He executed power beyond her wildest dreams, and Lyra could only hope that she would achieve a fraction of the confidence her mate had.
Lyra(2022)
They had finished going over a majority of the plans involving this coven, and all that Lyra could think about was food. She felt her stomach growl and she looked at Alana. Her warm smile invited her over to the table, Eleni stood next to Gus on the far edge of the kitchen, and they looked as if they were in a heated discussion, yet, no words left their mouths. Lyra sat down staring at the couple in confusion when she felt a presence take the seat next to her. Thyrius cleared his throat and placed a plate in front of each of them. The smell of chicken, mushrooms, and broccoli filled her nose and she let out a content sigh. Thyrius placed a hand on her cheek and she turned to look at him. "If you would like, after dinner tonight, would you take a walk with me? I want to show you the pack's garden. I'd like to see if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, I would really appreciate it." Lyra felt her cheeks burn at his question, and though it was only so that she could help improve his territory, she couldn't help but feel excited. She loved her garden, and missed it terribly. She would take any chance to be around nature at this point. "Yeah, of course." His smile widened a bit and he turned back to his plate and dug in.
When the four finished their lunch, Eleni stole Lyra and ran to the training grounds for the second time. She was excited because they were going to spar, and with only a few days until they ventured off to the coven, Lyra needed to learn how to defend herself, that was the only way she'd have even an ounce of confidence on this mission. Gus met them there shortly after and guided them over to a section of the training grounds with matts, and sparring dummies. "Lyra, I'm aware that you have little experience in fighting, so I just want to run through the basics today, and tomorrow I'll have you spar with someone." Gus' voice held a certain level of professionalism, but friendly enough that Lyra felt a little more at ease. She saw that Gus had long bands in his hand, and he instructed her to hold out her hands. A few moments later her hands were wrapped in black cloth, and knuckle gloves were placed on top. "I'm gonna teach you a few combos on the bag, but before that I want to see what kind of punch you pack." Gus stood in front of her with his hands held open and arms stretched towards her.
Lyra only looked at his hands in confusion. "Lyra, I want you to punch my hand. As hard as you can. Don't be scared." Gus winked at her and held his arms out once again. This time Lyra held her fist up, cocked it back, and punched as hard as she could, smacking his palm dead in the center. She immediately saw a look of pride on Gus' face. "Okay, so not a horrible amount of power, but you have accuracy down. We'll build that power up with practice. Now, let's start with a three strike combo, and later we'll throw in kicks." Gus proceeded to lead her over to an empty bag and instruct her further on her form.
"Ten more seconds! Footing! Remember your footing!" Gus' voice rang throughout the training grounds, and Lyra could barely hear over the intense ringing in her ears.
"Five more seconds! Push through it!" He barked at her, only motivating her to push herself the last few seconds. Her punches echoed in her ears and the ringing was dying down. Each smack satisfying her. She had gotten a rhythm going and she felt more power flow into her strikes. "Done!" Lyra stopped her attack, and caught the bag with both of her hands. She knew she was going to be sore tomorrow, but there was a level of excitement that flowed through her, having completed the session for the day. She wiped at the sweat on her forehead, and grabbed a bottle of water that lay on the grass.
She opened the top and took three large gulps before twisting the cap back on and tucking it under her arm. "That was good work today Ly." Eleni came up from behind. She immediately stiffened, and she was pulled back into her days with Shay. She missed her terribly, and the nickname only reminded her of the small, shy child. She wondered how she was doing, and if Kenna was continuing her daily routine of annoying her. All she could think about were the days she'd read books while Shay colored quietly next to her. She was fond of her, and the guilt of leaving began to eat away at her.
Lyra was snapped out of her somber daydream by Eleni's worried voice. "Lyra, are you okay?" Lyra only nodded, wiping more sweat off of her forehead to show her she was just tired from the workout. "Oh, well we were saying that Thyrius would be here in a few minutes, but it looks like he's already here." Eleni giggled a bit at Lyra's shocked expression. She turned around to see that he had in fact, was here, and when he caught her gaze, he froze a moment before taking three large strides towards her. A gasp escaped her lips as he pulled her into his arms and buried his face into her neck. "Uhm, hello, Thyrius." Lyra cleared her throat, trying to force the blush off her cheeks. "I'm a bit sweaty right now, I don't want to ruin your clothes." She tried again to wiggle out of his grasp. Not that she wanted to be out of his arms, but more like she didn't know if she could control her thoughts any longer. "I was just about to work out, so don't worry about that, sweet Lyra. I just wanted to say hi before Eleni took you away from me again." His tone was playful as he turned her to look at him. She saw his eyes sparkle with something before he leaned in close. "But trust me, I would never mind you being sweaty while you're in my arms." His whisper sent chills down her spine and she looked down at her shoes so he wouldn't catch her embarrassed gaze.
Eleni bounced back over to them before she could get another word out and informed her that she would be taking her to the library to teach Lyra more about their history. She was more than delighted to get out of there, her cheeks hurt from the smile on her face. She followed Eleni with excitement and she waved at Thyrius just as he turned and walked over to the bag she had just trained on. She couldn't help the wave of happiness that ran over her and she held her hand to her face to catch the giggle that threatened to escape. She found this absolutely lethal monster to be absolutely adorable, and just his presence really did something dangerous to her mind. For some reason, Lyra enjoyed that.