Chapter 9: Her First Training

Sierra Vallium

I got my answer later that evening after feeding Kai his daily herbal broth, and I made sure to prepare myself for the next morning.

"You want to train with us?" The warrior, whose name I learned was Fenris, stared at me with his mouth hung open. I found out that he was one of Kai's elite and most trusted guard in the estate, and if there was anyone to teach me how to fight and have some form of stamina in saving Aurora, it had to be him.

"That's what I said." I repeated myself and nodded, looking at the training ground where everyone had stopped training to stare at us in curiosity. I got the fact that everyone was surprised that the Prince's wife wanted to join the warriors in training, but I read their rules and there wasn't any exception to me.

"This is the Lycan elite training ground, my lady." The corners of his mouth tightened as he tried to respond pleasantly. But I caught his sub. Lycans always believed that werewolves were below them in strength and everything, which wasn't actually a lie, but I wasn't going to be deterred by this.

"Okay? So?" I put a hand on my hip to display some form of arrogance, and it worked.

He faltered in his speech slightly before he responded. "We only train Lycans, my lady. And if we were to train werewolves..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It wouldn't be wolves that had unique traits like you."

Unique traits? That was a nice way to talk about a wolfless omega.

I resisted the urge to smile or laugh despite my situation and crossed my arms and planted my feet on the ground defiantly. "And what makes someone a warrior? Is it their blood? Their wolf? Or is it their willingness to fight?"

I could feel the eyes of other warriors on me... curious, mocking, dismissive, but I didn't care. I had been stared at my entire life. I had been mocked my entire life. Their stares were nothing compared to the stones the Glendale pack had thrown on me when they were sending me out.

"But you'll need permission to train here," another warrior spoke up. His name was Rook, leaner than Fenris but just as dangerous-looking. "Permission from the Lycan King, and you don't have it."

"Do the female warriors need permission?" I felt extremely insulted by that statement.

Rook's brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"The female warriors. The ones I've seen training on the southern grounds. Did they need their husbands' permission to train? Did they need their fathers' permission?"

"That's different—"

"How?" I stepped closer to him, close enough to see the confusion flickering in his eyes. "Tell me how it's different. Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're telling me I can't train because I'm an omega. Because I'm wolfless. Because you've decided I'm weak before I've even had a chance to prove otherwise."

"That's not—" Fenris started, but I cut him off.

"Are you calling me weak?"

Silence filled the pack grounds as everyone shifted uncomfortably on their feet.

"I asked you a question." My voice was steady, but my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. "Are you calling me weak? Are you saying I'm less capable than any other recruit who walks into this ground? Are you looking down on what I can do before I've done anything?"

Fenris exchanged a look with Rook, and I saw the worry in their eyes. They were thinking about Kai. Even though they were mouthy, it was an insult to call the Prince's wife weak. There were consequences of insulting the woman who supposedly shared their Prince's bed.

"We're not calling you anything," Fenris said finally, trying to be careful. "We are just looking out for you because when we train, we go all out. We don't take it easy on anyone, regardless of your position in the pack. And that is why we are able to earn the title 'Elites'. Our training will break you in every form, that's why we needed Prince Kai's go-ahead."

"I wouldn't expect any less from Elite warriors." I told them after being able to convince them. "I would be disappointed if any of you went easy on me just because I am your Prince's wife."

"Well..." Fenris finally said after he saw my resolve. "Let's see what you can do first. What are you more comfortable with? Your hands? A blade? A gun?" He was moving towards the training ring with hurried steps, and I was struggling to catch up with him.

By the time we reached the ring, I was already out of breath and panting as if my life was about to be over. I could see the disappointment in their eyes already, as if I was going to be a waste of time, but when I thought of the little hands that gripped my pinky finger, I knew that I wasn't going to be giving up anytime soon. No matter how much I was going to face humiliation from falling over a thousand times..

What I could do was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had never held a blade in my life, and it showed. Within the first ten minutes, I was on the ground with dirt in my mouth and a bruise forming on my shoulder.

"Again," I said, pushing myself up, wiping the tears that fell from my eyes because the pain radiating from my shoulders was unbearable.

"No, you're done." Fenris said when he saw me wipe the tears from my eyes. "This session is over. This session wasn't even supposed to happen in the first place."

"I'm not done!" I spat some sound out of my mouth, still breathing hard with my vision blurring. "Don't even argue about that, high warrior, because I would use my position against you, and you will have no choice but to follow. Now, Again!" I hated threatening people because of my status, but I needed to do it to get what I wanted.

The hours blurred together. Sweat dripped into my eyes and my muscles screamed and my lungs burned with every breath, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. Every time I thought about quitting, I saw Aurora's face. I saw Darius snatching her from my arms. I saw Liriel standing on that dais with my daughter wrapped in my blanket.

"Your form is improving," Rook admitted grudgingly after the third hour. "You're still terrible, but you're less terrible than you were this morning."

"Such a high praise." I smiled wryly.

"Don't get used to it."

By the time the sun began to set, I could barely stand. My legs were shaking and my arms were trembling and my vision was swimming at the edges. The other warriors had long since finished their drills and had stayed back to watch. Fenris had tried to dismiss me a couple of times but I always said "one more set," and he had no choice but agree. 

"What the hell is going on here?" A sharp voice cut through the training grounds, and everyone's back straightened. Well, except mine which was currently pressed flat against the ground with Fenris sitting slightly on my belly.

I watched Fenris swallow hard in fear as Kai took slow and measured steps until he was standing over us, the fury in his eyes evident.

"Do you want me to repeat myself, Fenris? What are you doing on top of my wife?”