My Mate Is An Omega
Chapter 25

Sasha

POV

As I stood with my back to the other warriors, I could feel their eyes on me. The only child of the pack's Gamma, I was used to being the center of attention, but this time, I felt tense. At forty-nine years old, James had been the second-in-command for a long time; he had a lot of experience at hiding his emotions. Despite how hard it was to see him without his usual stone face, I was always able to catch a glimpse of his real emotions. After all, he was like an uncle to me. However, as I stared into his intimidating golden eyes, I couldn't see anything; it was impossible to read his emotions, and it made me nervous. He wasn't truly mad at me, was he?

Maybe I had come on too strong. The strong relationship between ranked members made it easy to forget that I was still below him in the hierarchy. He demanded respect. Not only did I completely forget to inform him of Dario's decision and what led to it, but I also stepped inside of the gym, where he was the only leader, and carelessly told him I would be helping him conduct women's training.

"Okay, maybe we messed up." Topaz lowered her ears inside her head. "But if we just apologize, uncle James won't-" Before she could even finish her sentence, we ran out of time.

"I've been training men for decades, and I studied for years before that." The Beta crossed his arms in front of his chest, lifting his head up higher. My she-wolf whimpered as she noticed his powerful aura expanding. "Do you really think you know better than me?" "N-no! Of course not, Beta James." I quickly bowed to him, showing him the respect he deserved. "It's just..." Taking a quick look around, I noticed how hesitant Caitlyn was, as were the women who sought her help the day before. At that moment, I realized I couldn't get them involved. I could get out of this situation, but I wasn't sure the same would apply to them if the coach found out his newest warriors didn't replace his training effective. "I believe you could benefit from having a female's point of view." "Alright. Sounds fair." He shrugged. I was about to sigh in relief when I noticed the determination in his eyes, which told me this wasn't over quite yet. "If you're so adamant that women need different training, perhaps you would be kind enough to demonstrate some of the strategies you intend to teach them."

Allowing me no time to think of a new argument, the man took a step back and rolled his sleeves up, assuming an offensive stance. Goddess, he wanted me to spar with him? The strongest warrior of our pack?

"We pinned him down once. We can do it again," Topaz stated proudly.

"In animal form. For like, a second. And only because he was taking it easy on us!" I retorted. "Well, he still doesn't know all of your tactics. Just play it smart."

"Come on, you're making everyone wait." James rushed me.

There was no way out. I took one last breath, trying to ignore the attention I was getting as I lunged in the Beta's direction. The punch I threw at him was too predictable, so he had no problem dodging it. It didn't matter though, as the main purpose of the first moves in a fight was to understand your opponent's style rather than to actually hurt them. Similarly, he threw his fists at me repeatedly in an attempt to tire me. My high-ranking blood made me have faster reflexes than most wolves, but when he almost hit my shoulder, I realized I couldn't dodge forever. I tried to land a blow on his face to slow him down, but he easily deflected the punch by striking my forearm. He was a lot faster and stronger than me; direct hits would be useless against him. Although it was still early, I reckoned my best shot would be to use a distraction in order to get his attention off of my real move. It was risky considering how experienced he was, but I wouldn't stand a chance otherwise. Determined, I threw a fake punch at him at the same time I sneakily lifted my knee. I retracted my fist the second James tried to intercept it, stretching my leg to land my true hit. My foot was inches away from his head when his other arm appeared at the side of his face, stopping my punch. My eyes widened with shock he was already expecting it.

Distracted, I only had time to gasp when his strong fingers wrapped around my leg. In a swift movement, he mercilessly knocked me against the hard floor. The impact on my head made my vision go black for an instant; when I opened my eyes again, the Beta was on top of me, pinning me down.

"I let my guard down with you once," he recalled, referring to our fight during the Spring Tournament. "You're not going to knock me down so easily this time."

For a moment, I was actually worried he was going to humiliate me in front of everyone for defying me. But then, a smirk crossed his lips - that's when I saw it. Just for a brief second, I spotted a hint of pride. He wasn't mad at me; he was pleased by my determination to help our pack improve while I gave the women a voice. He didn't want to punish me; he wanted me to show him what I was truly capable of. And I couldn't let him down.

James' grip around my wrists made it impossible for me to move my hands, but my feet were only loosely restrained by his weight. After struggling a little bit, I managed to free one of my legs. Before the man could react, I lifted my knee up, striking right between his legs. The Beta held in a cry as he instinctively brought his hands up to his balls, immediately releasing me. Gasps of shock echoed through the gym as I took the opportunity to push him onto the floor, switching our positions. "That's my girl!" Topaz laughed.

"Fighting dirty? That's your strategy?" A growl escaped the man's lips the moment he noticed me smile.

"All's fair in love and war," I observed, trying to control my ragged breathing. "You taught me that yourself, didn't you, coach?"

He was surprised at first, but it didn't take long for a smirk to cross his face. I promptly lifted myself off of him, offering him my hand to help him stand up. He eventually took it, almost knocking me down in the process, but I managed to hold my ground. We exchanged meaningful smiles before we noticed everyone still had their eyes locked on us.

"What are you mutts staring at?" James barked, causing everyone to straighten up immediately. "You heard your Gamma Female. She'll be helping with her insights regarding women's training." He flashed a wink at me before turning back to the warriors. "Alright, I think it's about time you girls have a taste of real life here. Today you'll be partnering up with a male. You have a minute to pick your partners!"

The Beta patted me on the shoulder before heading towards the back to grab some water. My hands were still shaking from the adrenaline, but it felt good to prove my point, despite not doing it in the most honorable way. A few months ago, I never thought I'd be more than a smart girl waiting for the right wolf to come along in hopes he would take me to a pack where women could exercise more important functions. My knight in shining armor ended up being a lot shorter, and far less hairier than I expected; when I glanced over at her, she was furiously writing something on her notepad.

