Wild at Heart

Daniel was in front of the line of “weak” Omegas talking quietly to them while I followed Nick to some chairs set up against the wall of the training center. He took a seat in the chair in the middle and motioned for me to sit to the right of him. More Omegas from the East pack began entering the training center before Kendrick came in with Reginald’s twins. Reginald was next to enter, and Nick stood up immediately to greet him.

“Reginald,” he shook his hand with a smile on his face, but I could tell it was fake. Nick was angry with the Alpha for paying me a visit and I didn’t blame him. “Thank you for joining us.” Of course, Nick had to keep up with the ploy to make this alliance work.

“The pleasure is all mine, Nicklaus.” He turned to me and smiled. “Nice to see you again, Miss Clark.” I ignored him and he took a seat beside Nick. Kendrick made his way over to us and sat on the other side of Reggie. Daniel finally joined us and sat beside me.

“Your Omegas may choose any of those Omegas to spar with.” Nick motioned to the wolves against the wall. “We have designated mats all around the training center.”

“Lovely, you’re so well organized.” Reggie made a hand gesture to Kendrick that made no sense to me, but it obviously meant something to Kendrick because he got out of his chair and rounded up their Omegas. Ophelia went up to the line of Omegas and pointed to a wolf. He followed her to a mat, and they stood waiting for everyone to choose their opponents. Octavia walked up next. Her long, skinny finger pointed at Alan and I sucked in a breath. I knew she would be a better fighter than Alan despite never seeing her in battle. There was no way Reginald wouldn’t train his daughters to be able to protect themselves.

The other Omegas picked their opponents, and all went to mats around the center of the room. Octavia chose a mat close to us like she was toying with me. Maybe she just wanted her father to see her skills and I was being paranoid, either way I didn’t like it. Kendrick returned to his seat and Daniel gave the signal to begin the training. I had a part to play and I had to keep reminding myself of that. The East pack wasn’t here to hurt our pack, they were here to help. As much as I didn’t want Octavia training with my trainee, I had to know she wasn’t going to intentionally hurt him. We needed them, but they needed us just as badly if not more.

Octavia started off easy on Alan, blocking his blows but not engaging in any of her own. I had to be happy about that at least. I tried to watch the others to keep my mind off Alan. Nick wanted notes on the fighters, so that’s what I needed to do. I started a mental list of which fighters were going to do well and which were weak based on the color of their mats since I didn’t know names of everyone in their pack. Yellow was weak, he was making our so-called weak Omega look like a strong fighter. Green was doing well, but not up to our typical standards. Ophelia was holding her own and tossing our Omega around like a doll. I couldn’t help but turn my eye back to her twin sister who was now picking up her game against my friend. Oh, sweet Moon Goddess, why was it so difficult to watch this? Alan had become like a little brother to me, so I felt this unexplainable desire to protect him from everything when I knew he didn’t need me. Nick’s hand inched itself onto my leg, sensing my feelings of uneasiness. I tapped my foot and turned my attention back to the yellow matted pair. They looked pathetic. How did either even become Omegas? I caught Alan falling to the ground out of the corner of my eye and gripped the arm of my chair to stop myself from jumping in. I felt Daniel’s eyes on me as a warning, but it was hard to take him seriously with my emotions clouding my judgement. Alan got to his feet quickly and instantly went into a defensive stance. Octavia was quicker as she grabbed his hand and twisted it back, he let out a yelp as it cracked. Before Alan could do anything, Octavia dropped him to his stomach and landed a blow to the back of his head. I didn’t even feel my feet hit the ground, but I was on Octavia before I could stop myself. My arm wrapped around her neck and pulled her straight back to the ground. She was winded as she laid on her back, my hand on her chest, holding her down. She didn’t fight me, and I instantly knew what I did was wrong. Dammit. I turned to Nick, who was now on his feet along with Reggie, Kendrick and Daniel. I released Octavia and got out of the training center as fast as I could. Dammit.

I punched the first tree I could find after the training center doors closed behind me. I punched the tree again out of frustration and felt my knuckles bust open. The training center doors reopened, and I could smell Nick. Dammit. Knowing there was no way out of this fight, I turned to Nick to start it off.

“I screwed up! I know!” I turned back away from him and let out a sigh. I hated the feeling that I disappointed him.

“Emma,” he grabbed my arm and forced me to face him. “You did screw up, but I don’t have to tell you that. She crossed a line.” Nick shook his head, obviously not only being disappointed in me, but in his ally’s actions. “Doc’s on her way to check him out.” I nodded, but I still couldn’t look him in the eye. “You didn’t mess up the whole alliance. It probably wasn’t the best move to take down the Alpha’s daughter two feet from his face, but it was entertaining.” I reached up and punched Nick’s shoulder, trying not to laugh back as he chuckled. “We can work through it.” He pushed some hair behind my ear. “But…”

“But I’m not allowed back in the training center?” I knew what he was thinking.

“Just until the East pack go home.” I nodded. I wasn’t thrilled with being kicked out, but it was understandable.

“I can make some calls at the bar and do some interviews.” I would have to get Lucas up to training before I could leave him on his own.

“You’re wild at heart, little wolf.” I froze and looked up at him.

“What did you say?”

“I said you’re wild at heart.” Nick’s words shocked a memory in my brain that almost mimicked Emmett’s in the last conversation we held before he died. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?” Nick didn’t notice my mind took a brief vacation. I finally met his eyes and they looked hopeful. How could I possibly say no?

“Yeah, I’ll call you when I’m finished.” He leaned into me and kissed my forehead before heading back to the training center to clean up my mess.