Chapter 10

There was a pregnant pause before anyone said anything. I looked between Michael and Oliver, and they sat quiet, just looking at each other, with occasional glances at me.

“Kataleya, why did you not tell anyone?” Oliver finally broke the awkward silence.

“Oliver, what would I have told you? That I was not as fine as I made it seem? That I was struggling? Where would that have gotten me? Dad would have forced me to continue therapy, even though that wasn’t working. In order to get what was necessary for me to be okay, I had to pretty much command the pack doctor to not say anything to mom or dad. I had to remind him that he was still bound to doctor/patient confidentiality and that I was more than old enough to make decisions for myself. If I hadn’t threatened him, he would have run straight to mom and dad. Besides, I am sure that if I was a man, this type of conversation wouldn’t have been necessary. The doctor wouldn’t have questioned me if I said I needed something to help me cope. He would have signed the prescription and went on his way.”

Michael stared at me long and hard, like he was considering his words before he spoke. “Oliver…she is right. If this was you or me, no one would have batted an eye, but she is a female and he would have felt that he needed to tell mom and dad. Kat, I wish you would have at least felt safe enough with Oliver or I and told us your secret. You have no idea the fear I had when I was woken by your screams, even though you hadn’t even begun to stir. I was terrified something was happening to you. I couldn’t get you to calm down. I had to have Oliver come over to help me calm you down, even then you fought us to calm down. I felt that I needed to knock your ass out just to get you to calm down, so that I could think of the best way to help you.”

“Kat, you didn’t have dreams like that the night that you came to my room after your first shift. Why did you have them last night?” Oliver hesitantly asked.

“Usually, the dreams are worse if I am sleeping alone, or I don’t feel safe. I feel safe with you, Ollie, so it helped me feel safe while I was sleeping.”

“You can stay in my room if you need to. I am sure our parents won’t mind, plus it wouldn’t be the first time that we have stayed the night together. Our parents have never minded before,” Oliver stated.

We changed the subject and talked for another hour before my dad came into the room and told us breakfast was almost done. My dad didn’t even blink when he saw that Michael and Oliver were in my room. Honestly, they probably wouldn’t even think twice about it if they saw that I was staying the night with Oliver or vice versa, as they expected. After all, everyone in the pack thinks that Oliver is going to be my mate.

Once the boys leave my room, I rise to take a quick shower and get dressed for training with my dad. He was going to put my body through a work-out now that I am going to be going through Alpha training.

I headed downstairs and the smell of crispy bacon, French toast, and eggs wafted into me. My stomach grumbles at the thought of food. I headed to the kitchen and grabbed myself a plate. I began to pile my plate with plenty of bacon, eggs, and a couple of pieces of French toast. As I place the first heavenly bite into my mouth, I moan at the taste. French toast is one of my favorite breakfast items.

“Mmmmmmmm…...Mom this is so good.” I mumbled around the food in my mouth.

My mouth started to laugh at my reaction. “I am glad you like it, sweetie. I cannot have you hungry for your first day of official Alpha training. By the way, your father said that he is going to meet you on the training field. So, hurry up and finish your breakfast. You know your father does not like to be kept waiting.”

I hurriedly shoveled the rest of my breakfast, finished my orange juice, and rushed out the door, heading towards the training grounds. As I reached the pack grounds, I saw my father on the field training with Gamma Sean. I hurried to the locker rooms and placed my stuff in one of the lockers inside before I went to my father and the Gamma on the field.

“There she is! The female of the hour!” Gamma Sean said as I approached them. “I was waiting for you to take the role that you were destined for. I knew Michael did not want to be Alpha, but I always knew you had the fire and soul to take the Alpha position from your old man.”

I laughed at Gamma Sean. He normally took my side. Even when my brothers and I were younger, whenever the three of us (and Ollie) got into trouble, he would always come to my aide and assure my parents that it could not have been me because I was simply “too innocent” to have done what I was in trouble for. Secretly, he knew that it was all me, but like they said, I was the pack’s “princess,” so even if I did get into trouble, my punishment was less than the boys. My dad would say that Michael was older and knew better and Elijah was usually the ringleader, which was fine with me. Their punishments usually consisted of extra training with dad and mine was usually grounding for two days, or not being allowed to hang out with Ollie for the night.