I only caught her attention when I put one of my hands over the papers. "I think it's best if you keep this off the record. For both mine and James' sakes, you know?"

"But... Dario asked me to take notes," she argued, looking at me with confusion. She was so pure and innocent - a perfect match for the reckless stray.

"I'm sure this isn't the kind of relevant information he's expecting."

"Oh." She blinked a few times, scratching everything she had just written before showing me a small smile. "You were great there by the way. It takes a lot of courage to face a Beta like him."

"He might look hard on the outside, but he's soft on the inside."

"Oh right, as if you weren't almost pissing your pants like five minutes ago," my she-wolf teased, and I rolled my eyes at her.

Since Luke always sparred with Lance, I ended up taking Jasper as my partner. We chatted a little bit, but it didn't take long for the second-in-command to come back. The technique he wanted us to practice was quite simple; it consisted of trying to knock down your opponent after deflecting a move. The females had already learned it, but it would be our first time trying to use it against men. For the first couple of minutes, the she-wolves were being tossed on the floor repeatedly, barely having a chance to execute the technique. Even I was having trouble fighting the ginger boy; although he hadn't been able to knock me down yet, I was having a hard time fighting him off. This wasn't working...

"James," I linked him, not wanting to interrupt training by rushing towards him. "Females are shorter, and not as physically strong than men. We need a different strategy." He didn't say a word, but I noticed he was thoughtful.

After a while, he finally spoke. "Okay, listen up. She-wolves, instead of fighting the males head on, I want you to wait for them to strike first and use the strength of their own movement to knock them down."

"Yes, Beta!" the girls replied before turning back to their partners.

At first, the women still struggled to execute the technique. However, as the minutes went by, we slowly learned and perfected it. Not long after I finally managed to throw the stray to the ground, I noticed other females do the same to their opponents. Once again, I found Caitlyn writing down on her notepad, and I couldn't help the smile that lit up my face.

***

Throughout the entire day, I couldn't keep my mind off the events of the morning training sessions. Ever since we were allowed to join the male warriors, I had been working extra hard to improve my abilities as a fighter. Now, however, I also dedicated some of my time to planning new techniques for women to use. Despite having been born as a Gamma, I didn't feel like I had a proper chance to use my skills until now.

By sundown, I linked Jasper to meet me at the clearing so we could practice some more; since we were now partners, I wanted to get acquainted with his methods so I could become a better warrior. I felt a bit bad for taking up his time, but he didn't seem to mind it much. Cait and Lance usually enjoyed their short free time by themselves, and Luke was mostly busy with his lessons as next in line to become Beta of Diamond Tempest. The auburn-haired stray, on the other hand, spent most of his days alone and bored. Like me. "You're not gonna kick me in the balls, are you? I still plan on having some little Jaspers to wreak havoc around the pack," the warrior joked as he took an offensive stance in front of me, ready to shift into his beast.

"With the amount of women you took to bed, you might as well have some unknown pups already," I scoffed.

"Ha ha. Very funny." He frowned. "You come here to train or to talk?" I rolled my eyes before allowing Topaz control.

Despite being of Omega blood, Phoenix was much taller than us; it made sense, since most males were larger than females. However, our rank made us naturally stronger and faster. Although the stray could put up a good fight in both forms, Topaz had no trouble overpowering her opponent. After roughly an hour, Jasper gave up and shifted back into his human form. "How does it feel losing to a she-wolf?" I teased.

"Really? You know you can only beat us because of your bloodline!" he argued, turning around as he threw my dress at me. It was normal for werewolves to see each other naked; I wondered if he was reluctant to look at me because of respect, or because I was his friend. "Come on now, stray, don't be so sour." He only looked back at me once he made sure I was properly dressed. "I brought snacks!" I showed him the bag of sandwiches I had made before. I guess it was my way to thank him for his time.

As we sat together beneath one of the many pine trees to enjoy our food, I pulled out a notebook to finish some chores.

"Seriously, though..." He cleared his throat, catching my attention. "You're doing great, Sasha. I know you put a lot of effort into this, so I thought you might want to hear it."

"Aw, didn't know the manwhore had a sensitive side!" I said playfully, expecting a frown in response. Instead, he smirked.

"I guess I'm the best of both worlds. Let me know if you want to explore it someday..." He leaned closer, and I immediately pushed his face off mine.

"Now that's more like the Jasper I know." I laughed, looking back at the papers.

"What's that?" He changed the subject, his gaze falling on the notebook in my hands.

"My father asked me to help him out with the pack's financial reports," I clarified, but I noticed he didn't take his eyes off of what I was doing.

"You got this one wrong." He casually pointed at one of the equations.

"Yeah, right," I scoffed; as if Jasper knew anything about math.

"Check it," he insisted. Out of curiosity, I obliged.

Then, my eyes widened. "You're right," I stated in disbelief. "How did you-"

"You underestimate me too much, Gamma." He chuckled. "Keep doing that and I might just beat you in training tomorrow.

"In your dreams!" I hit his shoulder playfully.

We parted ways once we were done eating. Like most Omegas, Jasper lived in a small cottage near the borders, while I had a luxurious room in the pack house. As I made my way back home, I subconsciously analyzed how much Diamond Tempest had changed in such a short time span. All because of Caitlyn; she came to us in a time of difficulty, and everything started looking up as soon as she arrived. It was then that I realized something. Not only did the Moon Goddess bless Lance with the smart Omega - she blessed our entire pack.