Chapter 75

The next morning, I left Maximus’s bed as he was still asleep. I quickly dressed and pressed a kiss to his cheek before scrambling back to my own room. I immediately fell back asleep in my own bed. That night, Loren and I hung out in our room and finished our homework before gossiping about what happened at the party.

Monday morning, I was back to training with Valentin and Thorne. At seven in the morning, I emerged from the women’s locker room at the gym. I was suited up in training gear and had already been given a peptalk about shifting by Mona. I stepped into the gym and immediately my day was ruined.

Because my adopted sister was standing in between Valentin and Thorne in training clothing that could better be described as fabric scraps.

Her sports bra was little more than a strip of fabric covering her nipples. The back was all crisscrossed and strappy across her muscular shoulders. Her shorts were so short that the underside of her ass was hanging out of them. They clung to her like glue and left little for the imagination. Her feet were barefoot. Part of me was excited to be able to slam my trainer into them and make her squeal.

“What’s she doing here?” I snapped at Valentin once I was close enough to the group. Amara was incredibly close to Thorne and it made my blood boil for no reason.

“Good morning, Miss Smith,” Valentin deadpanned. “The Queen has requested I extend my training to Princess Luna. It appears her former school was not nearly as adept at combat as we are. The Queen would be like her to be caught up.”

My mouth set in a thin line as I stared Valentin in the eye. I knew he was saying behind the fluff that he was putting out there for Thorne. Amara is supposed to be the only Princess. Him training her was a no-brainer.

“Lovely,” I replied with equal enthusiasm.

“Quite odd for a servant to have personal training sessions with the headmaster,” Amara teased me. She cracked the gum in her mouth then broke into a smirk. “Isn’t it, Thorny?”

I cringed at her nickname for him. Thorne smiled smugly at her then looked at me. “That’s what I’ve been saying,” he said. “Though it’s quite odd I never saw you in the castle before I met you here. And Amara is saying you were her personal servant? Must’ve been a pretty secretive servant if I didn’t know.”

My heart started to race. I glanced at Valentin for help. He seemed, as per usual, completely unphased by all of the nonsense. He waved his hand.

“You can gossip about castle politics later,” he said. “For now, I’d like to focus on the point of this early meeting.”

“Please,” Amara rolled her eyes. “I don’t like being dragged away from my beauty sleep for nothing.”

Valentin completely ignored her. He gestured to the sparring mat in front of him. “First, I’d like to have Amara and Zora spar so we can assess Amara’s skill level.”

I smirked and dropped into a defensive stance. “Do your worst, Princess,”

“Gladly,” Amara sneered back before launching herself at me.

The punches she was throwing were nothing like any of the other Alpha’s I’d sparred with. They had no bite behind them. I blocked them easily before sailing a few of my own punches into it. She took them with all the grace of a deer walking for the first time.

Then, she came back at me, quicker. For what she lacked in strength, she made up for in speed. I was able to block all most all of her punches except for one that clipped me by the ear. A ringing started in my left ear drum that I immediately ignore.

“Keep your hands up, Miss Smith,” Valentin called from next to me.

I ignored his comment and took the opportunity to swipe Amara’s legs out from under her. She tumbled to the floor but just before she hit it, her claws extended from her already long, electric pink nails. She plunged her talons into my Achilies heel and took me down with her.

“The fuck!?” I cursed as I grabbed my leg, aching as it bled down to my heel. Amara took no time to make sure I was okay. She rolled backward and was back on her feet in seconds. I grit my teeth and got back to my feet, arms up in defense once again.

“Princess, we are sparring,” Valentin warned. “The object is to take down your opponent not maim them.”

“Oops,” Amara giggled with another snake-like smirk.

I watched her shift her weight from one foot to another, almost in a dance, before she lunged at me again. Once again, her punches were weak but quick. Then, she whipped her leg around at a speed that was almost atomic. In a move reminiscent of what Kairos did to me, I hooked my hand around her ankle and swung her to the ground again.

She landed with a thud but then was back on her feet in an instant. Once again, her claws were out and aiming directly at my face. At that moment, all bets were off. Any sparring was done and murder was the only objective in my mind.

I darted out of the way of her swipes as she threw her entire body at me. “Claws away!” Valentin called from over my shoulder. Amara continued to swipe at me. Quick as lightning, she threw a slash at my arms then sank down on one knee and slashed me midthigh.

I grunted in pain as her claws worked their way through my skin. Now both my legs were bleeding and trying to heel themselves. I focused on throwing punches at her, using my strength over her to combat the fact I couldn’t meet her in agility. I sailed a wicked punch into her nose and could’ve sworn I heard a crack echo through the gym.

She staggered backwards, fingers going under her nose to catch the blood that was beginning to drip out of her. She looked maniacal, blunt black bob frizzed and mused. Her gold eyes were near bulging out of her head. Her clawed hand dabbed at the blood under her nose.

“Fuck you,” she garbled.

“You wish, Princess,” I said as I finally took the offensive.

I threw punch after punch at her. Half of them were hitting her, the other half she was barely blocking. I managed to get a hold on her arm and was restraining it behind her back when the bitch decided to sink her teeth into my other hand. Her canines were elongated and dug deep within my skin, nearly hitting bone.

I cried out in pain and then there was a shock of fire within my chest. The next thing I knew, my paws were pinning Amara to the floor. My jaw was unhinged and snarling at her. My back paws had her legs pinned. She was panicking, starting to try and scramble out from underneath but I had her.

I’d shifted to my wolf form and I had her.

“Enough!” Valentin barked. “Thorne get Zora off her.”

As quickly as I’d gotten into wolf form, I slunk back into my human form. Thorne wrangled me off of Amara then draped a blanket around my bare shoulders. Apparently, shifting that quickly and fired up burned your clothes off.

I glanced down at Amara. Valentin was slowly helping her up. Her nose was completely busted, bleeding all over and making red splatters on the mats. When she finally got to her feet, I noticed I’d clawed through her sports bra straps and left it in tatters, hanging on to her shoulders for dear life.

“We’re done,” Valentin snapped. “Both of you will see punishments as a result of your actions. You will train separately from now on.”

“Thank fuck,” I snarled. Valentin shot me a look over his shoulder.

“I will take Princess Amara to the infirmary for them to reset her nose,” he said. “Mr. Blythwitch, please see to it that Miss Smith’s wounds are dressed and she makes it to Basics.”

Thorne nodded at Valentin before wrapping me further in the blanket he’d given me. I limped off into the locker room. The last thing I saw was Valentin lifting Amara into his arms. Her beedy gold eyes burned through me as she left the gym.