“You ready, Kat?” My father asked. I slowly nodded my head. “We have a couple of ground rules that you need to follow as you enter Alpha training. One, you are to address me as Alpha. During these training sessions, I am not your father. If I put myself into the role of your father, then I would not be able to do what is necessary to teach you. Before, when you entered these trainings with Michael, you were just joining to learn self-defense. Now you are joining in the endgame of becoming Alpha. You can either say Alpha or Alpha Michael. I do not care which you use. Two, for the first few weeks, Gamma Sean will be joining our sessions. He will be here to help me gauge your fighting level, skill level, and mastery level. He is only to be addressed as Gamma or Gamma Sean. Three, occasionally we will bring in other warriors to further assess you and sometimes assess them. If they are a warrior with rank, you will need to address them using their “rank” as it shows respect to the warrior. Four, during these training sessions (as your brother will agree), we will test your endurance to certain herbs and plants considered to be lethal to our kind. Your endurance will also be tested when it comes to the Alpha Command to see how strong of an Alpha you might become. Lastly, you are expected to be on the training grounds at 8 am sharp, not a minute late. I do not tolerate tardiness and you will be punished accordingly. Do you understand these rules as I have explained them?” Gamma Sean and my dad both turned their heads to me as I nodded and stated, in a strong and loud voice, “Yes, Alpha.”

“Good. Today, we will be starting with some basic sparring. The first one to tap out wins. If I needed to step in, then it would be considered a draw. We are going to use this to assess what you have learned in your other training classes.

Gamma Sean and I take our positions in the middle of the training field. Once in my position, my father blows his whistle to signal the fight starting. We began to circle each other. As I circle him, I assess what his weak spots are. He has a slight limp in his left foot, and it doesn’t look like he will be blocking his right side. I moved to make the first lunge, curling my hand in a fist and aiming for his nose. He moves at the last second and my hand makes contact with his face, spurting blood all over his face.

The Gamma recovers from my attack and charges towards me. I threw my forearms up to block my face, but he slipped to my left side. I angled my body towards him, but I was not fast enough to block the elbow that he aimed towards my ribs. Once his elbow connected with my ribs, he used his other hand to jam the heel of his hand straight into my nose. I winced at the pain in my face. I could tell that he broke my nose and that I would have to set it in order for it to properly heal. I pushed the pain to the back of my mind as we began to circle each other again. Once again, I lunged towards his left and he went to block his left side. At the last second, I lunged towards his right side, using my legs to sweep his feet out from under him. As the Gamma starts to fall, he tucks his body into a roll before springing back to his feet.

“Is that all you got, Kataleya?” The Gamma taunts me.

The Gamma lunges towards me and tries for a nice, stiff left. I have seen the Gamma use this move before. Once he goes to the left, he follows it with a right cross. I slipped to his left, which threw him off and I stepped inside the right cross and reached for a handful of his head. I pulled his head forward and headbutted him. The crunch of his nose was satisfying as I realized that I had broken his nose. While holding his hair in one hand, I used my other hand to ram it into his crotch. He lets out a low groan as he tries to unsuccessfully break from my grip. I was still holding his hair while I mustered all of my strength. I flipped him over and slammed him into the hard ground.

My father steps into our ring and asks, “Gamma, do you forfeit?” The Gamma lifts his head to look up at me before nodding his head and tapping his hand on the ground as he lets out another soft grunt. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Once the adrenaline leaves my body, I take note of the pain in my ribs. It is becoming difficult to breathe in and out. I think he broke a few of my ribs. I lay on the ground as I tried to control my labored breathing. Just need a few more seconds and then my healing should kick in. While on the ground, I took the time to snap my nose back into place and I let out a gut-wrenching scream. Shit! I forgot how much it hurt to reset broken bones. I heard cheering and I looked around the field. I didn’t realize that we had garnered the attention of everyone passing along the fields. I saw Michael and Oliver in the front row with big smiles on their faces, clapping and cheering with the rest of the crowd.

I finally feel slightly better, and I raise myself on my hands and knees. “Gamma, are you okay?” He grunts his acknowledgment to my question. He moans, “Taking a hand to the groin fucking hurts. That move should be considered cheating.”

My father laughed at his Gamma. “Gamma Sean, you should be more concerned about the embarrassment that a quarter of the pack just watched my daughter kick your ass. And you know that all is fair in love and war. She got you good but remind me not to piss my own daughter off. Kataleya, you did well today. You took Gamma Sean down faster than I thought you would be able to, succeeding at 15 minutes, even beating your brother’s record. It took Michael 25 minutes to get him on his first try. Head to the pack doctor first, get those ribs checked, hit the shower, and you are completed for the day. We will meet at the same time and place tomorrow. Try to be on time. I do not appreciate tardiness. You are dismissed.”