Heather's POV
Why the fuck would I do that? Why did I feel the urge to kiss her? Why was I so tempted? Why did I kiss her? Now, she is going make a big deal about it and think that we are together. I am such a dumbass. Why the fuck did I kiss her? I drifted to sleep with these thoughts.
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"Beep, beep"
I groaned before reaching out to stop the alarm. Why the fuck do we have to train at 4 in the morning? I lazily got out of my bed and headed to the restroom to change into something more sports friendly. A couple of minutes later, I was ready for practice and for going back to my bed again.
I dragged my myself out the door and towards training arena. Most of the members from my pack were still very sleep while the Howling Sages pack looked ready for the day. As we were entering the arena, I saw Cooper looking fresh as hell, ready to kick ass, she was handing out glasses of water to everybody.
"Good morning! Care for some water, Ms. Bloomingdale?", Cooper asked when I got close.
"What did I tell you? Call me Heather, and yes, I will take some water", I replied still sleepy.
"Here you go, this will wake you up," Cooper said handing me a glass of water.
"At what time did you wake up?", I asked, curious.
"3:20 am", Cooper replied nonchalantly.
"When did you go to bed?" I questioned, curious how she was so fresh despite waking up so early. I am sure she must have been the first person to wake up.
"I don't remember but by the time was done setting up the water station and the training material it was almost two." Cooper said absent-minded as she was still handing out water glasses to the last of the arrivals.
We still had a good five minutes before the training started. "Why were you setting it up?" I enquired.
"Because it's my day. You see, everyday, one of teens is responsible for handing out water glasses in the morning and setting up the water station and the training equipment. This week, it's my turn." she explained.
"Oh... that is umm.. nice, I guess. I will also have to do it sometimes, right?", I asked, already feeling lazy.
Cooper chuckled before answering "Yes, but your turn is like weeks away. Alpha Richard has agreed with Alpha Barry to continue the training session we have since he feels it is more intense. Since, you have joined us recently, the Howling Sages' teens will be the first ones to finish and after you all have eased in then you can start. If you want I can put your name last on the list"
"You are responsible for preparing the lists?", I asked in wonder.
"Yes, I am in charge of the list and also for training the young ones. I train children under the age of 14 after our training session is completed", Cooper replied.
Alpha Barry blew the whistle, attracting everybody's attention. Cooper gave me a nod and moved to the front where she could be seen by the Alpha. Dad, mom and Luna Bernice soon joined Alpha Barry in the front.
"Good morning, pack. I know this is new to the Red Moon but you will all get used to the exercise regime very quickly. This is Rick, our commander, he will be coordinating with Commander Hugh from Red Moon, both of them will be training you and the other adults of the pack."
"As you all know, children under and up to the age of 14 are trained right after us so, we need volunteers who can help Cooper in training the young pups. Earlier we didn't have too many kids therefore, one person was enough to train them. Now, we have 30 odd children who need to be trained. We need 1 or 2 volunteers and I hope you are all eager to help" Alpha Barry finished.
Alpha Barry signaled Rick and Hugh to take over. "So, since we will be following Howling Sages' fitness regime with some inclusions from the Red Moon there will be some changes. The new regime will consist of 50 laps in human form. After that we proceed with strength and endurance building exercises. After that we move to the combat training, first human-human, then human-wolf and lastly wolf-wolf. The sparring will change everyday, you will switch partners to be able to fight those who are stronger than you and also weaker than you." Hugh said.
"After the sparring, you will all finish off with some stretching for cool down. Those of you who need special focus will also be trained in the evening. Your training sessions start at 4 am and ends at 6:30 am everyday, the evening training session is from 6 - 7 pm. Those of you who are interested in helping out your fellow pack members can also join the evening training." Rick finished.
"Start the laps, everybody" Commanders hollered at us.
Everybody started running laps. I was running behind some blond guy trying to find Drake. I hadn't seen him all morning. I just hope he hasn't overslept. I was getting tired but kept going, it has been a while since I have trained.
I saw Cooper running in a different lane, a few guys ahead of me. She was wearing a sports tee with her running shorts from last night. The t-shirt clung to her body tightly. I could make out her back muscles from here.
Our rounds were done very quickly. We starting with the strength training and endurance exercises. Cooper was very good at these. She was the doing everything with such poise and made it all seem so easy. The bulked up guys from my old pack were trying hard to compete with her but were failing epically. Looks like Cooper's old pack knew not to try and compete with her.
"Alright, now. Everybody, choose a partner for sparring. Make sure that your partner is the same size as you" Rick said.
Three guys and two girls had approached me to be their sparring partner but I rejected them since I have the alpha blood, I am stronger than them. I saw Cooper standing and scoping the crowd to find a partner but looks like nobody approached her.
"Nobody wants to spar with you?", I asked distracting her from her quest.
"No, people don't like fighting me. I usually spar with the betas but they seem busy." Cooper replied.
I finally spotted the perfect sparring partner for me and walked towards her. The girl looked the same height and body weight as me. She didn't have a partner because she was still scoping the crowd.
"Hey, I am Heather" I approached her.
"Who doesn't know you? I am Cheryl, by the way" the girl said.
"Nice to meet you Cheryl, I was wondering if you'd like to be my sparring partner?" I offered.
"Why yes, of course!" Cheryl replied.
I looked around to see if she had found a sparring partner but looks like she was still searching for one.
Cheryl and I had been sparring for a while now when we heard Hugh yelling "Break it up, you two"
We looked up to see Drake holding Cooper in a deadlock. Drake didn't plan on letting Cooper go and Cooper was adamant on trying to flip Drake. I speed walked towards them.
"That is enough!" Rick yelled but Drake wasn't listening.
Rick and Hugh forcefully pulled them apart. "What is going on?" Rick hollered at the two of them.
