SWNOVELS Chapter New routines
“Get up” Toni’s voice is bored
“Yes Gamma Antonia”
Louise drags herself up off the floor for the fourth time in five minutes.
“I’ve told you that if you don’t place your feet correctly, I will kick your legs from under you every time as a reminder.
So tell me, Louise, when will you learn?”
“I’m trying Gamma Antonia”
Louise’s voice is quiet, but her tone is snappy, verging on answering back and Toni just stares at her until she drops her head again, but there’s a small smile that creeps to one side of Toni’s face.
Part of her was pleased she’d found a little fire, only in the last month had she started showing more spirit and making friends, the other three she’d been painfully withdrawn for, causing Toni some concerns.
As long as she kept that spirit in check, she would probably end up doing well.
“Not hard enough.”
Toni’s voice is sharp, knowing Louise can do so much better, she needs her to concentrate.
“If you want to get away from my training”
Toni leans in to talk even quieter
“And I know you do,
you need to buck your ideas up.
I don’t care if you block me poorly, as long as you try.”
Grabbing her by the hips Louise staggers.
“You need to make sure your core is stabilised, and that starts with foot placement, or you’ll be on your ass for the rest of the lesson, that is a promise!”
Toni steps back
“Right from the top, if you end on the floor again, you are running laps.
Concentrate more on your feet, get the placement right, and the rest will follow
Half speed, go.”
Thirty minutes later Louise is doubled over panting heavily.
“Better.”
Toni nodded her approval, from no training to where she is now, Louise had come a long way and far faster than she expected.
She knows her training methods have been strict and intense, but if she could just master this last technique, she should be good enough to go into her age category for lessons, making her less of an outsider.
In her own way, Toni was proud of Louise, not that she’d say it out loud, she had to remain distant and aloof.
“You still haven’t managed to floor me, but you are at least on your feet.”
Louise snorts derisively in reply, muttering very quietly to herself thinking Toni wouldn’t hear.
“Yeah right”
Causing Toni to stare at her.
“In any other lesson, that noise… that response... would get you punished immediately, do you think you deserve different treatment?
Four months you’ve been here now and you haven’t worked that out yet?”
Toni has crowded in on Louise, getting in her face, feeling the fear coming off Louise, hoping this adrenaline kick will give her the focus she needs, one way or another, she has to get her fighting for herself.
“See all the people out here on the training field and that spot, in the middle where the Chief stands, watching every class.”
She points to Chief Delta Rupert
“That is where I will be dishing out your punishment, in front of everyone, in the centre of the training field for being disrespectful, maybe it’s time you learnt what that means in this pack.”
Toni points over but watches Louise’s eyes go wide in fear
“Unless you can floor me in the next five minutes”
Toni looks on, face impassive she steps back adopting a fighting stance
“Tick Tock Louise, time is running out.”
Goading Louise with her words
Toni could see the desperation on Louise’s face as she positioned herself, readying to fight, everything about her screams scared, as Toni threw a punch at her stomach, trying to get her to stop overthinking.
Louise spins round, avoiding the blow, perfect foot placement for once and kicks Toni behind the knees, causing her to stagger a little, trying to follow it up with a punch thrown at Toni’s jaw.
Ducking, Toni goes to sweep Louise’s feet from under her, but she smartly steps back, finally learning to keep her weight on her back foot.
Toni smiled inwardly, clearly, all she needed was motivation.
Throwing a punch at Louise’s face is met with a perfect block before she drops and sweeps at Toni’s legs, Toni jumps over her attempt to floor her, and there’s a blurry of kicks and hits raining down towards Toni, desperation fuelling Louise, each blocked even without Tyra’s help.
“Breathe and plan Louise, or you won’t succeed”
Oddly, Toni’s voice calms Louise, pulling her panic back slightly, realising she needs to think and stick to the training.
Toni throws a punch, purposefully letting her arm remain extended for a fraction too long, just as she had done in each training fight so far today, not trying to hurt Louise, just giving her the opening she’d been trying to teach her to take.
Grabbing it, Louise, spins, grabbing Toni’s neck, kicking out her legs and landing her on the floor.
“Finally, you took the entry” Toni’s approval is evident as she stands
“How… how did I manage to floor you?”
