. I planted my feet and batted her leg down before launching my own leg into her stomach.
She staggered back but immediately turned to charge once more. I could see she was frustrated that I was putting up more of a fight than she'd planned. She growled and charged, again stepping to the side and trying to draw me off center. This time I took Ivy's advice and immediately stepped up to plant a hard punch square in her face. She fell backwards and I followed immediately before pouncing on her and pushing her to he ground. I shoved my arm around her neck and pinned her wrists in my hand before locking my legs around her waist. After several harsh elbows and snarls she finally tapped to be released.
My grip loosened and she shoved me off of her before popping on to her feet. I hopped off the ground and caught a smirk from Ivy as she eyed a now livid Soleil pacing with her water. She did not seem like the type to let this go easily.
"Ok. I want to work on technique now so let's slow it down. Lili, I want you with me for this. I'll rotate each of you out with me as we move forward. Lili, you watch first and then rotate in. Ladies, as you finish pair off and keep working." Ivy instructed.
I stepped to the side and watched as a few of the females began working together or with Ivy. I made mental notes on the direction to point my feet, or how they were angling their bodies when they punched or kicked, or the shift in their weight as they anticipated an oncoming attack. I finally felt confident enough to rotate in and tried to pay close attention to each of Ivy's corrections. By the time we were finished, I actually felt like I had a decent grasp on how to handle my stance and how to attack and defend accordingly.
Two hours later, Ivy called for the end of the session. I was glad. Unlike these wolves who'd been training most of their adult lives, I'd never gone through anything close. I was exhausted and my body was sore.
I waved goodbye to Ivy who was deep in conversation with one of the stronger she-wolves in the group and decided to head out. I grabbed a water and began to walk toward the door.
"You did great today. It's Lili right?" The petite brunette who had been standing beside me earlier smiled at me as she fell into step with me.
"Right. Thanks. I'm new to this but I think I can get the hang of it." I shrugged and returned the smile.
Her warm amber eyes matched her smile and she nodded. "I'm Anniston. Don't worry, you will. You are already better than half the she-wolves on their first days. Even Soleil got knocked down on her first day. You should have seen how furious she was. She was livid at Ivy when she got her to tap out. It was amazing, but don't tell her I told you that." She said with a wink.
I smirked, trying to imagine Ivy with Soleil pinned, and then later when she'd beat her out of the position for head of training. I felt a hard shove against the back of my shoulder and snapped around to see glowing raven hair flipping over a tan shoulder.
"Oops. Did I bump you?" Soleil's airy voice called over her shoulder with a smirk.
"Don't worry about it." I said with a smile.
"I wasn't." She snarked before strutting away, throwing a smile to Asher as he walked up to me.
Asher grunted in acknowledgement before rolling his eyes as he faced us. He had a sheen of sweat and beamed a smile over my shoulder at Ivy. "Hey. Alpha wanted me to let you know that the pack meeting is in two hours. He said he would meet you before to go over everything."
I thanked him and waved goodbye to Anniston who had broken off to talk to one of the males in the training group with Asher before making my way out of the building. As I rounded the corner I felt a strong hand wrap around my elbow and pull me back against the wall. His touch was gentle but firm and I gasped in surprise before looking up to see a familiar brown haired male staring down at me.
"You trained well today. If I knew any better I'd say you'd done this before." Weston smirked down at me as his hands pressed against the wall on either side of my shoulders, caging me in front of him.
"So you were watching me then?" I said with a smirk.
He nodded and leaned forward. "Hard not to watch Soleil get her ass handed to her." He said with a wink. "Not many can get her to surrender like you did. I can't wait to see how you improve, if you choose to join us that is."
I shifted, uncomfortable with his closeness and nodded, giving him a small smile. "Well I'd better go get ready, speaking of tonight."
I stepped to move away from him, but his hand dropped to my waist, pulling me closer to him. He leaned down and whispered, his lips brushing against my skin. "I for one would love for you to join. I wouldn't hate having you around every day you know."
