Her Savior Alpha

A sense of pack pride was ascending inside of me. A new sense of self was peeking through me, and I was enjoying it. I not only had the eye of the new trainer in Clive, but Archer and Thelma were aligned to me as well. I was no longer just dancing with my own shadow, and the little power I did have warmed my heart like the sun.

I skipped out of the main house with my backpack on skipping through the taller grass of the oval to the main barracks. Exhilaration hit my lungs and for the first time I let my smile lift on my lips as the wind hit my teeth. I broke into a jog as I pressed the keypad for entry to the barracks. I dropped my bag off in my locker and Thelma slid in beside me as she wrapped her arms around my waist. I laughed and briefly laid my head on her shoulder.

“Vera, you look good today, why are you so happy? Something happen I don’t know about?”

“No reason, I’m excited about training that’s all. I think I did pretty well.”

“Are you sure your trainer doesn’t have anything to do with that?”

“You mean Archer or Clive?” Flinging the question back to her with an innocent tone is what I meant to do, but it piqued Thelma’s curiosity.

“Ah, so you have two options now, things are beginning to get very interesting around here...” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively, but her winking reformed as concern with a furrow. “Have you recovered from the kitchen incident? I feel so bad. I think it was my fault.” Thelma raised her hand to her mouth and pulled off a hangnail with nervousness as she perched herself against the locker next to mine.

“How can you blame yourself? Dane has beaten me for as long as I can remember, there’s no reason. He just does it.”

“I’m annoyed that he thinks he can. I want you to fight Vera. I heard some of the others talking about your knive attempts, you’re coming along nicely,” she praised as she winked at me. “If having those two as motivation to kick some ass is the reason then I’m here for it. Great job.”

“I swear it’s not. I want to get stronger and I’m tired of mourning my parents. I love them. Oops.” I covered my mouth as my deepest truth leaked from my lips. Thelma shifted her leg off the locker and squeezed my thin arm.

“Bravo. It’s time Vera. They will forever remain in your heart and you have them close to you. I guarantee both of them would never want the treatment that Dane is inflicting on you. Keep at it. I gotta go. I have training as well, I’m working on my hand to hand combat. Wait till you get into that Vera, you’re gonna love it.”

As the words tumbled out and her eyes lit up, I already sensed she was right. I cleaned for a while in the toilets which I hated. Wanting to be fresh for training is something I longed for, but if I missed my morning chores and Dane or Grant got wind of it that would only end in disaster.

Stripping down from my basic overalls I slipped into my torn leggings and a plain t-shirt. I found one that was a little more tight fitting so my movements would be less choppy and without excess drag. Not the cutest look out on the training field, but there was no shame in my game as nothing was expected from me anyway.

Teams were working separately all over the training ground and I could see five of the wolves around out for a warm up run through the woodland trail. To the left of the sand bagged mannequins three wolves were concentrating and perfecting the same knive throwing skills I’d been working at the other day.

Mr. Sandy haired Adonis was in the middle of the field with tight shorts and quadricep muscles that rippled in the sunlight. His hand moving through his floppy sandy hair revealed tight triceps and a peek at the underside of his abdominals. I held the swoon inside of me a little as I neared the ground.

Keep your composure Vera. He’s your trainer and you have to be balanced. You don’t have much time to learn. Soak it all in.

A proper self pep talk is all that was warranted in my opinion in order to keep self control. After all I’d survived five years of beatings, there was no reason I wouldn’t be able to withstand a hot trainer.

He was all smiles as I looked upon him coyly. A part of me enjoyed his gaze and another felt awkward. “Morning Clive, what evil plan do you have to put me through my paces today?” I joked.

Gina flicked off her gloves that wolves sometimes wore when working with the knives for protection and anti slippage and shook her curls. “Urgh. Should let her do some hand to hand stuff Clive. I would be happy to assist.” Gina glanced sideways at me with a defiant grin as a few of the other wolves snickered. I was like a lamb being put out to slaughter, but my heart didn’t care. Another level inside of me was kicking into gear.

“Gina, are you fighting with Jack today? I would say you have enough to worry about on that front. He’s going to give you a run for your money. Yesterday you were sluggish on your lower body reactions, you could do well with some sandbag work on the legs to build power.” Clive cut through the jeers with cold blooded accuracy in his words as Gina’s cheeks flamed with color.

“I guess I could. Thanks.” She squinted from the sun as she shifted from one foot to the other. Clive didn’t show any signs of giving her a hard time specifically, more so factual information of where her weaknesses lied. Meanwhile I did my best to keep my eyes on the equipment and not being intimidated by the state of everyone else’s physical condition while I remained a puny, undersized wolf.

“Vera, today I want to get a look at your agility. I’m going to put through some agility exercises, but not just any exercises, you will have to think on the run and move with targets flying at you and other wolves working to stop you from getting to the end goal. Think you can handle that?” Even his teeth were magnificent. They were glistening in the sunlight and I had to really catch my breath and stop staring so hard. If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was to run.

“Yes. I can handle that for sure.”

Clive nodded as he placed his large hands on his hips. Good. Let’s see it. Line up at those cones over there and you can start. I’m going to time you today and then in four weeks with some more basic training we’re going to see how you did. I got a good feeling about you.” He probably said that to many of the other students, but that booster worked wonders for my confidence.

