Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
NATALIE
We train the next few days at the Duval castle, first with the elders, then with the rest of the pack.
As agreed upon, I am there for both sessions, but that didn’t stop someone else joining in, too.
While the alpha usually retired to his chambers long before the second round of training began, Jade made it a point to attend every single one, marching straight to front and pushing other wolves out of the way to have a clear line of sight to Nik.
Her offhand comments might’ve stopped since I found her watching us, but I didn’t need my newfound hearing or smell to feel the glares whenever I wasn’t looking.
Nik said I’d have to earn her respect, but I think the only thing I’ve managed to do so far is paint an even bigger target on my back.
Each night ends the same. Personal training with Nik.
This is the most exhaustive part of my day, and not for the intimate reasons I might’ve hoped for.
I don’t know if getting laid out on stone floors for two hours can be called romantic, but I always leave with enough bruises to count until my healing finally sets in.
He doesn’t hold back, and to be honest, I’m thankful for that.
The helplessness I’ve struggled with since I was brought into his world feels a little more manageable when I have the means to fight back.
And if I have no problem knocking the heir apparent on his ass, maybe I’m not as helpless as I thought.
Breakfast this morning mirrors the others, large platters of different breads and pastries lining the center of each table.
I pick at what I can but ultimately settle for a few bites of a croissant and enough coffee to make it through the day.
Not that it helps. Not with two separate shifting lessons followed by more one-on-one training with Nik.
To say I’m exhausted is an understatement.
“Look what rat drug in,” Dimitri says, elbowing my arm.
I don’t correct him. No, I follow his gaze to the entryway and spot Alexey making a beeline for the closest tray of food.
He’s been absent for the most part, only appearing periodically in the dining hall dusted in what looks like gunpowder and finely ground silver.
He doesn’t stay long, thankfully enough.
I don’t know if my stomach could handle sitting through an entire meal next to him covered in silver fragments.
No, the soldier just stacks a plate with as much food as he can and disappears down the hallway, not saying a word to anyone.
“What is he working on?” I ask, turning to Nik first, then Dimitri.
Clément draws from his cup and gulps it down, swallowing the large chunk of food he’s spent the past two minutes chewing. “Alexey offered expertise on weapon crafting. Said our armorer, was, what’s the English word, Nikolai?”
“Shit,” Nikolai responds with a grin, watching his friend depart the dining hall in a hurry. We might all be racing against the clock at this point. The blood moon is tomorrow. And for obvious reasons, I’m willing to bet Alexey is cooking up something big.
“I know of the secret training you’ve been giving your mate, Nikolai,” Clément says, popping a few grapes in his mouth. “So, I must ask. Will Nat be joining us on the blood moon?”
I nearly choke on my coffee, coughing while I set the cup to its matching porcelain coaster. Wasn’t this the plan all along? He said he was going to teach me. Train me to control the curse. Surely, Nik wouldn’t go through all of this trouble just to leave me behind.
Nik leans forward and folds his hands over the table. “If she is ready.”
Jade’s lips curve into a tight smile as the council members begin whispering to one another.
We’re supposed to leave here tomorrow, and he’s still taking time to mull it over?
Not to mention the instant satisfaction my biggest fan across the table gets the moment my inclusion is called into question.
“If I am ready?” I ask, my tone sharper than the bread knives at each table setting.
He drags his fingers through his hair. “We’ll discuss it later, Natalia.”
“I would like to hear an answer as well, Nikolai,” Clément interrupts, peering at him curiously. His relaxed posture grows rigid. “You ask me to risk my pack for your family dispute. My own daughter. Yet, you offer no sacrifice of your own?”
The council doesn’t whisper to each other anymore. They talk amongst themselves openly, and somehow, I’m the only one here that doesn’t understand them. I really should learn French.
Dimitri cranes his large head over the table, sights set on Clément. “Ms. Nat has fought enough already. She escaped a hell none of your wolves could even imagine,” he says and directs his glare to Jade. “Not even you.”
She returns the slight with a snarl, and her eyes glow a sickly shade of green.
