“Finally a break!” Hope sung out as she stretched her arms over her head, feeling the tension in her shoulders ease out from all the hearing and chattering about all morning.
The clock just above the doors clearly indicated that it was almost twelve pm, nearly lunch hour and they hadn’t cleared their morning schedule just yet.
Harley, sitting beside Hope, stood up and stretched around a bit, feeling his joints snap and crack throughout his routine before he finally stopped and glanced down to Hope who was leaning over her knees this time, trying to stretch her bank and waist.
“So what’s next?” Hope suddenly glanced up at Harley who shot his eyes elsewhere as his cheeks suddenly flushed in embarrassment. “Why do you look so uncomfortable?”
“N-Nothing.” He cleared his throat before licking his dry lips as he glanced around for completely no reason. “I think we need to uh…. Uh….” He paused, interrupted from his thoughts as Hope stared at him plainly, almost confused.
“I thought you said you memorized the entire thing?” She asked in annoyance as she glared at Harley who pouted his lips as he glanced down at her.
“I just forgot.” He sighed out, running a hand through his hair. “I can remember, just don’t stare at me like that. You’re confusing me.” He rubbed his thumb and forefinger against his chin as he thought of what it was that he had forgotten.
“Since when have I ever distracted you?” Hope asked, further disturbing him as he tried to remember. “You’re really a weird guy, you know that right?”
“I said I need to think, Hope.” He rolled his eyes and slowly descended the stairs, trying to tap into his memory somehow when he finally remembered what it was. He sharply turned towards Hope with a grin on his face. “Check the army training, we can spar too right?” He asked as she hopped off the throne and ran down the stairs, running past him.
“Sure. Let’s go spar!” She chuckled as he smiled, running behind her and towards the large walls that fenced the entire pack. Not entirely, but there was just a small gaping somewhere that needed a lot of time and efforts to conceal over some months, but since their budget was tight for winter this time, the wall had to be put on hold and a few guards would walk by every now and then.
Hope and Harley finally made it to the first building just at the gate which was the training hall and beside those halls were the dorms for their warriors in training, equipped with bathrooms to shower and whenever they needed to use the restroom.
The guards at the entrance of the training hall immediately bowed slightly the moment they spotted their alpha and beta.
“Good morning, alpha, beta,” the first guard smiled as he rose back to a stand before opening the doors. “Here to watch the training as your father?”
“Just to see and we would like our own training room, I need to spar with Harley just for a short time. Don’t worry, we won’t get carried away like last time!” She chuckled out as the man nodded with a grin on his face.
“You two spend the hours just trying to fight each other and see who’s stronger. You both ended up with ties and you robbed the other trainees of training time waiting for that room.” The man chuckled out as Harley simply smiled slightly, remembering that competitive day not long ago. As a matter of fact, it was just last month.
“Any new babies on board?” Hope asked as they stood in front of the first door to the first training room where she could see once of the trainers teaching some pretty basic reflex tests to a rather young man. “He’s new isn’t he?”
“He’s the son of Mr. Okottah, the man that fixes broken homes and furniture. He’s new yes, just turned sixteen last week and immediately wanted to join in. There are also boys his age too, many of them wanted to train after they saw how strong you were yesterday. Today we’ve got the hall filled up and the other training rooms. All of them want to fight you and Harley one day.” He laughed out as Hope grinned at the thought of the challenge.
“That’s amazing!” She giggled out. “Make sure to motivate them every single day and remind them that a woman is stronger than them.” She chuckled as he man nodded his head in agreement.
“I will keep motivating them.” He nodded as the other guard joined them shortly, handing a key into his palm before leaving to return to his post. “This is the room that’s been freed for now. You have only an hour to spar, so please don’t get carried away like last time.”
“We won’t. We have a schedule so don’t worry about it.” Harley chuckled as he snatched the keys from him. “Come on Hope, we can’t waste out only break.”
“See you later!” Hope chimed to the guard as he walked away and waved. She smiled as she returned her gaze to Harley, only to notice he was already running down the hall. “Hey! Heads up next time!” She laughed out as she ran after him.
He reached the room and unlocked it immediately, tuning in before Hope could catch up.
“I win this time!” He laughed out as he stood at center of the room with his arms in the air.
“Cheater!” She chuckled as she rushed into the room and ran towards him, plotting to catch him off guard by pinning him down to the ground with a head lock move when she tripped onto a training board that was probably left by the previous users.
Harley, noticing she was falling, reached out his hands to catch her when he lost his own balance from the sudden fall, sending them both crushing onto more training boards underneath.
“Oh that hurt…” Harley paused as a gasp escaped his lips. His eyes widened as he stared directly into Hope’s shocked gaze. Their faces merely inches apart as they stared at each other in shock.