Time passed mildly, with the Alpha regaining the respect of the people. He worked like the others in the wood industry, and on his free days he helped repair the houses that needed some renovations. Lucine did not give up learning how to prepare a decent meal, and with real food, which was not for dogs, it was not so difficult. In the days when he did not go to the lumber, Aram helped a lot, with the house and with the meals. Lucine began to record people’s faces, as she saw them almost daily when she was taking lunch to her husband at the factory. As the days went by, he began to receive some nods and even a few more. The fact that she went every day, apparently, was making people believe that she took good care of her husband. The fact that the Alpha always received with a modest but sincere smile, and showed a lot of warmth when she came, was also influencing everyone’s opinion of her. Six months had passed since the fateful day on which she had been assaulted in the assembly, the

Lucine decided to take advantage that Aram was at the logger to use the shower room with tranquility, would take a long and relaxing bath. Since she had lived in the cabin, she had not missed an opportunity to take a hot bath. As usual, she put a song in a loud volume on television and went to the bathroom, leaving the doors open to listen to the "Playlist" she had selected.The afternoon could not have started better, Aram angrily pondered. He had had an accident with the saw and ended up cutting his arm, was attended by the doctor and released from work for a few days, took some stitches in the forearm, and without having another alternative, returned home.When he arrived at the cabin, he was surprised to find that on TV was playing a song at a very high volume and Lucine was nowhere, certainly should be doing some task outside. He dropped the backpack in which he carried his things on the sofa and headed to the room, was in great need of a bath, the cut had not been deep, but his

“Let's go to the shed, there is more space and my equipment is there”.“What equipment?”“You'll see!”They went to the shed where she had stored the firewood. Lucine hadn't noticed before, some equipment that seemed like a martial arts gym, but all very improvised. There was even a punching bag, the kind used for boxing training.“There are no gyms around here, so we have to improvise. In the elders' house there is a bigger one, for the betas to train”.“Cool”, she said, touching the punching bag with her fingertips, as if she wanted to check its texture.“Let's get started. Try to hit it as hard as you can, so I can get an idea of what we're dealing with”.“I don't think so, it could be dangerous”.“It's a punching bag, it won't get hurt”, Aram insisted.“Fine, but back off”.He took a few steps back and she prepared to throw a punch like she'd seen on television, which didn't mean Lucine had any idea what she was about to do. When she hit the bag, it tore and spread sand everywhere