Chapter Fifty-One

Daphne's Point of View

I am trying really hard not to cry as Scarlet and Theo are pulling out of the driveway. Rationally I

know that they are only going to be gone for a few days. I also know that this is a journey that

Scarlet must make. Being Luna of the Blue Mountain pack, I know that if I were in her shoes, I would

not forsake my pack either. Irrationally though I never want her to leave, because I am worried that I

will never see her again. Caleb notices that I am not taking the separation well and pulls me into his

side, wrapping his arms around me. We stay like that on the front steps until Theo's car disappears

from sight.

Caleb has been amazing about everything. The Moon Goddess could not have blessed me with a

better mate. Throughout everything he has been patient, and kind. Seeking every way to comfort

me. Walking back into the house, it now seems lonely with everyone gone. Caleb held true to his

word and sent several warriors with Scarlet and Theo.

“Are you hungry?” Caleb once again is looking for anyway he can to help lift my mood. I cannot

help but smile up at him. He truly is a gentleman.

“I am not really hungry right now. It seems so quiet with everyone gone.” I look around at the

house, almost wishing that the next few days will pass quickly so everyone comes home.

“I have some time before I need to dig into the weekly reports, do you want to hit the training

grounds? We can run a few drills, work off some of this energy.” Caleb suggests to me.

“I would love that right now. I loved the way we worked out earlier, but I have been neglecting my

drills since our mating ceremony. I do not want anyone to think that I don't take it seriously.” I find

myself laughing at the end. Truthfully, we have been so busy with everything that happened during

the mating ceremony that neither Caleb or I have been attending training. We head upstairs and get

our work out gear on. My wolf is already stretching, anticipating the endorphin high of training.

When we reach the training grounds, I am surprised to find it empty as well. I ask Caleb why no one

is here. Normally Theo has it set up so that the different groups are training at different times, but it

is rare for it to be fully empty. Caleb lets me know that one of the reasons it is empty is because

normally the elite squad is practicing at this time, and he sent most of them with Scarlet and Theo,

the rest are currently on patrol.

We start warming up, stretching, and then I break off to run a few laps. I love running, feeling the

breeze in my face, and my feet hit the ground. I would rather be running in my wolf form, and she

lets out a small whimper to let me know that she is missing my morning run. I know that very soon I

will have to let her out for a nice long-distance run. While I am running laps, I notice that Caleb has

started using the punching bag. I enjoy the view of watching his muscles ripple as he releases a

series of quick jabs, followed up by a round house kick. I could watch his body move for hours; he is

gorgeous. The way his muscles ripple, and bulge is like watching poetry in motion.

After I feel completely warmed up from running, I go and ask Caleb if he wants to run through some

drills. I am getting better at hand to hand combat, but I know that I can always improve. Caleb is

great in combat so running drills with him will push me to my limits.

We hit the mats and I am happy that Caleb is not holding back. He teaches me a few new

maneuvers, and I am happy when I finally get him to submit. There was a small part of me that was

worried that he would take it easy on me because I am his mate, but I can tell that he is treating me

as if I were one of his warriors. Caleb runs drills with me for almost an hour, finally we both lay on

the mat our energy spent. I giggle when my stomach lets out a growl.

“We should go and get some dinner. Your stomach is demanding it." Caleb is laughing too, and I am

genuinely happy in this moment.

“Thank you for this. I was worried earlier with Scarlet leaving, but this was perfect. I know that you

have been doing everything you can to help me adjust to everything. I just wanted you to know that

I appreciate everything you have done and continue to do.” I can hear that there are people moving

around in the locker rooms, so I am grateful that I was able to tell Caleb exactly what I was feeling

before they could come in.

“I will always try my hardest to make you happy Daphne.” Caleb reaches over and takes my hand

stroking my happy with his thumb. “I want you to know that I want to make you happy because I

love you, not just because of the mate bond. You amaze me everyday Daphne. You are so much

stronger than I think you realize.” There is something incredibly intimate about both of us being this

open and honest with each other. Hearing Caleb say that he loves me releases a flurry of butterflies

in my stomach. I feel like I am floating on air.

