| CHAPTER 39 : USE YOUR ABILITIES |

When King Alpha says 'fix you' he meant increasing your workout by two more hours. He gave me another set of workouts that consisted of one-hour jogging, dumbbell lifting, then another hour of jump rope.

So in total, six hours of working out every day.

How was he acting towards me, you ask? Terrible. He got more bossy, commanding and pushy. God knows what crawled up his ass but I wasn't enjoying this one bit.

I thought when he said he'd fix me, he would mean teaching me some magic spells or buying me a wand like in Harry Potter. This is the total opposite of Harry Potter.

The same routine continued for a week. I would work out six hours in the morning and then completely pass out at the night. My legs felt like Jell-o and my muscles cramped and ached all over. On the brighter side, I was getting abs.

My appetite increased and I would ask Griselda to bring me snacks every second after making sure King Alpha wasn't there to mock me on my choice of food.

Drew would sometimes sit beside King Alpha and amusedly watch me nearly die during my workouts. Levi commented on how lean I looked and said I probably gained some muscles. I haven't seen Katia in a really long time.

They still didn't succeed in catching Casper and I have no intentions of going back to the library or staying alone in a room where he can grab me again. The bruise thingy on my neck seemed to be healing quickly too.

So in the end, everything was going almost perfectly. Except you know what? You guessed it. King Alpha!

His strict and authoritative behaviour drove me nuts and I had to stop myself from reaching out and throttling him sometimes.    

"How many days more do I have to continue like this?" I asked in the middle of my fifty-sixth push-up, my hair plastering onto my sweaty skin, "I'm pretty sure I'd have Dwayne Johnson's body in a few days."

"Dwayne Johnson." King Alpha scoffed, mockingly, scrolling through his phone, not even looking up from his screen. "You wish."

"I'm serious," I said, falling flat on my stomach and catching my breath, "When do we get to do the fun stuff?"

"Fun stuff?"

"Yeah like breaking some vases, moving things with our mind, lighting someone's head on fire. Can we fly too?"

"No." He gave a sour look. "We can't fly."

A sigh came out of my lips, "I'm sick of doing your stupid workouts."

He didn't blink, still staring at his phone.

"Are you trying to ignore me now?"

He didn't look at me.

"Hey!"

He still didn't look at me.

"I'm talking to you."

When he still didn't look at me, I marched up to him and stood in front of him with my hands on my hips, waiting for him to acknowledge me.

He finally raised his head with a raised eyebrow, "May I help you?"

"Yeah! When do I get to do something different? These workouts are absolutely useless."

"Ezlynn?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and continue your workout."

I scowled.

Before I almost let myself give up and continue working out, I crossed my arms against my chest.

"Unless you're preparing me to become an Olympic champion, I don't see any other use for these workouts."

He gave a nod, not seeming to hear my words, eyes trained on his phone.

I snatched the phone from his hands. His head shot up in my direction and I resisted the urge to run away and cry when he fixed his angry glare in my direction.

"What?" He snapped.

"Wh-when do we do something new?" I asked, discreetly trying to put his phone down on the small coffee table.

"You're not prepared for something new." He stated, leaning back on the leather chair with his arms crossed against his chest, legs stretched out.

"I don't see how so," I tried ignoring his eyes which shamelessly raked my entire body. I was wearing black yoga pants with a pink sports bra and a white tank top.

He, on the other hand, wore a black fitted V-neck which made his glassy eyes stand out with black jeans. His light brown hair was combed and neat. The black fitted V-neck hugged his muscles, making it easier to figure out his eight pack.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, a smirk curling on his lips.

My cheeks flamed realizing I'd been caught staring at him, "I don't know," I mumbled, "What are you looking at?"

He rolled his eyes, "Get back to work."

"No."

He raised an eyebrow, "No?"  

"No," I repeated, "I've been working out for too many days. I bet I can fight Superman by now."

"You can't even fight Mickey Mouse."

"Try me."

He raised his eyes to my face, tilting his head and watching me.

I held his gaze with my arms tightly crossed against my chest.

A smirk broke out on his face, "Alright then."

