Her Savior Alpha
Chapter 16

Tending to my bruises was nothing abnormal except this time I’d held my own. I’d fought back and the meek part of Vera had all but withered away like the leaves of the trees bare trees in winter.

I dabbed a mix of my herbal remedy on my upper bicep, it had emerged as nice shade of purple and red, but once I dabbed the plant based remedy of over ten herbs on my arm I knew it would go down. In fact before lunch many of the bruises which had popped up on my lower and upper body had disappeared completely. This time their were no broken bones, but Dane had winded me when he kicked me back against the wall. He was a piece of shit I’d come to realize. He was punishing me and taking his grief stricken anger out on me.

Peering at my face and my throat from where Dane squeezed it I shook with rage. I wouldn’t be beaten up anymore. I would fight back, and if it meant me and my grandfather battled and broke one another I was willing to do that now. Enough with the beating.

“Sssisss,” I flinched as I dabbed at the technicolor bruises on my face. “Fucking bastard!” I hated that Thelma had been in the firing line of Dane as well. I wanted to keep her out of it and I was tired of being his punching bag. I already knew if Reily and his camp tried to come near me I would pummel them. A small smile did manage to reach my lips as I circled back to what Clive taught me about deflecting punches and kicks. His moves were pretty solid. I would have to tell him I held my own real well.

“Who did that to you?” A chilling voice demanded an answer behind me. I had my hair up high in a messy bun as I didn’t want it hanging on me I twisted around to see Archer’s infuriated face.

“Guess who?” I shot back at him.

“Dane again?” Archer flicked his hand through his mane in frustration. “Fucking old prick. You don’t deserve to be treated this way Vera. It’s complete bullshit. You think your parents want to see you bullied and beaten by their own father.” Archer’s passion at my expense carried through the hallway and I for one knew how voices carried through the air.

I put my index finger to my lips in a gesture for him to quiet his voice as witch hazel drizzled down the side of my tender face. A couple of wolves passed by the medic room, but didn’t look in. The last thing I needed or wanted was another untimely beating. Archer rushed in and mopped it up with a clean cotton ball. His perfectly bow shaped lips were close to the side of my face and within kissing distance. My heartbeat played its own beat as he delicately dabbed away the excess fluid. He didn’t draw back quickly instead his hot breath lingered on the surface of my skin as it brought goose bumps to its surface.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he thumbed over a thumb print mark around my neck. Our bodies were so close were almost touching. Heat radiated from Archer to me and the magnetic pull of his aura enticed me to reach slowly draw his fingers down from my neck. I didn’t let go of them as he stared deeply into my eyes. “I hate this for you Vera. I don’t want Dane, Reily, Gina or those other rat faced wolves touching a hair on your body. You are precious.”

“Thank you, I feel broken is what I feel I’m tired of it too, but I managed to get a few licks in, seems the training with Clive has paid off.” Truth be told if I could have gone back into the fight with Dane again I would have tried out some of the kicks Clive taught me, especially the one where you block a wolf flying at you. I hadn’t time to perfect it, but as I touched the tender lumps on my face - the hallmark of Dane’s wrath I contemplated if I could have beaten him in a fight. I wished my wolf had come out to play, but since my shift my wolf had gone into hiding. I didn’t blame it, but still shouldn’t it have come to play a little more by now?

“You should let me train you. I have certain expertise. I know how Dane works. He works with his brute strength as the staple of his fighting, but he doesn’t have the same agility as you. If you learn to dart and weave in on your opponent and wear them down over time this will stand you in good stead. There’s magic in you Vera and I want to draw it out and bring it to the forefront.”

“You think there’s magic in my grandfather’s constant beatings. Wait until Reily sees me. I want to get out of here so bad. I do.”

Archer took the soaked cotton ball out of my hand and set it on the counter as gazed into the depths of my eyes as if looking into my soul. “Come with me Vera. Come away with me! We can do this. You don’t have to subject yourself to his treatment. Why are you still here torturing yourself like this? He doesn’t love you.”

Archer’s hot hands flushed through to me as I regarded the passion in his dark gray eyes, at least they seemed to have changed to this color in my presence. “I hoped he would change. Maybe he won’t. He’s hated me for so long. Since birth. During the fight he told me. I can’t do this anymore,” I sobbed, ashamed that salty tears were flowing like a river down my cheeks.

“Exactly, this is why you have to leave with me. You can slip right out Vera. You don’t need to say anything to anyone about it. We can go. We can just get up and leave. What do you say about it?” Archer requested in earnest as she stared back at me.

“I say yes,” I replied with fervor. I’d never felt more alive in my life. What did I truly have to lose? I wasn’t wanted by the pack. There was nothing left for me in Mount Hunter. It was a shadow of a wolf town anyway. There were other wolf towns which were bigger and a whole world existed amongst the pine trees I’d known so long. I had to go and forge my path. “We should go. It’s not going to be easy. I have to get stronger, Dane had the upper hand on me in the fight. There are things I have to learn survival wise.” I lowered my eyes to his as his olive skin gleamed in the light of the bathroom. More wolves passed and barely noticed we were inside. So much for being a pack known for hunting. Perhaps people ignoring me was to my advantage in some ways.

“Good. We start training tomorrow. I will teach you all I know. You’re already building strength, don’t you know Vera? You’ve said yes to your future.” Archer let go of my fingers as he stood up tall and readjusted the knife kept in its holster on his hip. In the full light of day I could see his jawline was chiseled just like Clive’s. He had his own brand of appeal and making my heart flutter was good for my soul.

