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Elise should have known that sparring with Kaide would be far from easy; he was a monster on the field. A cold and clusive instructor, too.

The Blackmoon wolves were known to be one of the most c**g predators on the field; their opponents were alert and at a loss when facing a Blackmoon wolf.

Even with Rygan’s wicked talents when he was in the arena back at the Darknight Pack, he left no male alive and had never once forfeited a fight; that was now as monstrous as their strength.

And now that she was going through training, Kaide’s expression was cold and hard, unlike any emotion he’d ever shown. She was almost shaken by how direct and callous his words were.

First, they had worked on her defense and offense for a few hours, but then, when the sun had begun to go down, Kaide packed a bag and told her it was time to begin their real training.

Elise took one look at Taz, who felt almost sorry for her. He bit his lip, almost on the verge of bursting out into laughter when Kaide led the way out of the arena and into the darker hills and farther up the mountains.

“Sure, you can keep up,” he asked in a taunting dare, earning a breathless huff from Elise, who had leaned on a tree to catch her breath.

She felt her legs were as weak as molten, and with one kick, she would be rolling back down the hills, but she didn’t want to give up. Never did she want to be in that position of weakness ever again.

“You wish,” she said, and life let out a roguish, handsome smirk. He walked over to her, handing her the backpack he’d been with for over an hour, and the minute Elise’s hands held onto it, the weight of it almost brought her down to her knees.

She held herself up by the tree barking, her eyes blown wide in surprise that this was what he’d been carrying all this while and hadn’t broken a sweat. “God, this is what you have been carrying.” She called breathlessly.

“For my years of training, it isn’t a big deal. Rygen and Taz used to bet against each other when we were teenagers who would reach mountain peaks in our wolf form with three tons on our backs,” he explains of his experience.

“That is insane,” she called in awe, but then Kaide’s hand moved to take his shirt off, leaving his torso naked, and Elise’s eyes blew wide in confusion again,

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“Um, what are you doing?”

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“We have to reach there in less than fifteen minutes, El, and it’s a long time, or else we’d miss what we came here for,” he explains, reaching for his belt, and Elise took it as a cue to turn away quickly.

Kaide couldn’t hide the smirk that formed on his lips as he stopped himself from snickering, but he knew she wasn’t used to him yet.

“And the reason we have to be quick is…” She asked Kaide, who had shrugged.

“You’ll see when we get there” was the last thing she heard before she heard a snarl and quiet huffs. She turned back to see a brown wolf with those familiar brown eyes staring back at her.

It bowed its back, beckoning for her to get on as she pushed his clothes into the bag, placing it steady on her shoulders before dripping on his fur and climbing on Kaide’s back.

He leaped up with a great yet careful jump, his feet sparrowing through the trees and stoned trail. An open trail by the side came into view, and as they finally reached flat, solid ground, he continued for a few minutes till they passed large, tall shrubs and came into an open clearing.

It was a wide open space, with a small waterfall creek by the right end of the trail. Elise took in the magnificent space of lush green grass, covered by tall trees and beautiful, darkening blue skies that almost felt too good to be real.

Kaide had clutched the bag to his teeth as he walked behind the tree to get changed back to his human form and into his clothes.

Elise, on the other hand, was still in awe of the space but turned when she heard Kaide approach from behind.

“What is this place?”

“It’s kind of like a secret place to think; no one or the pups could make it without being breathless, so we made it our spot, but it has a secret between the three of us,” he explained.

She followed his gaze and glanced up at the sky, its once empty path now filled with a beautiful green stream of lights that formed mystical roady paths in the sky.

“This is nothing like I’ve ever seen,” she said with a gasp. Admiring the beauty of the lights.

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“It is a phenomenon, the northern lights have been like a tale through time; you’d find your light when time, he says as he turns to Elise, whose gaze is still stuck in awe.

“It’s so beautiful.”

“It is.” he answers back, but his gaze is still on her face, unbeknownst to Elise, who has no clue. “And your second mission starts now” he says, immediately getting her

attention.

“What?”

“This mountain top is acres wide; it’s flat enough for you to walk and run on, and I need you to hide and mask your very evident scent, especially since we want you to be well hidden. Those scent pills only work for a short while, and then they lose their effect, so you need to be able to do without them.”

“How did you know I was taking scent pills?”

“It made your scent bitter yet distinct, showing the effects are wearing down. It isn’t going to work soon, so I need you to learn how to control it.”