“I love you too Caleb, and no not just because of the mate bond.” The noise coming from the locker

rooms is getting louder and I know that at any moment we are going to have an audience. Evidently

Caleb was thinking the same thing because he springs to his feet and reaches down to help me up.

We walk hand and hand up to the upper deck where we can view the warriors coming in for

training.

"Although Theo normally teaches most of the training classes, when he is away, we have elder

warriors’ step in to run the classes through their drills.” Caleb explains to me. As the Luna of this

pack it is good for me to know the inner workings. 1 am not sure exactly what my role entails, but I

know that I would like to become as knowledgeable as Theo, so that Caleb can lean on me

sometimes.

We watch as the older teenage class files in, and I see one of the older members of the pack bring

them to attention. He starts warming them up, and Caleb and I observe silently. Watching all their

fluid movements during warm up makes me wish that I had been able to train when I was younger

as well. Everyone has made me feel welcome and comfortable, but I do long for what could have

been. Soon they are split into three groups, one running laps, one group working on the bags, and

one group has started running drills in sparring

I watch the sparring group closely, partly in a desire to learn more moves. Since these members are

older, they spar hard with each other. I grimace as a tall boy is flipped hard onto his back, and his

opponent puts him in a strong arm bar. This is a move that Theo has used many times on me so I

know how painful it can be. To my relief though the boy is able to get out of the arm bar quickly

and the two return to sparring.

“They will make great warriors when their training is complete.” Caleb whispers to me close to my

ear. I nod in agreement with him. I jump when there is a loud bang in the arena below. My attention

is drawn to two boys that were supposed to be working on hand movements with the bag, now

arguing with each other. The instructor heads over to break the boys up, as they are now quickly

getting physical. I look to Caleb to see if he is going to intervene, but he does not. Instead he

watches how his older soldier handles the situation. Assuming that it is under control I return my

attention back to the pack members that are sparring.

The boys are grappling on the ground now, fighting each other for the upper hand. The young man

that was able to put his opponent in the arm bar looks as if he is going to get the upper hand in this

match. I watch as he maneuvers behind his opponent quickly, and places him in choke hold. I

mentally applaud his movement and assume that the other boy will tap out soon. To my surprise

though the boy does not tap out, instead I can see that he is calling on his wolf for strength and he

is close to losing control. His fangs are already starting to protrude. My heart starts beating rapidly

worried for both boys now, I look to find the instructor, but he is still dealing with the guys that

started having a fight earlier.

I glance back to the boys sparring, and notice that the young man is starting to sprout hair on his

arms. “Caleb look,” I am actively pulling on Caleb's arm, worried now that we have a young wolf that

may be acting feral, but Caleb is distracted too. With my heart beating in my chest I decide to yell at

the boys and end the sparring match, hoping that it will be enough to snap them both back into

their senses.

I lean a little over the bannister and yell stop as loudly as I can. No one pays any attention to me

though, and I can see that he is starting to shift faster. I raise my hands up not exactly sure why but

suddenly I can feel a surge of energy flowing through me. Without knowing what I am doing a light

blue ball shoots from my hand and wraps around the boy that was turning. It envelopes him and

successfully separates him from his opponent. I have no idea what I have just done or how I was

able to do it.

Suddenly I realize that the entire training center is dead silent. I can not peal my eyes from the kid

that is still in the weird blue orb that came out of my hand.

“Daphne, how did you do that?” Caleb's voice snaps me out of my daze, and I turn my head to look

at him. As soon as I looked away from the orb is seemed to dissipate and the younger boy was left

looking dazed and a little scared on the mat.

“um I have no idea. I have never done anything like that before. I did not even know that was

something we could do.” I finally answer Caleb.

“Daphne that is not something that normal werewolves can do.” My blood turns icy at Caleb's

words. If this is not something that normal werewolves do than how could I have done this? What

did this mean? I stand frozen in place listening to Caleb as he informs me that he is going to go

check on the young man. Finally, he returns upstairs and grabs my hand, leading me away and out

into the fast approaching dusk.

