Chapter 8 - The First Training Sessions

• Hope POV
• I heard the guys leaving, and I was the last one to leave, I followed the guys to the practice area, and when I approached I saw the coach looking down at me.
• "I'm Joshua, this training is to evaluate your skills as a leader." I listened carefully, my face serious. "Your previous group will be passed on to you and from now on you will be evaluated on their development. In three weeks there will be a test to check your group's development."
• I nodded positively and looked again at the arena and well, I didn't like what I saw, it was something ordinary.
• "Do I necessarily need to train them here?" I asked and couldn't help my tone of disapproval.
• "Well, that's the right thing to do. That way it will be easier for us to evaluate you."
• "But is it mandatory that I train them here?" I asked again and looked into Joshua's eyes.
• "No..."
• "Good," I spoke quickly and walked past him and looked at the 7 who were my designees. "Come." I turned my back and started walking out of the arena. I passed Joshua and the hallways, left the Palace and headed towards the forest, I walked for an hour until we were far enough away, but not so far away as to get in the way of any patrols.
• "A few considerations, I don't know how you have been trained so far but have known that with me it will be much worse and I have had one less week to work with you. There are a few options. You can stay with me, you can ask to go to another group, or you can quit." I looked into the eyes of each person in front of me. "If you decide to stay with me I will break you. Every bone in your body will suffer, your muscles will break and many screams of pain will echo and it will happen over and over and over worse and worse than the last time."
• "Yes, I say this to scare you, but it is quite simple, you were not born warriors, and you have no Beta, Alpha or Gamma blood, but somehow you have made it this far. If you want to be better, you have to get used to the pain. If you think that everything that has happened up to now was pain, well, it wasn't." I paused and added. "Now you need to decide who you want to be and how you want to achieve that."
• "I'm not afraid of pain, well... I am, but if overcoming it is what I need to be better, then I'll accept it." The first to speak was a small girl, she must have been about 1.55m only, her black hair came down to her waist and in the next instant, I heard them let out a sigh as I pulled the girl's hair and threw her against the floor, face down.
• "Everyone should cut their hair. It can be used against you. Tying it up is useless because it can come loose," I spoke as I turned back to them and saw everyone nodding in agreement. "For now you are just numbers, as you get better and better I will start calling you by your names.
• I pointed to each one and gave them a number from one to seven and then looked around.
• "In real life, you won't be fighting in cute and tidy arenas, you won't have weapons always at your disposal." I looked at my cell phone and saw the time, two and a half hours until the end of training. "From here to the castle is an hour, I want you to do the same path four times, that means half an hour to go there and half an hour to come back, do it in human form. Whoever doesn't make it will add for tomorrow. My training starts at 6 a.m. I want to see you in the training arena at 3 a.m."
• I sat on the floor and fiddled with my cell phone and listened to them start running back to the entrance. I know that none of them are going to quit or switch teams, they want to be better and they have seen what I can do, it is obvious that they want to become as strong as me.
• The time passed quickly until it was 5:30 p.m. None of them had completed the four laps, but I had written down who had done how many.
• "Tomorrow at 3 a.m. in the practice arena," I spoke and then stood up and took a deep breath. "You can transform, we have to arrive at 6 p.m. for your wolf training." Then I focused my gaze down the path and started running, keeping my breathing regular as my feet barely touched the ground and in 20 mins I arrived at the castle.
• I walked to the wolf-shaped training room and saw that the stage group was already lined up and probably who was there in front was someone from stage 3 or 4. I put my hands in my pockets as I went forward. I arrived exactly on time.
• "Hope isn't it?" It was a man with blond hair, there was a scar on his face on the left side that cut across it and down to his neck, his eyes were of a very dark black, his posture was firm of someone who had been doing that for some time.
• "Yes, sir," I answered looking into his eyes and realizing that he tried to intimidate me, but I kept my face serious, even if I wanted to laugh, I couldn't.
• "Since you have no wolf, you will be reassigned to the training area..."