Every hand at the table turns into a claw, even mine despite the fork I clutch onto. Clément and his elders don’t attack, at least not yet, but there’s no telling what will happen if anyone makes a sudden move.
“Moy brat,” Nik says, placing his palm over Dimitri’s. When he glances up from the table, his gaze doesn’t land on me, Jade, or his oldest friend. His eyes are on the alpha. “Are you willing to die right now, Clément? For your council? Your daughter?”
Gasps work their way around the dining hall, not just from our area, but every surrounding table listening in.
Clément Duval stands, shaking plates and glasses when his stomach bumps the wooden surface.
The council rises and follows his lead, eyes tracing the three of us on the other end with contempt.
Jade is the only one that doesn’t get out of her seat. No, Jade can’t seem to move.
Nik remains in his chair, a determined gleam in his eye.
“I thought so. That is the difference between us, alpha.” He tilts his head to the side, exposing the most vulnerable part of himself.
His neck. “I’d let you take my life right now if it means she survives.
That is the only risk I’m willing to accept.
My life. Not hers.” Nik draws a deep breath and continues.
“She will fight when she is ready, not to satisfy you or your council.”
The alpha’s nostrils flare as a heavy breath escapes him. His dim red eyes glow bright and bloody.
Dimitri reaches for the knife on his half-empty plate, fingers curling around the handle.
I sit up straighter, doing my best to ignore how every heartbeat in the room raises the hairs on my neck.
Growls start at the farthest table and pass through each wolf until it becomes a choir of threats from the entire pack.
They’re ready to attack. All of them. But they can’t. Not without an order from their alpha.
Nik takes one last drink from his glass and stands, his impressive stature looming over us all. Dimitri and I move to do the same, only to be stopped by his clawed hand. Tiny black fractures travel from his wrists and down each finger.
“Nikolai,” Dimitri warns, glancing around the hall.
Nik snarls in response, earning a flinch from every council member besides Clément.
“I will only ask this once,” he says, voice familiar but not completely his. There’s something else. Something darker and unrecognizable in his tone. He clenches his jaw, and more fractures appear on his forearms and neck. “Do we understand each other?”
Clément’s brow pinches while he considers Nik’s words.
If it weren’t for the collection of heartbeats, the entire room would marinate in this silence long enough to unsettle anyone, even a werewolf.
When the alpha finally lifts his head, his intimidating posture eases, and the glow in each red eye dims.
“Yes, Nikolai. We have an understanding.” The growls in the dining hall cease, and everyone watching our table returns to their plates and conversations.
Clément makes it a point to pass by our side as he exits, pausing near Nik and whispering, “Your father would never sacrifice himself, not even for his sons. I’m glad to see one of the Vostik apples fell far from the tree. ”
I survive the first session in the chamber easily enough.
More breathing exercises with those who have years of moon-induced shifting under their belts.
To be honest, it was hard to focus when I’ve had to swallow down the unanswered questions burning in my chest like acid.
She will fight when she’s ready, Nik had said.
Not, she’s learning faster than expected.
And he certainly didn’t hint at the fact I’ve been able to parry his strikes and drop him to the floor repeatedly the past two nights.
I’m still not ready to fight in his eyes.
What do I have to do to prove myself? I’ve tried to tell him I’m not the same Natalie he met in his club. The human that was taken and caged on his family’s property. And if words won’t change his mind … maybe I have to show him how ready I am.
“Fall in,” Nik announces to the lower ranking wolves after the last elder exits, a single-file line of cursed ones reaching what must be the kitchen with how many pour in through the maze.
Jade hangs back, much to my annoyance, but I’ve come to expect it as much as the disgusted glares whenever she thinks I’m not looking.
I do. I can practically taste the vitriol radiating from her even with my back turned.
They filter into the chamber, lining themselves in four separate rows spanning the entire length of the stone floors.
I can’t help but compare myself to each one entering this time, taking note of how many in this pack I’d have no problem besting.
Kind of hard not to consider when they’ll be fighting during the blood moon.
“We’re going to do something different today,” Nik says, pacing at the front of the wolves waiting for him to continue. “Some of you have only experienced a few full moons. And some of you have yet to feel the power of the transformation.”