A gust of sharp wind wound its way over the oval as the other wolves stopped to stare at me. I shut them out of my thoughts and focused on threading the needle with extreme clarity. In that moment I reminisced about my parents, knowing both would be proud of me for trying. I set myself up at the start line as Clive placed a whistle in his mouth. The course was clearly laid out with cones in a vertical line placed in a zig-zag pattern. Now all that was left to worry about was the obstacles. I’d had so many obstacles in my life, to endure more of them barely left a dent in me anymore. Angled down with one hand on the line I looked forward to the end of the line.

I felt my chest rise and fall with breath as I stared at Clive waiting for him to blow the whistle. I could see other feet on the sidelines waiting to see me fall, but this was a test I would conquer. I was quick on my feet and dodging blows, remaining scarce and slinking in and out of spaces had been my whole life. Yes, I would do well on this agility test.

“Alright Vera, can you see the finish line?”

Eagerly I nodded at him. “Yes, I can see it.” I could barely contain the breath in my body, all I wanted to do was run. Would I be fast as a wolf? Would my human qualities transfer over or would my wolf be a different entity altogether? An experience I would receive in due course, but I would have to wait and see I guessed.

“Good. I want you to move as quick as you can. Don’t back down Vera.” Clive talking in my ear added an extra spark as I stood at the start line of the agility test waiting for my moment.

The shrill chirp of the whistle sounded and my body propelled forward as I let the oxygen and fresh mountain air cycle through my body. As I moved off my mark I kept my eyes trained on the first cone and lunged around it. As I moved to the second which was three half steps away, one of the newly trained wolves ran at me like a steam train with full force. The sight was overwhelming and I feared at the velocity of speed they were travelling at they were due to knock me down and I would never recover. I let the fear of the wolf accelerating towards me propel me forward at a faster pace. His eyes were full of fury and hate. The wolf was lower to the ground and aiming to take out my legs I could tell.

As a result I read the play and jumped over the wolf as he slid forward and tried to take my legs out from under me. I could feel myself breathing and the fog condensing, an intoxicating feeling was running through me. Yes! I made it past the first obstacle. Gasps rang out around me as more wolves gathered to watch me. This was my domain, with less weight on my body I could move quicker than them. My arms pumped forward as grooved into the next cone and two more wolves were sent in my direction along with a flying arrow. I ducked as the arrow flew over my head and the knee jerk reaction was so quick I felt a ping in the side of my neck. I gracefully moved to the next cone and maneuvered around it as the two wolves came from either side. I tucked my body in and instinctively rolled so their greedy fingers weren’t able to grasp onto me.

Grass entered my mouth, but I didn’t care I was having so much fun. This was the best I’d ever felt in my life. I exited out of the roll and kept moving forward.

“Grhh! She’s getting away!” I could hear Gina’s voice singing out in a high pitch as I let the wind hit my teeth. There was no stopping me and I had three more cones to go. It appeared that my lung strength was pretty healthy. Hilarity took over me as I began to grin and run at the same time. One more cone to go and the chase was on. I felt a hand at my ankle and shook it off fiercely as another wolf was introduced. Gina. I saw a bunch of curls flowing wildly in the air and her rage appeared as big as the oval we were on. She was in front of the last cone and standing in a crouched position. The vision of her remained blurred due to the speed I was running at. Gina had more training, more skill, more strategy, more nourishment than me and to beat her to the final cone without damage would be an enormous challenge. I was in the moment and all I had to do was pass her. A gap existed on the left side, so I made her lean her bodyweight right so as to pass her on the left. Lunging to the right I pivoted and elbowed her in the ribs with enough time to spare and cross the marked line on the left.

Throwing my hands in the air I heard nothing but a thick, resentful silence from the stunned wolves on the ground. Yes, I was good at something and step by step I was reclaiming my power. Giggling hysterically I heard another set of hands clapping only to open my eyes to Archer who stood at the finish line grinning right back at me.

“That was quite a display. I have never seen a wolf so quick and agile for a long while. Reminds of myself. Kudos to you!” Archer’s brow arched as sweat dripped off me. I was bone tired and the test took everything out of me, but I was proud. Whispers were all around me as Clive approached and put a hand up for a high five which I reached for.

“Well done Vera. I had a good feeling you would do well on this test. You are in the top percentile of wolves on the test. Congratulations you have now become the woman to beat.”

“Thank you, I feel good,” I puffed with my hands on my hips.

Clive reached his hand out to Archer. “I’ve heard about you. Welcome to the Mount Hunter pack. Dane mentioned you had joined us. Grant said you said saved her life. Is that true?” A silent challenge existed between the two men as Archer’s olive skin sparkled in the sun. One wolf was a beautiful structure, solid and sculpted. The other was wiry with a sleeker physique and a placidness that was equally appealing. Hard to pick between the two.

“Yes, but I’m sure Grant would have done the same for me if faced with the situation. This is moon goddess territory all wolves are equal. I could not let her perish.” Archer’s nobility made him attractive to me, he was unlike any other wolf of the Mount Hunter pack, he truly was an anomaly. I still didn’t quite understand how he’d come to be in Mount Hunter, but I trusted all things were meant to be as they were.

“Interesting.” Clive’s demeanor displayed an element of mistrust and given his higher abilities in being a trained assassin and constantly on mission, perhaps this is where his suspicions crept in. Not one part of Archer made me feel as if he was a threat to the pack.

Archer placated Clive with a disarming smile as Clive redirected his focus back to me.

“I can see where your strengths lie, and you are a little whippet, that’s helpful on ground. Your perception and hyper sensitivities are also excellent.” All the praise and encouragement boosted my fragile ego, maybe I would be of benefit to the pack. Maybe I could be of use and my grandfather could see me in a new light.