#Chapter 6 I'm a survivor.

Alyson's POV Is he really standing up for me? I watched the crowd disappear as the pack avoided the fight with Ryan. He was so enormous, so radiating with ferocity. It was terrifying to behold, and yet incredibly impressive. My heart softened, especially remembering of Donna telling me how he took care of me. "No one will fight me? Then she stays." He growled, even as the crowd had mostly vanished. I had to figure out why. I could not believe that this man would protect a stranger so fiercely for nothing. He had to have a reason. He took on his entire pack, going against their wishes to see me fight in those games, seeing me die. But I could prove myself, I could prove that I was worthy if given the chance. I could never believe that anyone would be kind for the sake of kindness. Even my own sister could not. Even the soul bond of my mate could not. Even the Moon Goddess herself had motives. He turned to me, really looking at me for a second, his eyes flickering up and down my body. The fury on his face was wild and out of control for a moment, but then he softened his expression. The threat of the crowd was gone. Donna flitted in the background, going back into the cabin. Ryan and I were alone on the front porch. "I want to fight." I said. He looked me up and down again. I guessed that I looked small and weak, my muscles underdeveloped from lack of use. "I don't think it's a good idea." He said in a rumbling voice. "You don't look like you've ever fought before?" That confirmed my suspicions that he was judging me by how I looked. It occurred to me that I still wasn't sure how I looked in this life. I touched my cheek again for reassurance, there was no scar marking me as a PIG. "You could train me." I said, with the same air of judgment, I looked him up and down. I saw how his body was built and strengthen for fighting. Even the muscles on his legs bulged as he put weight from one leg to the other. Each movement of his forearms only caused his biceps to flex. "it's not enough time to train anyone properly," he said dismissively. I could sense his nervousness about it. "Especially someone who's never done anything before. Like Donna said, you still need to recover." "I'll get better fast." I said. "You can control that?" A gleam of admiration stirred in his tawny eyes. "I'm not afraid of death." "I'm afraid of your death," he responded immediately. We stared at each other. He was leaning towards me, towering above me. I should have probably been intimidated. I understood why he was a natural Alpha. But I did not lower my gaze like the others had when he challenged them. I stared at him till he looked away. "My life is mine. I don't want to be here in this pack if they can't accept me. How should I stay? Will you always be there to force them to submit?" I said. He gave a small side nod as if that were a valid point. I knew that it was. While I had intended not to need anyone, I also knew how important it was to be part of a pack, especially while gaining my bearings. "I will train you," he agreed. "We will see about the games when they come, if you can be ready. Otherwise, I will not let you fight." "Let me?" I spat back. "And who are you?" I was a free she-wolf in this life. I was not going to be prevented from anything. He looked a little wounded. It was strange as if he thought I should see him or know who he was when I'd only just met him. "Please," I softened my tone. "You saw the state I was in; can you understand how I need to learn to fight. Maybe every she-wolf should know." I said, a little more sweetly. After all he had saved me, and I wanted him to help me learn how to fight so that no one could ever abuse me again. "They do in the Starstream Pack." He said. I thought of Clan Clark, the she-wolves never learned how to fight. We were protected by the elders' rules, but we were also a commodity to be used, and my body had been used up. I would not abide by the rules of my past any longer. "All the more reason for me to learn. So, you'll train me? I can't imagine anyone would do it better than you? But I will learn, somehow. From someone if not you." He looked a little annoyed at even the mention of anyone besides him training me. "Yes, I will do it. We can start soon. When Donna…" "Tomorrow," I said, anticipating that he would bring up Donna to put it off till I was fully recovered. "I want to start tomorrow. As you said, it's only three months, so I should start as soon as possible." "You're feisty," he said, showing more amusement. "I'm a survivor." I said, flatly. "Ok," he nodded, "We begin tomorrow." We went out the next day, into the forest, beyond the little cabins where the Starstream pack called their home. I followed Ryan; his large form made me feel small. The size of his shadow seemed to compete with the shade of trees. We came to a space where the trees were set apart, and the underbrush trampled to hard dirt. It wasn't very far away. "This is our training arena." He said. And I realized the clearing was a circular bowl of packed mud with the forest ringing around it. A touch of sunlight hit the ground in the middle. I gazed around, hoping no one else would show up to see me, but at the same time, I couldn't care too much about it. We stood, staring at each other for a second. "Well. How should we begin?" He lurched a little as if he'd been in a daze. He seemed to do that sometimes, as if he got entranced by me. "This session is just to begin. To see what we're working with to start." This was all completely new to me. He was staring again, and it occurred to me that he assumed I at least knew what to do. I had no idea what he expected. "Let me see you shift. Let's see your wolf." He said finally. "The fight at the games will be in human form, but I can see a lot from a person's wolf." He shifted to his wolf- the transformation between man and wolf took a few seconds as his large body melted down and turned to fur. I had never seen any wolf as large- so large in fact that I thought his fangs were as long as my fingers. The same fierce tawny eyes glared over a long nose, and his ears were erect. It was the same stare. He snorted. I shifted. Immediately. It was never an effort for Ariana to take over, only she'd been so suppressed for many formative years now. It had been so long since I could relate to other wolves. Ariana was so eager to be out, she pranced up to Rupert, much smaller than him. It was terrible how awkward I felt on all fours, not at all like a practiced she-wolf. He lunged, and I flinched at first, my reaction coming from memories as all those times the guards chased me and forced me down. But I knew this time, I would be big and strong enough. I would learn how to not go down without a fight. He took off, out of the ring. His mind urging mine. His wolf was communicating through his body and small urges of mental images. I saw a flash of my white wolf following his gray wolf. It didn't seem like training, but then again, I didn't know anything about it. I chased him. His longer gait was fast and powerful. Ariana was clumsy over the fallen trees and foliage. Branches crashed into my face, while he seemed to dodge everything no matter how large he was. He turned abruptly, but I took a few paces to slow and turn back. I was panting loudly in my ears. Even if I felt weak, and my legs burned from the effort we ran together. We dodged each other. He tested how I could leap, and my reflexes when he came at me. I could see in his shrewd eyes that that he measured my abilities. We came back to the training arena. When changing back to a man, it even took a little longer to shift from Rupert to Ryan. For me, it was easy. As we got dressed, I hid myself behind a tree so the he could not see me, even though I thought he might have already. When he came out from behind his tree, he was still putting his gray shirt over his head. His ab muscles were glistening with sweat. I had never seen a body like his before. I glanced away, feeling a little flushed all of the sudden.