Lost Lycan's Mate

The day went by fast.

The sun fell toward the horizon in what felt like a matter of minutes. I had two full piles of wood yet to go and my body was screaming for a break.

My hands were raw and blistered and my feet felt like twin blocks of concrete had been glued to my feet.

My small frame struggled to drag the large pieces of wood to the timber pile several hundred yards away.

Deep rivets had been left in the ground where I had dragged the boards behind me. The rivets made it easier to drag the timber along, but it was a struggle, nonetheless.

No one was allowed to help me with my task, not that they would have anyway.

I could sense their stares as they watched the small human try to deliver wood four times her size to the timber pile. I heard the apprentices’ snickers, and those of younger warrior wolves too.

I tried not to let it bother me. In truth, my anger had helped me.

But now I was alone with nothing but my determination to help me complete this nearly impossible task.

I didn’t see the point of it, other than perhaps to give me a taste of what was to come. If he was trying to make me quit, he would fail.

I would finish this task, and the next one, the next hundred, that he gave me.

I would do this. I would prove to everyone that I was as good as them. Although Coda was the harshest teacher, he was also the best teacher.

His way of teaching was bitter and cruel, but I would learn things from him that no other wolf would.

Some lessons could only be learned through pain and tears, and although I was still struggling to understand the lesson in this task, I knew I would discover it eventually.

Right now, the important thing was that I finished my assignment, even if it took me till morning.

Coda would make me cry, bleed, and hurt, but in the end, the pain would subside, broken bones would mend, blood would clot, and tears would dry.

I would be left stronger than before and with a new sense of resolve and determination.

Call me ambitious for an almost thirteen-year-old, but I knew what I wanted and what I was getting myself into, and I would not shrink away or back down from whatever was thrown my way.

I would fight and lose and fight and lose, until I won. I was willing to lose a hundred times for one win. I would fight and give it my all until I couldn’t any longer.

I wouldn’t just train until I got it right. I would train until I never got it wrong.

I would learn to take down a wolf, whether in their human form or wolf pelt, and I would lead this pack after my father.

I would be the first human to lead a pack of wolves, and nothing short of death was going to stop me.

Dropping the latest board into the pit before me, I trudged back to the docks, where the last light of day was fading.

I had a good fifty boards left to carry, and the night’s darkness would make the trek to the pit even more difficult.

As the hours went by, I continued to drag the boards to the pit, taking small steps and following the path I had taken all day.

It was grueling work, but soon it became a repetitive action that required no thought.

My thoughts seemed to have backed into a corner of my mind. All I knew was the heaviness of my limbs and eyelids.

The bright light of the moon was hidden behind the clouds, no help at all.

The temperature dropped and the wind picked up, making me shiver.

The cold seeped into my bones and my stomach clenched from hunger pains, but I ignored them and continued.

The last five boards were the hardest.

My arms could barely hold the planks of wood, and I had to continually readjust the wood when it slipped.

When the last board hit the timber pile, my legs collapsed from underneath me and I lay in a sprawled mess on the ground, staring up at the sky.

I had five hours until dawn. Five hours to sleep and rest my aching body.

Hell would await me in the morning, so I forced myself up and made the trek through the night back to my house.

I didn’t even make it to my bed. The stairs seemed like too much of an obstacle, so I collapsed on the couch.

The moment my head hit the cushion I fell into a deep sleep.

All too soon, somebody poked me in the ribs. I forced my eyes open to see Coda standing there with his arms crossed. “Get up, pup. We are running to the lake and back.”

I almost let a groan of displeasure escape my lips, but I caught it in time and disguised it with a yawn. My legs were stiff and tired from yesterday’s work, and a run was the last thing I wanted to do.

Coda wouldn’t back down from this, so I forced myself to stretch and stand. I bent to retrieve my shoes from the ground, but Coda kicked them away.

“From now on, you won’t be wearing shoes.” He whirled and marched out the door, not waiting to see if I was following.

I stood with my mouth hanging open for a moment before I snapped it shut and scurried out of the house after him.

“What about breakfast?” I called out after him.

“I already ate.”

I didn’t bother to ask, “What about me?” because I knew what his answer would be: “What about you? You had time to eat, but you slept in instead.”

“If you walk, I’ll make you run twice as far tomorrow,” Coda warned me before taking off at lightning-fast speed down the trail to the lake.

My run was slow, and Coda was already far ahead of me. He disappeared from my sight in a matter of seconds.

He probably wouldn’t know if I walked, but I played it safe and jogged the whole distance.

