By the time Thane got back, my anxiety was so bad I thought I was going to blow chunks all over his floor.

He walked into the room, his hand covering one side of his abdomen. I immediately saw the blood seeping out from where his hand was placed.

"Oh my god," I cried out as I rushed to him. He didn't stop me as I removed his hand, uncovering his wound. My stomach lurched as I saw a deep gash that was slightly green.

"What happened?" I questioned, and his eyes met mine coolly.

"The Blood Luna happened," He muttered as he went into the bathroom and returned a minute later with a wet towel, alcohol, and gauze.

"Is she okay?" My heartbeat raced.

Thane paused. "She's fine. I deserved this, to be fully honest."

"You attacked her," I stated.

Thane just nodded.

I growled. "You can't kill the person who's trying to save my life."

Thane sighed as he held the wet towel on his wound, cleaning up the blood. "I know. I regret it. I shouldn't have let my wolf take over like that. I'm still getting used to the mate bond," He admitted.

I looked at him in sympathy. I hadn't really considered that he must be feeling all kinds of internal struggle due to the bond. "Well," I finally spoke. "I'm glad she taught you your lesson."

Thane snorted. "I can always count on the Blood Luna to put me in my place."

Something about his words made my stomach turn. As he cleaned and dressed his wounds, and even right up until the moment I fell asleep, I couldn't help but feel unnerved about a wolf that didn't hesitate to stab an Alpha.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

From the moment I woke up, I knew that the Blood Luna was going to kill me.

I had slept in far too long, I could tell as soon as I awoke. She had warned me that if I was late to training, she would make me regret it.

I quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to seek her. When I got to the living room, both the Beta of Blood Lake and Blue Moon were sitting on the couch, watching some action movie I didn't recognize.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Axel looked towards me with a smirk. Leo, as always, was quiet.

"This isn't funny, Axel," I hissed as I grabbed the remote and turned off the television, making both of them groan. "The Blood Luna is going to murder me."

"Chill out, Nyx," Axel rolled his eyes. "I'm training you today."

I frowned. "Where's Ares?" And my mate, I thought silently.

"Her and the Alpha went hunting," Leo answered.

My frown deepened as I tried to mask my jealousy. "Don't look so disappointed," Axel teased me. "I know I'm not Ares, but it's not like I'm incapable of training you."

I sighed, partially in relief. I doubt that Axel would be as aggressive as Ares, despite his threatening physique.

"Would you like to eat something before training, Onyx?" Leo asked respectfully, already rising to go to the kitchen.

I grimaced. "No thanks. I don't feel like vomiting on the training mat."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

So I didn't vomit, but I no doubt left gallons of sweat on the floor. Even now, as I laid on my back groaning.

"Get up, Onyx," Axel ordered. "I barely even touched you."

I rolled my eyes as I pushed myself off of the ground, wiping sweat off of my brow. "Say that to my spleen that I'm pretty sure you knocked out of place."

"Would you like me to call the pack doctor?" Leo questioned seriously as he watched from the side. He had been mostly quiet throughout training, just throwing in a couple of helpful tips every now and again.

"No, I'm fine," I sighed. And I really was. Axel was more gentle than the Blood Luna, although that's not really saying much. He was careful not to pull too powerful of hits, even though all of them landed on me  with ease.

"You ready to get your ass handed to you again?" Axel taunted me, a smile playing on his mouth.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" I complained. We had been training for almost two hours.

Axel shrugged. "We're building up your stamina. As soon as you can train for two hours without collapsing from exhaustion, I'll feel better about releasing you into the wild."

I snorted. "Speaking of wild, when are you going to start training me to fight in wolf form? It's not like we'll be fighting as humans in the challenge."

"Your human side is weaker than your wolf side," Axel explained as he handed me a towel to remove the sweat. The jerk wasn't even slightly out of breath.
"We need to strengthen your human side before anything else."

We sparred for about 20 more minutes before Axel ended the training. I must admit, he was excellent at teaching how to fight. Patient, calm, and controlled.

"Thank you for training me today, Axel," I said as we walked back to the pack house. "I really appreciate everything you and Ares are doing."

To my surprise, Axel's fists clenched and his jaw tightened as he nodded. "Is something wrong?" I asked, my brows furrowed.

Axel grated his teeth. "I just wish your mate," he said the last word bitterly, "Was as appreciative as you."

Ah, he must have witnessed Thane and Ares' fight. I winced. "I'm sorry. I swear I didn't tell him anything and I really did try-"

Axel cut me off. "I know, Onyx. Seeing Ares attacked just... It..." He struggled to find the words, but Leo jumped in.

"Wolves, especially ranked wolves, are extremely protective over their Lunas. In many ways, more protective than they are over their Alphas. The same way wolves are protective of their mates," Leo quietly explained.

