The Alpha Can’t Sense His Mate

ITHRA

Everyone returned to their places after the little show from Zadok. The remnants of the wolf’s body was carried out of the training ground and decorum returned like it never left.

Zadok left for God knows where and everyone returned to sparring and getting dirty on the ground.

“Come.” Azriel said, and led me to the right side of the training ground where there were less people.

I wondered what he was planning on teaching me today.

“For today, I’m going to test your abilities.” he gauged me with a look I couldn’t understand. “Let’s see what you are capable of doing.”

Azriel stepped back with his arms spread wide and a wolfish grin. “Come on, let’s have it. Show me what you’ve got.”

For the first time ever Azriel seemed comfortable with me. Dare I say, he looked almost happy. Like nothing could go wrong and this was his forte.

It took a moment before I realized he wanted me to hit him.

“No..” I muttered, refusing to do it.

His face lost its smile. “Don’t act like you don’t want to do it. Get to it already.” he hissed.

I remained unfazed.

He took a deep breath and spoke in a much softer tone after a while. “We can’t know what we need to work on if I don’t access what you are capable of, Ithra.”

My eyes widened, I don’t think I’ve heard him say my name aloud. This has got to be a first. I couldn’t tell how that made me feel but the next thing I did was to throw in a surprise punch.

It wasn’t so much of a surprise to him seeing he caught it without much of a hassle. It was embarrassing how easily he caught my hand and twisted it over my back.

His tone was amused, “Is that all you can do?” He mocked, “And here I was, thinking you have something up your sleeves. I was even looking forward to learning a thing or two. Guess I would be doing all the teaching over here.” He shrugged.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Surely, he couldn’t have gotten all that from a single failed attempt to punch him. He was trying to make me miserable and I’ll be damned if I let it happen.

Without bothering to humor him, I proceeded to try and get out of his hold. Another useless adventure if you ask me. With my failure to get out of his ironclad hold, I felt pathetic.

My pathetic feelings soon reflected in my refusal to try to get out of his hold. The joints of my arm, which was tightly secured on my back, threatened to give way with the amount of pressure on it.

Noticing my lack of participation, Azriel let go of me and I dropped to the ground. Everyone’s eyes were on me. Suddenly, I feel exposed, watched.

I knew the entire wolf populace were watching, but these eyes felt different. familiar. I looked up from the floor and my eyes stopped in a familiar dark pair.

Zadok.

He stood at the far end of the training ground, sparring with someone but his attention solely focused on me.

Despite his distracted state, he still managed to effortlessly win the sparring session, cementing his power and mastery.

“Get up.” Azriel said, but I didn’t move.

I refused to allow myself another round of humiliation. That was all I got from this ‘training’ session.

I figured I’d be better off learning the ancient witch’s code or cracking the way to the dark forest. This was a waste of time.

“I don’t have all day.” He said again, I could tell he wasn’t fond of my decision to disobey him but I was too bratty to care.

“Ithra-”

“I’ll take it from here.” A voice said from behind me, and Azriel swallowed his words.

A bare chested Zadok stood in front of me before I knew it. His hands were placed on his hip and he wore a look I couldn’t pinpoint.

“Get up.” His tone left no room for refusal.

I could hear the command in it, his eyes fixed on my form on the floor and it dared me to defy him.

Deciding to pick my battles, I got up on my feet, nursing my arm joints and stretching them to place.

“You requested to be trained.” Zadok started, “The moment the words left your lips, it became a commitment, a project. Both to me and to yourself.”

My eyebrows twitched, “what do you mean?”

“You are a member of this pack, and failure is not an option. You only have one choice. To become strong. So the next time you go at it, I want you to give it your best, or die trying.”

I opened my mouth but no words came out.

He turned to Azriel. “I don’t care how long it takes, but she does not leave here until she is less pitiful.”

With that, Zadok walked away, leaving me and Azriel to it. I couldn’t believe my ears. Pitiful?

I must have underestimated Zadok when he said that, but Azriel didn’t. He made me use him as a punching bag for the next few hours and I was well on the way to losing consciousness.

“Your fist game is sloppy. Makes me wonder how you stabbed Morgan to a near death condition.” Azriel tutted, but I could hear his genuine wonder.

He held my hand without a breath and positioned my fist with my thumb wrapped around it. “Go again.” He instructed, getting in place.

I didn’t care. I let go of my fist, and held a finger up. “I can’t, I’m tired.”

“No you’re not.” He said, “there’s still a fight in you, I just need you to find it.”

My fists were aching. So bad I couldn’t feel my fingers. Coupled with my terrible mood, I flared up,

“I said I need to rest! Don’t you get it? I’m not a werewolf with super abilities, I need to rest.”

“I don’t care.” I heard Zadok before I saw him, “You will get a reasonable punch on Azriel or you die trying.”

I chose to ignore him. Which was a bad move on my part. Because the next second, I was dragged towards him and his fist wrapped my neck.

My breathing was harsh, and my eyes connected with his. “Kill me already.” I spoke fearlessly, “That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

“I’ll forgive you because you’re having a bad day. But make no mistakes, the fact that you are my guest doesn’t give you the right to act out.” He said, tightening his grip for good measure.

I didn’t care, my pride was way too wounded to care about what he said, “I don’t want this, I don’t want your training anymore, I’ll figure myself out.”

“You won’t survive with such laughable skills, Ithra. You got lucky with Morgan last time, but I doubt you’ll be lucky if there’s a next time.” He drew closer to me and whispered into my ears, “You are weak, much weaker than I thought.”

I felt rage eat at me from his choice of words. ‘Weak…powerless…you need to be stronger…’

Voices fill my head and buried memories are unearthed. My mind returned to the Celts Coven, when I was powerless, helpless and weak against my mates.

I couldn’t continue like this. Not here, not when I could get to the forest and prove them wrong. I needed to be strong!

I pulled his arm away from my neck with a power I didn’t know resided within me, and gritted, “You know nothing about me.”