Healing His Broken Luna.... Chapter 118

Chapter 31 - Training

It felt wonderful waking up in the familiar cottage under thick warm blankets that my grandmother had quilted. Lukas stirred awake when I tried to slip away to use the toilet.

"What would you like to do today?" He asked me.

"We should start with breakfast at the pack house."

"Can't we just stay here for breakfast and I can nibble on you?"

"Your father is training me today. You can nibble on me later."

"Just an ear or breast, maybe a thigh?" He grabbed me and pulled me back down on the bed.

"Come on, I don't want to be late." I told him and we rolled out of bed and got dressed.

We took the jeep back to the pack house and joined everyone for breakfast. Lukas pulled me to his lap and fed me, he wanted to make sure I had plenty of energy to train today. Luna Raven seemed to beam with happiness.

"Alpha Dimitri, Beta Finn has secured the east end of the territory for you to train at all morning. There's a big open field. You should be free of disruptions and curious faces." Alpha Trevor announced.

"Wonderful. Syble, Lukas, ready when you are. Angelo and Camille, please join us." Alpha Dimitri said.

"Fine, but I'm not going to be the test dummy." Angelo mocked.

"Don't worry, you're probably too heavy for her to pick up with the wind." Alpha Dimitri chuckled.

Camille and Angelo drove in the truck with Beta Finn. We followed behind in the jeep with his parents to the practice location. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at our location and Beta Finn stayed with us. Finn already knew I was elemental and stayed to help.

"Now, Angelo, please stand in the middle of the clearing, we need a test dummy." Alpha Dimitri ordered.

"WHAT? Really?" Angelo responded.

"No, I'm just joking." Alpha Dimitri howled with laughter.

"Beta Finn, did you bring the items I asked for?" Luna Raven asked.

"Yes, the fire torch and metal rods." Beta Finn moved to the back of the truck and held up the items.

"Excellent, please light the torch and stick it in the ground to the left of us. Angelo, take the three metal rods and place them in the ground about two hundred yards back, to the right of us." Luna Raven instructed.

"Are you ready?" Alpha Dimitri asked me.

"Yes Alpha."

"Remember what I told you, emotions fuel your level of energy. Don't think, only feel. Imagine the wind doing what you want. Close your eyes and feel it pulse through you." He stood behind me and coached me.

"Lukas, stand in the middle of the clearing and find some dirt." Lukas moved thirty feet away and the snow moved to expose the ground. I watched as Lukas used his element to flip over the dirt.

"Remember, don't think about it. Feel your response." He whispered to me.

"Ready when you are Lukas." Alpha Dimitri called out as Lukas sent a huge cloud of dirt flying at me. Before I could even think about it, I willed a gust of wind to knock it away, accidentally hitting Angelo in the process. He had been standing a little too close to me.

"I'm blind!" Angelo howled.

"Beta Finn, would you be so kind and escort Beta Angelo to the infirmary for an eye wash. Angelo, you know the routine, don't rub it." Alpha Dimitri said.

"I'm sorry." I said to Camille and Angelo as they left with Beta Finn.

"Sorry about that Syble, I may have had something to do with that. I wanted to make sure we were alone when we practice the advanced training." Alpha Dimitri said.

"Do you suspect someone in this pack?" Lukas asked.

"I don't know. But I think it's important that others don't see the full potential of her gift at the moment." Alpha Dimitri said.

"Now, we're going to do some warmups. Lukas is going to shoot dirt at you, throw snow and water in our direction, and even send fire balls at you. You will bend the wind to your will and blow them back or away from us. I'll be standing behind you the whole time. Ready when you are." He said.

"Let's kick some ass." Storm cheered.

"Ready." I managed to say before Lukas started with a huge ball of snow, it was dense and required stronger winds. He shot one after another at me, then kicked his feet us and sent dirt flying, followed by a ball of flames.

"Focus on complete protection all the way around." Alpha Dimitri whispered in my ear and I immediately imagined a whirl of wind spinning around me so fast that it deflected anything Lukas threw in my direction.

"Wonderful." Dimitri said. "This is a defensive move to help protect you. A charging wolf would not be able to break the barrier around us. While you focus all your energy on holding the wind around us, eventually you will be able to hold it and launch offensive strikes at the same time. We are going to build up to that. You may release the wind now."

"That was wonderful." Lukas smiled at me and Storm yipped.

"But what happens if he opens up a hole beneath me?" I asked Alpha Dimitri.

"Well hopefully you won't be fighting against your mate or another wolf with elemental gifts." He laughed. 

"How are you feeling? Using your element so much in the beginning can drain you completely." Luna Raven asked me.

"I'm feeling fine, thank you."

"Then we shall continue. Let's see if you can produce enough of a twister to knock a person down. Once you get Lukas on his ass, we'll practice on Luke. Don't worry your mate will be fine."

