**LEILA**

"Seriously!! having to teach me is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. He said, place your hands on the handle, stable your arms and pull." Liam yelled for the hundredth time but I just couldn't get what he was teaching me.


"I'm trying you know." I countered.

We were at the back of the pack, almost at the entrance of their forest.

"Its not supposed to be hard!" Liam retorted and I threw the sword away from me.


"Fine then, I'm done. I'm not learning any more, my arms hurt." I complained as I immediately went to seat on a dead log of wood and Liam walked up to where I had threw the sword and picked it up.

"Imagine you were in battle and the only way for you to survive was for you to pick up your damn sword and pulling it out, what would you do?" He questioned and I stared up at him while he gazed at me seriously.


"Would you whine that your arms hurt and you're giving up?" He asked yet again pointing the handle of the sword at me and I took it this time.

"That's what I thought, youre going to get your shit together and fucking fight." He said and left the sword while I used my second hand to support my right hand that was holding the sword.

I could never fathom that a sword was this heavy because the way the warriors carried it made it look effortless. I would never had sworn that this stuff was this heavy.

"I feel like you gave me a much more heavy sword on purpose." I complained eyeing his sowrd suspiciously and he just chuckled and swung his sword.

"You want mine?" He queried and I nodded in affirmation. With the way he carries it, I'm sure it wasn't heavy.

He took mine with his left hand and stretched his over to me.

"There you go." He stated and as it entered my hands, he let go of it and the weight pushed me to my knees.

"What the actual hell! Why is it this heavy?" I yelled and left it to lay on the floor.

"I gave you the lightest." He said clicking his tongue and retrieved his sword handing mine over to me.

"Just listen to the basics and practice and you'll get the hang of it." He ordered and I nodded whilst sweating profusely.

"Okay." At this point, it seemed more like I didn't even have a choice.

"Keep your shoulders balance and straight up, your chest out." He ordered and I tried to stand as erect as he proposed.

"Your shoulders should be balanced." He warned as he circled me before he used his hands to shift my shoulders into the balance he wanted and that hurt badly but if I didn't want to repeat that process again, then I had to stay put.

"One major thing about handling your sword is the fact that you have to maintain balance if you don't want to get defeated at a strike from your opponent."

"Secondly, place your hands on the hilt of the sword. Make sure to wrap your fingers around it so it doesn't slip out of your hands when you eventually pull it out of its sheath." He ordered yet again and I took in a deep breath before wrapping my fingers on the hilt of the sword with stealth.

Peering at my fingers, he pressed my index finger down and I winced.

"What was that about?" I asked but I didn't make the mistake of lifting my fingers.

"If your index finger isn't on the hilt properly, there is higher chance of your sword flying out of your hands when you pull it out." He said and I just sighed waiting for the next instruction.

"I think your fingers are gripping it quite properly so its time for you to draw your sword. But make sure you don't place much labour on you arms or shoulders so they are not out of balance after drawing your sword." He instructed and I subconsciously removed my fingers from the hilt and wrapped it on the hilt again and I was about swinging it out when his hands pressed down on my index.

"Don't let go of the sword once you've gripped it properly else I'll press your fingers till they eventually fall off your hands." He stated and I just rolled my hands before gripping the sword again and them swinged it out immediately, spreading my hands like wings and maintaining balance but quite fortunately, this time I didn't fall down or loose balance.

"See that! You did that just when you were about to accept defeat. Try that again." He ordered and I nodded in affirmation.

Sending the sword back into its sheath, we repeated the process of drawing out the sword for about 10 more times and I was exhausted.

"You're finally ready to move on to the next phase of the training." Liam finally announced and I stared at him in tiredness.

"The next phase? Oh moon goddess, I'm so damn tired." I complained and he just rolled his eyes whilst stretching his hands out for me to take it and stand up on my feet.

"The next thing is learning how to block attacks, in other words to defend yourself in fighting with sword attacks." Liam started but suddenly we heard wolfs howling in a form of battle cry.

"We are under attack." Liam just breathed and grabbed my wrist and ran towards the main pack house.

"So where are you taking me?" I asked but not wasting a moment to stop still so I won't slow him down.

"Somewhere safe." That was all he said as we ran to the pack house to meet it in chaos and jeopardy and while we ran, I stared at the gate and spotted Damien.

