ZADOKShilhi, Azriel and Zadok were seated round a wooden table in the greenhouse. “She suddenly became powerful, like she wasn't weak and complaining some seconds ago.” Azriel narrated to Shilhi, speaking about the training session with Ithra. “She took off his hands like it was nothing.”“We can't take that for a fact, who knows, perhaps the alpha didn't use as much strength?” Shilhi opined, her gaze flickered to me, and I answered. “I obviously didn't use as much strength, but I am certain she shouldn't have been able to get out of my hold that easily. I didn't exert much strength, but it was strong enough to hold her.”“Maybe your hand slackened a bit during your interactions?” Shilhi said with her eyes focused on me. “The alpha was angry.” Azriel said, “From my point of view, he was seconds away from strangling her. He couldn't have slackened his hold in that mind state.” It was good he answered her bizarre question because I doubted my answers will be anything but lethal. “
ITHRAI haven’t received a word since the training two days ago.When Azriel informed me of our training session this morning, I didn’t know how to feel about it. When we passed the training grounds, I got concerned. “Where are we going?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.Azriel turned back, “You will not be training with the others today.”I couldn’t grasp the meaning behind his words, and I felt my guard build up. “What do you mean?”“The Alpha has instructed you will be training at a different spot moving forward.” His tone clipped. I didn’t like the sound of that, “Where is he? Will he be present?” I find myself asking. There was no way I was training without Zadok. If they wanted to kill me, then he should have the decency to do it himself. “Not that it is your concern, but he will join us shortly.” He answered. Without waiting for a response, he took a route I knew too well. He entered the farm, but I remained rooted to my spot.I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Beta Azriel.” A fe
ITHRA I fell to my knees with another blow to the head from Athaliah. Blinded by my bodily fluids and earth, I could hardly make out the frame of Azriel, who stood at the far end of the farm. “Get up.” Athaliah urged, dragging me by the hair. “Second lesson. Do not stay down for too long. Every second is valuable, and the more you stay down, the more dominion your enemy has over you.” She dragged me up and cut me short with another heavy blow to my stomach. My body erupts in pain, and I feel my internal organs struggle to keep up. Athaliah continued to drill her fist into my guts, and I tried and failed to prevent myself from it. It became evident that I didn’t have enough skills to defend myself. All my life, I craved power and went after everything that could grant me dominion over my enemies. I was already at a disadvantage. Born as a witch without powers. I tried all I could to get myself armed and ready to attack before they attacked me. However, I never thought there w
ZADOK“She can't survive the dark forest,” I muttered, gritting my teeth as I watched Athaliah beat Ithra to a pulp. “She's too weak.”“Exactly why she is training.” Shilhi said beside me, “She will do fine with enough training.” I got frustrated. “Can't you see? It will take years before she becomes good enough to survive the dark forest. We don't have much time.” “What do you propose we do?” Shilhi turned to me, “Last I checked, she is our only hope of getting into the dark forest. We don't have options.” Athaliah delivers a spin kick, and Ithra is on the floor, Almost lifeless. I could tell she was still alive by the faint high and low of her chest. She was breathing, thank God. For some reason, it sucked to watch her get beat up. Despite knowing it was for her good. I knew she would be attended to afterwards, but it didn't go well with me. “What is she doing?” Shilhi's inquisitive tone jolted me from my thoughts. “What did she say?” I looked to the field and spotted Athali
ITHRA“Ithra…” A voice called in a ghostly tone, “There is no more time…”I looked around the dark forest without fear. “Sarai, where are you?”“At the heart of the forest. Let's meet at the heart of the forest...”The voice returned to me. I nod and turn eastward toward the forest. I stare longingly at the mountain, “I’ll be there, just hold on!” I called back and started my sprint towards the mountain. Wait! The voice called back, Sarai’s voice. I come to a halt. “Take the book! Don’t come without the book! You need the book!”Confusion clouded my features, “What book? I don’t have any book.”“The ancient witches book. Get it, you’ll need it. You’ll need your powers…”At the mention of my powers, I felt a dark aura surround me. It immediately dawned on me the implications of her words. I still didn’t have my powers. I was still weak. “Get the witch’s book and get to the heart of the forest, Ithra.”“I’ll be waiting.”My eyes flew open, and my heart rate increased. It took a wh
ITHRAI hadn’t set my eyes on Zadok since the last time at the Greenhouse. Despite his sudden disappearance, he stayed true to his words. My training with Athaliah continued. Every day, I returned to my quarters with an aching body. One thing was sure - I was getting better. With my constant training, I got better at defending myself, alongside learning valuable skills to add to my offence game.I couldn’t lie. Athaliah was one hell of a teacher. She wasn’t my friend, and every lesson felt like an opportunity to show me how much of a weakling I was - compared to her. I took it with good faith, expounding my knowledge of her tactics and getting stronger. As time passed, her hits weren’t as defeating. In my current state, I felt I could take on a warrior wolf. As time passed, I discovered that l anticipated training every day. So much that I spent my nights sparring alone in my quarters in the dead of the night. This week was different. My training was cancelled without reason, pe
ZADOKMy jaws tightened as I saw Alpha Cole of the BloodMoon pack walking towards me with his flavour of the night. It was one of the reasons I despised social gatherings. I put on a fake smile and met them halfway. “Alpha Zadok! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. I thought you would miss this year’s ceremony too.”His words were a double-edged sword. “It’s hard to miss when I am the host. I’ve been quite busy these years. I didn’t realise I was causing an uproar by my absence.”“Nonsense! We are all busy, Zadok. We all have packs even bigger to run. Yet you don’t see us shying away from the public’s eye.” He gestured around the hall - as though aiming to drive a point. “One will think you are hiding something, especially with your status as an unmated Alpha wolf. Don’t you want to find your mate? Or perhaps choose one from the strong females that attend the ceremony this year.”“Don’t blame me if people find it hard to mind the business that pays them,” I force a chuckle,
ITHRAI watched in horror as Zadok took on the wolves that suddenly poured out of the bushes. He leapt to the air and midway transformed into a gigantic wolf that scared the wolves to a still. Within seconds, the air filled with bone-cracking sounds as the wolves transformed into their beast one after the other.What in the world?!My back found the oak tree behind me as I watched the confrontation between the wolves and Zadok's wolf. It was clear which wolf belonged to Zadok because it was the largest and most commanding. Not to talk of its demon-red eyes that struck a chord inside me. It's just training. I remembered the words of Shilhi and swallowed hard. If this was indeed the test she spoke of, I had every plan of acing it. She mentioned it would be a beastly test, but I didn't take her word to mean that. Without further contemplation, I joined Zadok in the fight, throwing myself in harm's way as I dragged a knife into the bowels of a wolf. Everything stilled as the wolf