Chapter 139

Kayla

The thwack of leather beneath my fist echoed through the training ring in a steady rhythm, matching the tempo of my heart. One, two, one, two… Jab, jab, feint, uppercut. As a final move, I twisted to the right and extended my leg up and to the side, slamming my foot into the center of the training dummy with a brutal kick that would have sent another person sprawling across the ground.

“Not bad,” Marcus’s voice called from the edge of the ring.

I looked up to see the Beta approaching, dressed in his usual training gear. The sight of my friend made me smile, and I wiped the sweat from my brow, reaching for my nearby water. “Ready for training today?”

Marcus eyed me up and down, taking in my sweaty, disheveled appearance. “You look like you’ve been out here for hours already.”

I simply shrugged, because it was true. For the past week since Nicholas had challenged me to a spar, I’d been out in the training ring bright and early each morning before everyone else was awake, practicing my skills for the big day. The sun was just barely rising now and I had already been hard at work for nearly two hours.

Ever since the challenge, word had gotten out through the pack. It seemed everyone and their mother was planning on coming to witness the fight, a ‘round two’ of sorts after the rather eventful spar against Nora months ago.

But it wasn’t just the pack that had gotten wind. A local journalist, a distant friend of Emma’s, had heard as well and was coming to film the entire thing.

Nicholas had accepted the request right away, of course. He said the video could boost our image, create a picture of a fun-loving, healthy Alpha and Luna. He wasn’t wrong, of course. It would help. It would make us appear even more unstoppable, and would deter any more potential coups in Bluemoon in the future, which would be important once he became Alpha.

But behind closed doors, we were anything but. When Nicholas wasn’t busy working at the guild hall, which was rare, I hardly spoke to him. Rather, I was either out here training or holed up in my room, handling Bluemoon matters from afar.

Truthfully, I just dove into my training and work in an attempt to push down my feelings about our rapidly-approaching wedding and that elusive four-letter word: love. But I didn’t admit that. Not to Nicholas, not to my friends, and certainly not to myself.

Marcus, however, had personally taken on the role as my trainer lately. I had a feeling Nicholas sent him to do it, but I didn’t stop him.

“So,” Marcus said, setting down his training bag and beginning his warmup stretches, “how are you feeling today? About everything, I mean.”

I narrowed my eyes, but there was no real heat behind my gaze as I replied, “If you’re spying for Nicholas, you’re not getting any information out of me.”

Marcus sighed with exasperation. “That’s not why I’m asking.”

I stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say. Marcus didn’t often try to talk about personal matters, but when he did, I knew it wasn’t for no reason. “Look,” I said, waving my hand, “I want to participate in the hunt simply because I think it will be a fun challenge. There isn’t more to it.”

“Sure,” Marcus said, rolling his eyes.

We both knew I was full of shit. I wanted to participate because I wanted to prove to people like Nora that I wasn’t as weak and powerless as they thought. I wanted to prove that I could still hold my own, even without a wolf.

Deep down, I wanted to prove it to myself, too, of course.

But most of all, I think I just wanted a distraction. Something to keep my mind off of the wedding, which was coming up so soon that it felt like I was barreling toward the end of a very short and very dark tunnel. Only instead of a light at the end of the tunnel, there was just more darkness.

And a hard, brick wall with a sign that read, “He doesn’t want you, Kayla. Not really. Not in the ways that count.”

And so I pushed myself, training to fatigue every day, in the hopes that my body would strengthen enough to keep that wall from breaking me completely.

That morning, Marcus and I went through our usual training routine. We warmed up with stretches, cardio, and calisthenics, followed by strength training—my least favorite part was doing lunges back and forth across the ring with a pole carrying buckets of water on my shoulders—and then combat training.

At the end, we finished up with some bow staff training, not because I would be using it during my spar with Nicholas, but because Marcus had noticed my sloppy work on the night of the new moon and wanted to whip me into shape.

We were just about to wrap up when Emma and Jade approached.

“Kayla, can we talk?” Jade asked. Marcus left without another word, and I felt my stomach twist.

“What’s up?”

“You know what’s up.” Jade took a few steps toward me and placed her hands on her hips. “The wedding is in two weeks, and you’re training like hell. I know you’re not trying to lose weight before the ceremony.”

“Maybe I am.”

Jade narrowed her eyes. Behind her, Emma wrung her hands around her camera strap and said softly, “We’re worried about you, Kayla. You haven’t said anything about the wedding, and it’s so soon. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

I glanced between the two of them, incredulous on the outside but my mind whirring on the inside. “I’m fine,” I chuckled, although there was no humor in the sound. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Jade scoffed. “Kayla, we all know how hard you fell for Nicholas.”

“It’s not a real wedding,” I said simply. “I’m over it.”

My friends, however, weren’t buying it. “I think we all know how you really feel about it,” Jade muttered. “And ‘over it’ doesn’t really describe it.”

For some reason—guilt, maybe—something in me snapped. “You two are such worrywarts,” I bit out. “Maybe you should just accept that I might be fine instead of assuming the worst for once.”

Jade’s eyes widened. Emma’s mouth dropped open. Suddenly, I realized how cruel I was being, and took a step forward. “I didn’t mean—”

Before I could finish, Jade huffed and turned on her heel, storming off. Emma stared at me for a moment, tears misting her eyes, before she followed her.

I sighed, staring at my feet. I hadn’t meant to snap at them, and yet I had let my frustration over the wedding hurt my friends.

I tried to find them that day, but Jade and Emma had apparently gone out on their own, clearly needing some space from me. So I made a vow to apologize as soon as I had a chance.

The next morning, I made my way out to the training grounds just before seven o’clock, my heart pounding with anticipation. A crowd had already formed around the sparring ring, Nicholas standing at the center with a cocky smirk on his face.

“You’re here,” he said, turning as I approached. “Are you ready, Kayla?”

I glanced around at the gathered wolves. Emma, Marcus, and Noah were there, Emma’s journalist friend perched on the fence with her camera in hand. Jade hadn’t come, and my heart hurt, but I pushed it away for now.

Nodding, I stepped up to the ring and forced a smile. “I hope you’re ready.”

Nicholas’s face split into a grin. With one swift move, he pulled his shirt off over his head, revealing enormous, glistening muscles that caught the early morning light. I’d seen them several times before, and yet somehow they looked even bigger now that I was about to fight him.

I gulped, realizing that there might not have been enough training in the world that would help me beat him.