#8 The Archer and her Wolf

Chapter 18: Thea

The next morning I was awake at my normal time, the unholy hour of 4:00 am. I stretched in the unfamiliar bed and rolled onto my elbows, looking around. I blinked against the darkness and reached over to switch on the bedside lamp. I wasn’t used to my surroundings, so I fumbled around in the dimly lit room until I found the bathroom. I switched on the light and quickly showered before dressing in a pair of black capri leggings and a blue tunic. I tied my hair back into a high ponytail and finished brushing my teeth.

I walked through the sitting room and towards the large window that looked out across the courtyard. On the far side of the grounds was what looked like a training area. There was a big open field with sparring equipment set up and a large gym next door. There were a few people already out on the sparring field and I decided to join them.

I jogged across the courtyard and entered the training grounds. Everyone stopped what they were doing when I entered, eyeing me cautiously. I didn’t know who a single one of them were, but it was very obvious that they knew me.

“Luna?” One of them ran up to me, wiping the sweat from his face with a white towel.

“It’s just Thea.” I sighed.

“I’m Danny, a warrior wolf, ma’am.” The man, Danny, introduced himself, offering me his hand.

“It’s Thea.” I said again, shaking his hand.

“Right, sorry.” He grumbled, “Can we help you with something?” Danny asked.

“These are the training grounds aren't they?” I asked.

“Uhm….yeah?” Danny looked confused.

“Then, I guess I’m here to train.” I mocked him.

“Danny, are you giving our Luna a hard time?” A familiar voice snorted from behind me. I rolled my eyes just as Lion joined us.

“N…no.” Danny looked terrified.

“I’m just here to train. What’s the big deal?” I huffed in annoyance.

“Don’t worry about them, Thea, they just aren’t used to having a Luna around let alone one that wants to train. They’re just sticker shock.” Lion laughed.

“I’m not their Luna.” I said stubbornly, storming away from the pair of them, “I’m an Archer.”

“You heard her, boys. You better not let your Alpha see you being afraid of a little Archer.” Lion egged them on and I smirked,

“I guess you’re first then, Lion.” I inched my finger towards him, beckoning him forward. Lion laughed and joined me in the center of the field.

Two hours passed and the wolves were finally loosening up. By now, half the warriors were out on the training fields and a crowd had gathered around us. One by one, I took down each of the warriors after handing Lion his ass first. A large, brute man stepped up to me next. He had dark curly hair and brown eyes with huge arms and even bigger thighs. He grinned at me, all formalities about me being the Luna were long gone at this point.

“I’m Curtis.” The one thing this little exercise was giving me, besides respect and a good work out, were names. It was an easy enough way to learn the pack members' names.

I nodded once at Curtis and moved to a fighting stance. Curtis joined me and the match began, proving to be one of the best yet. Curtis wasn’t just bronze, he was also brains. He must’ve been studying my moves earlier, because he was able to anticipate them before they happened. He even managed to land the first blow. He slammed his fist into my face and I yelped, my head snapping to the side. I rolled my neck and laughed at him, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Before I could say anything or react, a vicious growl rattled the yard.

I turned around just in time to see a blur run past me and plow through Curtis. In a matter of seconds, Curtis was flat out on the ground with Xaiver slamming his fists into his face over and over again.

“You dare touch what is mine! You dare disrespect your Luna!” Xaiver snarled.

“Xaiver! Stop it!” I shouted, grabbing a hold of Xaiver’s arm as he pulled back for another punch. Xaiver’s head snapped back towards me and his face immediately softened. He stood up and stepped over Curtis’ body, walking towards me.

“Are you okay?” He asked, gently cupping my face.

“Xaiver, I’m fine. What the hell is wrong with you?” I stepped out of his grip and glared at him.

“He hit you.” Xaiver stated obviously.

“No s**t. That’s what happens when you spar.” I said.

“Thea, I….” Xaiver stammard, not sure how to respond.

“This is exactly what I’m talking about, Xaiver! I’m a fighter, it’s who I am, and you can’t stop me. I’m going to spar and people are going to try and hit me. You should be proud, Curtis was the only one who could.” I lost it on Xaiver, shouting and waving my hands in his face.

Everyone was watching us, the crowd I had accrued from my fighting matches earlier had stuck around to see the new show. I suspected that the pack wasn’t used to seeing someone hand their Alpha his ass, but I wasn’t about to give in. Xaiver refused to make eye contact with me, ducking his head to study the ground.