A look of shock flits over Louise’s face.
“Every trainer will let you floor them IF they are teaching a technique, AND you get it right, otherwise it’s you that will end on the floor.
All you needed was the correct form and actions and I wouldn’t resist or counter it.
Futility isn’t the point of training Louise, learning is, but that internal fire when you were threatened with punishment, hold onto that as long as you temper it with respect it will do you good.”
Toni pauses
“You are never going to be a warrior, you lack the killer instinct and self-belief in your abilities.
You fight better in wolf form, but you have come a long way in learning to protect yourself and your friends.
Tomorrow, you will fight in your age group, don’t let me down and do not think of answering your trainer back in words, noises or actions, like that snort you did today, or you will be punished, no questions asked, do you understand?”
A smile hits Louise’s face as she realises what Toni is saying and a small understanding hits her, the threat today wasn’t meant to be real, but it did give her a wake-up call.
“Thank you, Gamma Antonia”
“You are dismissed from training and released from the afternoon training session.
Just remember if you don’t make the grade tomorrow to stay in the class, you’ll be back with me.”
Toni nods her head in the direction of the house and watches as Louise scampers off, she walks over to Chief Rupert to watch the remaining groups fighting.
Try as she might, Toni has not been able to completely keep up the cold exterior from someone actually living in the same house as her and gradually, as Louise has settled in the rule of being in her room by eight has been relaxed.
Louise has even taken to cooking a meal for the both of them once a week, on Sunday, the rest of the time, she eats in the pack house, taking a snack before training, then heading to the pack house for breakfast, which suited Toni, leaving her some personal time, it’s as if she understood Toni’s need for privacy.
Being hard on her in training was needed if she was going to be moving to the main classes, they had been getting too relaxed in each other’s company and while Toni enjoyed the company, the risk to Louise was not worth it, she needed to distance herself more.
Louise had at least, made three relatively good friends, none of them were from families that gave the pack problems, which pleased Toni, she was a good kid with reasonable instincts on keeping out of trouble making her life easier and more than that, the friends always kept Louise within the pack rules and helped her to settle, and apparently, find her internal fire.
The following morning Louise was fighting in her age group under one of the pack warriors, while Toni watched on with the Chief Delta, Toni was purely there to check for any discipline issues and to find out how Louise fared in her age group.
Smiling to herself, she knows most don’t think she ever trains, it’s always done in private, but being there reminds the pack Toni turns up anytime and anywhere, even when she isn’t expected.
At the end of the two hours, the pack, bar the warriors, are dismissed. The warriors forming into their training groups bar one, who had been teaching the group Louise joined, who is walking over.
“Gamma Antonia” he pauses head bowed
“Go ahead”
“She’s around the middle of the group in skills, but with just four months of training, she’s better than I expected and perfectly able to continue training in that group.”
Nodding, pleased at the assessment Toni watches the rest of the pack as they move off in their smaller groups.
Four months ago Louise’s father dismissed her as less important than the money, today, she’d be close, to her twin brothers in skills, well Kade at least, she hasn’t seen Elijah fight, even better for Toni, she’s one step closer to being able to go live in the pack house.
Being in the mainstream training will help Louise feel more like a pack member than someone in ‘solitary hell, being trained by the ruthless Gamma’, as she’d overheard one of Louise’s friends say, her routine now mirroring the rest of those her age.
Dismissing him, she makes her way directly towards her office in the pack house, seeing the Alpha, she stops, bowing slightly and greets him.
“How’s it going with the newest pup?” He asks
“She’s into the normal training group as of today, not outstanding, but average, so holding her own, mostly eats in the packhouse but looks after her own items, has made friends, all from good families that don’t rock the boat.
Holding her grades in school and causing no issues.
She’s more than capable of moving into the pack house with the other of-age pups.”
“Until she’s seventeen, I’d like her to remain with you.”
It’s a command, not a request he’s making and reminding Toni she’s technically still a minor at sixteen, but that’s just six more months.
“Has she been trained to hunt yet?”
“No Alpha, I’ve focussed on her fight training, even for a sixteen-year-old human, she lacked the normal muscle you’d expect at that age, so because it’s been like starting with an eight-year-old, I made that the priority.”