“Yeah, so what do I do then?”

“Let’s start the game of hide and seek-a tag race,” he explained, and her brows were raised in question. “If I catch you, you’d have to get the arena clean tomorrow, and I would if you hid for more than ten minutes without getting found, deal?” he tells Elise, who winces but nods in agreement.

“Alright deal,”

This was far harder than what Elise had envisioned, with Kaide giving her a head start only one minute before he would come after her.

First, she ran farther away, like her life depended on it. She raced till she reached trees that were covering a small opening in a cave.

Elise pushed her way through till she was fully stripped into the tight space, but only when she was halfway there. Did she realize how wet and muddy the space was?

She had no time to complain or change her hiding spot because she immediately heard a howl from Kaide, signaling the start of the hunt they had practiced for.

A few minutes of meditation and m**l training before they began the game. And with that howl, she knew she was on the chase for her as she speeds into the woods.

She wondered if her shoes and hair tie she discarded earlier would trick him with her

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scents, as Elise could do nothing but hope that she wasn’t found.

**lower*” A voice in her head echoed; she listened before she could even fully

recognize it was her wolf.

The moment she did, she heard a snapping shoulder telling her that Kaide was close and he could have seen her if she hadn’t gone lost.

*Are you here?” She closed her eyes, concentrating on that voice.

“I am always here; you need to find yourself, Elise, and then you will find me, the calm voice says. “He’s here*” Her wolf warns, and Elise pulls herself from her hiding spot and makes a run for it. There are only two minutes left if she could evade him before

then.

Her line of vision was immediately broken by a fast attack. Kaide had turned back to his human form, but his eyes and claws were still evident of the carnage and monstrous power that lurked underneath as he crept out of the shadows, his eyes bright and his teeth snarling.

“In the wild, there is no mercy; there is no hesitation because your opponent, whether human or wolf, will try to kill you,” he says with another attack.

Elise ducked the attack as she slid down enough to avoid his touch, but Kaide was quick, spun, and quickly caught her legs, earning a grunt from Elise as she fell. She was not able to evade his quick grip on her.

“Times up”

“S*,” she groaned.

“And you won,” he

won,” he says to Elise, who looks at him, stunned and happy. She pulls herself with her lips stretched in an excited smile.

up

“Really?”

“Yeah, you did; I was surprised by you; your method was excellent; like a hunter used to her surroundings, and like a dangerous wolf, I could hardly get a read on you until the last moment,” he explained.

“So well done, Elise; you beat the second commander of the Black Moon forces, and now his a**as to clean the sweaty and dirty arena.” Elise laughed at his jokes. She wondered if he was just going easy on her with his training, but she was thankful for it.

His gaze lowered to her clothes as his brows furrowed. “But it seems you’ve gotten yourself dirtier than I presumed you’d be,” he called, looking at her clothes.

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“Thankfully, I have spares for us, but I need to get the mud out of your skin first,” he

says.

“To be honest, I can feel the dirt on the back of my car and behind my throat,” she gagged, making Kaide laugh as they walked back to the creek.

Elise took off her clothes till she was left with a black satin two-piece, grateful that her shorts were long enough to reach her thighs. She dipped herself in the water, washing off the mud, as Kaide did the same by the edge.

Elise walked out of the water only to be stopped by Kaide’s voice as he cursed, “F**k, I think I lost my ring.” He called, and Elise recalled a ring that was identical to the ones that Rygen and Taz wore on their left index fingers-a ring of their sword loyalty to each other and their pack as wolf brothers.

Elise decided to help him check, since it was important. As she moved a black tunic that lay on a rock, she heard a small metal clink to the ground; it was the small ring that had gone in between the rocks.

“I think I found it,” she called as he bent to look deeper.

Elise had let her guard down, as she did notice when her hair slipped to the side and her nape was open and exposed to the bright lights under the stars and Kaide, who had gone eerily silent.

“I found it!” She exclaimed softly. She stood up to show them the ring off to Kaide with a smile. She was surprised Kaide was already by her side; he’d already walked up to her, his face hard and stern as he held onto her shoulder in a grip.

“You are marked?” He asked, and the smile on Elise’s face immediately dropped. And Kaide could see that he was spot on, and he felt like he knew the culprit as he asked.

“Tell me, is it Rygen? Did he mark you?’ He questions her, and Elise feels like she’s trapped.

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