He stood up and walked towards the gym door, silently demanding me to follow him.

"Where are we going?" I asked catching up with him.

"You said, you were ready." He turned in the direction of the west wing, "Let's see how ready you are."

I frowned in confusion at his words but followed him.

He opened the doors to the West wing where all the other werewolves lived. We both entered with me still walking behind him.

The sound and chatters dimmed down almost immediately when people realized who was walking in the middle of them. They were almost running to the side to make way for King Alpha to pass.

King Alpha led me to the arena where Levi trains the warriors. Confusion and anxiety pricked at my skin, wondering why was he taking me there.

I immediately spotted Levi's slim body, lounging on the bleachers with his long black hair falling over his face. He was sharpening a knife with wrapped hands.

The other guys were either chatting by the bleachers or having a separate fight.

Everyone immediately stopped whatever they were doing when they spotted King Alpha. Levi, noticing the silence, raised his head and widened his eyes, standing up on his feet.

Maybe watching the King present himself so suddenly wasn't so casual to these people?

"Royal Warriors," King Alpha called out in his leadership voice, "Assemble. The others can leave."

A few guys silently walked out leaving eight men standing in a line including Levi. We were only ten people including King Alpha and me in this huge arena.

"My mate over here, as you all know her," King Alpha started, "Said she could fight Superman."

The guys tried hiding their amused looks as my cheeks flamed.

If only I could pinch him right now...

"I want one of you to stand up and duel her in a fight."

Everyone's eyes widened at King Alpha's words. Especially mine.  

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrows in disbelief.

He turned his head towards me, "Yes darling?"

I ignored the flutters in my stomach as his eyes looking darker under the dim lights fell on my face.

"I can't fight any of them." I pointed. "They're like -- ten sizes bigger than me!"

"So is Superman. Come on, you said you could fight. Prove it to me."

I almost gave him a dropped jaw disbelief look before clamping my mouth shut and rethinking my life decisions.

I looked at Levi and he was only staring at us with a 'what the hell is going on' look.

"Fine, I'll pick one for you," King Alpha's eyes roamed over the eight huge men, "Sydney."

My eyes widened at the guy who obediently stepped forward, bowing his head. He was, in short words, huge. Obviously. Thick muscles bulged from the grey vest and joggers he wore.

"Yes, my lord." He said.

"You will fight Ezlynn in a duel." King Alpha's eyes turned at me, a smug smile lining his face, "Best of luck."

He went ahead and seated himself on the bleachers, one ankle over the other knee, watching me.

The guy named 'Sydney' gave me a nod of acknowledgment before taking his place on the ring. I gulped before walking and standing in my position too.

The rest of the men went ahead and sat on the bleachers too except for Levi who stood on the side, watching me with a tense expression.

I looked at King Alpha to see him smiling wide and smug.

My eyes narrowed, "You'll pay for this." I mouthed.

He pointed his index and middle fingers to his eyes before pointing them at the ring gesturing for me to keep my eyes on my opponent.

I turned to face Sydney. He had blond cropped short hair with a greyish tanned kind of skin. He looked sort of amiable through his round face.

"Call it out, Levi." King Alpha commanded.

"Position," Levi called out.

We took our positions.

"Stance."

We both raised our fists.

"Fight." 

I was the first to charge. I raised my fist, moving to punch him in his side. He blocked my fist easily. I raised the other one moving to hit him in his face. He blocked that one too.

Leaving me to use my legs, I brought up my knee as fast as I could hoping to hit him in the nuts. But he blocked my knee as fast as lightning.

"This is cheating!" I yelled, throwing fists after fists at Sydney's face while he kept blocking them, "You werewolves have fast reflexes! I don't!"

"No one said you couldn't use your abilities," King Alpha's amused voice reached me.

"Which I don't have!" I brought up my knee again to hit him in the crouch. Sydney easily swatted my knee down.

"Wrong." King Alpha said.

I realized Sydney wasn't moving to hit me at all and was just blocking my fists and legs. There was a troubled kind of look etched on his face and his eyes kept flickering back and forth between King Alpha and me.