“Get her trained, I want her hunting for the pack in a month before you leave to present yourself to the Royal Pack for the last time.”
His eyes grow harder at the mention of the Royal Pack
“What are you up to today?”
“I need to do some paperwork and book in for my meeting at the Royal Pack, will probably do a border patrol, we’ve had pups crossing again.
I may need to make an example of one, so you may get a phone call.”
He smirks and it sends dread to her stomach, she’s seeing that face more and more and it sickens her, being part of what she hates about this pack, ingrained in its harsh and soul-killing machinery. Her appointment with the Royal pack can’t come soon enough for her liking.
“You do your job well, Antonia, you have my permission to leave the pack land at will, as long as you are back within twenty-four hours, let me know if you are going to be longer.”
“I’m honoured, thank you Alpha”
That’s about as much freedom as anyone can get in this pack, permission to leave the pack land for a day at will without requesting it each time you cross the boundary.
“You may take others, but you are responsible for them.” He adds as an afterthought
“I understand, Alpha thank you for your confidence once again.
May I make a request Alpha?”
Alpha Vincent looks at her carefully, this is the first real time that she’s made a request.
“What is it?”
“When I have to present myself to the Royal Pack, I wondered if I could have permission to spend a month off pack land to see if I could find my mate.
If he’s suitable, I will bring him back to the pack, otherwise, I will reject him and look for a chosen mate from within the pack.
I’m just aware that a child of a fated couple is meant to be stronger, so better for the pack but clearly, he has to be of a lower rank to come back to this pack.”
The Alpha looks at her carefully assessing her request and body language, trying to see if there’s another hidden reason for her request, but seeing no deceit in her actions and this could play well for his plans.
“I think over the past five years you’ve proven your loyalty and worked tirelessly.
I will grant you the month, but ensure Louise is settled safely with a suitable adult for the time you are away from the pack.”
“Thank you, Alpha”
Toni bowed her head deeply, she hadn’t expected him to agree so easily.
He dismisses her and Toni walks away lost in thought about whether she’ll ever lead a normal life, even if she could leave here, would she even know what normal is, or how to live with others?
Pushing down her feelings, and dreaming of a life she cannot and does not lead isn’t an option and will only lead to her becoming more disillusioned, her wolf is already getting unsettled, but it’s time to get her head back in the game and focus on the paperwork before her.
Two hours later she’s heading for the border, time for Tyra to run, border patrol is actually freedom for her, although she now has new freedom granted, time off pack land for twenty-four hours, something she hadn’t ever expected.
Shifting at the edge of the border, Tyra stretches out and Toni cedes total control to her, she deserves this, Toni thinks, sinking low in her mind, letting Tyra be in control, feel the earth beneath her paws, the wind rushing through her fur and to be whole for a brief moment, not constrained by rules.
When you have balance between your wolf and human sides, control is easily passed between the consciousnesses there’s no fight, you both work together, and each allows the other to come to the surface when needed.
So many wolves don’t find that balance, rogues are a prime example, they let their wolf become dominant, and the animal side doesn’t give control back to the rational side, eventually becoming feral.
Some wolves, rarely let their wolf out, believing they are more human, those are probably more dangerous than rogues, when their wolves come out, they are desperate and uncontrolled, usually, they lose it with strong emotions one way or another.
Most wolves run with not enough time in their wolf form, but they have better control as they give them regular time out, just not enough to know the strength true balance gives you.
Running the border regularly even though Toni is never assigned the duty, gives her a sense of freedom, she makes a point that it’s never the same time, direction or even the whole border, but she runs and feels free doing it, the only real time that she does now Louise is living in her house.
At the shared borderline, there’s no fresh scent crossing which is a relief, but there are several strange scents close, both pack members that should not need to stray so far out and pack smells she wouldn’t expect to smell at all near the edge of the Mountain Peak pack.
Tyra has already given back some of the control to Toni, she’s looking forward to their first run off pack land now they have more freedom to come and go, and she knows she’ll get time to run freely.
Following the scents of the pack wolves, she sets off at a quiet lope, she makes sure to keep downwind of them and picks her way through the trees quietly and carefully, slowing as the trail she’s following becomes stronger.