CHAPTER 9: TRAINING

Twenty-four hours isn't enough time to learn how to be a warrior but it's enough time to try.

Catherine moves through the training chamber like she's choreographed every second of my transformation. The bunker's reinforced space has been cleared of everything except weapons and wolves wards that keep our combat contained.

"Again," Catherine says. "Shift… Feel the wolf... Let her emerge…"

I close my eyes. I've done this twice already. Both times I've only managed a partial shift, one arm becomes wolf, my leg transforms but the full change doesn't come.

"It's not about force," Catherine explains. "It's about surrender. You have to let the paranormal part of you take over completely. Your human body is fighting for control."

"Because I want to stay human," I say.

"You're not human anymore," Catherine says, not cruel but just fact. "The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can access the power you've inherited."

I open my eyes, my skin is still mostly human, the marks Adrian left on me glow slightly, they pulse like a heartbeat.

Across the chamber, Adrian is fighting with Marcus, real combat with no holding back. When Adrian lands a hit, Marcus goes down hard but gets back up faster than should be possible.

"You're protecting her," Marcus calls out between exchanges. "Your fighting is defensive. You're thinking about Bella instead of focusing."

"She's my mate," Adrian says, and there's no apology in it. "Part of my focus will always be on protecting her. That's not weakness, Marcus. That's design."

Marcus nods and adjusts his approach. He comes at Adrian harder and this time Adrian doesn't pull his punches. They're both bleeding when Catherine finally calls them to stop.

"Good. That's where you need to be," Catherine says. "Balanced. Protective but not paralyzed."

Adrian wipes blood from his mouth. His eyes are still gold from the fight. He looks over at me with an intensity that makes my wolf senses scream.

Catherine notices. "Control," she says sharply to Adrian.

Adrian nods and forces his aura back inside. The pressure in the chamber eases.

"Now you," Catherine says to me. "Stop trying to shift, start asking yourself why you're afraid to."

I sit cross-legged in the center of the training chamber. The marks on my skin glow brighter.

Why am I afraid? Because shifting means accepting I'm not human, because the wolf form means I'm paranormal completely. Because once I embrace that, there's no going back to the life I had but the life I had is already gone.

Adrian is beside me suddenly. He kneels down and takes my hand.

"Let me in," he says quietly. "Through the bond, feel what I feel when I shift. Let me guide you."

"Catherine said…"

"I know what Catherine said. This is different," Adrian says. "Trust me."

I nod.

Adrian closes his eyes. I feel him open the bond between us completely, not just emotional connection but physical, supernatural and law.

I experience his shift through the bond. The ecstasy of bones breaking and reforming. The power of muscles expanding. The freedom of four legs instead of two. The way the world becomes sharper, clearer, more alive when you're wolf.

It's beautiful and terrifying.

My body responds, my skin splits, my bones crack but it doesn't hurt. It feels like coming home.

I shift into my wolf form.

I'm smaller than Adrian's wolf. My coat is dark brown with silver streaks that match the marks on my human skin. My eyes open and I can see in a way humans never could. Everything is sharp, colors are different but brighter.

Adrian's wolf form approaches mine. We touch muzzles. The bond between us becomes a physical thing I can see. Gold and silver light connecting us.

"Good," Catherine says. "Now maintain it, you need to walk, run and fight."

I move on four legs, it feels natural like my body was always meant to move this way.

Adrian and I spar, no real aggression, just movement and instinct. Our wolves recognize each other completely. There's no confusion, no doubt, just mate and mate, bonded pair, we were stronger together than apart.

When I shift back to human form, I'm gasping but I'm smiling.

"Once more," Catherine says. "Shift and attack Marcus, full combat."

I nod and shift again. This time it's faster. My wolf form emerges almost instantaneously.

I attack Marcus, we fight with supernatural speed. He's stronger but I'm bonded to Adrian, which means I'm stronger than my size should allow. The bond gives me extra power.

Marcus is pulling punches, I can feel it, he's not trying to actually hurt me.

"Don't," I snarl through wolf form. "Fight like I'm real."

Marcus shifts into full wolf form and comes at me harder. We collide, we fight. I'm bleeding but so is he.

