Chapter 75: The Combat Test 1
Andria’s POV
"You are lost again, darling. He already shared with us in groups A to D. You are in group B, the princess is in group A, and I’m in group D. So get up and move to your group lane," Becca called again, snapping her fingers at me.
The princess chuckled, seeing my confused and flustered expression. "What is wrong with you today, Aria? We are in the middle of a class session, and you keep zoning out, making Becca call you out frequently. And with that bright pink on your face, are you sure that you aren’t in your heat period?" Liara teased.
"Yeah, I believe I’m on my heat, now can we focus on something else that is not me, my scent or my heat," I muttered to myself.
"Yeah, that could be the reason, right?" I asked rhetorically; I wasn’t expecting any of them to answer me.
With all these things happening to my body, I feel the need to revisit the library. I still have the unanswered questions from before, and now this. But first, I have to tackle Tracy and her false fans.
"Becca, where did you say my group are to stay?" I asked, turning to face Becca.
"You move to the left-hand side of the hall," she explained, pointing towards the left. Zade was already seated there.
"And what about Liara?" I asked teasingly, wondering why she still sat there if we were meant to sit separately. It’s either that Liara was also at the wrong place or Becca was at the wrong place.
"The princess’s group stays there," she gestured towards the far right end of the hall.
Liara stood up to go, knowing what I was about to say, but I was faster than she was. "Oh, I see I’m not the only one lost, Liara, you seem lost too," I called out to her teasingly.
She was moving fast, but she heard me, because she burst out laughing. "Yeah, we were both lost, I guess, but you were lost in your mind, that’s the difference," she said, waving her hands dismissively, her back to me, and she was almost at her group’s side.
I stood up and moved to my group’s side as quickly as I could, before Becca had a chance to say a word to me.
"Good, now that you are all seated according to your groups and with your pair, we can commence today’s combat practice," he said in a commanding voice, as always.
"I would like group D to start today, starting with the first pair," he continued.
I felt more uneasy sitting close to Zade; it reminded me of the days we spent together at lunch, at the park after school, when I refused to go home because I didn’t want to face what awaited me there.
He was a shoulder to lean on for me at the time, before he turned into my worst nightmare.
"Hmm," Zade cleared his throat. "We are not just group partners, we are a pair, we might as well cooperate now," he blurted out, smirking at me.
"I thought we were supposed to fight each other, so there’s no need to cooperate with you," I fired back at him.
"No, you missed the message. The topic for today’s combat classes is teamwork. We are to fight the opponent group together as a team. I doubt that you were even listening to what he was saying at all," he mockingly smirked at me.
My cheeks turned pink; I hadn’t been listening, and Zade, of all wolves, had to call it out to me. I felt so embarrassed that I could bury myself in the ground right now.
Before I could respond, Kaelric’s voice cut through the hall, steady and sharp. "I also want the first set in group B to step out," he gestured towards the combat ring.
"I hope you all remember what I said was the theme or topic for today’s combat class?" he asked, looking at them intensely. His words came out so authoritative that I felt my face heat up.
Zade stole glances at me from time to time, and I felt the tension and heat inside me rise more. Caught between Zade’s glances, Kaelric’s aura, the alpha successors’ mate bond aura surging in me, the heat was beginning to feel uncontrollable.
"I’m so lucky to have applied that witch’s ointment, I would have been a mess by now," I muttered to myself.
The air in the hall shifted instantly. The idle murmurs fell away, replaced by the weight of expectation. The first groups to engage in combat moved towards the ring. They both looked serious, as if they were on a mission.
"Remember, the idea of this fight is not to just win, but to show that you and your partner have one mind. You should win together, you should help your partner when they are weak, even if you win, but it is noticed that you didn’t work together, it is as good as if you didn’t win at all," he emphasized.
And at this moment, I hated being paired with Zade more than ever. Why would Kaelric, my mate and Zade’s, pair us together? Is he looking for a show? If he is, then I’ll gladly give him one, because I won’t joke with my grades either, just because Zade was paired up with me.
All eyes followed them, some filled with curiosity, others with hunger for a spectacle. I leaned forward, trying to mask my embarrassment with focus, though the sting of Zade’s words lingered.
The first blows came fast. Claws slashed, feet pounded, but it was chaos more than combat. I watched as partners got in each other’s way, stumbling over mismatched timing and clumsy attacks. One lunged when the other wasn’t ready, leaving openings the opposing group used without mercy.
The fight was raw and fierce, but it lacked unity. Each person in each group fought as if they were fighting for their own lives. It just looked like wolves tearing at each other without rhythm, without one mind.
"Enough," Kaelric’s command snapped like a whip. Instantly, the fighters froze, panting, bloodied but still burning with energy.
He stepped forward, his presence dominating the hall. "This..." he gestured to the defeated group with a sweep of his hand. "Is what happens when you forget the purpose of today’s lesson. You fight like pups. No coordination. No trust. You don’t even seem to look at each other," he shook his head from side to side in disapproval.
"Have you all heard of telepathy in fighting, where you have to harness your inner wolf and let it sync with your partner’s, and with that, you two can fight effectively as a team," he said, pacing around the ring, where the fighters stood.
His eyes swept across the room, lingering briefly on me. My stomach knotted, heat crawling up my neck again. Did he know I hadn’t been listening earlier?. He looked at me as if he knew I wasn’t paying attention to what he had been saying earlier.
Kaelric turned his gaze back to the class. "If you cannot learn to fight as one, then you might as well hand yourselves over to your enemies now. Because divided strength is nothing but weakness, and whether you like the idea or not, we prepare every day for war because we don’t know which day it will come."
His voice carried, deep and resonant, echoing against the walls of the hall.
The defeated groups returned to their seats, shame clouding their faces. The air felt heavier, Kaelric’s disappointment hanging in the air like smoke.
He straightened, his expression unreadable, but his eyes sharp as blades. "I need to see more teamwork. More unity. The next group that fights will either show me they understand what it means to be a pair, or they will prove themselves unworthy of standing in this hall."
He kept calling groups after the other; some understood the others, while some didn’t even care to understand. I watched till it was time for Aven and the princess, paired against Tristan and Tricia.
A surge of jealousy overwhelmed me as I watched Aven fight alongside the princess so well. If he weren’t my mate, I would have mistaken them for mates.
They exchanged knowing glances and moved in unison, but I didn’t feel as much anger as I felt watching Tristan and Tricia fight alongside each other.
Tricia made sure she touched Tristan in weird places and moved in an odd, sensual manner that I found so irritating.
I noticed Tristan tried to avoid her weird advances, but she was even more persistent the harder he tried.
I wanted to storm into the ring and end what was going on because even my feromones couldn’t take it, I felt like I was about to explode.
I tried to rein in my emotions. "She is such a silly whore, trying to throw herself on our mate," Athena growled in pure rage.