The Haunted Memories (Forgotten Series, #4)

Chapter 34

"That's good, Ollie, but you are moving too slow." I was moving slower than I normally would as well but Ollie had literally zero training. It wouldn't have been fair for me to use my training in full against him. I was teaching, not in a battle or a competition. I was actually surprised at how eager he was to learn after I had learned the bits and pieces of his past. He had asked me after he spotted me and Maddy out on the lawn and I didn't have it in me to deny him.

I had been teaching Madeline because she had begged me all morning to teach her some defensive moves. She was rather proficient at the actions but lacked power. I had figured she would, she was a child after all but she was showing a great affinity for it. It was a great feeling for me because I knew she would be a formidable opponent once completely trained. She would create her basis now and it would be a strong foundation for her to build her skills on.

Ollie grasped my wrist and slowly twisted it into the position he needed, looking to me for guidance. I nodded and he twisted my arm up and put me in a rather tentative wrist lock. "Looks good but try and speed it up." I pulled from his grasp and reached for him quickly, he clumsily knocked my hand away and I let out a small sigh. I had to repeat to myself that he was new to this training. He hadn't been given the appropriate start in life to be on my level. "Let's try that again." I shook out my hand, slowing my speed as I reached for him.

He was clumsy and I knew I could break the hold but he had managed it a bit quicker that time. I gave him a quick nod, pulling from the hold. I was more than aware of the group we had gathered, the pack wanted to watch. Ever since Elissa-May had told them I was Sorrel's mate, their behaviour towards me had been far more accepting.

Although I could tell they were becoming increasingly agitated with her continued disappearance. The female hadn't been seen for three days. Even I had rarely caught sight of her, although I was more than aware of her looking at me at times. It was odd for me because it felt like she was doing her best to avoid me but would watch me, her gaze searing my nerves with awareness. She was such an odd female, I didn't think I could ever understand her. I would try, Mene knew I would, but I also knew that some people would simply remain enigmas.

"Do you want to stop with the holds and go back to strength training?" I looked at the smaller male and he nodded. It was slightly hesitant and not nearly as confident as any other person's would have been but the male had been an Omega. I couldn't blame him. That was one thing that hadn't been as terrible about Tenebris. We didn't have a normal Omega system. There was no training them, they were merely caretakers of the pack, no abuse was used on them.

I didn't have to truly know Ollie to see that he had been heavily abused. Some Old Way packs were very hard on Omegas. It wasn't right but we never said anything because to be Old Way you left things as they were, you never got involved with another pack's issues unless you were taking over or destroying them. There was no in between when it came to the Old Ways.

I watched as Ollie dropped to the ground, getting into push up position. "Let's give it twenty for right now. Then we can break." I got into push up position as well. I knew twenty would be more than easy for me but I wasn't training, I was teaching Ollie what to do. He was a novice so we began with novice goals. I slowly did my push ups, watching Ollie and trying to pace myself with him. It was a technique that had been used during my training. If the more experienced shifter paced themselves to the novice, it pushed the novice to keep up, it allowed them to push themselves more.

He started faltering at around fifteen pushups but I watched as he struggled to finish up the last five, rolling over and breathing heavy when he did so. I went to my knees and grinned at him. He was a novice but he was pushing himself, it was a good marker for his strength. He might not have had the life long training like I had but he made up for it in inner strength. He was a male who wanted to push himself to be better than he had been before. I respected that immensely.