It's That 'I Hate You' Kind of Love

Chapter Twenty Seven

I let out a war cry as my fist flew through the air landing hardly on my target; hurting my already sore knuckles in the process. I gritted my teeth.

"Hit harder!" Tad growled lowly, his deep voice as rough as the gray hairs bordering his cleft chin and upper lip. "That was a love tap, I want to be knocked off my damn feet!"

"I am hitting harder!" I snapped back, launching my red fist into the rough pads the trainer held. My left foot dug into the dusty grass as I attempted to kick the glove with my right foot. It barely graced the pad much to my aggravation.

"You call that trying?" Tad taunted, trying, and succeeding, to rile up my anger. I clenched my fists together, trying as hard as I could to not flip him off.

These past seven days of training I haven't given in once to cursing him out, and I'm not about to now.

I glared at him darkly, trying to ignore the curious faces of the werewolf guards in training doing their exercises according to Tad's wishes. They weren't supposed to be watching me, but they did anyway. I really wanted to flip them off too.

Fueled by anger, I raised my arm again, but mid-way I switched to a kick and caught Tad unaware by the strong force. He staggered backwards a bit, before grinning with three missing teeth. For a second we stared at each other, and I almost expected him to give me praise for my first good hit. I hate to say it, but this dirty old man's compliment would make me feel like my screaming ankle was worth it.

Instead of praising me like the Luna everyone calls me, he shook his long black hair that ended at his shoulders.

"That all you got, princess?"

I stared at him in disbelief.

"You-you're such a jerk!" I finally spat.

Tad bared his teeth at me, more as in a warning manner than a dangerous one. "Again."

"No! Not again!" I snapped.

Nearby Austin and Murray looked on my training session trying not to laugh. Carson had assigned them as my official "body-guards" now that both of them had mates and had completed their training earlier in the week. Apparently, they were both trusted friends as well as being at the top of their class. Right now, they were just annoying me.

Tad simply ignored me and growled out his order a second time, "Again."

"No! I'm done, I don't want to do this Luna Program! I don't want to be Luna and I don't want to train! I'm leaving, find a new Luna!"

A bunch of the guards in training stopped their laps and stared at me in horrified awe. One particularly dumb-looking fellow dropped his jaw like a cartoon character would.

Tad just rolled his eyes surrounded by a light, unhealthy tinge of yellow. "Save your sob story for Alpha Carson, Princess, and actually make an impact this time."

I narrowed my eyes, but instead of stomping off like I had planned, I threw back another punch. Tad didn't even flinch, didn't even say a word; and that had me throwing hit after hit until I could barely breathe. My fingers could barely bend they hurt so much.

Tad tilted his head to study my hunched over figure. Austin rose uncertainty to see if I needed help, but I quickly waved him off.

"Are you done?" The trainer finally asked patronizingly.

I scowled.

"Because once you stop behaving like a whiny child, maybe you'll actually listen to the lessons I've been teaching you everyday for a week."