Regretted Rejection : Wrath of the Moon

At 5:00 PM;

On the Forrester pack's training grounds, Xander was concluding the training of his pack warriors. He had heard about Maya's punishment to her team members. He was purposely delaying leaving the pack grounds, simply so he could catch a glimpse of her.

Just as his warriors got off the training ground, Maya and her team walked in. Each and everyone in her team walked in perfect synchronisation, ready in their training outfit. "Pack Trainer Lockhart, do you mind if we use the pack training ground?"

"Please, be my guest." Xander replied calmly.

"Pack Trainer Xander, why don't we make it interesting?" one of the warriors interrupted.

Maya gave him a disinterested look but he still continued, "If these Wrath of the Moon team members are able to achieve their goal of clearing warrior level time set minus four minutes and fifteen seconds, we will not bother them and also help in their investigation. But if they aren't able to achieve their goal then they will leave the pack territory today itself. How about it? Do you dare?" "Those are hardly fair terms.” Maya said.

"We knew you wouldn't accept the bet. You are just a coward Maya Forrester... No, Sorry... Maya Wright" the warrior said derisively.

Xander's wolf was rising, he wanted to rip out the warrior's head for disrespecting her. Xander was struggling to suppress his wolf.

"I meant that if we achieve it then you would still be hindering us. If you were able to solve your problems by yourself, your Alpha wouldn't have called us in to save your asses.” Maya stated calmly. "You... Fine.. what do you want if you guys win" he asked.

"If we win, I want our names on the wall of glory. Agreed?" Maya asked.

"Agreed." the warrior stated.

"Trainer Lockhart, can I borrow your stopwatch and whistle?" Maya asked, looking at him.

He handed it over to her without a word. Their hands brushed and sparks flew through their body. Xander frowned as his wolf had calmed down immediately. However, Maya didn't change her expression at all and this pained him. He remembered their date, how she had took him around the town chatting with him nonstop. She had changed a lot, he realised. In the time he had spent musing, Maya's team members were already on place on the track.

Maya stepped forward and explained to her team, "To qualify for the warrior rank one needs to complete 150 laps within half an hour. The rule is that at any given point you will not be allowed to slack off in your speed. Your punishment entails that you complete these rounds in 25 minutes and 45 seconds.”

Maya blew the whistle and started the stopwatch. The team members flew like a bullet from a gun, their speed and power shining through the moves they used.

After sometime, Maya's team members completed their last round and crashed to the ground utterly drained. They had seen and heard their Team Leader being disrespected and wanted to teach a lesson to the Forrester pack warriors. They hoped that they completed the punishment.

Maya walked over to them with bottles of water and Xander trailed behind her. She handed down the bottles to her team.

"Team Leader... How... How much time... did we take?" Ryder asked whizzing to catch his breath. "You didn't complete the track in 25 minutes 45 seconds." Maya stated and her team looked crestfallen.

She continued disregarding their expression, a hit of smile playing on her lips, "You all completed the exercise within 23 minutes 40 seconds with Ryder coming in last. If you complete the track in less than 25 minutes then that means you have cleared Beta level. Congratulations Andy and Marina, you beat the current record of Beta Mark by two minutes.”

Her team members started beaming and Jeff even thumped Andy's back.

"Congratulations!" Xander said drawing Maya's attention.

"The work is not done yet." Maya stated and everyone looked at her in confusion. "I have to run the track now.” Maya clarified and asked Xander, "Will you time me, Trainer Lockhart?" Xander merely nodded. His wolf was looking forward to see his mate display her strength.

Her team cleared off the track and Maya stood at the start point in position. As soon as she heard the whistle, Maya shot up running at full speed. She ran with abandonment, for the simple joy of feeling the wind on her skin. Her wolf remembered how she had spent years training on this very field. Her wolf loved running through the forest compared to that on a track. She completely forgot about the bet and just concentrated on running in full speed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xander signalling her to stop. So she ran over to his side, she was sweaty but had even breath. Just as she came to halt, her scent wafted over to Xander and he felt sucker punched. He couldn't articulate a word and just kept staring at her with open mouth. Maya raised eyes filled with query to him and the moment passed. Xander shook his head as if to clear it and said, "You cleared the rounds in 16 minutes 02 seconds thus breaking the record of Alpha Ken by 3 minutes 45 seconds.”

"Good. Our names and time must be displayed on the wall. Be prompt.” Maya said her speech clear and loud to reach the trainees of Forrester pack who were standing a bit away from them. Throwing a look at the trainees, Maya walked away with the team. She didn't know, but a pair of eyes were following her movements.

Dinner time, Maya and Marina's room;

"Maya, you called us?" Jeff asked.

"Yes, come inside. I found something today that I couldn't share in the surveillance room. Are Andy and Ryder with you?" Maya asked.

Jeff nodded and stepped inside followed by Andy and Ryder. They seated themselves and took out their food containers.

"Today, in the record room, I found that Late Mrs. Quinn used to always leave the pack just on the day of rogue attacks.” Maya explained.

"It makes sense, for her to be the informer. She is not higher up in the pack that her movements could be monitored and she used to work in the kitchen, which means she could go outside for supply runs.” Ryder observed.

"But why would the rogues kill their own informer? That doesn't make sense at all.” Andy questioned.

"You kill your own people in two conditions. One, when you don't trust them anymore and they pose a threat to you. Otherwise if they have outlived their purpose and you have no need of them.” Maya stated her view point. A silence fell as each of them became absorbed in their thoughts. They hardly took a couple of bites of their food before Marina interrupted, "But then, for which purpose was she killed for? And what about her husband? Was he in on it?"

"What job did he used to do?" Jeff asked.

"He used to work with the pack historian as his assistant.” Maya mumbled, still deep in her thoughts.

"Who is the pack historian?" Ryder questioned.

"The pack historian is... Matthew Sanders. I have met him in the record room. He seemed like a douche bag but then, all of the pack members seem the same.” Marina claimed exasperated. "Matthew Sanders? Isn't he like 40 years old? Why would an old guy like Mr. Quinn still be working as an assistant to Matthew Sanders?" Maya asked confused by the fact.

"Yeah... Guys, I think we should dig the history of Quinn couple. Who can we ask about them? Matthew Sanders would only know about them for like 20-25 years. What about before that?" Andy said.

"Maybe an Elder. Who is the oldest Elder in the pack?” Ryder questioned.

"Grandma Jenkins. She used to bake cookies for me and Ken back then. She lives near the old man Quinn's house. She is their neighbour, I guess.” Maya said.

"Okay then. Let's visit her in the morning. What about the ex-pack members? Marina did any of them agree to help us?" Jeff asked Marina. He was eager to find the opening point of the secret route.

"It took a lot of convincing but a person has agreed to meet me tomorrow. She will be here by afternoon. Oh, that reminds me, we may need to pay her travel fares." Marina claimed.

"Don't worry about it. Just direct the bill to Alpha Forrester's office. The Forrester Co. provides enough money to the pack.” Maya answered off handed.