Chapter 4: Strong Enough

I trained to become stronger over the next few days. One morning I woke up early and began serious training. I'd have to train in human and wolf form to become equally strong. I sparred with my friend, Megan Hunter. We were in the gym in the headquarters of our pack.

Megan knocked me down with a wooden staff that we sparred with. She scolded, "Cleo, are you even trying?"

I narrowed my eyes at her and said, "I am trying! Just give me time to warm-up."

She scoffed and said, "Well you sure need a lot of warm-up time. It's been fifteen minutes already."

I waited until she was ready and tried to strike her with my staff. She dodged it effortlessly which made me more determined. I kept trying to hit her, but she was faster than me and dodged every time.

Eventually I knocked her down and smiled. When I let my guard down, Megan swept me with her staff causing me to fall down on my butt.

I got up and we kept exchanging hits during the spar. We kept this up for an hour before taking a break.

During the break, I noticed a man standing in the hall near the gym. He wore all black and had a hood concealing his face. I kept my glance on him too long. The man looked back at me briefly before walking away.

I wondered who he was and why he was there. Something about him interested me but I couldn't tell what it was.

After the break, we shifted into our wolf forms and fought. Megan pinned me on the ground with her paws and tried to bite near my neck. I tried to escape her but struggled escaping her hold.

I communicated telepathically and said, "I think you're getting too aggressive for this."

"No, I'm not. You need to toughen up," Megan told me.

I growled and tried to nip at her ear without actually hurting her. She angrily snarled and pressed her paws down extra hard on my side.

"Don't get mad at me for being stronger than you Cleo. I can't help it," my friend said telepathically.

I snarled and bared my teeth before telepathically answering. "You aren't stronger than me. It's just an off day for me. We'll try again tomorrow."

"I hope you can actually escape my hold on you next time. I look forward to improvement."

"You sure like to mock me, don't you?"

"Maybe a little bit," Megan answered.

"Well see you tomorrow."

"Yeah be back tomorrow, so I can kick your ass again."

"That's what you think. I'll be better next time."

She unpinned me from her hold, and I shifted back into my human form. I grabbed my extra clothes that I set off to the side of the training room, since we lost clothes as wolves.

I walked back to my room and knew why I felt so weak. All of our strength was helped with our destined mate. Not that I planned on trying to talk to Zander again if I could help it. I still pictured his smug face rejecting me the other day.

I wanted to become strong on my own without his help. I doubted he would help make me stronger. He didn't even care about me. Suddenly, I remembered my engagement to Ash. He'd weaken me over time if I went through with our wedding. Ash not being my mate was such a downside. I knew I was risking the position of future Alpha by even staying with him. I really desired to be the Alpha, but I still was so in love with Ash.

The next few days were not any better with my training. I still couldn't seem to knock down Megan in wolf or human form. I seemed to be getting weaker if that was possible, and it made me so angry. I threw a wooden spear in a tree at the end of one day's training session.

Megan came walking along and spotted me. "Whoa. Take it easy on the tree. What did it ever do to you?"

I rolled my eyes and stated, "I'm just not improving. What am I doing wrong?"

"Maybe you need to work out more."

I retied my ponytail and said, "No that can't be it. Spar with me one more round."

"Okay, but don't throw a spear at me if you lose again."

"Deal."

After training, I saw the same man on my way to the kitchen. He still had the hood up, so I still couldn't figure out who he was. Part of me felt an urge to go towards him and call out to him. I ignored it and snuck a glance at him. He was muscular, as his sleeveless hooded outfit suggested.

Why did I keep seeing him everywhere? I wondered what were the odds of my running into him again. But I had to keep moving along. I took one last look at the stranger and finished walking to the kitchen.

I spotted my younger twin sister Candice. The kitchen was spacious and had updated appliances that were top of the line. My dad got marble counters that were always kept shiny and clean. We also had a maid come in weekly.

I focused back on my sister as I approached her.

She wasn't able to come to the big party weeks ago because of a prior commitment. Unlike my sister, I had brown hair. Her hair was always perfectly straight and dyed blonde. We also didn't have the same fashion sense, as she lived in dresses no matter what season it was. I normally made my hair styled in waves.

"Hey Cleo. Can we talk? I mean, if you aren't doing Alpha training."

She quickly viewed my sweaty appearance and messy hair. I decided to talk to her after debating it a few seconds. I hadn't talked to her much because of being busy with my training.

Finally, I said, "Sure. What do you want to talk about?

She innocently asked, "How about Zander?"

I groaned and said, "Anything but him."

She crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "Why don't you want to talk about him?"

I put my hands down at my sides and said, "He's just irritating, okay."

"I think you should give Zander a chance. He seems cool. Plus, he's kind of hot in a bad boy way." Candice added, "I think if you gave him a chance you might like him, maybe even love him."

I scoffed, "I'd never give that jerk a chance."

Candice pouted and looked me in the eyes sternly, "Why won't you give him a second chance? Maybe he's not what you think."

"I'm done talking about this Candice."

I walked towards my room in a sour mood. Why was she trying to make me give Zander another chance? I wouldn't give him another chance, because I didn't want him to be my mate.