Alari's pov
My dreams were plagued by memories of my mother training, learning to use her powers and by the time I woke up, I felt like I could take my trainer on.
Of course I couldn't, it just felt like it with my new found knowledge.
Damien had left already and left a note telling me where to find him.
I quickly got out of bed and put on my training gear and raced to find him. I wasn't quite sure but I think I knew what to work on for me to progress faster.
I didn't know where the training grounds were but my guards did and they took me there without question.
First thing I saw when we broke through the tree line leading to the training grounds was Damien's ripped and naked back.
He was only in shorts and sneakers, his entire upper body unclad to every eye there.
It wasn't too obvious but a lot of the women were checking him out.
He turned to face me and smiled as I approached. “Hey darling” he greeted, wrapping a hand around my waist to pull me next to him.
“Hey baby” I greeted back with a smile.
“My lady!” Lucien exclaimed with a dramatic bow and the everyone else on the field bowed as well.
I nodded when they had raised and were now facing me.
“I thought we'd switch up your training, I want to see how fast you are, and your reflexes” Damien said, making me wonder is he was psychic.
“I actually wanted to tell you that I thought working on my reflexes would was the next step” I laughed, making him look at me with a little shock.
“Talk about knowing my mate” he said, looking all smug as he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Whatever” I said rolling my eyes as laughter bubbled out of me and turned to face everyone as Lucien started addressing the crowd.
“Okay everybody, you know the drill, a run around pack territory, start off slow, increase speed every ten minutes until you can't run any faster and be back here with the hour” he said, his voice loud and without the humour it usually holds.
“Yes Beta!” Everyone agreed and took off in one direction.
“You ready darling?” Damien asked as he stretched his legs and I nodded, swinging my hands back and forth.
We started off slow, and I could feel my muscles loosening as we kept the paced.
“Speed up” came Lucien's voice through the pack link and I saw everyone that was ahead of us run faster and so did we.
Damien sped up and I matched his pace and my body seemed to enjoy it.
Lucien's voice came through again and without missing a beat, I increased my speed and Damien matched my pace this time.
We had passed a few people that had been at the back and we kept running past more pack members.
We kept passing more people as we kept increasing speed every ten minutes and as much as I was enjoying the sprint, my legs were starting to ache and my lungs were now starting to burn.
We had passed way too many people to count and we running into less and less people.
“You okay there baby?” Damien asked as he seemed to keep his pace up without a problem.
“Yeah” I lied, my breath telling on me.
“We can stop Alari, you don't have to kill yourself” he said, slowing down a little and I was about to slow down as well when Sapphira snapped at me.
“Are you kidding me?!” She yelled, making me blink a few times before realising it was her.
“What's your problem?” I asked, my legs somehow still sprinting.
“You're seriously about to quit right now, as strong as you are?” She asked, making me go quiet.
My chest was now on fire and my ears had started ringing, I felt like my body was going to collapse on me.
“Calm your breathing, and cool down your body” she said, a little softer now.
“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked, my eyesight blurring a little.
“Focus your magic on cooling yourself down, like you would put out a fire. Focus it on putting the fire in your body out” she said and I found myself blinking a few time.
I could feel the itchy tingling I always got on my fingers when I use my magic spreading through my body.
I had gotten good at using my magic, sure I still had a long way to go but I could now summon it will.
It was my breathe coming out chilled that brought me back to what I was doing and the ache I'd been feeling in my legs slowly went away.
“Good, now run faster!” Sapphira said, commanding me.
And I listened, digging into my heels and pushed myself to go faster.
“Hey! Wait for me” Damien called as I'd caught him off guard but my body was pumped and I had no intention of waiting.
“He'll catch up, go faster” Sapphira said, something in her voice making me keep my mouth shut and follow her instructions.
It almost felt like I was flying with how fast I was going and I could feel Damien hot on my heels.
We past the last few that were ahead of us and my blood was pumping, my body feeling light as a feather.
“Speed up” came Lucien's voice and my body acted on its own accord. A vision of my mother racing through much denser forests playing in my head.
“Damn baby, you're fast” came Damien's breathless words.
“You want me to take it easy on you?” I asked as I kept increasing my pace little by little.
“Don't go easy on me now” he said and ran past me, surprising me for a moment.
“Don't let him win!” Sapphira growled, her natural instincts kicking in, making me push myself even more.
It took a few minutes to match his pace but once we were sprinting side by side, I felt more free than I'd ever felt.
“Speed u… oh my Goddess” Lucien cut himself off when we broke through the tree line and were racing towards him.
