Chapter 18 - Dark Hallow Tested (Not Edited)

I wake the next morning to Mia and Niyah growling.

"How dare she move beds and not tell us. She knows we love to jump on her to wake her up" I hear Niyah growl out. I roll my eyes but turn to look at Jaxon as he sits up in bed with a confused face.

"What is going on?" he asks. I smile before saying,

"you might want to get up off the bed. Niyah and Mia are going to find me soon and jump on me like they do every morning" I say.

"They jump on you every morning?" he asks looking slightly shocked.

"Yeah, it's kinda their routine now," I say shrugging my shoulders. I hear two pairs of feet outside the door before I hear Mia's voice,

"she's in Jaxon's room. Yes!". I smile and hold in a giggle. I then quickly close my eyes and wait. Two seconds later the door opens and two pairs of feet pad into the room.

"Oh, hi Jaxon" Niyah says.

"What are you two girls doing?" he asks suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing just waking our alpha up like we do every morning. We all have to test your pack today" Mia says before two bodies jump on me at full force. I groan in pain before opening my eyes and looking at them.

"I hate you two," I say pushing them off of me. They both giggle as they stand up.

"No, you don't. Now come on we have a busy day ahead of us. And remember to bring a pen and a piece or pieces of paper with you" Niyah says. I sigh as they walk out the door. I sit up and place my feet on the floor.

"They do that every morning," Jaxon says sitting down next to me.

"Yup. As soon as Mia came they started doing it. I haven't had a morning that I haven't been woken up by that. Apart from today. But don't tell them I woke up before they jumped on me" I reply. He nods and smiles.

"It will be our little secret, I better get ready to do more pack work and call my pack down for training. What ages do you want?" he asks.

"Well, when do they officially start training?" I ask.

"At the age of sixteen," Jaxon says.

"Hmmm. Just like I thought. Alright, sixteen and upwards until they are retired" I say standing and stretching.

"Alright so sixteen to forty-nine, they retire after they are fifty," Jaxon says. I nod before turning to the door.

"Oh, we have installed a bell to the house. It's what we had in our packhouse for the cooks to use instead of yelling it through the link to every member. They can ring it when dinner or tea is done and it can be heard all over the pack lands. So when you hear it you better come down to eat. Don't be stuck in your office all day. Now I have to get ready. Before Eros and Kylian drag me down in just this" I say. Jaxon looks over at me in confusion.

"Trust me they've done it before. Dragged me down in my underwear when I wouldn't train. I don't put it against them anymore" I explain before kissing him on the cheek and walking out of the room.

I enter my bedroom and look around. What to wear for testing? I sigh and grab a plain hoodie out of the bag and some white sweat pants. I place on some trainers before looking towards my door as Eros and Kylian barge in.

"So you are ready. Come on Dark Hallow Pack are already there and waiting" Eros says.

"I'm coming...I'm coming. I slept in Jaxon's room last night. Slept nothing else" I say as we all walk out the door.

"Aww, so you haven't fully mated yet?" Kylian says. I roll my eyes.

"No. I found him sleeping at his desk last night so I helped him to his room. And then he asked me to stay. I was going to say no but then he gave me puppy eyes and I couldn't say no to the dang puppy eyes. So I ended up changing into a pair of his boxers and one of his tops before climbing into his bed and falling asleep. There you happy now. No, we didn't fully mate. We have bigger problems right now!" I say as we walk down the stairs.

"Oh, it will be a big problem when you go into heat. You marked each other. Heat comes a few months later" Eros says and my eyes widen.

"Shit! I forgot about the heat. Oh, goddess please keep the heat away from me" I say before walking outside and onto the stage where I see the rest of my group waiting with my pack members.

"Alright everyone listen up. Your alpha called you down here because from now on both packs will be working together" I say. I'm expecting groans from both packs however I hear cheers and I smile. Both packs have bonded.

"Today we will just be testing to see what group you will fit into. I will explain more about the groups when we are sorting you into them. Today all you need to worry about is the three tests. Fighting skills which will be scored by me, Eros, and Kylian. They are my head warriors so of course, they will be with me. The second is stamina which will be scored by Mia and Nathaniel who are my Gammas. And the last test will be with Niyah and Sebastian. Niyah is my beta female and Sebastian is one of many trusted warriors in my pack. Sebastian has excellent strength so he will show you all how to do the test. James my beta male will be adding all the scores into one worksheet. Now in order, the tests will be skills, then stamina and then strength" I say. I see everyone nod.

"Alright, the skill test will be parrying against one of my members you will be scored for the skills we see you using. For stamina you will be doing laps and will be scored from that and strength you will be carrying as many bags of wheat as you can and see how far you can carry them. You will be scored on them. Now let's get started" I say jumping off the stage. I grab the pen and paper Eros hands me and walk over to the back to start the skills.