Drake was still heaving in anger while Cooper looked calm and composed. She straightened herself and turned to Rick and Hugh.
"Apologies, commander. We were just sparring but Drake here, had gotten very competitive because I kept blocking and dodging his attack after which he got aggressive and I just tried to get him to cool down." Cooper answered.
"Bitch, you think you are better than me? Why not duel? I am sure, I will knock your pasty ass in less then 5 minutes" Drake sneered.
"Drake, I advice you to watch your tongue when you speak to me. Do not forget that I am the future co-alpha of this new pack. I will not tolerate this type of disrespect again, this is strike two for you", Cooper warned.
"Shut your trap, dyke" Drake spat.
"Commander, I request you to take some action before I take matters into my own hands which I assure you will not look good" Cooper's tone was calm and stony. It sent shivers down my spine.
"Look who needs help from the commanders. You scared to duel me, huh? Fucking carpet munching dyke bitch!" Drake said.
"I accept your challenge", Cooper confirmed.
"Fine, tonight at 8. You are dead," Drake laughed.
Cooper hadn't said anything else. She continued with her stretching and cool down before going and sitting in the shade.
"What the hell was that about?" I spat while she chugged some water.
She offered me the water bottle which I gladly took. "Your boyfriend was being an ass and insulting me, that is what was happening", Cooper replied with sass.
"You are angry at me for rejecting you, why are you dragging him into this?", I asked.
"Heather, I am not trying to pick fights with you or with that boy. All I did was complete my training. He was the one who approached me and said that he wanted to spar, I wasn't even attacking him, I was playing defense. If you still don't believe me then you can confirm it with him. I have had enough of him insulting me for no reason. My sexuality is not something he should be insulting. Please, make sure that he knows our pack has strict policies against homophobic people." Cooper said before getting up and going inside the pack house.
Why the hell would Drake try to start a fight in the new pack that too with somebody from the Alpha bloodline? I was brought out of my thoughts when I saw Cooper come out with all the children, some looked excited while some looked really sleepy.
"Alright kids, first thing we do in training is drinking water, so everybody grab a glass and chug!" Cooper shouted to the kids excitedly.
The kids rushed to the table near by and started chugging the water. They all looked excited now. Cooper's eyes landed on me and she gave me a confused look. "I am sorry but I have to ask, what are you still doing here?"
"I am gonna watch the practice and if it's exciting enough I will volunteer", I replied sternly.
"Cool. Take a seat, you must be tired from this morning" Cooper gave a small smile before moving to the center of the training ground.
"Alright kids, five laps and then we move to cardio. Cool?" Cooper asked the kids who all groaned in response.
"Alright, alright! I get it you guys don't like laps but how about we make a train? You guys like the train game, isn't it?"
The kids seemed to cheer up upon hearing about the train game. I haven't seen Cooper this happy before, she is always serious and barely smiles. This is like watching a totally new Cooper. The kids starting piling behind each other and forming a large human chain train. With a "choo choo" Cooper started a slow jog which was basically running for the kids. Cooper would occasionally add some commentary and make train noise which kept the kids entertained for the five laps.
"That was very good, kids. Can I have two volunteers for the next act?", Cooper asked pretending to be a magician.
Kids laughed and a few hands went up. Cooper pretended to think hard before calling a little girl and a boy to the front.
"Now, I am gonna play a song and little John and Marcy here will demonstrate dance moves which you will all follow. We will take turn to come up here, okay?" Cooper explained the game.
All the kids jumped around in happiness. Marcy was really excited too but John seemed a bit nervous and I think Cooper noticed his hesitation. She kneeled in front of the kid before talking to him in hushed tone. I couldn't hear anything so I got up and moved closer.
"John, there is nothing to be nervous about. We are all friends here and I am right beside you. Marcy and I will be dancing with you. You think you can manage?" Cooper cooed to the little boy who nodded his head.
Cooper played a song from one of the Disney movies and Darcy started the dance. At first, John was nervous and awkward but as soon as Cooper started dancing with him, he went right into the groove. Cooper stopped the song before it ended and called up two other kids and played a different song. This went on till all the kids had their turn to play leader. I looked at the time and it was almost 7:30.
"Now, for you favorite game, push over. Who is ready?" Kids cheered.
"Okay, rules are simple. I will stand still and all of you will try to push me and make me fall. Let's move to the mats, shall we?", Cooper explained the game to the children from my pack.
Everybody rushed over to the mats where Cooper stood very still and all kids started pushing her together. About 30 seconds later Cooper was on the floor with the kids on her and some kids around her, jumping and cheering in victory.
"That's it for today. Tomorrow we do an obstacle course. Now get ready for school y'all" Cooper hurried the kids out of the arena and began packing the water station very quickly.
"That was nice" I said from behind her.
She turned to look at me with a look of surprise on her face. "You are still here, I thought you left. And thanks." Cooper replied.
"Aren't you late for the school? If we want to reach on time you should head to the shower. The bus leaves in about 20 minutes." Cooper said after checking her watch.
"Oh shit! I totally forgot about that" I replied hurriedly before running inside to head to the shower. After taking a quick shower, I dressed in blue skinny jeans and a white crop top. I applied some make-up before taking my bag and running down.
When I reached the last step, most of the teens were already there. I went to stand outside on the porch where Cooper was already waiting for the bus to arrive. She was wearing ripped jeans, a t-shirt with a leather jacket, the same type of outfit she wore yesterday.
"Wow...you are like super fast" I said.
"I am used to it. Here, I picked up some breakfast for you" she said handing me a Tupperware.
I smiled and took the box from her. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until now. I don't understand if I should be worried that she is doing all of this stuff for me? Does she think that we are going get together? Is this because of the kiss? I have to talk to her.