" Liam hold on I think I know the people that are attacking and then if my memory isn't blanked then I'm sure they're here for me." I stated and Liam slowed his steps as he starred at me with fear visible in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that? Who would want to take you away?" He asked not because he thought I wasn't worthy but fear of losing his sister was in his eyes and I could see it.

"You're aware that Lucian kidnapped me right? before bringing me to this place. In fair terms, it is only natural for the people that I was kidnapped from to search for me and bring me back at all cost' I stated while looking back and forth from the gate where Damien stood directing his armies back to Liam who held my hands like if he let go of me there was going to be an outbreak of catastrophe.

"So what are you saying? Do you want to leave?" He questioned in a solemn tune but the hint of Fear was way visible for even a blind man to see.

"Anyways, I don't know what I want at this point but I think I've been kidnapped a lot and I really want to settle down; but from the look of things neither of the packs will rest until a peace treaty is served. And trust me, Antonio; the one who sent this group of armies isn't going to rest till I'm back with him while Lucian on the other hand Wouldn't let me go as I am his mate." I explained but it was more like I was reassuring myself.

"Leila, at this point the only thing that i want to hear is what you want. I know that look in your eyes even if it hasn't been quite long that we got back together. You don't have to think that you will be leaving your brother okay? If you want to leave, you can and I'd help out." He assured me, his grip on my hands loosening and my eyes moistened up.

If only I had a good choice! If only my wishes that everything bad would be erased from my life and my life just returned to normal

"I want to leave but I don't want to leave. Its one of those moments when you have mixed feelings and can't tell which is best to follow and if you help, that would mean that you'd be walking against Lucian. Wouldn't that get you in trouble?" I asked and he just smiled weakly like his life wasn't important.

"Like I said, you don't have to think of what would happen to me okay? I would get in trouble no doubt, but I've gotten in trouble all my life so that's not even a problem. All I want you to do is make a decision as fast as you can."

"There you are! You were quite hard to find. So who would have known that you were chilling with one of the packs warriors." I heard Amaya's voice at the back of my head and i rolled my eyes.

"Damn! We are under attack and you still have the energy to pick on me? You're ridiculous." I sneered and she laughed out loud like what I said was anything near comedy.

"I would have loved to pick on you and even kill you in this battle and no one would pin it down on me since there's chaos but then the Alpha has requested that you be brought to him as soon as we find you." She said and my eyes widened.

This is what it is about and I was right? The fight was all about me.

"What if I don't want to come with you?" I questioned and she snarled.

"You don't even have much of a choice here honey, come with me." I heard Lucian's voice approaching and Liam coyly let go of my hands.

"Once you make a decision, please don't forget to tell it to me immediately using the family bond. Okay?" I heard Liam's voice inside of my head.

"Okay." I replied through the bond and he nodded while coyly retreating before Luciam would notice him.

"You know that they're here for me right?" I questioned and he nodded while wrapping his grasp on my arks tightly like if he let go of me I would run away.

Maybe I would have done that! Run away from both of the parties as probably they would have teamed up together and begin to search for me.

"You're hurting me." I complained trying to wriggle my hands from his grasp and he just shook his head in anger and glared at me.

"You will stay put." He growled staring at me in anger.

"They're here for me and you kidnapped me from them. Don't you think that you would let them come take me and then later you return to the pack and claim me as your mate huh?" I asked trying yo call to his sensible side but the earlier I noticed that he was brainless was the beginning of wisdom for me.

"I can't do that." He exclaimed and I just shook my head in anger.

"Why can't you? Or you don't want to? So you would rather have a battle than settling it the easy way huh? Why are y'all doing this?" I rasped out as he dragged me along with him.

"Leila!!! I said you would shut up." He said and paused only for him to send a slap across my face.

"Amaya, take her to the separate room and keep it guarded."

"And you Leila? Better watch your act and keep it together else by the time this battle is done, your body would be filled with scars." He warned and as tears trickled down my eyes, my body began burning up again and as the sun was blazing, lightning began striking furiously.

"You're doing this." Lucian said slowly but I couldn't open my mouth to reply him and soon, a kind of darkness settled upon the pack.

My eyes were the only light that could be seen.