Walking through the small village-like town, I notice that every house has roller shutters, alarms, and solar power and is built solid like his. All impenetrable, making me wonder how bad the attack was on the pack before. There weren’t many houses but I can see the burnt-down remains where houses used to be where the ground was black in places and new grass peeked through the scorched earth.
Once we get to the top of the hill, I find a field and a forest on the other side. The field is covered with men training and sparring, there had to be at least a hundred spread across. Some run laps on the huge circular track that borders the field.
I swallow seeing so many half-naked men fighting and training, but it isn’t what I expected. Most training grounds I have seen from afar as we passed by pack territories, used mats, safety gear, and equipment. Here they train with bare knuckles, and the ground is what they hit when taken down. No equipment, no punching bags, just their hands, and brute force; they use each other instead.
Some men bleed from the brutality unleashed on their own pack members like they are fighting to the death. I gulp, looking up at Andrei. He doesn’t expect me to fight them, does he? There is no way I will stand a chance against any of them. Some are even fighting in their wolf forms, tearing each other to shreds.
I stop taking a step back. Andrei tears his eyes away from me, to study his men beating the living daylights out of each other. “They won’t hurt you,” he assures me, I know he won’t let them hurt me, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t unintentionally.
I shake my head. “I don’t want to train with them,” I protest and he presses his lips in a line looking at them.
“You’re safe here,” he reassures me, but he doesn’t understand.
“No, I don’t want to train like that! I didn’t think you actually beat each other bloody,” I argue, horrified as Zane pins another man on the ground, bringing his fists down on him while the man beneath him tries to block him, while punching into his ribs and trying to get him off.
“You’re only starting, nobody will train with you except me, and I am not going to hurt you. I promise, Sage, just training,” he insists, tugging me off to the side away from them and toward the forest.
Eyes are on us as we move away from everyone, making me aware that I am the only woman here. When he stops in the shade of the forest, I freeze and Sierra steps forward, taking control for a second, making me tense as I stare into the woods.
Andrei sits on the grass. I take an unwilling step toward the forest as I fight against Sierra for control.
“Sage?” Andrei questions, and I take a breath, realizing I was holding it.
“It’s not me,” I tell him through gritted teeth. What is up with her? We decided to stay, and she had to, but now she wants to flee our mate.
“Run, Sierra, and I will chase you, I don’t mind the cardio,” Andrei warns.
She recedes, blocking me out again, and I stumble forward as she releases control. “What did you do to her?” I ask him.
“Not me, Donnie, and he didn’t realize until it was too late and we saw you on the stairs,” he confesses, patting the grass beside him.
“Realize what?” I ask him.
“Their bond is stronger than ours because they constantly talk. If she becomes too flighty, Sage, I may have to mark you.”
“What?” I squeak out.
“Donnie didn’t realize his link to her was open. I didn’t realize it either because I have not marked you yet, and we aren’t pack-linked, but our wolves can still talk to each other. Donnie was talking to her most of the night until you fell asleep, and he likes listening to her thoughts while she is asleep, and even while asleep she hasn’t blocked him for some reason. When someone is asleep, you usually can’t get in their head, but he can with Sierra. He forgot, and when I was in the basement, she could hear everything I was doing through him, and I think he may have triggered her,” Andrei explains, and bile rises in my throat at his words.
He stretches, and I copy what he does, thinking about what he said. Once done, he stands, and I look at his men on the field. I wince at the brutality of it all.
“I’m not going to train you like that, Sage,” he says softly.
“Do you train like that with them?” I ask him.
“That’s how we always train,” he answers simply.
I huff. “Most packs have safety equipment and mats.”
“I want them prepared to train how they will fight, not with gloves and mats, there won’t be any in a war,” he scoffs, and it kind of makes sense but is still a little barbaric.
“Are you expecting a war?”.
“We are always at war, Sage,” he says, and I look back at him to find him stripping his clothes off.
“What are you doing?” I yelp when he suddenly drops his pants.
“Shifting,” he shrugs, like it is obvious. My face heats at the sight of him as my eyes roam over his chest and down, before I force my eyes to his. He raises an eyebrow at me, making my cheeks flame at being caught ogling him.
“But I can’t train with Donnie,” I object.
“Then how do you expect to beat a wolf if you won’t fight one?” He says.
“But how am I supposed to talk to you?” I ask, not understanding how this is supposed to work.
“Do you think their wolf will talk to you when it is trying to rip you apart in a fight?” He chuckles before shifting and pouncing on me. Gosh, he is quick! His ability to move from one form to another amazes me. I barely had a chance to blink, and he was already shifted and on top of me. I fly backward, hitting the ground, and the air leaves my lungs. Yet Donnie moves quickly, and instead of my head hitting the hard ground, it hits his paws. His claws dig into the earth under my head before he licks my face from my chin to my hairline.