I tried doing a roundhouse kick and actually managed to hit Sydney on the chest. But that did little effect as he didn't even blink from the impact.

I tried punching him in the face, but he blocked me. I tried punching him in the stomach, but he blocked me. Heck, I even tried tickling him! But it's just of no use at all!

After a few more of my near pathetic attempts, I couldn't help but collapse on the ground, exhausted from today morning's workout and the current fight. I threw up a peace sign with my fingers.

My chest heaved as sweat slid out of my skin. I couldn't care less if I looked like a dying walrus at that moment.  

King Alpha appeared in my vision, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah," He said, "Mickey Mouse will have to do now."

"That," I pointed a finger at his face, barely able to catch my breath, "was not fair."

"It was completely fair, Blondie."

"Her hair is black..." One of the warriors from the men mumbled with uncertainty.

"And I'm sexy, your point?" King Alpha shot him a pointed look.

The man shook his head, averting his eyes.

"Now get up. You actually look like you're going to die."

"You think?" I almost gasped out.

He gave me a flat look.

If my legs felt like Jell-o before, they surely felt like noodles right now.

"Warriors," King Alpha raised his voice in the same leader-like tone making every man in the room to straighten their backs with ears peered out, "I want to give the responsibility of training Ezlynn, who is currently staining the ground with her swamp ass body, to you all. Make sure you wolves teach her everything she needs to know while fighting our enemies who would no doubt be ready to shred her in pieces."

Before King Alpha could continue any more, he was interrupted by a young and small man wearing glasses, running into the arena.

"My King!" He held a small black sort of device as he rushed towards him. "My King!"

"Yes Harry, I hear you. Speak." King Alpha gave an annoyed look. 

"It's-it's an urgent meeting. You n-need to come now."

"Meeting with whom?"

Harry gave a gulp, "I c-can't speak their name, my lord."

King Alpha frowned before telling us to remain here and wait for him before we went out of the arena with Harry.

Levi appeared in front of my eyes, looking down at me, giving me an amused yet sympathetic smile, "You know? You actually did well."   

I smiled, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, if you were fighting against blindfolded humans."

I narrowed my eyes.

He burst into a chuckle, "Just kidding."

He let out a hand and I grabbed onto it, pulling myself up.

"You would beat at least three, four humans by the way you fought." He said, smiling.

"Why do we have to train her?"

I looked at the guy who spoke and from my vague memory, I think his name was Hans.

"Don't get pissy," Levi said. "An order is an order."

He snorted, "Of course, you would listen to everything King Alpha says. You're his loyal Royal Beta. You didn't even scowl or cuss when he ordered you to rip off your arm. Only the ladies know how they stitched it back up." 

"King Alpha made you rip off your arm?" I asked, shocked.

Levi waved it off, "No big deal. He once made Mark eat his own kidney."

I felt sick to my stomach.

"Remember the time when he made Alvin fight off a tiger and a bear just for his entertainment?" Another guy from the men spoke out.

"Or remember when he made Dash pluck out every one of his teeth?"

The guys went 'Ooo' on that one, laughing to themselves.

"How are you people finding that funny?" I asked, grimacing.

"We heal faster and feel lesser pain," Levi explained.

"Besides," A guy spoke, "it's better to silently obey what King Alpha tells us to do than to object."

"You're right on that one, Chase."

"His god damn mood swings have our asses burning around the entire Saludom."

"Don't even get me started on his temper."

The guys gave a horrified look.  

Before the men could continue with their secret banter against King Alpha, the devil himself walked into the arena.

Everyone went silent as a muted Zoom meeting upon his appearance. This time, Drew trailed behind him. His eyes landed on me, and he smiled. 

I couldn't return the smile looking at King Alpha's tight and unhappy expression. He looked somewhere between wanting to burn something and wanting to kill someone.

"What's...wrong?" I asked.

He gave a tilt of his head, smiling sarcastically, "The Royals want an official ball."

"The Royals?" Levi spluttered while the rest of the guys went pale in the face within a second.

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow, confused.

King Alpha's eyes fell on me, unhappy, "The Royals want to crown you the official queen."

◃───────────▹

Date: 22 August 2021