Bastard Daughter

Chapter Three

I was flying through the air. Not on love or anything weird. Dom had thrown me across the black training mat. I am probably a little bit psychotic because I appreciated being thrown long distances. Something about the prospect of feeling weightless as I soared through the air always put me in a state of euphoria. Dom says I should try something safer like sky-diving or cliff jumping. The only problem with being tossed around was that I wasn't actually flying. 

"Ow." I groaned as my body hit a wall. Pain surged through my wrist; it was definitely broken. 

"Aalia!" Dom rushed over to me. He had some bruises on his face from where I had punched him. I'm sure I had ones as well, but they would probably heal in less than an hour anyway." I'm so sorry!

Dom had the most worried look on his face. He was like this anytime he broke one of my bones. His puppy dog eyes were full of despair as he looked at my purple swelling wrist. That's when I started to laugh at him. What can I say? Flying through the air had a weird effect on me.

"You need to set it, Mr. Big Bad Warrior Guy." I wasn't very good at coming up with nicknames. Dom was particularly talented in his ability to give everyone nicknames. I personally think my talent lies with insulting assholes that try to disrespect my father.

"No, we need to go see the doctor. He can set it for you." I just gave him a look. 

"I don't want to see him. He will wait for it to heal and then rebreak it. If you set it now, you will save me so much pain." I batted my eyes at him and pressed on a giant smile.

"Why would he wait? That's not protocol to wait and rebreak." The smile melted as quickly as it started. I didn't want to tell him how much our Luna truly hated me. That she had ordered everyone to disregard me. I get cold food because I don't get to eat with the family. I have to do my laundry in the dead of night. The doctor was more creative in the way he interpreted her orders. Make my healing process much more painful than it needed to be. 

"Just do it." 

"No, not until you answer my question, princess." I was not too fond of the look of pity Dom now carried in his eyes. I preferred the look he normally gave me in training. The one where he wanted to kill me.

"You know why." She doubted he understood why people followed these orders in such a sadistic way.

 Loyalty meant everything to wolves, and I was a product of a broken loyalty. My father was married to our Luna when I was created. They had been bonded together and marked as mates forever. I was an insult to everything we stood for. I was an insult to the Alpha and Luna's union. I should never have been born, and I should never have lived to see 21. 

"Fine." He grabbed my wrist and gave me another pitying look. I just sat there stonewalled and awaiting the pain I was about to feel. I looked around the training room that was not far from the barracks. 

The room itself was huge, and the stone walls were lined with different assortments of weapons. Yes, we are wolves and can shift at will, but it is very painful. We train to keep our strength up, and to understand our opponent, we must fight like them. We also aren't really allowed to shift in the human realm because we will become too unstable. Shifting there could revert you to your wolf stage permanently. Or you could reveal our world to the humans, which was completely against the rules. Trust me, if there is one rule you should never break, it would be that one. It is an instant death sentence. 

It was an open space so you could see every area where people would train. There was the fighting mat that Dom and I were currently using. It was like a run-of-the-mill martial arts studio. There were benches around so spectators could watch sparing. Most of the time, if it came to a territorial fight or brawl, the wolves would use the stadium. If it was an Alpha battle, we had to use the stadium, and everyone must be in attendance to witness whether or not there will be a new Alpha.