I was panting heavily when I reached the edge of the lake, where Coda was standing looking unimpressed. I hunched over with my hands on my knees and gulped in huge breaths.

“Stand up straight,” Coda ordered. “You’re blocking the flow of air into and out of your lungs.”

I did as he said and did my best to quickly regain my breath.

“Here’s your activities for today. Listen carefully, pup, because I don’t repeat myself.”

I nodded in understanding. “First, you are going to swim to the other side of the lake.” I wanted to cry at that. Although the lake wasn’t huge, it was still a few hundred yards to the other side.

“Once you get there, you are to run once around it, then you will find the jump rope and do one hundred rounds, three times through. Then you will run another lap, and then you will do fifty push-ups.

“Then run another lap around the lake, then grab the two dumbbells I left there and do five repetitions of ten lifts with your arms fully extended over your head. Run another lap, and then the rest of the day is yours.

“You have five five-minute breaks and two ten-minute breaks. Use them wisely.”

Coda turned and walked to a lawn chair that had been set up a distance away.

He reclined in his chair and slid on a pair of sunglasses. He flipped open a book, ignoring me.

“I don’t hear any splashing,” he called. “Or are you already using one of your breaks?”

Oh, I very much wanted him to die right then. My jeans would drag me down, so I stripped them off and dove into the water.

Halfway across the lake, I thought I was going to drown. I was so exhausted.

“You are exerting too much energy, pup. Longer, deeper strokes. One on your left side, one on your right, and stop flailing your legs.”

Coda’s disinterested voice carried across the lake to where I was.

If I drowned, would he save me? Or would he think, “good riddance”? I didn’t trust him to care enough to set down his book and rescue me.

“I guess you better not drown then, pup. Keep swimming.”

I took his advice and tried to swim the way he had instructed. I finally made it to the other side, where I flung myself out of the water and lay on the bank.

“Already using your first break?” he called out. “The timer’s started, you’ve got four minutes and forty-eight seconds remaining.”

I wanted to launch a rock at his head to shut him up, but I was too tired to lift a finger.

Coda called out my time every thirty seconds, and all too soon I had to haul myself up and take a lap around the lake.

I couldn’t help but stop and take another break after one lap. I used one of my two ten-minute breaks, wondering how I was going to survive this day.

I didn’t bother to put my jeans back on. They would make the rest of the workout harder and hotter.

The rope jumping was hell. I made it through two rounds of one hundred before I took another break.

After I completed the next set and the lap following it, I made it through one-fourth of the push-ups before taking another of my breaks. “You’ve only got three breaks left kid,” Coda warned.

I ignored him.

He was trying to make me angry, and he was succeeding. I was able to finish the push-ups, and then I took my last ten-minute break followed directly by a five-minute break.

The dumbbell repetitions were the worst because my arms were so utterly exhausted. I used up my last break halfway through the dumbbells and then ran the final lap.

Coda was waiting for me when I finished. “Not half-bad, kid. I was expecting you to use another break that you didn’t have.

“Tomorrow we’ll work on your form. You were doing everything half-assed.”

He handed me my jeans. “I want you to sprint back to the house.”

I glared at him but did as I was told. My feet hurt terribly from stepping on pinecones and rocks, but I guessed that was the point.

I made a huge sandwich for lunch, although it was now two in the afternoon, and took a long nap until Dad woke me up for dinner.

“How was your first day?” he asked when we were sitting at the table.

I shoved the fork into my mouth. “Exhausting,” I admitted. I wanted to say, “Coda belongs in a mental institution for thinking the workout I did today was simple. He’s crazy, infuriating, and super annoying.”

But I couldn’t say that to my dad or he would insist that I give it up.

I went to bed early after taking a hot bath to soothe my aching muscles. My dad suggested I stretch when I wake up and before I go to bed every day.

I set my alarm so I would have enough time to eat in the morning, and I also set out a pair of shorts and a tank top for tomorrow’s exercise.

Coda came to retrieve me at dawn again, and the workout was exactly the same as the day before. Today, instead of ignoring me, he coached me, fixing my form so I was doing the exercises correctly.

Doing everything the right way made it even more tiring, and I did end up needing more breaks than I was allotted. I felt like a failure by the end of the day, and sleep was my only escape.

The days went by, and after two weeks the workout was getting easier. Muscles started to form on my body, and I was less sore every day.

My running time improved and my breathing was steadier.

It didn’t matter if I wouldn’t become a warrior in the end. I was determined to be the first student Coda didn’t abandon.