Axel nodded appreciatively towards Leo for verbalizing what he couldn't. "The Luna has the same pull to our wolves as the moon. And our wolves live and die by the moon," Axel said the last part with intensity as his eyes glowed.

I nodded, but to be honest, I didn't really understand the draw of the Luna because I hadn't been in a pack in over a decade. I wondered if Blue Moon wolves would speak about me with the same reverence as Axel does about Ares.

"The way you care for her is really admirable," I told Axel, and he gave me a small smile.

As we approached the pack house, I couldn't help the nagging feeling that the Moon Goddess had made a mistake by thinking I could be a Luna.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Leo, Axel, and I had been eating lunch when Thane and Ares finally returned. They walked into the kitchen, and I was surprised to hear the Blood Luna genuinely laughing. I hadn't considered she was capable of doing something so... normal.

I immediately noticed the blood that was splattered on Thane's clothing. I assumed there was blood on Ares' clothes, but I couldn't be sure because she was dressed in black, as per usual.

"Looks like you two had fun," Axel said as he also noted the blood spatter. "Kill anything good?"

Thane shrugged apathetically. "A couple rogues here and there. Nothing too terribly interesting."

My heart fell to my toes. He was out killing rogues. Likely, rogues that hadn't done anything wrong either. This may make me naive, but I didn't see why he and Ares had to go out of their way to kill people that weren't bothering them. If I wasn't mated to an Alpha, that could have easily been me being slaughtered.

Thane glanced at me as if he heard my thoughts, but didn't say anything. I didn't understand how he could be such a heartless murderer. I expected this from Ares, but I thought Thane was different. Grey's words about Alphas rang through my mind with renewed clarity.

I excused myself to go shower, leaving most of my lunch untouched. It was hard to have an appetite after picturing him ruthlessly tearing someone's throat out.

When I got out of the shower and put on a white and green flowery sundress, Thane was laying on the bed, also freshly showered and in clean clothing.

"You're upset that I killed rogues," Thane stated, still staring at the ceiling.

There was no point in denying it. "Yes," I said stiffly. I didn't want to argue, but I also wasn't going to abandon my morals.

"It's the way it has to be, Onyx," Thane said, rising from the bed and cupping my face with his hand. I removed it, none to gently.

"You don't have to seek out people to kill. That sounds like mental illness to me," I hissed.

His eyes widened, probably in shock from my harsh tone. "Onyx, you have to understand how many pack members rogues have killed in the past. Me killing them before they have the chance to kill my family is a preventative action, and one I will not apologize for."

I narrowed my eyes. "No, I guess it would be too much to expect an Alpha not to be a bloodthirsty killer."

Thane's eyebrows raised. "You haven't been in a pack. You don't understand how far an Alpha will go to protect his pack. Everything I do is to keep them, and you, safe. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect my mate."

My heart involuntarily clenched at his words. He spoke with so much intensity it made my cheeks burn hot. "I just... I don't like people being killed..."

Thane sighed as he pulled me into a hug. "I know. And I love your compassion, little one. But this is something you will just have to adapt to. You too will have blood on your hands after the Challenge."

I cringed thinking of the way Brenna looked crumpled on the floor after Ares attacked her. I couldn't imagine doing that to someone, no matter how much of a jerk they are to me.

"How was training today?" He changed the subject and spoke casually.

I sighed and decided to let this argument end, for now. "It was good. Axel is a really good instructor."

"Glad to hear it, little one," Thane ruffled my hair and I searched his face to see if he was upset about me being trained. There were a few new bruises I was positive he could see.

"You're not mad?" I questioned hesitantly.

Thane frowned. "No. Ares is right. You need to win the Challenge by whatever means necessary. I regret my outburst last night, but I'm thankful that it has allowed me to see the error in my ways."

I smiled. "One day, I might be able to kick your butt, Alpha," I teased him.

He chuckled lowly as he said, "Nothing would make me happier than that, little one."

Thane bent down to kiss me, but before his lips could touch mine, I heard a loud knock on the door. I frowned.

"Who is that?" I questioned. Any of the Blue Moon wolves would just walk into the pack house, they didn't need to knock.

Thane grinned. "Some visitors. I think you'll like one of them a great deal."

I cocked my head to the side, but Thane just grabbed my hand and led me downstairs, where I could see Leo, Axel, and Ares talking to two people.

As we got closer, I recognized one of them as Lucas, the Gamma of Blood Lake, but have not ever seen the female that stood next to him.

The green-eyed, red-haired girl grinned so big when she saw me I could nearly see her gums.

Thane put his hand on the small of my back as he introduced me to the attractive female. "Onyx, this is Gwendolyn, Ares' friend. She'll be staying here for the rest of the week."

Gwendolyn's grin didn't falter as she shook my hand.  Her green eyes were aglow with both curiosity and glee. "Ares' best friend," She corrected, humor lacing her tone. "It's nice to finally meet you, Onyx."