The Last Pack

15. LOVE OF A LUNA

Titan left Fidella as she entered her quarters, and made his way to the training yard. The core of his insides was still shaking with anger because of what he had witnessed. The pledge of the Gamma moulded a very strong brotherly bond to their Luna. Cadogan had been snapping inside his mind, he was disposistioned to guard the things he cared for and, since he felt that he had failed his own mate, he was extra cautious with Fidella. Given that mauling and causing an excruciating death of the Heatons was on hold, Titan and his wolf had taken it upon themselves to train up Conri until being an Alpha meant more to him than being a champion.

Not waiting for Ewan’s decision to pair up, Titan stood in front of Conri assessing his physical strengths. They were formidable. Unfortunately, Conri had been conditioned to accept his position as a slave and Titan knew that he would have to drill concepts such as tactical planning, defiance and territorial aggression into him. This would take time, because when a person has nothing there is no risk to take in life, because there is nothing to lose. A gladiator lived for the legacy of glory, therefore the duration of his own life was inconsequential. However, this was no longer the case for Conri, this understanding of Conri’s mind-set birthed an ingenious plan in Titan’s mind.

Impatiently, Conri launched his first straight punch, targeting Titan’s head, who, in return, side stepped the strike, pulling Conri’s shoulder so he was off balance and kneeing his stomach, causing him to stumble to his left to regain his stance. Wising up to Titan’s ability, Conri feigned a roundhouse kick to Titan’s left ribs, but altered his move at the last moment to sweep his leg around his opponent’s calf, pulling his leg from under him so that he landed on the ground.

“You learn quickly, Alpha, it’s a shame you don’t have as much aggression for those you call master,” Titan provoked him, while wrapping his legs around Conri’s ankles, so that they were both on the ground.

“The master is good to me, he made me a champion,” Conri replied.

“You’re an Alpha, your heritage makes you a champion, and he may be good to you, but he isn’t good to your mate!” Titan returned.

“I will protect her, I have already issued an Alpha order,” Conri eluded the jab that was aimed at him, and swiftly caught him with a right cross.

“Fidella saved herself last night with her Luna's command. If she wasn’t as compelling as she is I’d have killed her last night, and you couldn’t have stopped me,” This wasn’t true, but Titan was doing everything he could to point out the weaknesses in Conri’s argument. Titan gave an unnerving smirk as he wiped the blood off his lips with the back of his hand. Pushing himself off the floor and using the speed from the upward momentum, he collided with Conri and used his shoulder to knock him off his feet. He grappled with him on the floor, each man trying to pin the other.

“Besides, neither of us could save her this morning, and we won’t be able to until you make this pack strong,” Titan huffed.

“What happened this morning? Is she OK?” Conri asked, panic evident in his voice. Although the pair were still wrestling on the floor, the fight was now a simple distraction compared to the true focus of their conversation.

“She’s OK, your Dominus tried to sexually intimidate her, and she was scared and unnerved. He tried to degrade her, but he was unsuccessful this time. I left her by her cell door and she was angry, although I’m sure she will shed some tears today,” Titan explained.

“What the f**k did he do exactly? Why didn’t you do anything?” Conri growled, his wolf on the surface.

“He grabbed her face and made her watch him get hard, while he asked her questions about her first time, the thought of her in pain excited him. The reason I couldn’t do anything is because the pack is too weak, and our Alpha still refers to the prick who did this…as his Dominus,” Titan took this opportunity to head-butt Conri, partly to keep up the pretence of sparring, but mainly in anger as he couldn’t help Fidella this morning. With this revelation Conri’s blood seemed to burn within him as a wrath that bordered on madness had him make a decision he never thought he would.

“I have no Dominus, I am an Alpha, and because of the love I hold for my Luna, we will get out of here and be free,” Conri held out his hand, and pulled Titan up.

Conri mind-linked Ewan telling him to prepare the gladiators for when they had multiple attackers, as this would likely be the situation they would be in when they decided to escape. For the past hours, the pack had been repeating sequences for different attack situations. Different scenarios each time would prepare them for all eventualities. Titan and Conri had been sparring, but infusing their skills with the strength of their wolves. Titan had told him that along with protecting the Luna, the duty of a Gamma was to train the pack, and his experience was incredibly valuable. By the end of the day, Conri could use his sense of smell to pin where each person was in the villa and what species, gender and age they were. He could also feel where Fidella was, and knew she was sleeping. He could smell the salt attached to her scent and realised that, as Titan had predicted, she had been crying. They also worked on the duality of man and beast. Titan said this was so strong in some Alphas that one eye would stay their human colour, while the other was black like the wolf’s. The few times that Conri had managed to balance on the line between human and wolf had only been produced by Titan, reminding him of the danger that Fidella was in earlier that day. By the end of training that day, the Alpha felt like a painful cavern was running through his head, but it was undeniable how much stronger he felt, and more in tune with Einar he was.

“Titan is a good trainer. He will make us stronger and faster. You did well today, Conri. I can feel our bond with each other getting stronger,” Einar praised his human.

Conri grunted in reply, but his mind was now fixated on what Titan had told him. His body had been distracted all day, but now in the calm was a quiet inner turmoil of anger, guilt and frustration that was plaguing him. His mind was imagining how she must have felt this morning while she had endured that monster, how brave she had been when she told Titan not to act. In a graphic contrast, Einar was projecting different images of the slow death they would give to Heaton, and anyone who ever caused his Goddess a moment of misery. In the short space of one day, he realised that he was more than willing to overthrow the House of Heaton, he would let the entire world crumble if it meant that his Luna was safe. His life up to this point had been meaningless. She was the only value he had. He remembered what Einar had told him about jealousy, and understood what it meant now that he had her. He was even jealous of the bed sheet that got to wrap itself around her, when he could not. He longed for a time when he could hold her in his arms, when he could love her in the daytime, when they weren’t separated by cages. A day when they could simply be together.

Ewan and Titan sat down with Conri for their evening meal. Keeping their voices low, they discussed the training, ranking the strongest to the weakest. Ewan pointed out how the stamina of the wolves would need to be improved, because if they were successful in escaping they would be running towards safety for days. Titan also pointed out that food would need to be hunted, and the gladiators that had been born into slavery wouldn’t have this skill. It had been a productive meeting overall, and they were preparing to depart when Ewan asked a question that had been worrying him.

“Conri, I’m excited that you have become our Alpha, and I have wanted this to happen for a long time. I even thought that Fidella might encourage you to assume your rightful position, but I can’t leave without achieving my own goals,” Ewan revealed.

“I know that, Ewan, I would never ask you to choose. We will find out what happened, I promise,” Conri reassured him.

“What goals are these?” Asked Titan, who had long since abandoned the art of sensitivity.

“My parents lived here once. I don’t know what happened to them because I grew up being looked after by a human who treated me as a son, later I went on my own as a lone-wolf. I won’t leave until I uncover what happened to them,” Ewan briefly stated.

There was a moment of thoughtfulness that created an uneasy silence, before Titan announced, “I would feel the same way, but if your human father didn’t tell you what happened, how do you know about them at all?” Titan asked, perplexed.

“My mother left me a letter, and I can read enough to understand what it means. I read love in her words,” Ewan said with certainty, and Titan patted his shoulder. Then they all stood up and returned to their cells.