A Mother Before A Mate
Chapter 6

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Today is the first day that we are adding Sophie to Advanced warriors training, which basically means the six other women in the advanced warrior's class are all going to spend class focusing on Sophie. I don't think they will be as understanding and accepting as I First though, I attend the men's class, which Joscelyn and Cora also attend. Cora's working hard to try and get her 2nd place title back, but I think the gap is getting bigger between us. I am getting stronger and faster all the time. When we do the women's group class, I am also leading this class with Cora and Jos now. Sophie is nearly 10 minutes late showing up and continues to have a cocky, crappy attitude.

When the advanced class starts, the ladies are surprised to hear of Alpha's orders. They are not happy, but we all give up our training time to help Sophie. The least she could do is have a good attitude, and try. Maybe be a little grateful, but none of that is happening.

When advanced class is over, Sophie and I move on to our 1-on-1 training. Sophie is putting in three hours a day, five days a week. Those are intensive training hours. It's too bad she isn't taking it more seriously. I'm not sure if she thinks it's a weakness to be open to learning from us, or if she's afraid that if she really tries and fails she'll be embarrassed. Regardless, I think it's all ego.

The next two weeks seemed to fly by, between taking care of Molly and training four or more hours per day. Joscelyn and I have been getting together in the evenings to train too. She's still better than me, but the gap is closing. I also added extra running workout sessions to my days, making the past two weeks a blur of exhaustion.

I am already a great runner, but I plan on competing in the races on Games Day, after the Alpha ceremony. It sounds pointless to many because it's not like you win anything. If you're a warrior, though, there is great honour and pride in being able to make our pack stand out above the rest any way we can. Even just being a strong competitor, regardless of winning. I'm looking forward to Games Day, far more than I am the fancy ball.

I am excited for my friends to become Alpha and Luna, and for Eli to become Beta, though. It's a big day, and as one of the top warriors, I'm supposed to be there. Grace is picking up her gown from getting altered and we go together with her Mom. I take the opportunity to look for a dress as well. I've kept procrastinating. Grace's dress is gorgeous. It's a strapless silk, red A-line dress. The top is tight, and kinda shows off her boobs, but it poofs out at the bottom. She is beautiful and looks like royalty. I love her dress! I tried on a few dresses before I finally found one. I decided on a dark blue off-the-shoulder dress. It's form fitting until below my hips, then it flares a little. It's floor-length and has a high slit on one side. It's classy, but kind of sexy. "Damn girl, you look hot," Grace says with wide eyes and a cheeky smile.

"If you happen to meet your mate, he's not going to be disappointed," Grace beams.

My eyes widen, "What if he's there? I didn't even think of that. I've been so preoccupied with training, and training Sophie, and taking care of Mol, I didn't even think that my mate could be there." I admit.

"How could you not think of that?" Grace chuckles.

"I don't think about my mate that often. Since I got Molly, I have tried to put it out of my mind for the most part because I didn't want to focus on it and get my hopes up. I've honestly been obsessed with the Games, so I've been thinking about that the whole time," I admit.

"I wonder if you have a badass warrior mate?" Grace muses and I shrug. Could be.

When we're all done with our dresses, we head home and Joscelyn and I get together at the park to train. I set Molly up in the sandbox. She loves playing in the sand and would do it for hours if given the opportunity. Jos and I don't do any sparring because I wouldn't want to scare Molly, but we work out together. We're good partners because we are both so competitive. We push ourselves so much harder together.

We do some short-distance sprinting races: I'm faster than her, but she whoops my butt with the pull-ups. She has a larger, more muscular upper body than I do. I'm still strong and have plenty of muscle. Size doesn't mean everything, especially when it comes to fighting. I'm fast and scrappy, and I'm much stronger than I look.

Molly is still playing in the sandbox having fun an hour later, when we're done. We sit and make sandcastles with her, and just chat about tomorrow. Jos is 25, and she's basically given up all hope of replaceing her mate.

"I'm hoping to replace a mate-less warrior," Jos admits, and I nod.

"I think I was mated to a warrior, and he must have been killed. I don't think he's out there. I went to an Alpha ceremony three years ago, at Harvest moon's Pack, and I was thinking I would replace my mate since so many warriors would be there, but nothing. I've accepted that my mate is most likely dead. I'm ready to move on. I want to have children, and I'm tired of being lonely," Jos vents.

"I understand. It's hard to wait around for years with no guarantees. I wonder if I should look for a good man that will be a good father to Molly, and a good partner to me, too. Do I wait around for my fated mate, if he's even out there? What if I wait and he doesn't even want me anyway?" Jos gives me a side hug, and I return it. I'm lonely, but I have Molly. I can't even imagine how lonely she's been.

"I wish there were no fated mates, and we could just replace someone and no one had a claim on anyone. We decide who we give ourselves to. It just hurts too much for those of us who don't get their mate," Jos says.

"I agree. Or at least a second chance mate and even third chance mate." A second chance mate happens sometimes if someone's mate dies or if they are rejected. It's rare though.

"Totally," Jos agrees.