A/N: THIS IS THE SECOND LETHAL CHAPTER I HAVE POSTED IN THE LAST TWO HOURS. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 12 FIRST.

After the more than abnormal interaction with Thane's old healer guy, I demanded he tell me where Onyx is so I can make her ass get up and train. He looked less than enthusiastic about waking up his mate, but to be honest, I couldn't care less.

Which is the story of how I ended up barging into her room and and wacking her in the head.

If you don't open your eyes in the next two seconds, the next hit is going directly into your kidney, I mindlinked her threateningly.

Her bright blue eyes shot open immediately. "How are you in my head?" She groaned, in a sleepy daze. She put her pillow over her face. As if that could ward me off.

The old healer guy made some potion that makes me able to mindlink with you, and a separate one for the rest of the pack, I explained.

Onyx groaned, her voice muffled by the pillow. "Why did you have to hit me to wake me up? A 'Good morning, Onyx, how did you sleep?' would have suffice."

I suppressed a smile as she uncovered her face from the pillow to glare at me. Get ready for training. If you're not down in five minutes, I'll keep that in mind while we're training," I vaguely threatened her.

I heard her heartbeat quicken as I left the room. Not surprisingly, my threat had done the trick. I didn't doubt that she would hurry downstairs as quickly as her scrawny legs could carry her.

I left the room and headed downstairs, where Axel was already waiting for me.

His eyes light up as I headed down the staircase. "Good morning, Ares!" He greeted me, his voice enthusiastic as ever.

I rolled my eyes. "You're in a good mood today."

He shrugged his massive shoulders. "It's kinda fun to be in Blue Moon without the Alpha. It's like a vacation," I snorted when he quickly corrected himself. "No offense, Luna. The Alpha is great and all, but I just appreciate not having to-"

I get it, Axel, I interrupted, biting my lip to keep a smile from forming. The atmosphere in this pack is very different, I can feel it too.

And I could. In Blue Moon, there was a lack of tension in the air that, to be quite frank, left me uncomfortable. It felt like I was in a Pixar movie, where nothing goes wrong and everyone ends up happily ever after.

I had a feeling this ambiance had to do with Thane. He was an excellent Alpha, no doubt due to his cool as a cucumber nature. Despite his even temper, his pack seemed to respect him. I was interested in how he thought we should deal with the issues with Red Crescent, but he didn't want to help the pack that was home to his sworn enemy, which I could.

"Is the pup coming down for training? I thought we would have left by now," Axel questioned. He was used to early morning trainings with me, and didn't understand why people were still sleeping in.

As if on cue, Onyx descended from the staircase in exercise gear.

Axel mindlinked me, she doesn't have much muscle tone, does she?

He wasn't wrong, but it was still rude to say. Shh. That's why we're here. I corrected him.

"Is the Blood Alpha coming?" Her small voice asked, and I could hear a slight hint of anxiety.

I shook my head. He already left with the Blood Lake wolves. Axel is just staying to babysit, I threw that last comment in only somewhat bitterly.

Her brilliantly blue eyes twinkled as she gave a dazzling smile. I find it hard to believe that you need a babysitter, she responded through the newly established mindlink.

I scoffed. If only she knew how far Cain was willing to go to contr- Err, I mean, protect- me. Try telling Cain that, I winked at her mischievously.

"What is Ares telling you? Did she call me a glorified babysitter?" Axel jumped into the conversation accusatorially.

Onyx giggled as Axel complained, "I'm the f*cking Beta of Blood Lake. You've gotta stop telling people that I'm a babysitter."

I smirked. Cain would most definitely consider him a babysitter.

I exited the pack house, with Axel and Onyx following being me. God, it really is so much warmer here than in Blood Lake. Even in the Spring, Blood Lake was frigid.

We walked in silence for a few minutes as Axel and I basked in the warmth. "Luna, can I ask something?" Onyx asked, her words rushed together. Jeez. This girl really needs to learn how to pause in between words. Ah, who am I to criticize the girl? I can't talk at all.

Stop calling me Luna, I commanded. Let the Luna lessons begin. If you manage not to get killed during the challenge, you'll be a Luna too. It's Ares. But yes, you may ask."

Onyx nodded, her eyes downcast as we continued walking towards the training center. "Did you really tear all of those wolves apart in the field?" She asked, her voice hesitating.

I was too stunned for a minute to respond. It didn't occur to me that the wolfsbane had impaired her so badly that she couldn't clearly remember the events that transpired.

Yes, I answered, deciding that honestly is the best policy. The more she feared me, the easier the training would be for me.

"How? How are you so strong?" She inquired. A fair question. As far as she knows, I'm just a she-wolf that just so happens to be mated to an Alpha. Before we found out about my bloodline, nobody could explain my strength.

I sighed, not wanting to delve into my highly complicated ancestry. It's a long story, Onyx. We'll talk about it another time. Let's just say I'm not a normal Luna.

"Is that why people call you an Alpha?" She asked blatantly. I blinked, surprised by her direct nature. For someone who seemed shy, she surely had no issue bringing up sensitive topics.

I stopped in my tracks, searching her eyes for what answer she was looking for. I couldn't find any hidden motivations, so I began walking again. Something like that, I muttered.

