“Oh, I’m going to use it too. I need to keep up my Mixed Martial Arts.”
“You fight?”
“Yep. Started in the spring and got hooked.”
She led her back to the stairs. “Well, we’ve got all kinds of fighters in the Club. Boxing, wrestling, karate, MMA, even Muay Thai and Krav Maga. I’m sure they’d help you work out and learn, but I’m not sure they should spar with you. You’re just a tiny thing,” she said with a look of worry.
“True, but I’m fast and have stamina. I fought guys twice my size at the Academy in Orlando.” She paused as she got back to the main floor. “I think I’m going to change and go work out, I could use it.”
“That’s fine, honey. The kitchen opens at five, they’ve got church at six so come down just before then and you can meet all the ladies while the guys are talking.” She smiled and gave her a hug. “You’re going to be fine, Rori. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
She hugged her back. “So what’s the story with your name?”
She blushed. “Bear’s got a lot of stamina, and people say I sound like a bloodhound on a scent when we’re doing it,” she said.
“I had to ask,” she said as she headed up the stairs.
The Battle of the Coral See, as the morning encounter was soon named, was instant legend among the Packs. Unlike the World War II battle that was the first in history solely between aircraft carrier groups, Coral’s decisive victory was against a numerically superior force and she came out unscathed. The video spread quickly, reaching every Pack before the three men were even released from the Infirmary.
The cadets were being treated like a military boot camp; the Council was breaking them down and building them up the right way. She could feel them all watching her as she stood with the other instructors, dressed in running shorts, sports bra, loose T-shirt and runners with low socks. She held herself above them all, her eyes showing only disdain for the ones who were still here. She looked at each of them, her wolf forward and challenging them. Were they hiding their true feelings for women as those three men had done?
Beta Carlson walked in front of the assembled instructors and looked out at the thirty-eight men, from ten to thirty, who formed his charge. Three were still in the infirmary. “It has come to my attention that you men have too much free time in the morning,” he said with an evil grin. “If you have time enough to get in trouble, you have time to run. And I just LOVE running.” The cadets were rolling their eyes, knowing whatever was coming would suck. “Instructor Nygaard.”
Coral stepped forward two paces and stood at attention. “YES BETA.”
“Do you love running?”
“I FUCKING LOVE IT, BETA.”
“Excellent! Would you mind taking these men out for a run?”
“Not at all, Beta.”
“They’re all yours.” He and the other instructors walked off, leaving her alone with them. The men were split into three squads, three lines in front of her. She walked in front of each man, evaluating each of them with her wolf. Her dominance out, she felt for theirs, and most submitted easily. The ones that fought would learn soon enough.
“We’ll take it easy this morning, just ten miles or so,” she said as she walked to the front. “This is an evaluation. Passing time for the platoon is ninety minutes. Riiight, FACE! Forward, MARCH! Doubletime, HUH!” She started the stopwatch ran alongside them, leading them to the road that circled from the Pack House to the Lake and the entrance road. It was an easy start, and she settled them into an eight-minute-mile pace. “Jacobs,” she yelled to the future Beta who was the most dominant of the wolves in the platoon, “Set the pace.”
The first few miles were easy, but she reminded Jacobs of the time requirement as they reached the uphill portions of the course. She ran alongside the men, shouting out encouragement or correction as needed.
By eight miles, students were starting to drop out of the ranks as they couldn’t take the pace anymore. She sent messages to the other instructors, they would be collected and pushed to continue once the formation was out of sight, but she needed to see how the men would react. It was as she had feared; their leader didn’t care that men were dropping out, he was going to finish in time and the others felt the same. “This is going to be tougher than I thought,” she sent to Beta Carlson. “There is no cohesion.”
“They need to learn that a Pack only moves as fast as the weakest member. I trust you can help them learn?”
“Absolutely.” She called out the split time, and the men quickened the pace until they were at a sprint for the last half mile. By the time they returned to the field where Beta Carlson was waiting, the formation had completely broken down. The Beta called out the finish times, and the ones that came in under ninety minutes stood around looking happy.
“FORM UP,” Coral yelled. Jacobs took his place at the front right, and the men fell into their normal spots, leaving openings for the men who had started to trickle in. “YOU MEN FAILED,” she said as she walked in front of them, not even winded by the easy run.
“I finished three minutes under the passing time,” Jacobs said, looking over at her. His eyes filled with lust as he took in her body, sweat causing the T-shirt to cling to her. He was one of the ones she was going to have trouble with, and it was starting already.
She got up in his face. “The passing time for the PLATOON was ninety minutes. Where the fuck is the rest of your PLATOON, Jacobs?” His face dropped, as did most of the men she could see nearby. “YOU set the pace. YOU left your men behind, and the rest of you didn’t do a thing to help them out.” She looked back at the trail where the instructors were pushing some men to finish. “You men are going to learn it’s about the Pack, not YOU. Get your formation together and go back and pick up the stragglers.”
She watched as Jacobs formed them up and ran them back down the trail. “How long do you think it will take them to figure it out?”
“These men are stubborn. Alpha Todd despised weakness, he taught his men to fight for position and take advantage of those below them. It won’t change quickly.”
“Can I have them every morning at five? That gives them enough time to shower and change before breakfast.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” he said as the formation came back into sight. “They have classroom next, meet me in the combat rings for your evaluation,” he said. “This assignment is more than just helping these men. It’s a time for you to learn and grow in your fighting and your leadership.”
“Who is doing the evaluation?”
“Me. No pressure, though. All the other Instructors and the Council will be watching.”
“Good. Then I’ll only need to do this once.” He laughed as they walked towards the training facility.
—
Rori changed into her workout gear and slipped down the stairway to the basement. Walking in, the same two men were in there, one was still on the weights while the other was on the speed bag. She warmed up with the jumprope, then went to the wall and picked out the smallest pair of gloves she could find. “You fight,” the man on the speed bag said, a little shocked as he saw her start to punch and kick the heavy bag.
“I do, I started doing MMA a few months ago and got hooked. I’m Rori.”
The man stopped and came over, bumping fists with her. “Taco,” he said. He was about twenty-five, and looked to be a middleweight. His muscles were well-defined on his five-foot-ten height. “I box, at least when I can find a sparring partner. Everyone except Bear, who’s just too big for me, and Reaper, who’s too damn scary, is tired of getting beat.”