“Thea, I’m sorry….” he mumbled but I cut him off with an irritated huff.

“Honestly, Xaiver, you should be more worried about the status of your warriors. Not a single one of them could stand up to me in a fight, none of them even got close to landing a hit other than Curtis. They need more training, better training. Spend less time pretending that I’m your damsel in distress little mate and spend more time worrying about your pack.” I spat before storming away from the training grounds.

Everyone moved out of my way quickly, not wanting to be on the receiving end of my fury. I could hear the murmurs and the gasps of shock that I left in my wake as I stomped towards the packhouse. I wasn’t in the mood to see anyone so instead of going inside, I walked around the back of the house. There was a large greenhouse and gardens on the edge of the yard, where it meets the forest, and not far from Logan’s playground. I wandered over to the flowers to distract myself.

“Tia?” a little voice pulled me from my daydreaming twenty minutes later.

“Hi, Logan.” I controlled my expression and smiled down at the toddler.

“Why are you sad?” He c****d his head to the side and took my head in his.

“Why do you think I’m sad?” I looked down at his tiny hand in mine.

“I dunno.” He shrugged.

“Don’t worry so much, Logan, that’s not your job.” I ruffled his hair and forced a smile.

“Daddy says I shouldn’t call you mommy because it might scare you, but I don’t understand why it scares you? Don’t you want to be my mommy?” Logan did a complete 180, changing the subject and giving me whiplash. I felt my eyes widen and I forced myself to look away from his face.

“Logan….” Before I could try and explain, I heard Xaiver calling my name from across the yard.

“Daddy!” Logan shook himself out of his funk and ran towards his dad, jumping in his arms.

I sighed and slowly turned around to watch their exchange. Xaiver said something to Logan before kissing his head. Logan scurried off inside the house and Xaiver walked towards me.

“Thea, I’m so sorry. You were right about everything. It’s just hard for me to watch you get hurt.” Xaiver ran his hand through his hair in frustration, his dark eyelashes swooping over his gloomy eyes.

“I told you this would happen.” I repeated in a much calmer voice.

“I know, but seeing your injuries afterwards and watching them happen are two completely different things.” Xaiver said.

“What do you expect from me, Xaiver?” I sighed, dropping my hands to my side in defeat. Xaiver stumbled closer to me and touched my arm. When I didn’t shy away, he closed the distance between us in one stride.

“Nothing, Thea, nothing. This is about me fixing me. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He kept repeating his apologies over and over again.

“Stop apologizing, please.” I huffed in irritation. Xaiver smirked at me slightly,

“Sorry, my love.” He teased me and I rolled my eyes, “You were right about my warriors, too. Lion said that at first they were holding their punches, but when they realized you were there for a real fight, they stopped. He said that he thought our warriors were well trained but, against you, they were like toddlers with boxing gloves.” He added and I couldn’t help but laugh at Lion’s analogy.

“That’s quite the image.” I felt my pouty lips turn up into a small grin.

“Lion has a way with words. Anyway, I want you to train them. I think they could learn a lot from their future Luna.” With Xaiver’s deep blue eyes scanning my face and his fingers grazing my skin, I was pretty sure I would have agreed to anything at that point.

“I’ve trained dozens of Archers.” I shrugged casually, covering up my emotions.

“So, is that a yes?” Xaiver smiled and I nodded,

“Yes.” I croaked, trying to clear the lump of emotions from my throat, “If you promise not to attack any of your wolves who actually manage to land a punch.” I added stubbornly. Xaiver frowned again,

“As long as it’s in the sparring ring. Anywhere else and they die.” He answered seriously.

“Like that would ever happen.” I said arrogantly.

“Alpha! Luna!” Frankie’s voice cut across the yard as he jogged towards us. Xaiver looked irritated as he pulled away from me.

“What is it, Frankie?” He huffed.

“Future Alphas Theo and Tigris from Satin Moon are here to visit with the Luna.” Frankie announced.

“My brothers are here?” I grinned.

“With some tiny humans as well.” He added.

“Tiny humans?” I snorted.

“You mean her younger siblings?” Xaiver asked with a laugh.

“Sure.” Frankie shrugged.

“Where are they?” I was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

“I put them in Xaiver’s office.” Frankie said,

“Let’s go, love.” Xaiver grabbed my hand and we started walking back towards the packhouse.