"Oh. Um...thank you Weston." I quickly ducked under his arm and stepped back, giving him a small smile. "I'm sure I'll see you around tonight." I said and turned, walking quickly to make my way back into the pack house and down the hall to my room.
As soon as I shut the door, I took a calming breath, leaning back against it. The feel of Weston's hand on me lingered in my mind and the distaste grew in the back of my mind as the memory of his lips on my ear surfaced. It wasn't that I didn't find him attractive. Quite the contrary actually. He was gorgeous. But the weight of the mate bond far proceeded any surface level attraction to Weston.
Even without the mate bond, I could plainly see that Rhett was the most handsome man I'd ever seen. The way he was beginning to affect me was unnerving and that was without the finality of the completion of the bond. I couldn't imagine how it would feel after. But was I willing to find out? Could I come around to letting someone in again?
Once the bond was completed, he would have the power to own my heart, and destroy it all at the same time. The thought terrified me to my very core, but it kind of excited me too. Rhett seemed like someone different. Someone I could trust. But I'd thought that before and been more wrong than I could have imagined.
I shook the weight of my thoughts away, deciding to go ahead and shower off the sweat and grime from the day. I chuckled to myself as the water ran over my head, proud that I had held my own against Soleil today. The old me would have never been able to stand on my own. Not against him. But that version of me was long gone.
I finished up and stepped out of the shower, toweling off and slipping into my robe. I applied my makeup, deciding on a less is more look tonight, swiping a little blush and eyeshadow onto my eyes along with mascara and nude pink lips. I curled my hair and slipped into my black skinny jeans and a lightweight white sweater. The sweater was honestly too big. I'd grabbed it at a thrift store on the road and let it hang off of my shoulders, cuffing the sleeves so they wouldn't hang past my wrists. It almost looked like it was meant to be this big if I tucked it into the front of my jeans and I nodded in approval. I pulled on my black heeled booties, zipping them up as a soft knock sounded on my door. I checked the clock. Forty minutes to go. It had to be Rhett.
I opened the door with a smile, but it quickly fell as I saw that it was Asher. "Oh. Hi Asher." I said, trying to replace the look of disappointment. "Sorry. I was expecting Rhett. What's up?"
He gave me an apologetic smile and straightened. "I know. He sent me to tell you he got hung up at the office. We had some unexpected visitors pop up, but he wants you to meet him there so he can go over what to expect tonight. Are you ready?"
I nodded and stepped into the hall, shutting my door behind me. "Let's go then." I said and fell into step with him as we made our way to Rhett's office. "So who is visiting?"
He huffed a discontented sigh and wrinkled his nose in distaste. "A couple of members from the Shadow pack. Their Beta arrived along with their Delta to discuss some issues with Alpha. They just showed up, which is not how things are usually done here. He was not happy, but he had no choice but to hear them out. Don't worry though. He'll be finished in time. He's actually finishing up now. They should be gone by the time we get there."
My chest tightened anxiously at the thought of the Shadow Pack's presence here. Thankfully, it was only the Beta and Delta, but what if they knew something. What if they knew who my father was, if it indeed was their Alpha. My heart quickened and I tried to regulate my breathing, but I know Asher heard it.
"You ok?" He said lowly as we came to the door of the office. He stilled for a moment, obviously letting Rhett know we were here. His mouth opened to say something else, but the door opened.
My body froze as a familiar scent hit my nose hard. My eyes snapped up to see him walking out of the office, followed by a large tanned male and finally Rhett. "Thank you for coming by Beta Cage. We will discuss and get back with you immediately." Rhett's nostrils flared and his eyes looked angry as he stared hard at Asher, who now looked like a guilty dog who'd disappointed his master.
My eyes fell on a familiar pair of blue eyes staring down at me with a smirk pulling on his lips. He stepped forward to stand directly in front of me and I took a reflexive step back. "Just the girl we were discussing. Hello again darling. I've missed you."