I woke up the next morning by the light shining into my eyes. I stretched my body and sat up in my bed. I got up and went into the bathroom. I looked into the mirror and saw someone I did not recognize. I looked different.

Happy.

It was different and I liked it. I had friends now. I had a place I could proudly call home. Proudly call my pack. I did not realize how much my old life drained me. Sucking my soul out from my body.

I took a shower at got ready to the day. I walked to the kitchen to make myself breakfast and settled on cereal. As I was eating, Theo came into the room. He was shirtless and wearing shorts that hung low on his hips. I felt myself staring at him and my cheeks turned hot and red. He started making coffee.

"You want some?" He asked me, looking at me.

"No thank you." I say, awkwardly sitting there. He turned away to get his coffee and starts drinking.

"You have training today with the pack. I heard you did good yesterday with Alex and Avery." He said, looking at me proudly. "I am in charge of training. I want to see for myself what your strengths are. I am going to get ready, see you in thirty."

He said, leaving the room.

Alex then enters, dressed in athletic wear for the day. He smiles at me and grabs some water bottles, tossing me one.

"Stay hydrated kid." He says. I grab the water and drink some. "Let's go down so we can stretch and maybe introduce you to some people."

Alex and I make our way to the training grounds. We find a spot to sit and stretch.

"So how do these trainings go? Like, what do we do." I ask Alex.

"We start by doing some running then we train with splitting people up and fight. Nothing too bad, though since this is your first time you can take it easy. You'll be paired up with fighters with basic skills as like yourself"

I bit my lip In nervousness. I was scared of messing up, embarrassing myself and making a fool of myself. Suddenly I am engulfed in a hug and it catches me off guard.

"Emma how are?" I hear, knowing it is Avery. I turn around to look at her.

"I'm good but you just scared the shit out me." I say, laughing.

"You need to always be on guard. First lesson." She says winking at me. Everyone turns as we hear Theo approaching. "I'll talk to you later." She's says, headed towards him and Alex does the same.

"Alright everyone, once everyone is ready we will begin running five miles, taking a easy day." He says. My mouth drops as he says five miles is easy. What do they do on a normal day then.

He stretches his arms over his head and his shirt moves up and I couldn't help but peak at his muscles. He is godly. I noticed him looking at me and I quickly looked away, embarrassed that he caught me staring at him.

"Let's get going!" He says leading everyone here. I stayed in the back, knowing I would not be able to keep up with them.

About two miles in and I was sweating and struggling to breath. I honestly didn't realize that was this out of shape. Running was not my specialty and I knew I needed to train hard to get my endurance up. It seemed as though I was miles behind everyone.

I chugged the water, grateful for Alex giving me it. I put my hand on my knees, feeling sick and hot.

I feel a presence beside me and I didn't have to look up to know that it was Theo.

"Are you okay?" Theo asked, seeming slightly concerned at my state.

"Im okay, just not use to all this running." I say, taking another swig of the water.

"How about you sit and you can join when we circle back in an mile." He says.

I could not give up this easily. I needed to prove myself worthy. I wasn't sure why.

"No, I will complete the five miles." I say, standing up and walk past him. I was determined to show my worth here. If I couldn't complete this how could I contribute to this pack.

After completing the five miles, which took ten minutes longer than everyone else, I practically drowned myself in water.

I feel a hand on my back. I look to see Alex standing there giving me a smile.

"You did it!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah but it took me so long." I say, looking down at my feet.

"It is a start." He says putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Alex! Get your ass over here." Theo yells. Alex rolls his eyes and goes over to him. Theo's eyes burning a hole through me. Like he was jealous. He looked away towards ALex and yells at him for something.

I felt the world spinning and I felt weak. I sat down to rest up before the fighting comes.

"Hey girl." I hear Avery say as she sits beside me. "Good job out there. You'll get your endurance up, I promise. You aren't use to it and that is okay. You are trying and you did it."

"Thanks Avery, really, you made me feel better." I give her a hug, not caring about how sweaty we both were.

"Alright everyone get into your usual groups. Emma come over here." Theo tells us all. I get up from the ground and walk over to him. "Emma, you will be paired with Ryan as he is also a new recruit."

I look over to the guy I was being paired with. He was skinny and tall.

"Lets being. I will go around and check on everyone." THeo said, walking away.

"Hi Emma, I am Ryan." My partner said.

"Hi. How old are you?" I ask, because he looked young.

"Eighteen, you?"

"I am twenty-four."

"Enough chatting you two." Theo said, glaring at us.

After we finished training I headed back to my bedroom to clean up. I take a shower and put on some jean shorts and cropped tank top and head to the kitchen for lunch as my stomach growled.

I passed by a shirtless Theo in the hallway, sweat dripping off his body.

"Good job today Emma." He said to me, heading to his bedroom which was across from mine.

"Thanks Theo." I smile and me and he returns it before disappearing through the door.

I go to the kitchen to see Julia, Alex's mother there. She saw me and smiled.

"Oh dear, I made you a chicken salad for your lunch." She said putting in in from of a seat on the large island.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that. Thank you though this looks amazing." I say, sitting down and looking at the salad as my stomach growls in hunger.

"Oh nonsense. You have no family here so I am here to take care of you." She said, pouring water into a class and putting it in front of me. "Plus, since you are training so much you need protein and veggies to fuel yourself."

"Thank you Julia, this is great." I say before eating the salad.

"Are your parents thinking of visiting?" She asked, smiling at me.

I shook my head and tears formed in my eyes  as I couldn't hold them back as the wounds were still fresh and I haven't quite got over it yet. How could I, they are my parents and they hurt me.

"Honestly, they told me that they did not want to see me again." I say.

"Oh dear." Julia said hugging me and wiping my tears. "I am here for you. You already have so many people on your side. We see the good in you. Hopefull Theo will get his head out of his ass and see it too."

I hug her tight and laugh. I hear someone walk into the room so I let go and try to compose myself. To not look weak.

"Everything okay?" I hear Theo ask.

"Yes Theo. Just showing some love to this beautiful girl." She said, running her fingers through my hair. "She is so pretty, don't you agree Theo."

He look over me and it felt like hours. He didn't say anything, he just left the room and walked out the front door. A painful feeling stung my chest as I felt rejected from my mate.

"I am going to give that young man a talking to." She said, scoffing. "I'm sure he'll come around dear. Not excusing his actions but he has been through a lot."

"Oh." That's all I could say. I didn't want to push further because it wasn't my business and I could tell Julia seemed upset too. "Thank you for lunch, it was delicious"

Julia gives me a hug and I make my way over to the shower.