CHAPTER 14: LUNA'S FIRST LESSON

One conversation grabs my attention, but I keep stretching as if I didn’t hear them.

“When did the Alphas find our Luna...?” There was a pause before he realized something. “Oh shit, she’s the one that rescued the pups. I mean, I’m thankful, but why did she feel like that was her place? Also, why is she out here? The Luna should be in the house attending to the women and children.”

“Oh, hell no. Did he seriously just say that?” says Cece.

Why yes, my dear friend, he did. Should we go teach him a lesson on where women are allowed to be and what they are allowed to do?

“Heck yes,” replied Cece with a grin.

So, I head over to where the young men are talking, just as I see Zane heading our way. Clearly, he heard what was said and was pissed.

Can I handle this, please? We would like to show him that women aren’t just for cleaning the house and taking care of the babies. I asked Zane. He paused mid-step and looked at me for a few seconds, then nodded. He stayed where he was so he could intervene if needed.

How much am I allowed to do? I asked. It’s best if I know my limits so he doesn’t ban me from the training grounds before I can earn their trust and respect.

“You are my equal. Squish him like a bug for all I care,” Zane says lazily.

Aww, you say the sweetest things. I say with a giggle before I reach my unsuspecting sparring partner for today.

With a calm, unreadable expression, I put my hands behind my back and stopped right behind the guy who was still talking with disrespect about the women in the pack. Meanwhile, the surrounding guys are trying to tell him to shut up with their eyes, but he just doesn’t get it.

“Women just don’t understand that men are the superior species. We protect them, not the other way around,” he continued, oblivious to the fact that I am standing right behind him.

I had heard enough. “What is your name?” I asked, making him jump to his feet and spin to face me.

“C-c-cadet Summers, Luna,” he stammered out at first, but then he regained his composure and puffed out his chest to appear intimidating, as if he had just realized I am a weak woman and he is a strong man.

He is about a half foot taller than me and wider. He clearly prejudged his opponent, which is a big no-no.

This does not at all calm Zane down. I wouldn’t have been able to tell from his unreadable expression, but I feel his fury through the bond.

“In the training yard and on the battlefield, it is ma’am, not Luna,” I said with a stern, commanding voice. “Now, I hear that you think a woman’s place is in the house and raising the babies,” I stated.

At this point, he is trying not to look scared in front of all the men who have started to gather discreetly. They all want to know what is going to happen since Zane hasn’t stepped in yet. I am just glad Zane is letting me handle this myself. I know how hard it is for him to stand aside.

I continue, “So, how about we spar. If you win, I will take my place in the house where the women belong. How about that?”

He gets cocky, “I wouldn’t want to hurt you, ma’am.” He finishes mockingly. Normally, that would get his teeth knocked out, but there will be time for that soon. Zane growls, which causes Summers to freeze on the spot.

“Oh, so you think I just felt like coming out here to play warrior for shits and giggles, huh?” I say with a shrug, but still no change in expression.

“Fine, but when I beat you, I don’t want to hear you cry,” he says. When he realizes that Zane is not stepping in, he takes that as permission to continue. He takes off his jacket and starts warming up.

This is going to be more fun than I thought, I said to Cece.

“What about when he loses, ma’am?” asks Zane, stepping up beside me. “What do you want?”

I’m surprised that he used the title I demanded Cadet Summers to use. It just goes to show that he thinks of us as a team, as equals. It is also a fast and easy way for him to emphasize that he expects everyone to know it, too. This causes Cadet Summers to freeze once again, realizing that Zane was not on his side for the first time.

“Alpha, you don’t seriously think she can beat me, do you?” asks Summers.

Zane turns his piercing gray eyes towards Summers, and Summers immediately looks down. Then, when Zane looks back at me, his eyes soften a little. I look at Summers, who is still looking at the ground. Then he raises his eyes to mine, and I see anger.

I slowly grew an evil smirk. Then I look at Zane and say, “Well, Alpha, if it is okay with you, when I win, he trains with me for the rest of the week.”

Zane matches my smirk and says, “Yes, ma’am, but take it easy on him, will you? He is needed in the kitchens right after training.” This causes Summers to look at me with even more hatred, if that was possible.

