SWNOVELS Chapter 8: Surrender
Marcus, Margarette, Myrtle, and Kenneth were in Myrtle's office talking of the arrival of the mate to the boys when William knocked on the closed door. Kenneth opened it and pulled his grandson into a hug. "Good to see you. What are you doing in town?" Kenneth asked as Alexandria stepped cautiously into view. "I see." Kenneth released the young man. "Hello young lady."
"Do you have a sparring room open?" William asked. "And the key to the weapons locker?"
"Son," Marcus warned.
"She is infuriating the hell out of me and I need to finish this." William said levelling his gaze on Alexandria. "The sooner she understands the easier it will be for all four of us." Marcus sighed and threw the locker keys to him.
"Room six is open." Kenneth replied. "Any blood needs to be cleaned before you leave."
"Thank you Granddad." William replied with a smile. "Grandma good to see you. Mother." He nodded and gestured for Alexandria to exit so he could lead the way to the weapons and the room. "I hope you know that I will not hold back." He warned as he closed the door to the office and walked further down the hall. He stopped in front of a huge wall of weapons. He unlocked it. "Choose." She shot him a look of disbelief. "Choose. The sooner we get this done the sooner we move on. Now." He ordered.
She reached in and pulled out a pair of Sai knives. Twelve inch blades with two shorter spikes on the outside. He pulled a couple of fourteen inch katanas. "Blades. Interesting. Not holding back either." William praised and led the way to the room. His senses on alert in case she decided not to wait. He was surprised that she did. A little disappointed too. She did have some honor. Kicking her ass was going to hurt him. But the sooner she understood that she was at their mercy the sooner she would knock her shit off.
"So what weapons do you know?" She asked as she watched him. He stepped up to the mat. She took her place across from him.
"All of them." He said with a smile. "We all do." The look of shock on her face was priceless. Yes sugar. We are well trained. "Ladies first." He said. She moved fast but he was faster. Taking only a defensive stance. Deflecting her every move.
They went around the room like that for twenty minutes. She was sweating and breathing hard from the exertion. He was still as calm as before. "What the fuck?" She asked as she had to stop. Her arms jelly from the constant hit of steel on steel.
"We have been training here everyday since we could lift a spoon. The three of us sparring each other or the parents or even the grandfathers." His moves had been fast. His balance and concentration phenomenal. He had complete control over his movements.
"Everything alright in here?" Marcus asked from the door. William walked to the wall and lounged against it with one leg and his back.
"She is still alive and unharmed." William replied with a sardonic grin. "What's up?"
"Your mother and brothers were a little worried." Marcus replied returning the grin.
William put the two blades together in one hand and held the pummels out to his father. "See for yourself. She is raw but there is potential. Just like the others. Practicing on dummies." Marcus took the blades while William remained where he was. He nodded to Alexandria. He watched as she used the same moves on Marcus as she had with him. Her training was minimal. And that bastard had sent her here. To die more like. What the hell was that man's game?
His wolf was quiet. Watching with intent. If things got out of hand. He would not hesitate to jump in and protect her. Marcus did not even flinch when the blades hit. She was slowing down, becoming sloppy. She did not have enough stamina to take them all on. William pushed off the wall and stepped into the middle of the blades. "Enough. You are exhausted, sugar. There are showers and towels down the hall and to the right. I will meet you in the hall."
Her blade nearly bit into the skin on his arm when he stepped in. Marcus had already lowered his weapons. William grabbed the hilt of the blade close to his skin from her. Then took the other. "Now." He ordered. His wolf huffed and sat on his haunches waiting for her to do as she was told. Her wolf bowed beneath his command. She turned and walked out then to the right.
"He set her up to fail." Marcus echoed William's thoughts. "What do you do now?"
"Proceed as we have already decided. The choice is hers. Be our mate or leave." William replied. "What she does not know is that to leave is to die. No other pack will take her. And if she goes back without fulfilling her mission there is no telling what that madman will do." He turned his saddened eyes on his father. "I hope she chooses to stay."
"I am glad." Marcus said and putting both hilts in one hand and clasped his son on the shoulder. "She would do the pack proud as a Luna."
"She will need Mother to teach her. She knows nothing of the ways. Nor does she know much of anything else. My guess is there is maybe a third grade education. She will need a GED and perhaps a little college from the university." William responded. "She is smart but not educated."
"Consider it done," Margarette's voice said from the doorway. "I am glad that you got that out of your system."
