The Red Wolf's Daughter (Book 3 Part 2: The Making of the Siran)

Chapter 32

Caroline groaned in annoyance when she landed on her ass again and laid down, too exhausted to continue. Her whole body shook with each shuddering breath she took, and I raised an eyebrow, amused but understood because it had happened to me too when I first started training as well.

"Not bad," I said after a while and looked at the timer that I had found in the pouch my grandmother had given me. I stopped it and looked at her, feeling very proud and biting back a small smile. "You kept your balance a lot longer than you did last time. That's an improvement, and you should be very proud of yourself."

"Can we be done, please?" she asked with a small gasp while she tried to get some air into her lungs. Sweat beaded down her forehead and covered her whole body, and I couldn't help but be proud at the amount of work and improvement she had accomplished in such a short time. "Please? How long have we been doing this stuff?"

"For about two hours," I replied and shrugged, and she groaned while she closed her eyes and pursed her lips in annoyance, "but yes, we can be done. We'll go for longer tomorrow."

"I have to work out tomorrow?" she asked, her voice changing to a higher pitch while she realized what she had to do to get to where she needed to be to be able to protect herself and others around her.

I nodded in confirmation before I cleared my throat to hide a chuckle. "And the day after that and the day after that and so forth," I replied while I shrugged and grimaced.

Caroline groaned and covered her face with her arm while she wrinkled her nose. "Can you do this, too?" she asked with another groan, and I bit back a small laugh, amused. "I don't want to do this alone."

I bit back a small smirk and slowly nodded, biting back another chuckle. "I do need to make sure that I am still ready for anything, so sure," I said. "However, I am going to make sure that it is more difficult for me than what I am having you do."

Caroline hesitated but nodded while she looked at me and pulled her arm away from face and sat up with a small groan. A look of nervousness flashed through her eyes, and I could tell that she didn't know how difficult I would make it for myself and if she would have to do it.

I bit back a small chuckle and shook my head. "You will be doing it later and not now," I soothed. "I don't expect this from you right this second, but we are going to have to push you harder than I would like."

Caroline looked relieved and slowly nodded. "Ok," she said and gestured for me to start training, too, but I didn't while I continued to watch her. "How are you going to do something more difficult than me?" she asked and cocked her head while she studied me.

I shrugged and cleared my throat while I shifted on my feet. "I don't know," I said honestly. "I think my grandmother has stuff in the pouch she gave me, but I'm not sure what's in there just yet."

"Will you be able to figure it out?" she asked, and I nodded in confirmation.

"At least some of it when I need it," I replied and shrugged. "However, I can do what you did at a higher level so that you can see where you will be once you are comfortable and confident in everything that I am having you do."

"Please," Caroline said and nodded. "Can you do it now before w-" She stopped talking when Fernos appeared out of nowhere, and her eyes grew wide while her face grew pale. She hesitated before she shifted on her butt before she stood, looking very guilty while I just stared at him, unamused.

Fernos gave her a glance over to make sure that she wasn't injured before he looked at me with dark, emotionless eyes that I couldn't help but hate. "Cooper requests your presence," he said, and I rolled my eyes and scowled.

"Well, then he can get me himself," I replied sarcastically. "He has a nose. He should be able to f-" I stopped talking when I noticed Caroline shift on her feet and looked down, looking slightly guilty about something.

Concern filled my body while I turned my attention toward her and wondered why she was looking so guilty about something. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"He doesn't know about this spot," she said honestly, her voice barely above a whisper. She cleared her throat and shifted some more, her cheeks turning red. "I've been trying to make sure that he wasn't able to find it, and Fernos has helped a lot."

I bit back a small groan of annoyance before I sighed and nodded, not mad that she didn't want him to know about the place she was practicing at because I had a similar place back home. "Is he mad that I'm sleeping in Caroline's tent?" I asked while I turned my attention to Fernos with a raised eyebrow. "Is this what this is about?"

Fernos shrugged and stayed silent.

I pursed my lips in annoyance while I narrowed my eyes. "Are you going to tell me what this is about?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question, and he looked at me and slowly blinked.

He wasn't going to tell me.

I groaned in annoyance again and moved a hand across my face, feeling tired, even though I had not done anything yet besides talking. "But I don't want to deal with him," I complained. "He is an asshole."

Caroline looked between us with wide eyes before she looked at me. "Maybe you could figure out what's wrong with him?" she asked. "I mean, you haven't been hanging out with him often today so that could help you figure out what's wrong."

I pursed my lips further before I sighed and slowly nodded, relenting. "Ok, well, I guess we'll have to continue to practice later. I'll do this harder part later. Right now, I guess take us to him so that we can see what's going on." I looked at Fernos when I said that, and he nodded.

He didn't grab us and transport us to him like I thought he would but gestured to the opening which Caroline took me through, and his meaning was clear. Go this way.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded before I started to walk that way with Caroline following me, praying that whatever Cooper wanted to talk to me about wasn't about the prisoners we rescued, especially Reece.

Please, protect him, I silently prayed to a Moon Goddess that I didn't know existed in this timeline. Please.

He was only a boy...