18. The Sparring Game.

Caleb’s POV

The morning air was cold enough to bite.

I liked that.

It woke something in me. The kind of sharp focus you only got from sweat, adrenaline, and the faint sting of winter.

The training ground behind Adrian’s mansion stretched wide, wider than my training in my own mansion— an open field of grass and reinforced steel targets, made for one thing only: werewolf combat.

Our kind didn’t just train; we tested our limits every day.

And today, I needed that.

A distraction.

I pulled off my black shirt, feeling the morning chill hit my skin as I rolled my shoulders. My wolf stirred inside me ... restless, hungry for movement.

“Let’s go, old boy,” I muttered, smirking at the row of holographic vampire projections that flickered to life around me. The training bots were enchanted, designed to simulate real vampire combat ... fast, brutal, unpredictable.

Perfect.

With a low growl, I lunged.

One strike. Two.

Silver light flashed as my claws ripped through illusion after illusion.

Each movement was clean, fluid, precise ...muscle memory burned into years of battle.

It wasn’t just training.

It was therapy.

I needed to move, to fight, to stop thinking about the lunar eclipse, about Adrian’s growing temper, about Rose.

He didn’t talk about her anymore, but I knew she still haunted his every thought.

And me?

I was caught in the middle ... as always. The Beta who held the Alpha together.

“Not bad,” a voice said from behind. “For someone who thinks he’s invincible.”

I froze mid-swing.

I’d know that voice anywhere.

Lucy.

I turned, wiping sweat from my face as she walked toward me, dressed in tight black combat gear. Her hair was tied back, her eyes sharp and gleaming like frost.

“Didn’t realize we were taking visitors,” I said dryly.

She crossed her arms. “I asked the guards to let me in. Thought you could use a challenge.”

I chuckled. “You think you can challenge me?”

“Why not?” She tilted her head. “Or are you scared I’ll bruise your ego?”

That did it.

I grinned. “All right, wolf girl. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

We circled each other, silent but charged. The energy between us shifted, electric.

She made the first move ... a flash of speed that would’ve impressed anyone but me. I blocked her, twisted, and threw her off balance.

She landed on her feet, snarling, her eyes glowing faintly golden.

“Oh, claws out already?” I taunted, ducking her next strike. “Didn’t know we were doing partial shifts today.”

“Just warming up,” she said, flipping backward and sending a burst of energy toward me ...a shimmering pulse that cracked the air.

I deflected it with a blast of my own, the two waves colliding midair and erupting in a flash of light.

She was good. I’d give her that.

Fast, fierce, strategic.

But I’d been fighting since before she was born.

After ten minutes of dodging, striking, and trading hits, I caught her arm and flipped her flat on her back. She groaned, glaring up at me.

“Guess that’s game,” I said with a smirk, offering my hand.

She slapped it away, standing up on her own. “Don’t get cocky, Beta.”

I shrugged. “Hey, you said you wanted a challenge.”

She narrowed her eyes. “For the record, I’ve won battles too.”

“Against recruits maybe,” I teased. “I’ve taken down real vampires. You know ...the ones that actually bite... Leaders of their vampire clan.”

She scoffed, brushing dust from her uniform. “You talk too much.”

“That’s because I’ve earned the right to,” I replied, flashing her a grin. “Do you have any idea how many fights I’ve won?”

She crossed her arms. “And yet you’re still second-in-command.”

That one stung ...a little.

“Careful,” I said, stepping closer, lowering my voice. “Keep poking, and I might start taking you seriously.”

She smirked. “You should.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

The air thickened ... not with tension from the fight, but something else entirely. Her eyes met mine, sharp and searching.

Then she asked, too casually, “How’s Adrian?”

I blinked.

Ah. There it was.

I gave a dry laugh. “So that’s what this was. A sparring match for information?”

She hesitated. “I was just...”

“You were just trying to talk about him,” I interrupted. “You think I don’t see through that?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I stepped closer ...close enough that she had to tilt her chin up to meet my gaze.

“Listen, Lucy,” I said quietly, my tone dropping from playful to serious. “Don’t make me your way into his world. It doesn’t work like that.”

Her jaw tightened, but I kept going.

“Adrian doesn’t let people in easily ...not even me. You can train, you can follow the council’s orders, you can pretend to care ...but don’t use me to get closer to him.”

For a moment, something flickered in her eyes ... guilt, maybe. Or pain.

Then she whispered, “You think I’m doing this because I want to?”

“Honestly?” I said, stepping back. “I don’t know what to think.”

I grabbed a towel from the bench and slung it around my neck.

“But if you really want to survive around Adrian Wolfe,” I said, heading toward the exit, “learn when to stop chasing storms.”

Then I walked off, leaving her standing in the middle of the field ... fists clenched, eyes dark.

---

Lucy’s POV

He walked away.

Just like that.

I wanted to throw something at his back ...anything. A rock. A dagger. My pride.

Instead, I stood there, chest rising and falling fast, trying to swallow the sting of his words.

“Don’t make me your way into his world.”

As if I hadn’t already been forced into it.

They didn’t understand ... not Caleb, not Adrian, not even my father. None of them knew what it felt like to be trapped between duty and disgust.

I didn’t want to be here.

I didn’t want to be Adrian’s “maybe Luna.”

But the council had decided otherwise. My father had decided otherwise.

And now I was expected to seduce a man who could barely look at me.

I took a shaky breath, replaying the fight in my head.

Caleb was stronger, faster ... and infuriatingly calm.

The way he looked at me, half amused and half pitying, made my blood boil.

I wasn’t some fragile thing. I was a general. I’d led packs into battle.

But here, I was just another pawn.

He said not to chase storms.

But what if the storm was the only thing left that made you feel alive?

I clenched my fists, trying to calm my wolf. My power pulsed beneath my skin, begging to be unleashed again.

The truth was, Caleb had struck a nerve.

Because he was right ...part of me had hoped talking to him might make Adrian see me differently. Might make me feel less like an outsider in this mansion full of secrets and power.

But now, standing alone in the field, all I felt was anger.

At the council.

At my father.

At Adrian.

At myself.

I glanced toward the forest line ...the path that led back to the mansion. I could still feel Caleb’s energy lingering in the air, that warm mix of arrogance and loyalty that somehow made him both unbearable and admirable.

He was right about one thing, though.

Adrian Wolfe wasn’t just a man.

He was a force of nature ...cold, dangerous, untouchable.

And I…

I was a soldier ordered to tame the storm.

I closed my eyes, letting out a bitter laugh. “Try harder, Lucy,” I muttered under my breath, echoing my father’s voice in my head.

Then I picked up my sword, sliced through the nearest training dummy, and watched it crumble into dust.

I wasn’t done yet.

Not by a long shot.