28

Rayna sits outside in the castle garden where she can hear the small stream running just beyond the tree hedges. Birds chirp and a slight breeze shifts her long, wavy brown hair every now and then.

She lets her mind wander, and it ends up all the way back at her old pack.

Harley knows about everything Johnathan has done to her: so, what is he going to do? Actually, what has he already done? Rayna knows that he won't just let Johnathan get away with it—he's too protective. She'll have to ask about that later . . .

What about her brothers?

Did Jayce get caught during his heat? If so, what happened to him? Are Jamie and Hazel still okay? Has Jake changed at all?

Her heart sinks.

What if Johnathan found someone else, now that she isn't there?

*~*~*~*

Rayna spends an entire hour in the garden. Then, Harley calls Rayna into his office.

"Yeah?" she asks, walking inside and closing the door behind her.

"C'mere," Harley says, holding out his arms.

Rayna walks over, smiling. Harley pulls her onto his lap, making her straddle him, and places his hands on her hips and kisses the mark on her neck.

She moans involuntarily.

Then, her eyes widen, and her heart beats fast.

Rayna pulls away and gets off of Harley, making him raise an eyebrow. She breathes heavily, and her body shakes as she backs up against his desk. She grips it tightly.

"Mate? What's wrong?" he asks, visibly concerned.

"The- The rogues," she stutters. Her eyes flicker around. "What- What if they come back?"

He realizes why she's freaking out. So far, every time the rogues have attacked, the two of them were alone together and in their own world. Not to mention her past with rogues having killed her mom. She probably blames herself for all of this.

"Hey, hey," he says softly. He stands up and steps towards her. "It's gonna be okay, okay?" He cups her face, making her look up at him. He gives her a small smile. "The worst that has happened so far is a warrior being hospitalized for a week. Besides, the rogues haven't said a word to us, so they could be attacking for any reason."

He wraps her into a hug, but she tenses.

"Everyone's okay. It isn't your fault, baby," he reiterates. He rubs her arms. "You can relax."

Rayna slightly nods and softly hugs Harley back before pulling away.

"O- Okay . . . Wh- Why'd you call me here?" she asks.

"Oh, right."

He sits back down, and she stands behind his chair.

"We can start your training tomorrow if you'd like. I'm thinking that your teacher will be Freya Knight. She is a very skilled warrior, and one of the packs best trainers by far. She can be a bit tough, but I don't think she's anything you can't handle."

"Wait . . . you won't be there?" she asks, looking down at him.

"No. I have to work baby, but if you ever need me, I will be right there, okay?"

"Okay . . . Oh, I also have a question."

"Yeah?" Harley asks, looking up at her.

"So, uhm . . . wh- what're you doing about J- Johnathan and the p- pack?" she asks, burying her face in his hair. His face hardens, and he lets out a sigh.

"I currently have them under tight surveillance."

*~*~*~*

Rayna is woken up the next morning at 3:45 A.M. by her alarm.

She groans, rolls over, and turns it off. She gets out of bed, stretches, and walks into the bathroom.

The sun isn't even up yet as she gets dressed into a black sports bra, a white tank top, and black spandex shorts. She does her business, ties her hair up into a tight, high ponytail, puts on a pair of black tennis shoes, and walks back into the bedroom. She smiles softly to herself, seeing her mate still asleep. She gives him a kiss on the cheek, making him smile in his sleep, before heading into the kitchen.

She grabs herself a granola bar and fills up a bottle with ice and water. Then, she heads off to the training grounds to meet Freya and start her first training lesson.

*~*~*~*

The outdoor training grounds are huge.

There's all sorts of equipment laid out everywhere, tracks, sports fields, and just about everything and anything you can think of. It's not even a mile away from the castle. As the sun isn't up yet and it's still dark out, the huge lights are on. There are a few people out this early, but obviously not many.

"You must be Rayna," a voice says.

A female figure approaches her from behind a tree a few feet ahead of her.

Freya Knight. 5'8, long blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail, flyaways held back by a white headband. She wore a pink and black sports bra, showing off her defined abs and arms, and black leggings. She has fair skin and blue eyes.

"Y- Yeah. That's me," Rayna replies.

"Nice to meet ya!" Freya exclaims, holding out her hand to shake Rayna's. "The name's Freya, and I'll be the one training you."

Rayna shakes her hand, nodding.

