GIFTED RILEY by Lacy Mierr

Chapter 16: Starting New Routines

*Riley*

When I woke up after a long night of tossing and turning, I found that he left earlier in the morning. Not a note in sight. I don’t know why I expected him to be anywhere near me after he blew up the night. before.

Now that I thought about it, I was glad I didn’t have to see him. How he acts was all over the place. One minute he was protecting me from a lover of his and the next he was yelling at me over a simple suggestion. I didn’t know how I could act around him without him getting angry and lashing out all the time.

–

Instead of dwelling on my own mixed emotions, I left the bed to take a nice hot shower and get ready for the day. The hot water and soap – which smelled like a man I didn’t want to think about right now was comforting on my tired and scarred body. If I could have stayed there all day, I would have. Only Sara had come to get me for breakfast, so I had to take on the day.

It was a good meal that I only really picked at. I wasn’t used to such extravagant meals, which made it hard to get used to. Not to mention, my stomach was still twisting from the night before.

Sara came back into the room after someone had called her out into the

Chapter 16 Starting New Routines

hallway. She smiled at me in a sort of greeting. “Beta Vera has asked for your presence in the training hall. As soon as you’re done eating, I can escort you there.”

I nodded with a grin stretching onto my expression. Finally! Something to do in this place. I haven’t been this excited in a while. A little sad notion, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.

The only issue would be that it was for training. I was never going to be strong enough to train at her expectations. I couldn’t shift into my own wolf, since I didn’t have one. Because I didn’t have that extra

power backing me up like Vera did, I couldn’t best even the pups there.

When I was in the Evermane Pack, my lack of strength gave them more reasons to make fun of me. They enjoyed challenging me to see who the best would be at beating me into submission. No one would take me on as an apprentice there either, since they didn’t want to get involved with someone that couldn’t do anything.

With those thoughts, my happy expression faded from my face. “Alright, let’s get this over with,” I sighed and stood to follow her out. Sara glanced at me then the half-finished plate before nodding. I followed with heavy steps, m e n t al l y preparing myself.

Just like everything else in the castle, the training gym held its own beauty. Many wolves of varying ages and gender spread through the room, all training in their own sort of ways. As soon as Sara opened. the door for me to enter, their eyes all landed on me. I tried to ignore it and just take a look around the room for Vera.

ting New Routines

Chapter 16 Starting

Before I found her, my eyes found a different man training a lycan off to the side. He had dark skin with black hair s**d down to a thin. layer. His eyes were a deep brown color as well. His jawline was covered with a scruffy short beard.

Sara stepped up beside me and saw who I was looking at. “That would be Knox. The king’s g**a.” I followed the wolf’s gaze that frequented a certain area to see the she-wolf I was looking for. My maid leaned towards me to whisper into my ear, “They’re fated mates but Vera never gave him a chance. Not that she specifically rejected him, just didn’t accept him.”

I turned my gaze to Sara with furrowed eyebrows, not sure if I could ask why or if it was something I should leave alone. She shook her head at my silent question. That was enough for me to not say. anything. If they wanted to tell me, they would. I just hoped we would get close for that to happen.

I turned back to find the Beta again, only to see that she found me instead. “Riley, it’s nice to meet you again. I wanted to properly introduce myself to you, since I haven’t had the chance yet.” She smiled down at me, reaching a hand out for me to shake. “I’m Vera, the Beta to your new mate.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Vera. Thanks for inviting me here,” I said with my own smaller grin. I reached out too to clasp her hand in mine. Her grip was tighter than usual, but I wasn’t going to complain.

“Of course. I want you to get into a routine here that will help you. thrive in the palace,” she explained without any hesitation. I wondered

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if she knew what happened last night and if this had to do with that at all. “We have a daily training routine that us lycan’s follow around here.”

…I’m not sure how well I’ll do with that.” I shifted between my feet, anxious with the idea that I was most definitely out of my element.

Vera nodded as if she knew where I was going with that. “I’m aware you aren’t quite a lycan yourself. We’ll have to work around that. But no matter what, you will still need to get a workout regimen, so you’ll have a basic means of defense.” It made sense, I had to admit. “The king cannot protect you every time.”

Ah. So, she did know what happened the day before. That was good to know. I nodded to show my understanding. “I trust that you know best.”

“Good!” Vera smiled, happy to hear that I was going to go along with what she wanted. “Now, first, I would like to see what kind of basic training skills you may have or were put through, so I know where to start.”

She put her hands on my shoulders as she spoke. I nodded again. It was what I expected she would want to do. My lips parted as I started to explain that I had none at all. All that came out, though, was a scream as the woman easily threw me over her shoulder.

I groaned painfully, lying flat on the ground with no intention of moving anytime soon. My eyes, dizzy from the throw, could barely

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make out a new entry into the gym. Before my eyes saw Nicolas, I draw in a shaky breath.