We continued training for another hour, I was able to get Lukas on his ass but not Luke. However, Luke was no ordinary sized wolf. We also tried to charge the air and I quickly shifted cold and hot air in the atmosphere to produce electric currents. I was able to cause one semi weak bolt to hit one of the metal rods. Alpha Dimitri assured me that we could practice that next time and that I needed to rest my energy. He was right because I suddenly felt so exhausted and in desperate need of a nap.

I woke up to the smell of food filling the cottage. Someone was cooking in the kitchen and it reminded me of my grandmother. I slipped on Lukas' shirt and padded my way to the kitchen.

"My mother brought over a pot of hearty chicken noodle soup, I've got it warming on the stove." Lukas said as he wrapped his arms around me. "How do you feel?"

"Better now. What time is it?" I asked.

"Three o'clock. Do you have something else you want to do?"

"I want to go visit my grandmothers grave."

"Okay, we can do that after you eat."

After I had two bowls of soup and Lukas ensured I was dressed warm enough, we left the cottage. I wanted to walk back into the forest behind the house and clip some pine to twist a garland for my grandmother. I had the pocketknife in my hand that my little rogue friend gave me the day I escaped nearly being sold at a shifters auction. We entered the woods and I started to trim a few branches with my knife.

"Lukas, there's a holly bush over there, will you pick a few of the branches with berries on them?" I asked.

Lukas moved to the holly bush and suddenly something seemed familiar. I stopped cutting and looked around. I felt like I was having déjà vu. I had been here before, in this exact area. I closed my eyes and tried to recall the memory, I was playing hide and seek with Portia. I couldn't wait to see her again next week when she returns from college.

I put together the garland and we drove back to the pack house. Beta Finn gave us directions, and the cemetery was just three miles down the main road. We found her grave site and I laid the pretty garland with red berries on her headstone. Silent tears spilled from my eyes, feeling as if I had lost my family all over again. Lukas stood quietly next to me with his arms wrapped around me.

An hour later, the sun was setting, and we drove back to the cottage. I didn't feel like being around company right now and Lukas said his mother would bring dinner to us. Lukas parked the jeep in front of the cottage, and we stepped out. I saw four wolves running and playing at the other end of the lake and could hear Storm let out a low whine.

"Soon girl, soon." I told her. She was ready to stretch her legs out and go for a run.

"Do you want to go for a run on Luke's back?" Lukas asked.

"No, I think Storm is just anxious to finally run with her mate."

"She's welcome to a piggyback ride on me you know." He grinned.

I jumped up on his back and wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He started walking along the lake and I enjoyed the beautiful night sky. I was born in May and my zodiac sign is Taurus, I could usually find it easily on a clear night.

"A bull, you're looking for a bull in the night sky?" Lukas laughed and pointed. "He's over there getting ready to charge at Orion."

"You know about the constellations?" I asked.

"The Taurus constellation is said to commemorate Zeus. He had changed himself into a beautiful white bull to win the love of a princess who hopped onto the bulls back, then swam across the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the island of Crete in Greece."

"Did they teach you that at school in Greece?"

"I spent a great deal of time staring at the constellations in the heavens when I was a boy. The LaRue castle at Crescent Moon has an amazing astronomy observatory with a glass dome. It was always a treat when my brothers, sisters and cousins all got to spend the night under the stars when we were pups."

"Sounds wonderful." I said feeling envious.

"My grandfather Alpha Diesel, would always entertain us with stories of the Gods and constellations. He even tried to convince all of us that the Sirius constellation, which is the Canis Major constellation that's based on a dog, was in fact not a dog but a great Alpha wolf. He always said that the Alpha was seeking his mate, the Lupus constellation in the southern hemisphere. Anyway, we all had our own favorite stories and constellations."

"Which one is your favorite?"

"Do you see that big W right there? That's Cassiopeia. Greek mythology say's that Cassiopeia was a vain Queen and boasted of her beauty and the beauty of her daughter, Andromeda. She claimed that they were both more beautiful than the sea Nereids. Of course, the Nereids complained to the Sea God, Poseidon, who demanded Andromeda as a sacrifice. Poseidon later tied Cassiopeia to her throne and hung her in the heavens. As the sky revolves, so does she, hanging upside down half the time as punishment."

"Why is she your favorite if she was a vain Queen?"

"Every constellation is made up of stars that are labeled using the Greek alphabet. The brightest and strongest star is always the Alpha, the second brightest the Beta, the next Gamma, then Delta and so forth. Cassiopeia's Alpha star is in her left breast, where the heart should be. I've always felt that her heart was her greatest attribute and as a doting mother, she truly believed her daughter was the fairest of them all."

"But didn't she have to sacrifice her daughter to Poseidon?"

"Yes. Proving that even Poseidon understood her greatest treasure was her daughter. If I ever have a daughter, I too would be guilty of the same crime and believe she was the fairest of them all."

"Well let's just hang you upside down in the heavens now!"

"Why? Are we having a daughter?" He laughed.

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