Marcel Conway is fresh on the market for a new year of the Mating Season: a sex auction masquerading as a Peace Trade to keep the packs from going to war. But she's gritting her teeth and digging her heels in, determined to come home to her small bu...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(T/W: mentions of clinical depression & anxiety, and death of a loved one)
☽☾☽☾☽☾
"Hold it still, Khadra!" I growled, swinging my leg at the heavy punching bag. But Khadra was far too busy ranting to listen. She hadn't come up for air once after I told her what happened at the Comittee Meeting.
"-and he had the nerve! The audacity! The caucasity, if you will," She seethed, her nails digging into the leathery material of the bag with malice, and I gave up on my hand to hand combat training with a tedious sigh. "To endanger his whole pack just because your mother rejected him?!"
I nodded, placing one hand on my waist as I leaned my weight onto one side of my hip patiently.
"Yes, my darling, that's exactly what he did," I muttered reluctantly.
"The absolute nerve of that cretin," She hissed and I nodded in agreement. "I'm so worried about Ash Oak. What do you think will happen?"
"Honestly? I'm not sure," I shrugged my shoulders. "But I know what will happen if anyone catches us slacking off on this training-,"
"-and exactly why do you think you are so far above everyone else that you don't have to train?" There came the all-too-familiar voice that was the source of my headaches everyday.
"Ah, Lydia," I greeted disinterestdly as I turned to award her dull smile. "How nice of you to infect us with your presence?"
She had her dark hair plastered back in a perfectly slicked ponytail, and a matching set of black leggings and a black muscle shirt. Props to her, though, Lydia had a body that could kill with a muscle mass I was still striving to build.
"Just because you are in line to become the Luna doesn't give you permission to set such a poor example," Lydia reminded me, waving her hand haphazardly. "The bar has already been set so low, I thought een you would have a hard time screwing it up. But, you still manage to surprise me, pup."
I merely picked my thermos up and downed a heart swallow of my pre-workout and electrolyte mix, feeling it was better to drown out the hateful words in my chest than to unleash them knowing there would be consequences.
A mischievious glint flickered in her burning amber eyes and I raised a brow in question before she laughed heartily, turning away from me.
"Oh, Marcel! Drinking during your training?" The sound of the combative training began to fall silent, and i was aware of the eyes of my fellow she-wolves on me. "I guess you haven't learned your lesson after all. And here I thought therapy was going so well."
I clenched my jaw at her scathing insult and impish, innocent demeanor.
It had been almost a week since the Committee had convened, and I had thrown myself into this training with fervor. Maintaining my physical fitness hadn't been too difficult, and I was already educated in academics, but many of my fellow she-wolves struggled.
