Shadows of Dawn

Chapter 18

"Fuck." I groan. "Again," I say as I get up from the ground and dust the snow off of my body.

"Don't you think you should take a break Aeralyn? We've been sparing for almost an hour," Sawyer points out.

It's been 2 weeks since the accident, but a week since I've seen or talked to Landon and I'm pretty sure he's avoiding me. For the time being Sawyer and I are staying in Winter until we have a plan to rescue Leo, seeing as the facility is on Winter territory. Eli let us use the landline to call Spring and inform Jax back home about the situation. Even through the phone I could hear his wariness about us staying in Winter and I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to be here either way. But until we have a solid plan, we need to stay here.

"I said again Sawyer," I order as I ready myself. The Winter training center is much different from Springs. Instead of it being inside a building, it's outside in a designated, fenced off area. There are several sparing rings spaced out in the area, an obstacle course, and weight lifting. I'm wearing a fitted jacket and yoga pants and Sawyer has dawned a hoodie and sweatpants, but they are doing little to combat the cold.

"I'm not going to keep sparing with you like this, you're not in the right head space." He admits. And he's right. We still haven't figured out a solid plan and on top of that, my wolf has been anxious and upset by not seeing her mate in so long. I hate it.

Some of the pack members give Sawyer and I weird looks but we otherwise ignore them. "Fine," I chime. I look around and spot a guy who just happened to be walking by. "Hey you," I call and he turn towards us. "Do you know how to fight using a weapon?"

He nods his head. "Do you want to spare with me?" I ask. He shrugs before agreeing and heading over to where me and Sawyer are. As the guy steps into the ring with me, I wave for Sawyer to step out.

I go to one of the weapons racks and grab two wooden staffs from it before walking back and handing him one.

He circles me, staying to the edges of the ring. "Never spared with a girl before. You sure you want to do this?" He asks with a cocky smile.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Did you come here to ask questions or fight?"

He shrugs as twirls his staff in his hands. "Who are you anyway?"

"Nobody. Absolutely, nobody." I duck down quickly as he swings his staff from behind me. I twist around while side swinging my staff, hitting him in the stomach before bringing it back and jabbing him in the chest

I circle him before stopping at the edge of the ring with my hands resting on the top of my staff. "Trying to attack while I'm not looking? Kind of pathetic," I tease hoping to chip away at his ego. Seeing from how his eyes are now almost completely black, I think I hit my mark.

"You're going to regret that," he growls as he charges towards me. I stand still as he gets closer to me before side stepping as he swings his staff down over his head. Unfortunately, he predicted this and his leg swings out, knocking me off my feet.

I hit the training mat with a thud. Almost immediately after I hit the ground the guy is on top of me. He presses his staff up to my neck and presses down enough to make me gasp for air but not enough for me to pass out.

Looking to the side I see that we've attracted a bit of a crowd. I see Sawyer off to the side looking at the fight, clearly wanting to jump in, but he doesn't.

I turn back and look up at the guy I'm sparing. "You're weaker than I thought," he chuckles. "Just concede already, you're done."

"It's not done until I say it's done," I say baring my teeth. My staff is too far out of my reach and my legs as pinned down.

I bring my fist up and hit him in the side of the head and he topples off of me. Instead of going after him, I scramble to my feet and go for my staff.

I turn around and see him already coming back at me. He goes for another swing from over his head and I block it with my own staff and push him back a few feet. We continue like this blocking and attacking, neither of us landing a hit for a few minutes.

I figure out a pattern in his fighting style and when the moment is right I attack. As he goes to block my over head swing, I quickly switch my attack and bring my staff down before swinging up. It hits him in the jaw and I hear a crack.

He goes down onto the mats and before he can get up again I position my staff right at his neck. "Now we're done," I huff matter-of-factly.

As I compose myself, I hear claps coming from the crowd that had formed. Reluctantly, I reached my hand down to help the guy I was fighting up. "Sylas," he says with grin.

"Aeralyn," I respond shaking his hand.

His eyes widen and he bows his head to me. "I had no idea you were an Alpha and the mate of Alpha Landon, I apologize."

I glance around. "Hey." At my voice he glances up at me. "I won't tell anyone if you won't," I say. "You were pretty good fight."

He stand back up to his full height and gives me a hesitant smile. "I'm gonna guess your the Gamma."

Sylas nods. "Yes, and Landon would kill me if he knew that I even layed a finger on you."

I wave my hand in the air. "Don't worry about him. What he doesn't know can't hurt him," I chime.

"What the hell is going on?"