"I've never trained before, so I don't know how good I'll be . . ." she mutters. She was never allowed to even touch any of the training equipment at her old pack, so being here now makes her a little uneasy.

She remembers that one time she had snuck out there after watching a session, dying to learn at least the basics. One of the warriors caught her and slapped her straight across the face with no hesitation. He then turned her in to Johnathan, and he-

"That's okay!" Freya tells her. "We'll start pretty simple, though since it is the first day it'll definitely tucker ya out."

Rayna nods. "Makes sense. So . . . where should I put my water bottle?"

"Follow me."

Freya leads her to a bench by one of the tracks where Rayna sets down her water bottle.

"I also suggest getting a cooling towel," Freya says. "It gets really warm in the summer once the sun comes up. For now, I'll go get ya one of the community ones."

She walks off to one of the little equipment storage sheds that are scattered around and come back to her with a towel and a bucket of cold water.

"Ya ready goes start?" Freya asks.

Rayna takes a deep breath, hyping herself up inside her head.

"As I'll ever be."

*~*~*~*

The sun rises around 4:45.

Freya doesn't go easy on Rayna, and this first lesson is simply an evaluation of what Rayna can and can't do in order to give Freya in idea of their future training.

The first hour is centered around building muscles. After running ten laps on the track, Rayna had to do ten push ups, sit ups, burpees, squats, etc. Then, they moved onto using weights, and she had to do all sorts of different exercises.

The second hour is where tips for fighting come in. Freya starts by teaching Rayna a proper fighting stance, and then a proper fist. Freya pulls out a punching bag, and Rayna tests out a couple punches. Afterwards, Freya corrects a few things to help, and she tries again. Next, Freya shows her basic self defense moves to work on later.

After their two hour long work out and the clock reads 6 A.M., Rayna is beat.

"What kinda schedule do y'all wanna do, based on today?" Freya asks. "We could work out every day, week days, or just certain days. It's your choice."

Rayna pauses.

Something tells her that these rogue attacks are not just a one off thing, and a deep, gut feeling is telling her that she needs to get as much training as possible very soon.

"Every weekday."

*~*~*~*

Later that day, while Harley is still working on his office, Rayna heads back out to the garden.

She thinks of all of the powers she has as the Flower Wolf, and she wonders what her special power is. There's endless possibilities.

She wants to practice.

She can't really practice second sight, clairvoyance, or concilium by herself, as those require someone's thoughts. This is the perfect place to practice resurgence and terrakinesis though.

She walks around the garden, searching for a dead flower. She finds one—a wilting rose with drooped petals. She smiles gently and bends down on her knees, taking a deep breath. She cups her hands around it and closes her eyes. Somehow, she knows what to do. She imagines part of her own life force going from her, through her arms and Hans, and into the wilting rose, and focuses all of her energy on that.

When she opens her eyes, the rose is bright red and looks just like to had bloomed a few hours ago. She smiles. That's for you, Mom.

She sighs.

Next, terrakinesis.

She stands up, brushes the dirt off of her knees, and takes a deep breath. She looks up at a small tree by the garden and holds up her hand. She imagines the branches bending to form a heart, and she watches in awe as they move slowly to do so. She smiles brightly and jumps up and down, excited.

She'd be great at gardening now.

*~*~*~*

The next day, Rayna wakes up at the same time as the morning before and heads out to the training grounds to meet with Freya. This time, she has the new cooling towel Harley got her when she mentioned she needs one.

"You ready?" Freya asks, today wearing a light blue shirt.

"Yeah."

Today they're focusing on her wolf form, so Freya has Rayna shift, and they get started.

The blonde is a bit shocked at the sight of Rayna's wolf, but she brushes it off. Harley has told her that she's special. First, she has Rayna run laps like she had yesterday. Once she's finished running, Freya has her do different exercises like jumping, ducking, and running in between poles to practice agility.

Freya teaches Rayna some stances and pulls out a dummy to practice. She has her attempt to tackle it. The first time, Rayna fails miserably. Freya gives her a few tips, and she tries again. They continue to practice this singular task for nearly an hour.

They finish up training with a small, fun, scavenger hunt. Freya had hidden a few objects before Rayna showed up, and she has to find them using her sense of smell after Frey's gives her something to catch the scent. It doesn't take her long before she's found all of the objects.

"Wow. You did amazing," Freya compliments.

"Thank you."