The walk wasn't silent for too much longer. Onyx spoke again, "Have you ever accidentally hurt someone because you didn't realize your strength?"

Assuming she was referring to the incident in the field yesterday, I answered without hesitation. No. Everyone I've hurt, it's because I wanted to.

If she was expecting me to feel remorse for the randos in the clearing, she clearly mistook me for someone who gives a f*ck.

"Are you asking because you have?" Axel asked inquisitively, and I was shocked that he had apparently picked up on something I hadn't. That said, Axel is way better with people than I could ever be.

"No," She quickly responded. Too quickly, which Axel and I both recognized.

"My mistake," Axel muttered and then mindlinked me: Red flag.

F*cking firetruck red flag, I agreed with him, but we had reached the clearing so I decided to file that interaction under: Possibly suspect actions.

"Oh goodie, we're here," Onyx sighed in relief, her little heartbeat quickening as she pushed open the large training center doors.

A tan, muscular woman was beating the sh*t out of a punching bag. I liked her immediately.

Noticing our arrival, the woman looked up and began walking towards us, wiping a bead of sweat off of her forehead.

"Luna Ares, Beta Axel," Onyx introduced us. "This is Clover. She's my trainer."

Clover tilted her neck in submission, and I was pleased to see that her neck was muscular and thick. No doubt, she was a trained warrior. In Blood Lake, none of the women were seasoned fighters with such a high muscle density.

"It's an honor to meet you, Luna," Her low voice spoke as her neck was still barred.

It's an honor to meet a Blue Moon warrior. I'm assuming you have been in service for many moons? I inquired, and she responded via mindlink.

Yes, Luna. I have fought alongside Thane for all of his battles. I was impressed by her response, though I hadn't doubted it for a minute. She had small white scars scattered around her body, unnoticeable to anyone but someone who has also been harmed in war.

Please go about training the Luna as you normally would, I commanded, and nodded at her in respect. Any female who has fought in battle alongside men, and has no doubt made heads roll on the battlefield, certainly has my respect.

Clover commanded Onyx to do her normal warm-up. By Onyx's reaction, I was expecting her to run 100 miles and maybe do a few thousand push-ups. Naturally, I was surprised when she only did a few laps around the indoor track.

Axel had joined her, telling me that he could use a workout himself. Yeah right. He was damnear the biggest wolf I've ever seen.

While they ran, Clover and I took turns holding the punching bag for each other as we kicked the hell out of it.

Want to see how to piss off any Alpha, guaranteed? I asked the warrior, smirking.

Her eyes raised. "Not particularly. I like my job."

I rolled my eyes. Like Thane would fire her, and like he would ever be mad at me.

I spun around quickly and kicked sharply, putting a whole in the punching bag, causing sand to pour on the floor.

"These punching bags are reinforced with threads of metal," Clover said in awe.

I smiled widely. I know. That's what makes them such a bitch to replace.

Clover laughed, her eyes wrinkling in the corners.

Enough playing. I wanted to see some blood, and I wanted to see it now.

Get up, I mindlinked Onyx as she laid on the floor in what can only be perceived as defeat. I want to see you spar with Clover.

Onyx pulled herself off of the floor as Clover went to one side of the central training mat. She stretched her arms, her muscular biceps flexing. A very impressive female, if I do say so myself.

Both Clover and Onyx, on opposite sides of the mat, went into their respective fighting positions.

They began sparring, and I made mental notes as I watched them fight. Clover was clearly stronger, faster, and had way more experience.

However, Onyx was slightly more nimble, as well as unpredictable. Unsurprisingly, she still lost, and went down, hard.

However, the thing that stuck out to me the most was that Clover was clearly pulling punches and going easy on Onyx. Which, of course, I called her out on.

"Of course I went easy on her," Clover responded to my criticism, sounding shocked I would even point that out. "Thane would kill me if I harmed her. He's already punished me once for being too rough."

Ah. This is what Cain had warned me against. Alphas. So overprotective.

Luckily, I'm pro-choice, which means I support women's rights to choose whether they get their ass kicked or not.

Do you have a problem if you get injured training with me? I asked Onyx directly.

"No, Luna," She answered good quickly, and I decided just to take that as a solid answer.

I grinned. Very well then. I'll let Clover know that we'll be doing this my way from now on.

I told Clover that I would be accepting all responsibility for the pup's training. She protested, which was somewhat admirable. I really did respect that she wants to protect the potential Luna, but she wouldn't be able to protect her during the challenge so Onyx needs to stop being babied. I told Clover this, and despite her trepidation, she agreed.

Clover told Onyx that I would be in charge, and I struggled to reign my bloodlust in. I was itching to spill some blood, even though I knew harming the future Luna of Blue Moon was probably a bad idea.

I removed my cloak and threw my long hair up into a ponytail. Axel, I mindlinked my second-in-command. You should know I'm about 10 seconds away from kicking your ass.

His eyes glittered in anticipation. You should know that I've been dying to punch the hell out of you.

I chucked as a cracked my knuckles. I sank into my fighting stance as my canines lowered and eyes darkened.

Ditto.