• "I have trained with other wolves before, and I don't intend to stop doing that now." I cut him off quickly. My anger was returning, one of the things I hated most was this, being belittled. Whether he was surprised or wasn't impossible to know.
• "Yes, I've seen your background already, so I've read your file and your training notes and the training videos." I arched my left eyebrow, looking at him inquisitively. "And as I was saying, you will be transferred to the training area along with the stage four staff."
• Was I surprised? That was the least that could be said, I certainly didn't expect that.
• "At the end of the training, you must come back here and report to me."
• "Yes... Sir?" I spoke, not even my voice was very steady and I then saw a trace of amusement in his eyes and quickly ran out to the exit of the arena before he did anything else stupid.
• As I entered the stage 4 training arena I noticed something, there were several weapons set up around the arena, while some were in wolf form and others in human form using weapons to defend and attack and their trainer was circling the pairs, making notes.
• 'SHIT!' I shouted in my mind.
• Kendrick Barone, future Alpha of the SilverRage pack was the trainer. He was 23 years old, with short reddish hair, and a small beard that covered the lower part of his face, it was very soft, his eyes had a light blue tone, like the sky on a clear day, and his body was very shapely and perfectly covered by the trainer's uniform.
• I took several steps backward until I bumped into someone.
• "Aren't you supposed to be there?" I looked back and saw a woman with dark brown hair and greenish eyes, wearing a trainer's uniform. Her features were serious and she looked annoyed.
• "I, er... Um..." What should I say? No, I can't. Don't I want to? That I want to go back to my house and run out of there.
• "Hope, isn't it? What are you afraid of?" I saw her concern, did she know me? Then she looked around the arena and saw that no one had noticed me.
• "Um... Er... Sorry, I think I finally realized where I am." Well, it was a half-truth.
• "I see, well, mastering fear is important to be a good warrior. So take a deep breath and go to the arena. I will be your opponent."
• I widened my eye. A trainer would be my opponent. Okay, that got me excited, and I even forgot about the rest and went to the arena, looking at the weapons.
• "Can I pick anyone?" I asked excitedly.
• "The one you're not as proficient with. Then forget the daggers." I listened to her answer and looked at my options.
• Well, I knew how to fight with several types of weapons, but I picked the double staff, even though they were similar to daggers I still didn't have as much control, as they weren't sharp and usually break easily.
• "I think that one is an option for now," I replied and then turned back to her and saw that she had transformed. Her wolf was large, had dark brown fur, almost like her hair, and I realized that I very narrowly missed losing an arm.
• "Rule number one, there is no such thing as a fair fight," I said to myself, something I had forgotten and so now I had a cut on my shoulder.
• My opponent advanced again, only this time I was more prepared and before her claw hit me, I hit her on the side of the leg where the wrist bone would be, not hard, but enough to give a shock and with the other stick I hit her in the jaw, doing the same effect.
• It wasn't something to cause damage, but to destabilize, I know that a wolf's vigor will heal any damage I do, so with these small attacks her wolf wouldn't pay as much attention, but in the end, I would probably win.
• I felt her push me with her other paw and dragged myself back, trying to keep my balance. Another bad thing about the two smaller sticks, I couldn't use them as a base of support.
• "Did I hurt?" I asked mockingly and saw that it did because in seconds she had jumped on me, I took advantage and slipped under it and delivered three strikes, two in the ribs, one on each side and the last one in the belly. I was on the ground, but I jumped up in an arc and stepped on my opponent's back and watched as she tried to throw me over.
• I let myself be thrown and when she turned to grab me I used gravity to put one stick between her mouth and hold it there for a few seconds, and the other that was still in my hand hit the side of her head, near her ear, a little farther back, a point that hit her inner ear, enough to knock her out.
• Now I had to finish and when I went to hit the other side I felt something pulling me back, I immediately used my elbow to hit the rib of whoever was holding me, but I was blocked.
• "What?" I grunted and felt my hands being pinned.
• "Hope Black! I command you to calm down!" That tone penetrated my ears and immediately my body relaxed. Only two people could do that. Alpha Julian and his son.