Chapter 69: PRINCESS OR MONSTER
I was first in the training hall as usual. So I set my water bottle in my usual corner and started warming up. Today I was in my navy Capri sweat pants, navy sports bra and a loose white t-shirt with the words "Make a Wish" in loopy letters across it.
The three goons came in next. They put down their stuff and sat around the benches chatting.
Flynn was next, he was just in time. He whistled at the goons who dragged themselves up to get to him. They warmed up with Flynn leading.
I'm finished with my warm ups. Flynn called over his shoulder, "Sam run 10 around the hall." So I started running.
Entered Dean, "Sorry I'm late, Fl-Sir."
Flynn nodded tersely in acknowledgement, but yelled out to me, "How many have you run Sam?"
"Three, sir!" I shouted back.
"Three musketeers, finish 10 laps before Sam!" He instructed the goons.
If I had known he'd do this, I'd have run a lot faster.
The goons whined a bit, but Flynn snarled at them, and they were quickly running around the hall.
I sped up, just a bit because I still didn't like goons. But not too much because that seemed cruel. I didn't have to hold back though, they passed me in no time at all. I realized belatedly that I was so used to training with Dean, I forgot that most guys our age would be faster and stronger. I sped up more.
The goons noticed, "Hey! Hey!" They protested at me.
A deep growl behind me said, "Slow down b*****."
I sped up. "That's not how you ask a favor." I shouted.
I saw Nix hit Marlow over the back of his head.
"He's an idiot, don't mind it!" He shouted at me.
They howled in laughter... Seriously, that would only slow them down. I kept my new pace. I would overtake them soon.
"F***!" I don't know which one swore. Wow, the stuff that came out of their mouths.
"Hey!" Nix tried again, "Sam, right?" He dropped back to run beside me.
The third one, what's his name, oh yeah, Ethan dropped back too. "Have mercy!" He begged in jest.
"How about you help us out here, eh? You help us, we help you?" Nix gave me a well practiced smile.
After seeing Liam's many practiced smiles, I was not only well acquainted with them, but also rather immune.
But the deal sounded good to me.
I slowed down so we could talk, "Yeah? How can you help me?"
Nix smiled again, "Whatever you want, Princess."
I clenched my fist not to hit him.
"First, don't call me princess. And second..." I thought about it for a while. How do I deal with these bad boys?
If I asked them for too much, e.g. "Do what I tell you." They would rebel and the deal will fall through. I needed to ask them for something they are willing to give but would be beneficial for me.
"Well? What you want from us, Princess?" Nix asked.
"Laugh at all my jokes." I finally decided.
"What?" Nix certainly hadn't been expecting that.
"I'm laughing! I'm laughing!" Ethan howled.
I laughed at that.
"Okay," I agreed, "I'll let you catch up with me. But after that, I will run as fast as I want." I wasn't about to let the bad boys win so easily.
Marlow had caught up so now he was a lap ahead of his friends.
"So you going to play nice?" He growled at me. I guess he was the serious bad boy type.
"If you call me Princess and laugh at all my jokes." I decided to attempt reverse phycology.
"Hahaha, Princess. Happy now?" Marlow growled.
That so didn't work.
"So only Marlow gets to call you princess?" Nix asked. Flirty bad boy type.
"That kind of backfired on me." I admitted to him.
Ethan made a desperate laugh, sounding like a hyena "I'm laughing princess, see!"
Funny bad boy type? Was there such a category?
"Hurry up and run." I told them.
I heard Marlow snarl and Nix and Ethan were quickly ahead of me.
"Why are you giving them slack, Sam?" Flynn yelled at me.
"They promised to laugh at my jokes, sir." I yelled back.
The three goons obliged with a demonstration while still running, "HAHAHAHAHAHA"
I saw Flynn suppress a smile and shook his head. "What lap are you at?" He asked.
"Lap 4, Sir."
"Dean, run 6 faster than Sam. You can owe me the other 4 later." Flynn patted Dean on the shoulder.
Dean looked miserable but started running. I suddenly felt my plan to race the last few laps crumble.
"Run faster Dean!" I told him.
"I can't Sam!" He said. He ran next to me, at my leisurely jog.
The three goons passed me, "Princess and the omega, sitting in a tree..." they called out because they were so mature.
So very mature.
I kept count on Marlow since he was one lap ahead from the others.
Nix and Ethan seemed to realize they were behind and doubled up their efforts.
By lap five, all three hyenas had caught up with each other. All the easier on me to keep count.
By lap six they had caught up with me.
Oh! I wanted to run and make them all eat my dust. But Dean would be left behind. I picked up my pace just to match the goons. Nothing crazy, but Dean quickly lagged behind, so I slowed again.
Nix breezed by with a, "Take your time, Princess."
Marlow growled, "Too busy pacing your boyfriend?"
"Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" Sang Ethan as he ran ahead, still laughing like a hyena.
"Tell me you're not an hyena in disguise." I muttered.
"HAHAHAHA Princess is the funniest!" Ethan screamed from the other end of the hall.
The other two laughed at that.
Lap seven for them, lap six for me, lap one for Dean.
Goons, bad boys, and hyenas. Whatever the label, my wolf was cheesed at me for dropping behind.
"Sorry Dean, I need to teach these Hyenas a lesson." I said.
"Whatcha gonna teach us, princess?" Nix challenged. He wasn't smiling anymore, there was warning in his tone.
I decided then, even though I hated them for intruding my pack training session, even though they are disrespectful and annoying, even though they had beaten up Dean in school, I was going to let bygones be bygones.
I was going to accept them as part of this training group. (But that didn't mean I was going to let them win.)
At this point, it would be cool if I had a one liner to shove it in their faces.