“Okay, I’m ready. It’s war now. I want to do this.” I spoke with a buried determination that had risen to the surface ever since I’d turned. I had no control over my wolf at this stage and telling Archer would make me feel ashamed so I opted to leave that part out for the interim. I wanted to see if I could call it again later and I secretly hoped it would emerge when we were on the training ground. “That’s it Vera. It’s time to fight. You can do it.”

“I can.” This time the steadfast voice I had turned down a notch as I wavered unsure if my wolf would stand with me.

“Why do you hesitate now? What did I miss?”

“My wolf. I can’t replace them. I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t call them back in Archer. I can’t replace them again.” I was worried about my wolf and it was making me lose sleep and confidence.

“Yes, you can. I’m going to help you get it back. I want you too. C’mon Vera, don’t back down now. You deserve a good life.” Archer’s pleas were becoming more urgent and the conditioning of performing my chores by a certain time hurried me up.

“I have these chores to do, but I will meet you on the battle ground at eight am. I will get through the rounds of laundry I have for today and tomorrow so I can free up an extra hour. I want to train for two hours. I want to be strong, ready for anything, Archer.”

“Done. I will meet with you there. It’s going to work out Vera. Trust your wolf, it will emerge when you least expect it. I guarantee the wolf was with you when you fought Dane, guiding and assisting you to fight back. Would you have done that otherwise?”

Flashing back to the moment I did remember a voice, a small one, tell me to counter punch, it was one of those blink-and-you’ll miss it moments. “Actually, there was something... a tiny voice telling me to punch out. I think it might have been my wolf. A feeling inside to fight back.”

“See! That was your voice I can assure you. You will come to know it. Listen, I have to go, but call on me or Clive if you need anything okay?” Archer leaned into me as I shrunk from him. I wasn’t used to the male attention, but all he did was kiss into my tangled mess of hair. The sweet and intimate gesture shocked me, but I was not immune to his charm and the courage he instilled inside of me.

“Thanks.” I shuffled my hair back from my face as Archer turned his lean, wiry body to walk out and for me to pick up the pieces and finish tidying myself up.

All that was left was for me to talk to Thelma about me leaving. She was my bestie and if anyone could understand my reason for leaving it would be her.

***

If only she realized what and who her wolf was she would not have any fear. The sight of the rare Lycan was like the myth of Bigfoot in the wild. Her snow white coat illuminated her whole body in an aura of crystal white and silver. The fireflies that quite frankly annoyed me when I traipsed through the woodlands flocked to it like moths to a flame and buzzed in a circular motion around Vera’s wolf. The Lycan shone bright under the guise of the full moon. Majestic and mighty were the words which came to mind when I saw Vera shift. I wanted to help her, and a strange compelling energy in me wanted to experience the true beauty of her wolf. If had the opportunity to help her turn I would.

Guilt at telling Sigmund about my replaceings began to creep up in me. Being appreciated and respected by him was my main objective, but I had other reasons for wanting to teach Vera to fight. As I walked to the training ground to assist Grant with the first round of new recruits the scent of Vera’s soap wafted through my nostrils, her wolf scent mixed with vanilla struck a chord inside of my heart chamber as the pain of regret showed itself. Telling Sigmund about the Lycan he longed for was the beginning of the end for Vera.

In some small way training her to hone her wolf smarts and prepare for battle was my counter balance to the deception I’d partook in. She would never forgive me once she knew, but father knew best. I would forever be working to gain his approval and if this was to be the action required to put me in his good books so be it.

***

A high wind flapped through the red flags on the training ground as Archer stood between two of them in his full armor ready for my assault. The more time I spent with him, the more I began to bond with him. Clive had been assigned to other duties on the outposts and training a number of soldiers, so it was out of sight out of mind to me.

“Are you ready Vera? Remember what we practiced? Once you’ve had your turn then it will be mine.” The chill in the breeze stemmed from the mountains which hugged the Mount Hunter region and it flipped my hair around my face. I gathered my long, midnight locks and tied them high with a rubberband never letting Archer’s face leave my sight.

Right Vera, he is not Archer now. He’s the enemy and you have to save your mother now. Use it. Use the energy from the past. What you weren’t able to do then, do it now.

I touched the blades of grass with my fingers inhaling the crisp mountain air as fog enveloped my shaky breath. All I had to do was run at him hard and fast. I would target his lower body and see if that worked. He had his weapons cloaked in their sheaths, but he was wanting to reenact the fight from the kitchen with Dane so I would know how to attack and not just defend.

Run hard and fast strike the visible strike areas of the body or open them up.

My legs pumped like pistons as oxygen filled my body. Drawing on the rage from all the beatings I’d suffered I charged Archer and pretended I was going for his center when really I wanted to take his legs from under him and get him down to the ground. As I slid down to the ground on the charge I flipped him from his standing position, but only managed to grab onto one leg and Archer recovered stamping the other foot on middle of my back as I lay face down in the grassy mud. He knocked the wind out my body, but I was not backing down I wiggled free as I grunted and sliced and grabbed both his calves to lay him flat on his back.

“Shit Vera! Okay, okay, don’t kill me. We are only training.”

“Yes, but how you train is how you play,” I grilled him as I got up brushing down the combination of grass and mud. We had to train super early while no one was around. The sun was yet to rise and it was five am. Being the only one on ground felt like a win to me.

“True, but if you want a training partner, you’ll have to ease up. I don’t heal as quick as you,” Archer groaned as he arched his back. I was sorry for hurting him, but I wasn’t sorry for going as hard as I was. I had to get stronger if I wanted to defeat the likes of Dane, Reily and Gina. Unfortunately for me I didn’t get attacked by one, I got attacked by many.

“See you back on ground tomorrow Archer.” I stood over him as I offered him a hand up with a giggle.