"She had to be shown. Us telling her would have done no good." William grinned. "Would you go check on her. My brothers would hurt me if she drowns in there." Margarette laughed and raised an eyebrow at her son. "Please, Mother."
She nodded and left the room shaking her head. That Alpha shit did not work on her. Being a Sigma she was not immune but the headache was more like a dull throb. She pushed the door open to the ladies locker room. The sound of sobs greeted her. And so it begins. Break her down and build her back as she should be. "It is hard to know one is set up, especially when it was by someone they trusted." She said softly. The sobs stopped immediately. The girl had pride.
"I am not stupid." Came a tearful reply.
"No one said you were." Margarette returned.
"He thinks so." Came the retort. Resentment in Alexandria's voice.
"No. He wants you to become what you should be. A female of power. He said you are smart but uneducated. Not an idiot." Margarette replied with a smile. "There is a difference."
The water cut off and Alexandria stepped out. She reached walked to a towel in full view of Margarette. She did not show her back. Instead she wrapped the towel and headed to the locker she had left her clothes in. The girl was built like Margarette. Slim shoulders. Slim waist and flat stomach that flared into wide hips. "The question now is what do I do?"
"You have options. Not all of them good for you." Margarette replied. "If you leave you will be homeless and alone. Just another rogue wolf scratching to stay alive. You could go back, but without proof of death there is no telling what he will do to you. Or you can stay. Be adopted into the pack. Learn and be happy for the first time your young life."
"What would you choose?" Alexandria asked. She felt so lost. She was sure she had been ready. Had known what she was up against. But she had been completely wrong. Her wolf whimpered. Stay. We need to stay. Sever the tie and stay.
Margarette smiled. "I already did and have never been happier." Margarette approached Alexandria from the back. "It will take time. But even the deepest scars fade." She stopped at the locker and leaned her shoulder on it. Her light green gaze holding Alexandria's dark one. "They will take care of you. Guide you, and yes even love you if you give them a chance."
"Love?" Alexandria scoffed. "Biological functions is not love. It is survival of the species."
Margarette laughed. The trilling bell of it echoing off the walls. "Love is not the same as that, girl. Surrender to them. My sons know the difference well. Both from their experiences and from watching their father and me." She continued to chuckle as she turned to leave. "He is waiting."
Alexandria pulled on her tennis shoes that were held together with duct tape and super glue. To be loved. Cared for. These were strange concepts. She had been taught to fight. Apparently not effectively. She had been taught to write her name. Basic hygiene and how to tend children. Her wolf whimpered again. We have been so lonely. So alone.
William was waiting by the door when she pushed it open. Her scent hit him hard. The control he cherished so much slipped a fraction. The look in her eyes was haunted. The full realization of what she had been put into had hit like a semi. "I am sorry." He said softly. "We tried to tell you last night." He let her ahead of him in the narrow hallway that led back to Myrtle's office and then out to the main class area and finally outside.
"So what is it with you and control?" She finally asked when they were finally in the Thunderbird and back on the road.
"I have a shitty fucking temper." William replied grimly. He spared a glance at her as he drove. He then went on to explain that as pups he was mean as hell. Beating the shit out of his brothers just for the thrill. "Mother had a enough when I broke Rick's arm. She took me to the sparring room we had been in and more or less unleashed everything she had on me. Father watched to make sure she did not kill her own kid. I truly believe she could have."
He remembered the look of deadly calm in her eyes. His blood flowed from small cuts. His eyes had already started to swell when she broke his nose. "She used a staff and more or less showed me that being mean was not acceptable and that self-discipline was better." He grinned. "I think she used the staff because a blade would have meant my demise." He sighed. "Since then I have learned how to control my emotions. I still get angry. I just have other methods of dealing with it."
"So they were truly worried for my safety back there?" Alexandria asked in a small voice.
"Not just yours. Though the bond is not fully developed, the pain of causing one's mate pain is like being stabbed in the chest with a hot poker. It hurts us too." William replied. "So yeah. They were worried. So were my brothers."
"You had no intention of attacking, did you?" Alexandria asked as dawning struck. He would not have hurt her at all. He was making a point and that was all. He shook his head.
"I wanted you to fully understand. An object lesson if you will." He pulled the truck into the mall parking lot. "Please behave while we are in there."
"Did you just say please?" Alexandria asked in shock.
"Yes the word is in my vocabulary though I forget to use it." William shot her a grin. "You can call me out on it. Everyone else does. Including my mother."