5. Past regret

Liberty pov

Whack I try to silence my alarm by hitting in its general direction. I’m not a morning person. Never was never will be. For this very reason I have my alarm on my desk so I have to get out of bed. I don’t know what Olwyn put in that ointment but it sure worked magic.  

I stretch myself and put on my workout clothes. It’s Saturday, no school but sparring class led by Gamma Heath. I hope I get to spar with Madelin today. She won’t take it easy on me, nor will I take it easy on her but after yesterday I know that we won’t excessively hurt each other.  

When I enter the sparring Area I see Madelin practicing moves we did earlier this week. Before yesterday I would have kept to myself and do some stretches for mobility but today I feel I can give her some feedback.

“Goodmorning Madelin,” she startles at the sound of my voice. 

“Goodmorning to you too!” she chirps back, definitely a morning person, “Your wolf worked wonders during the night,” she assesses my face.

“She’s a trooper. Not looking too bad yourself either,” I smile back at her.

“I had a head start,” Madelin laughs. 

“I noticed you were practising last week's moves, do you mind if I help you?” 

“Not at all! I can only see so much in a mirror.”

She takes position again and I correct the stance off her foot, together we work through the moves.

“Well well well, if that isn’t the laziest and worst fighter of the pack correcting someone,” a voice I don’t immediately recognise calls out. 

Madelin and I turn round and face Danny, Viera and Verity who just entered the training area. 

“That I’m not the best fighter in practice, doens mean didn’t pay attention to last week's lesson,” I sneer at Danny. 

Viera and Verity stand behind Danny smirking. Both of them are still showing the evidence of yesterday's ‘spar’. From our previous life we know Danny has a crush on Verity and is hoping that when they come of age she’ll be his mate. But Verity never saw Danny as anything more than a fan. 

She enjoys having him around as an admirer, someone who does little errands and is a bodyguard for her. I can’t remember if they were mates and if she rejected him or not. I can see Verity smirking and I know that Danny will not back down just to impress her. 

“Don’t think because you’ve trained for a week and you’re the Alpha’s daughter you can boss us around. Back down little girl you’re nothing.” He steps closer to me towering over me by several inches trying to get me to step backwards.

I straighten my back, “Oh Danny you poor little pup, trying to impress Verity by showing your bad boy side. Get lost! Leave me and Madelin practice in peace.”

He narrows his eyes, “You and Madelin are awfully chummy since she beat Verity and Viera for you yesterday. Dare to spar me? just you and me? no Madelin to save your sorry weak ass?”

“Liberty, let it go. We’ll just go elsewhere. He’s not worth it,” Madelin tries to stop things from escalating.

Choosing to avoid a beating from Danny I shrug and walk away. Suddenly I lose my balance as my arm is grabbed and I’m pulled towards him. 

“Don’t cry…” Danny hisses.

Before I can think it through I kick his shin. Hard, no holding back.  He cries out and lets me go but I don’t get the chance to escape. Within seconds Danny is on top of me raining down punches. I avoid most of them and manage to get him off me. 

I kick him in his stomach, throwing him off balance but he doesn’t fall to the ground. He recovers and kicks back, I avoid his leg by ducking and try to sweep his other leg from beneath him. 

He lands a hard punch on my nose that immediately stars bleeding again. My fist lands on his jaw splitting his lip and dislodging a tooth. 

“ENOUGH! Both of you idiots STOP!” the booming voice of Gamma Heath blares through the gym forcing me and Danny to stop. Both bleeding we scowl at each other. Danny growls at me. To my content I see that I’ve not only split his lip but also manage to hit his eye which is now swollen shut. 

/Well done us,/ Naveah proudly quips, ignoring our broken nose and split eyebrow. 

“Does either of you care to explain what happend?” Gamma Heath barks out.

“Liberty was provoking Danny” Viera starts shifting the blame to me.

“Zip it,” Viera, Heath silences her.

“Well? Has either of you morons got to say anything in defence?” Gamma Heath, barks out looking at both me and Danny. 

Gamma Heath is an honest  guy, very capable in both fighting and strategy. Hartley promoted him from my fathers Gamma to his lead warrior before. I remember him coming down to the dungeons while guards were raping me. He made them stop and sent them away. 

I tried talking to him then but he had a fast trust in the ruling of the court. If the King, the Prince and the judges had found me guilty there was no way I could be innocent in his opinion. This life I intend to befriend him so that he’ll know me and take my side when push comes to shove. Or at least I hope he will.

I shake my head looking down at the ground feeling ashamed that I let Danny provoke me. 

“Apparantly you’ve both got too much energy so instead of participating in today's training you are going to run 10k, do 100 sit ups, 100 push ups, 100 squats and 100 burpees. IN THAT ORDER. Now MOVE!” Gamma Heath decides. 

“But Gamma it was Liberty who instigated and started the fight,” I hear Danny try. 

Instead of defending myself or listening to whatever bullcrap Danny blurts out I go to the slackmill to start my 10k run. Within a few minutes Danny joins me, setting up the slackmill next to me.

“Danny! Take the slackmill on the other end of the row! Stay as far away from her as you can!” Heath orders him. I silently thank him for not having to run next to him.  

From my slackmill I have a good view on the sparring class and I pay as much attention as I can so I can practise the moves by myself or with Madelin, Cooper or dad later this week. 

After my run I start my sit ups. Cursing myself for my previous laziness I make it to 100. Knowing that Heath is keeping an eye on us. I start the pushups groaning and taking breaks every 10 repetitions. 

Glancing to my side I see that Danny is faring way better than I am. He’s in a far better shape. I make it to 100 and start the squats. My legs tremble because of the 10K they just ran, when I complete them my legs are violently shaking. 

100 burpees, I don’t think I ever made it past 10. Vomiting and barely able to stand, I make it. Danny is already finished and waiting for me. When he sees I’m done he walks up to me,

“You got off easy this time. Next time I’ll make sure you won’t get back up,” Danny hisses in my ear. The threat sends shovers down my spine. As I lay panting and gathering courage to get up and go home.  

I watch him walk out and notice that Heath is following Danny with his gaze, eyes narrowed. Heath looks at me, “Keep your head on your shoulders next time. Now go home and take a bath. Tomorrow is another day, another training session.” He doesn’t sound unfriendly. Maybe I impressed him by not giving up. 

/We have to ask Cooper if he has more of the magic ointment or pay a visit to Olwyn ourselves,/ I groan to Naveah, who just grins back at me in return. 

/Coulda, woulda, shoulda have trained more before,/ she rubs our past laziness in my face yet again.

/Can’t change the past working hard in the present./