Once we are back in the manor house, Caleb takes me into the sitting room and puts me on the

couch. I am still in shock over the events at the training center. What was that orb? Did it hurt that

kid? Did it really come out of me?

Caleb leaves the room for a few minutes and comes back holding two cups of tea. He sits down

next to me and takes my hands in his. My anxiety is already through the roof, and I appreciate his

small acts of comforting me.

“Daphne, I know that you are really confused right now, but I want you to be at ease. Everything is

perfectly fine, no one was hurt.” Caleb’s words do bring me a measure of peace for a moment. I was

worried that I had hurt that young man.

“Caleb something is wrong with me. Shouldn't we go see the pack doctor or something?” I have no

idea what is going on, but even Caleb said that normal werewolves should not be able to do things

like that.

“No sweetheart there is nothing wrong with you at all I promise.” Caleb is reassuring and looking

me deep in my eyes. My breathing has evened out a little and I am feeling more at peace. “I should

have told you earlier about something that Theo and I discovered amongst some of our pack

members. We have discovered that several of our pack members have special abilities. Abilities that

normal werewolves do not have.” Caleb takes a deep breath and now he appears to be the nervous

one.

“Please do not be upset, this is not information that we have intentionally hid from you. Theo and I

noticed these special abilities and we have been trying to figure out why they are appearing in

members of our pack. We have not heard of any other packs having members with these kinds of

abilities.” Caleb takes a deep breath, and I can understand why this is not knowledge that he has

readily shared openly. I have never heard of anyone else having special abilities before either, so I

do understand.

"So, there are other members in our pack that can do what I can do?” I ask him hesitantly.

"Well not exactly what you can do, but we do have members that can do things that normal

werewolves cannot. For example, we have a wolf that can manipulate fire, and one that can help

people with fertility issues, and yet another one that can levitate. We currently do not have any two

that have the same abilities that we are aware of yet. We have noticed that there has been an

increase in the number of members that have displayed special talents.” Caleb explains to me

carefully. I take a deep breath trying to process everything that I have learned, regarding some of

my pack members.

“Theo has had a knack for discovering these special abilities in our members. He has also done a

fantastic job of creating special trainings that have helped our members hone these new abilities.

We both decided that until we could discover why our members were being born with these abilities

that we would not make their presence public knowledge.” Caleb is still looking nervous.

“Caleb I would never do anything that would put this pack in harms way. I will not say anything to

anyone about what I know. I am their Luna after all, and I meant what I said. I will do everything

including giving my life for this pack.” I try to reassure him that this information is safe with me.

“I know that you will. I know that you must have a ton of questions, and I am sorry, but I do not

have all the answers you are going to want. I do know that I will stand by your side and help search

for those answers.” Caleb seems a little calmer, but I can still sense some stress in him

“I am sorry, I am not very good at this. Like I said normally it is Theo that discovers the special

abilities, so I do not have much practice in reassurance.” Caleb lets out a nervous laugh, and I am

grateful that I finally know what is causing his apprehension.

“My opinion may be biased since I am your mate, but you are pretty good at this.” I reach over and

wrap him in a hug.

"Once Theo gets back, we can work out a plan for your training. Until then I can try, but I am not

sure how good I will do.”

“I can wait until Theo gets back. I really do not even know how I did that to begin with, and it makes

me nervous until I know exactly what it is that I even did. Thank you for handling everything back

there at the training center though, I was in shock.” Caleb nods his head at my words.

"Ok well let's go grab some pizza, and then maybe call it a night.” Caleb grabs my hand and we go

into the kitchen and heat up a meat pizza. With all that has happened today we are both beat. As

we climb into bed, I once again thank the Moon Goddess for blessing me with such an amazing

mate. Caleb is a perfect match for me, even if I did not believe it at first. As I drift off to sleep in

Caleb's arms, I am excited for our future and whatever it may hold.

I know that I may have started out as a slave girl, but with Caleb at my side we can conquer

anything.