Page 7 of Alpha's Choice
“I’ll treat you with respect when you’ve earned it. So far, you’ve done the opposite.”
The room was silent. Lisa’s face turned red, and she stepped forward to go around Kylie to reach me. “You bitch. I’ll have both you and your mom banished from the pack. Just wait.”
Tracy and Kylie formed a wall between Lisa and me. “You’re not Luna yet. And you know how Beta Matthew feels about fighting outside training. He won’t go easy on you just because you’re his sister. Especially if you attack a human.”
Lisa glared at me before storming off. “This isn’t over.”
Kylie and Tracy waited for Lisa to leave before turning to me with wide eyes. Kylie’s voice came out low. “Lisa’s not a great enemy to have. She can be vicious, and she holds a grudge. Even without being Luna, she can make your life miserable.”
I felt a twinge of a new kind of nerves but squared my shoulders against it. “I don’t like bullies. She shouldn’t get away with treating others poorly.”
“I agree, but you just put a bigger target on your back. It’s a small group in the summer program, and you already stand out.”
“Doesn’t sound like she thinks much of anyone here.” I threw on my gym clothes and pulled on my running shoes. “How does she even have friends if she thinks she’s above everyone?”
“They believe her when she says she’s going to be Luna and are staying on her good side.” Tracy shook her head in disgust. “Watch them scramble to find a new queen if she isn’t the Alpha’s mate.”
“No, watch her scramble to become his chosen mate if that happens.” Kelly joined the conversation. “I overheard her friends talking about how one way or the other Lisa would be Luna.”
“What’s a chosen mate?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. It’s when wolves choose a mate instead of the one granted them by the Goddess. It doesn’t happen too often, as the chosen mate bond is weaker, but sometimes people don’t want to wait to find their mate.”
“And some packs think bloodlines matter. Those Alphas take chosen mates if the one picked by the Goddess isn’t strong enough.” There were shadows in Kylie’s eyes, as if her words struck close to home. “It’s ridiculous. The strongest alphas in history are those born from true mate bonds.”
“What makes a wolf strong in their eyes?”
“Some packs have strict class hierarchies.” Tracy pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “Omegas at the bottom, Alphas at the top. Gray Rock is pretty progressive as far as packs go. We have Omegas, of course, but they’re treated just like everyone else.”
I didn’t ask what an Omega was, assuming they were tired of my questions. I needed to write things down to ask Lora in the mornings.
We left the changing room and joined the rest of the students. Beta Matthew was waiting at the front of the group. “Thanks for joining us, ladies. I’ll let your tardiness slide since it’s the first day, but next time, let’s be a little quicker getting ready. I want everyone to run ten laps to warm up, then partner up for sparring. You’ll be paired based on the order of finishing the run.”
I caught the smug look Lisa sent my way. It was obvious she was going to try to partner up with me. Standing up to her with words was one thing, but I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance against her in a physical fight.
CHAPTER4
Emma
“Emma will be with me,” Beta Matthew said. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved by his words or not.
Lisa pouted. “That’s not fair, Matty. You’ll be too busy to help everyone. I can be her partner. She’ll need lots of help to catch up, and I’ll be glad to teach her how things work.”
“I need to assess her current skill level, but thank you for the offer. Now, everyone but Emma, start running.”
Beta Matthew motioned for me to approach him. “We’ll start with a basic fitness exam and then I’ll run through some fighting basics with you. Have you taken any type of fight training before?”
I shook my head. “One self-defense class, but most of that focused on prevention. We hit a guy in a big, padded suit one day, but that was hard to take seriously.”
“Okay. We’ll start at the beginning.” Beta Matthew grinned at me, a gleeful glint in his eye. “This will be fun. How long can you hold a plank?”
After finishing the physical assessment, he taught me how to punch. I already knew enough not to tuck my thumbs in, so I didn’t feel like a complete newbie, at least. He even had me kicking pads. If the other students weren’t sparring, I might actually feel kind of tough.
“Not bad.” Beta Matthew put down the pads and patted me on the back. “You’re a quick learner. I’ll assign a warrior to help you catch up with the class. We may have you sparring with them yet.”
I looked at him in horror. “With them?”
I indicated the other students just in time to see Elliot throw some kind of spinning back kick move that sent his opponent flying.