“It's time to win!” Sapphira's growl was low but I felt it rush through me like a shot of adrenaline and my body flew past Damien.
Everything around me blurred as I sped up those last seconds of the run until I reached Lucien, running past him as I came to a stop.
“Unbelievable” Lucien looked at me with wide eyes and I heaved, the tingling in my body slowly dying down.
“My Luna just beat the Alpha's best time!” Lucien jumped as he laughed, disbelief still marring his face.
“Damn baby, how did you do that?” Damien asked as he dropped himself next to me, taking in breathe like it was the last seconds of his life.
It didn't take long for me to catch my breath and by then, Damien was already sitting, looking at me with so much wonder.
“That was amazing” he said, still a little breathless, the smile on his face warming my insides. He wasn't mad that I beat him.
“Thanks” I said, looking up as the first of the pack members emerged from the tree line.
I realised as more of them reached us that they were whispering and looking my way.
“Looks like I'm not the only one impressed with your mad speed” Lucien said, chuckling as he eve's dropped on their quiet conversation.
The rest of the pack finally made it back to the field and they were given a few minutes to cool down before they had to pair up.
Damien had one of the she wolves pair up with me, who bowed respectfully before facing me in a fighter pose.
“Take it easy on your Luna Lesley” Damien said with a warning look and the girl bowed.
“Yes Alpha” she said but I looked at him with a frown before returning my gaze back to Lesley.
“Absolutely not, don't go easy on me. You can't hurt me, I heal faster than any wolf or Lycan” I said, hardening my gaze and she briefly looked at Damien before nodding.
“Yes Luna” she said and I also got into position. Everyone else on the field had already started sparring.
I could feel Sapphira present, almost as if she was ready to take over and I relaxed my quickly tensing body, something I'd seen my mother do over and over throughout the night.
“Trust your body to know how and when to move, you have the knowledge, just use it” Sapphira's words were almost a whisper, as if she was afraid my opponent would hear her.
Lesley made the first move, hands balled and aiming for my face. I quickly crossed my arms in front of me to block her, having had no time to move out of the way.
She was bloody fast!
“Alari focus!” Sapphira yelled as I felt my breath get knocked out of my lungs and pain radiating from my stomach a moment later.
I was forced back a few steps and she didn't stop there, she grabbed my hand and twisted it until she was behind me.
“Aah!” The moan fell from my lips, more in surprise than in pain but Damien didn't know which it was and he was already making his way to us.
“No! Don't!” I screamed into the link, my body already healing itself. He stopped, grinding his teeth with fists clenched, like he was fighting to keep Roman from taking this girl's life.
She twisted my arm harder, causing me pain and my mind replayed my first lesson with Kyle.
“No matter what, always get out of your enemy's hold, if you don't, you die!” His voice rang in my mind and I swung my head back, hoping to hit her hard enough to leg go.
A small crack echoed from behind me the moment I made contact and she instantly let me go.
I turned quickly to find her holding her hands up to her nose and used the distraction to kick her in the stomach, making her fall on her back.
She looked like she was having a bit of trouble breathing and I took a step towards her. “Are you okay?” I asked, worried that I'd hit too hard.
This! This is what I was afraid of!
“Good” came a weak groan and a thumbs up, making me release breathe I didn't know I was holding.
She got up and put her hands up, ready for the next round and I looked at her shocked, she wanted to continue?
“These people are wolves and Lycans, stop worrying about hurting them. We heal fast, now fight!” Sapphira said, making me nod and get back into a fighting stance.
We circled each other for a bit before I grew impatient and decided to strike first, using my speed.
She dodged and blocked all my hits, trying hard to match my speed, and even though I did manage to get a punch or two in, she wasn't slowing down.
I don't know how but she managed to grab me, twisted herself around my body and used my own speed to throw me on the ground.
I closed my eyes when I made contact and I felt a new sensation wash over me. It was like everything around me stilled and every sound went quiet.
I knew my eyes were still closed but it was like I could see her moving, I could feel her every movement and my hands moved, like they had when I opened the door to catch Pearl mid knock.
I opened my eyes to find my hand holding her fist right in front of my face.
She looked at me with wide eyes and I just heaved, eyes locked on our hands.
“Wow” I heard and snapped back to reality.
“Okay, that's enough for now” Damien said and Lesley moved away.
Damien helped me up and dusted me off, checking for injuries.
“I'm okay” I said, giving him a small reassuring smile before looking at Lesley, nodding my head at her.