Wolfie helped, "You wanna run with my pack, you gotta keep up."
And then I shot forward, alpha mode all the way. I passed Ethan who promptly stopped laughing. And Marlow who cursed something I won't write down in my innocent pure diary. And then I heard Nix, his voice like a whip to the other two wolves, "Run!"
The guys picked up their pace fast. They were actually good runners and even my alpha speed was pressured.
"Run for your lives!" Ethan screamed at the last lap.
I sped past him laughing.
Of course, I won.
Flynn had an evil glint in his eyes as he watched the guys cross the finish line after me. "Nice job Sam."
I was panting too hard to answer. Those guys can run.
I was only aware they had crossed a few seconds later when one by one they were suddenly near me, the sound of their panting, the smell of deodorant, and the wave of collective body heat too close for comfort. I stepped away.
I saw Flynn had moved our water bottles over. I gratefully picked up mine for a drink.
"You're not a princess, you're a monster!" Ethan gasped at me.
Of the three goons, I liked him best.
And then Nix surprised me with just three words.
"Well played, Sam." Nix said.
"Yeah." Marlow agreed.
Seriously? They submit? That was too easy.
"Where Sam stands for Super Atomic Monster." Ethan informed everyone.
"Awww... That's the sweetest thing anyone had ever called me." I joked back.
The guys immediately broke out into loud sarcastic laughter, "Hahahahaha!"
They were not going to let it go, were they? Will they ever stop with the sarcastic laughing? They did stop, but only to drink their waters too.
Evelyn came in then. Flynn went over to her. She was telling him something while he frowned. It looked like she won't be able to join us for training tonight. She certainly wasn't in her training gear. I looked away. It's none of my business.
"Princess, you're not funny." Marlow growled to inform me. Ouch.
"Just leave the funny stuff to the pro." Ethan advised.
"Yeah, you just stand there and look pretty or whatever you princesses do." Nix was all cocky smiles again.
"I want more water." I held up my empty bottle to him defiantly. If he wanted a princess, I'll show him a princess!
And then Nix surprised me again. He took my bottle and emptied some of his own water into it, "Your wish is my command, princess."
"I wish you'd never call me princess again." I tried again.
"HAHAHAHA" They said.
It seemed that when they said,"Hahahahaha", they don't always mean, "You're not funny." Sometimes they also mean, "We don't care."
Actually, something didn't click. They obviously didn't like me, so why were they making an effort to get along (in their own way).
"What are you guys up to?" I narrowed my eyes at them.
Marlow growled and shrugged.
Ethan gave me his widest innocent look.
Nix raised his hands in surrender, "We just want to get along."
"Why?" I asked.
"Are you always so suspicious?" Nix asked.
Wolfie was raising her head to strike, I growled a warning at Nix.
"Hey, alright, Harvey told us to watch out for you." Nix said finally.
Oh, the good beta did?
"As in watch out for her, she is a fragile princess or watch out for her, she is a monster?" I asked.
"We thought the former..." Ethan admitted, "but now I think the latter interpretation made more sense."
Uh huh.
Flynn stepped up then and we all quieten. I wanted to know the reason behind Flynn's evil glint. They wanted to know how their life was about to end.
"You three musketeers, go carry Dean to finish his laps. Sam gets a break."
The goons looked at him in horror. Flynn growled.
"Yes Sir!" The acknowledgement was immediately swift. The goons were truly afraid of Flynn. I could tell, because they were actually obedient to him.
I drank my water while I waited. They goons were tired. They had really ran for their lives just now. They struggled to carry Dean through the rest of his laps.
"My legs are made of jelly" Ethan sang as he wobbled behind. He wasn't helping.
"Shut up." Nix told him sharply. He wasn't helping either.
Marlow just grunted under Dean's full weight.
Such weird dynamics these guys had. I didn't understand them. But that's the nice thing about dealing with guys, they didn't need you to understand them.
My legs were also going to hurt tomorrow. I stretched them out. Please Wolfie speed up healing or I'll be singing Ethan's new song too.
But despite Wolfies best efforts, Flynn was a demon tonight. After the run, we had to set up the obstacle course, run it, and take it all down again, then drag it all back to the store room. All with our useless jelly legs.
"Should've let us win, amirite, Princess?" Nix smiled at me and took the heavy poles off me.
"What would be the fun in that?" I asked him and took the poles back from him.
Ethan walked past us, "Hahahaha"
Marlow growled "Shut up."
Flynn was training Dean separately. That was good. It gave Dean a good training opportunity to grow stronger.
Once we were dismissed I managed to get myself over to my front porch without tripping over my own jelly legs.
The goons were climbing into a black pick up truck outside the pack house. Ethan fell off when his legs just crumpled under him. I stopped to laugh. The other two pulled him up and then they shouted very loudly, "Goodnight Princess!!!"
The truck pulled out into the street and they threw their head back laughing like Hyenas from the back of the truck.
For some inexplicable reason, embarrassment flooded through me and I fled through the safety of my front door.
But once through and back in the comfort of home, I smiled to myself, "I'm home." I called out to the empty living room.
Something smelled good, like chocolate and something baking...
"You're home," mum came out of the kitchen, "how was training?"
"It was fun." I said.
And then Savy came out of the kitchen with the source of that incredible smell, "Sam, meet Mr Triple Chocolate Muffin!"
"You baked!!! Yay!" I accepted Mr Muffin with opened arms (and mouth).
"I just got really hungry" Savy said.
Melted chocolate was in my mouth so I can't talk. I just nodded.
If my mate had a scent, I hope it was chocolate muffin. True, I might accidentally eat him, or purposely eat him, but it would be a risk I was willing to take.
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