It is obvious that working in the kitchens with the Omegas is his punishment for the disrespect he just showed to the women of the pack. I’ve come to quickly realize that working with an Omega as punishment is the worst form of punishment. This is because it says that, for now, you are the lowest of the low. For a warrior who is viewed with respect for protecting the pack, it is the biggest hit to their pride than anything else.

I don’t agree with that, but I will address that later.

The warriors close in, forming a tight circle around Summers and me. Summers shifts restlessly from foot to foot, feeding off the energy of the cheering crowd. My gaze flicks to the hilltop, where my other mates stand watching—Zane’s jaw clenched in fury, Jason’s sharp eyes analyzing everything, Luke tilting his head with interest, and Dean’s expression tight with concern. Zane must have told them what happed as their expressions hardened as they turn back toward us. My eyes meet Summers’, and with a silent understanding, I give him a firm nod.

Summers charged at me while I stood still and didn't move. Just as he gets a foot away, he draws his arm back and swings it forward to punch. I step to the right and stick my left foot out and let out a shrug, and innocently say, “Oops.” He misses his target and trips, falling flat on his face.

I turn to the warriors, keeping Summers in my peripheral vision. “You, what is your name?” I ask, pointing at a man in the front row.

“Sergeant Miller, ma’am,” he responds respectfully. See, it’s not that hard to use manners.

“Sergeant Miller, what was his first mistake?” I ask. I might as well turn this into a teaching moment like John did with me.

“He underestimated you, ma’am and… I am ashamed to admit, so did I,” he says honestly. I clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a nod of thanks for his honesty.

“Correct. Lesson number one,” I say, turning back to everyone. I looked around the circle at everyone. “Never underestimate your opponent. Just because they look weaker or are smaller than you, or because she is a woman. Doesn’t mean she can’t trip your ass.” Everyone laughs.

Just as Summers stands, he charges again and pulls his arm back to swing. When he does, he gets the same result.

I pointed to another, younger-looking warrior. “What did you see this time?” I asked him.

He shakes his head and, with embarrassment, he says, “I don’t know, ma’am.”

“That’s okay, watch again,” then, in a quieter voice directed at him, I say, “I’ll give you a hint: observe his movements,” I instruct.

This time, Summers gets up, and he is fuming, while everyone is cheering him on even louder. Many are telling him to stop letting a girl make them look bad.

He starts to circle me, and I don’t move or turn. When he gets behind me, he thinks he has a chance this time. At least he learned from his first two failures.

I listen and hear a long scrape of a shoe on the ground getting further away. This tells me he is pulling his leg back far behind him, preparing for a kick. Then I hear the scraping stop.

I continue to listen for the sound of whooshing air, coming closer to my head. When I hear what I am listening for, I know he is kicking forward and up, aiming for my head. Right before his leg reached my head, I spun around and grabbed his leg with one hand and jabbed my other palm into his thigh. He fell to the ground, holding it in pain. He’s going to have a dead leg for a while. This made everyone nervous, and they started murmuring and asking how I knew what he was doing behind my back and wondering how I was so quick to react.

I look at Summers and say, “From here on out, your leg is useless. You cannot use it to attack. If you use it in any way, I will break it.”

Turning to the cadet from before, I asked, “What did you see this time, warrior?”

He responded, “It’s Cadet Knocks, and it was obvious he was going to kick you, ma’am.” He looked like he wanted to say more, so I gave him a nod. He continued, “You looked like you were concentrating, maybe listening. I don’t know what you heard to know he was kicking. You moved at the exact moment to avoid getting kicked.”

“Good observation, Cadet Knocks. Every time he went to throw a punch or to kick me, he would swing his arm or leg back, advertising his attack,” I said, starting to circle and talk to the group. “Your enemy will use this against you, and you will lose.”

I reached Knocks again and stopped in front of him, then continued, “You are correct, I heard his shoes scraping the ground. Then, when his foot lifted, I was listening for the whooshing of the wind that his leg made in the air. As it got closer, I was able to time it correctly. That was an excellent observation.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I hope I can get as good as you one day, being able to listen like that,” he murmured.

I stopped in front of Knocks. I said, “If allowed, I would be more than happy to teach you.”

Then I turned back to Summers, who was rising from the ground.

