Only Her- ON HOLD

Chapter 53.

Dani's POV

I could feel him trying to shake off the encounter this morning as we made our way to the training field. He was struggling to shake off what he'd seen from my dream. The anger he still held towards Theo for not stopping it for him. Most of all I could feel his anger at himself for not being able to stop it himself.

I gently tugged at his hand, his eyes cutting to mine as a strained smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I think I'd like to try some workouts today." I said softly, the field coming into sight.

He slowed and his voice dropped. "Are you sure?" He asked quietly.

I nodded once. Seeing the sun shine as everyone prepared as a unit, the strength coming from that field was encouraging to me right now. Not scary.

"Ok. Whatever you need Dani. Just promise you'll take it slow?" He asked.

When I looked back at him, his eyes were filled with tight worry, but I knew he trusted my own instincts. He knew I needed to assert some control over something. Anything.

My father met us as we walked up and he gave me the same strained smile. I knew he'd been with Noah this morning and prayed he didn't see the vision from Noah's mind, but something in me told me he had.

"Dani, I wasn't expecting you here so soon. I'm glad you're here. The females have been asking for you. Lo and Sloane are just in the other side. Your mother is around here somewhere as well." He pulled me in to place a kiss against my cheek before shifting his focus to Noah. "Let's get started then." He said gruffly.

Noah gently squeezed my hand and leaned in to kiss me quickly before the two walked away. An Alpha and his heir. Pure power rolled off them both as each group of males they walked past separated to let them pass, their heads bowing in submission to my father. Noah received many nods as well, smaller than those offered to my father, but they were acknowledging him as their future leader.

Pride swelled inside of me as I watched the exchange. I heard my name in the distance and pulled my attention to see Lo smiling and waving at me from across the field. She and Sloane were with some of the other females and a few males training together. The Lunar pack was training just outside of the pack's main group, surrounded by several members of Crescent who trained with them.

I made my way over to Lo, offering nods of acknowledgment to the males with them as I passed. "There you are. I'm so glad you came today. I wasn't sure if you would." She said, her words tapering off.

"I needed to do something normal. Even if what we're training for is anything but." I said with a tight smile.

She and Sloane began to bring me into their moves, only slightly at first. They wanted me to go slowly and I knew that everyone was just trying to protect me and the growing child within me from harm. But I'd fought for my life and survived. And I needed to release some of that pain that had built up inside of me from that.

I finally convinced them that I was stable and ready and they agreed to train full out. Sam, one of the males training with them, was paired with me as we worked through grappling and defensive moves. Sloane coached me from the other side of Sam as we both tried to pull each other off balance. I'd bested him three times already and he had made several adjustments and nearly pinned me twice this time.