Adrian doesn't intervene but I feel his presence through the bond, the pride, the desire and the claiming.

When we finally stop, hours have passed. Darkness is falling outside the bunker. Hours until the duel.

I shift back to human form and step forward anyway.

Every muscle is burning. My body is covered in bruises that are already healing with speed but I move.

Adrian is there immediately, pulling me against his chest. His heartbeat is under my ear.

"You did well," he says. "Better than well. You fought like a seasoned warrior."

"I had a good teacher," I say.

Catherine approaches us, she looks at me with those ancient eyes.

"You're ready," she says. "Or as ready as anyone can be to face an Alpha in combat."

"What's my weakness?" I ask.

Catherine doesn't answer immediately. She exchanges a glance with Adrian.

"You love too easily," Catherine says finally. "Kael will use that. He'll threaten Adrian. He'll threaten your father. He'll threaten everyone you care about and your first instinct will be to surrender to save them."

"I would," I say.

"That's why you'll lose," Catherine says. "Unless you learn that sometimes you have to choose yourself. You have to choose to survive even if it means everyone else falls."

I don't respond. Because she's right, and I'm not sure I can do what she's asking.

My father appears from the shadows where he's been watching the training. He steps toward me and pulls me into an embrace.

"You can do this," my father says. "You've always been stronger than you thought. Even when you were human."

"What if I can't?" I ask.

"Then Adrian and I will burn the world down," my father says simply. "We'll burn it so bright that Kael and the Council will regret they ever came for you."

Adrian's arm tightens around my waist. Through the bond, I feel his agreement, his commitment, his absolute refusal to accept a world where I don't survive.

An alarm sounds through the bunker.

Not the training alarm, not something different, but something that makes every supernaturals in the chamber snap to attention.

Vivian rushes in, she looks panicked in a way I've never seen.

"It's Kael," Vivian says. "He's here, he's at the surface entrance, he brought hunters, he brought the Council. They're demanding to speak with Adrian immediately or they're coming down."

"It's not supposed to be until tomorrow," Marcus says.

"I know," Vivian says. "But Dominic just broadcast a change of plans, the duel is happening now… Tonight… They want to do it before dawn."

"It's a strategy," Catherine says. "Kael is afraid. He knows you're stronger together than he anticipated. He wants to fight while you're still exhausted from training."

Adrian pulls me up to my feet. Our eyes meet. Through the bond, I feel his determination, his readiness. his acceptance that this is happening now.

"Let's go," Adrian says. "Let's show them what a hybrid and his mate can do."

I step forward anyway.

My father grabs my arm before I can pass.

"Bella," he says. "Come back to me. Please."

"I will," I say and I mean it. I mean it so much it becomes a promise carved into the bond with Adrian.

We emerge onto the street above the bunker, the night is cold, the rain has stopped. The city is silent in a way it never is and standing in the center of a clear space are Kael, his pack, the Council members, and hunters armed with Supernatural weapons.

Kael smiles when he sees me. It's a smile that suggests he's already won.

"Bella Marchant," Kael says, his voice carrying across the empty street. "It's time to learn what happens when you mate with the wrong Alpha."

He shifts into his wolf form. He’s massive… Ancient and powerful.

Adrian steps forward. His aura rolls across the street like a wave. Everyone in the area feels it, they can feel the submission, the dominance and the absolute control.

Then I step forward.

The hunters instinctively stepped back from me not because Adrian commanded it but because they felt something radiating from my skin,something more than natural, something dangerous, something that speaks of bonded power and hybrid potential.

Kael hesitates just for a moment, just long enough to show he feels it too. The power of a bonded hybrid pair is something he didn't anticipate, something he didn't plan for.

Adrian shifts. His wolf form is larger than Kael's, more scarred, more dangerous.

They lock eyes for a moment. Pure Alpha recognition.

Then I shift.

The transformation is instantaneous now. My body flows into wolf form like water finding its shape. I stand beside Adrian, smaller but fierce, my silver-streaked coat catching the streetlight.

Kael snarls.

He attacks…

and my wolf moves before I do.