I addressed Summers, getting back on topic, “That is the first thing we will work on. You don’t have to pull your arm or leg further back to get more power. If anything, it takes away from it and tires you out faster. You need to learn how to use your forward motions to assist you in your punches and kicks.”

His eyes start to glow and, somehow, I know he is slowly losing control of his wolf.

From the corner of my eye, I see my mates running down the hill, but they won’t make it in time. I held out my hand to stop my mates from moving closer, while never taking my eyes off Summers. I need to do this on my own. If they keep coming to my rescue, I will never earn their wolves' respect.

“Control your emotions,” I said, with a sharp, commanding voice, putting power behind it while directing it to his wolf. I don’t know how I knew to do that; I just acted on instinct.

This has his wolf backing down a little, so I continue as I look into his eyes. “Don’t let your emotions control you; that can be dangerous. It can get you and the person beside you killed. Find a way to release it, an outlet of sorts. There are several ways, but right now I want you to take a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. If that doesn’t help, close your eyes and count to ten while breathing deeply,” I instruct. I watch as he does what I instruct. He keeps his eyes open while breathing in and out. When he lets out each breath, he starts to calm down.

“Good, a couple more,” I say as he slowly calms down. I switched back to a softer instructor's voice as if I was helping to guide him.

I say, “Very good, you need to keep your emotions balanced. When you start to get mad, it causes a tunnel vision effect. You lose sight of what is going on around you, and it will get others killed.” I wait until there is no tension in his posture. “Are you good or do you need more time?” I ask.

“I’m good, thanks,” he said, getting back into a fighting stance. “I didn’t want to close my eyes and count,” he adds. I’m glad he has decided not to be a dick anymore, but now curious as to what he’s thinking.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because I wouldn’t see what is going on around me, and you could sucker punch me, ma’am,” he says with a hint of humor in his tone.

“Oh, I totally would,” I chuckle, and everyone joins me. A little humor is good when sparring. “If you’re feeling better, then let’s go again,” I say, getting us back on track.

This time I circled with him. As he punches, I dodge, duck, or swat his hand away. Periodically, I would stop and ask the warriors questions about Summers’ actions and how to improve while he was on the ground picking himself up.

I would also give Summers instructions on his actions while moving, and I am surprised he actually does what I say. When I saw that he was starting to get tired, two hours later, I decided to end his misery.

The next time he goes to punch, he is slightly off balance, so I use it to my advantage. I surprised him by grabbing his arm and using his forward momentum against him by taking one step back, causing him to stumble forward.

Then I lift my left foot, kicking his feet up and guiding him with my other hand on his back. He lands with a thud on his back. This all causes him to do a front flip and land on his back.

I finished by pulling out a knife that no one knew I had, crouched down, and held it to his throat, simulating that he was dead. This caused the entire ground to go silent in surprise and shock.

I quickly put it away, smiled at him before saying, “Not bad, Cadet Summers, but this is only the beginning. You will train with me three times a day, and we will work on your hand-to-hand skills, weapons, and endurance. Be prepared for this week to be a living hell.” I winked at him and helped pull him to his feet.

“Yes, ma’am,” replies Summers out of breath. It seems I have earned his respect… for now.

I look around, clap my hands, and say, “Alright, who’s next?” Everyone shuffles away, and I laugh.

“I’m just fucking with you all, Alpha Zane.” They are all yours, I finished through the mind-link.

“That is enough for today. Everyone, head to the showers. There will be no breakfast at the pack house this morning, since we still have the pups here. Dismissed,” Zane says, then everyone runs to the showers.

I walked up the hill to where my mates were standing. They all had smirks on their faces. I began to wonder if I had dirt on my face with how they were looking at me.

When I reached them, I turned around and watched as everyone scrambled away to shower. You could tell this was not a common occurrence, and it showed how happy they were hooting and hollering.

“Why did you end training early today?” I asked after everyone left. I was surprised they didn’t go back to their normal day.

“I think they learned enough for today. That was a unique way of teaching,” said Zane, sounding impressed.

“John would train me that way sometimes, and I feel like I learned the most when he did. I think the mixture between fun and teaching was an effective combo for me. I would never train that way all the time, though,” I explained.

We all talked about the training session on the way back to the pack house.

On the way, I looked around, and I thought, I can’t wait to get a tour of the house and the grounds.