"Elliott you are up first," I say. Elliott nods and steps onto the make-shift mat.

"Name and age," I say as the first Dark Hallow Pack member steps onto the mat.

"Matt Terry. 35 years of age" he says. I nod and use Kylians back to put my paper on to write. I nod towards Eros who then says

"fight". They then start to fight. I don't expect them to be the level my warriors are at but I do expect them to at least keep up. I sigh when I see his moves are sloppy and he's leaving his neck wide open.

"One?" I ask Kylian he nods. I hold up one finger to Eros who is looking my way and he nods as well understanding what I am saying. "Alright, one it is," I say more to myself as I put a one next to Matt's name and age. I then nod towards Eros who then says

"Alright, that's enough go to Stamina. You will get your results tomorrow morning" he says. Elliott stops and stands closer to me however Matt lunges at him. I growl and pounce wrapping my hand around the man's throat.

"My head warrior said the fight was over. Now move on before I lose control and hurt you for trying to lunge at my pack member" I say dropping him to the floor. I then walk back over to Kylian as a woman steps on the mat.

"Elliott, you okay to go on?" I ask.

"Yes alpha," he says and I roll my eyes. "Elliott my name is Diana," I say. He turns and smiles before getting into his fighting position.

"Name and age please," I say.

"Fiona Underwood. Thirty years old," she says. I nod and Eros starts the fight. I smile when I notice her protecting her neck however she is still sloppy.

"I think a two for her since she knows the basics however she is still sloppily delivering them," I say. Kylian nods before I hold up two fingers to Eros. He looks my way and nods. I write two on the sheet next to Fiona's name.

This how it goes for around 4 hours. And it's getting pitiful. A young man steps on the mat and I smile.

"Name and age," I say.

"Leon Golbach and I am eighteen years old," he says. I smile and nod.

"Alright fight," Eros says. The fight then starts. My eyes open in amazement.

"He's eighteen and he's that good already. Most of the other eighteen years old were sloppy" Kylian says. I nod along. Kylian turns to face me and smirks.

"Wow, I've never seen you gobsmacked. EROS! DIANA IS GOBSMACKED!" he yells over to Eros who turns our way and smiles at me. I shake my head before looking at Kylian.

"Three," I say. I hold up 3 fingers as well and Eros nods.

"Definitely a three. How is he so good with only two years of training?" Kylian asks. I shrug before writing the number three next to Leon's name.

"Alright that's enough," Eros says. Straight away both Jeremy and Leon break apart. They are both sweating like crazy.

"Thank you, Leon. How are you so good with just two years of training?" I ask.

"I practice whenever I can find some free time to myself," he says shrugging. I smile and nod.

"That's great you do that however how are you meant to spend time with friends if you practice all the time?" I ask.

"I don't think friends are that important. Keeping the pack safe. That is what is important. I sigh. "Friends are still important. Without my friends, I never would have been able to stay safe or feel loved and appreciated. All my pack members are my friends. It's why I am so protective over them. Each one of them has taught me something new about friendship. You should make some friends Leon. If not who is going to protect you from yourself" I say. For a few seconds, he looks confused but then his eyes brighten. He now understands.

"I get it. Even with loads of training, I can't expect someone else to just protect me because they are a pack warrior like me" he says. I nod. "Alright I will make some friends," he says making me smile.

The bell suddenly goes off making all my pack cheer and run to the packhouse as all Dark Hallow members stand around with confused faces.

"Oh sorry, I didn't say anything at the start. We installed that bell for the cooks so they didn't have to shout. The bell means dinner is ready so off you go everyone. You are all probably hungry. Niyah, Mia, and James wait for a few moments" I say. All three nod as the rest leaves to get food.

"Alright, how has everyone been doing? Anyone, I need to look out for?" I ask.

"That Matt Terry guy is a pain in the butt. He thinks he is the best when in fact he has the worst stamina in the whole pack" Mia says. I smile.

"Same with skills however he tried to lunge at Elliott when the fight was over," I say. I hear Niyah growl.

"What did Elliott do?" Mia asks.

"Nothing just sat with his eyebrows raised as if he was saying 'really dude. You really just lunged at me'. I was the one who pounced on him and gripped his throat before telling him to move on. Oh Mia you have this kind guy next. His name is Leon. Mind putting him with kids his age. He needs to make some new friends" I say.

"Alright done. Friends are going to be made" Mia says making me chuckle.

"Yeah, he lunged at Sebastian when Sebastian said he looked like he couldn't handle fifteen bags never mind a twenty bags," Niyah says making me growl. Before I can act on the urge to go after the Matt dude James says

"About who you will need to look out for there is a girl. Cara Fredric I believe her name is. She stood glaring at you in all three lines. I don't know why. But I will find out". I sigh and nod.

"Always a girl," I say rolling my eyes.

"Alright let's get some food before we continue all of this," I say walking towards the house. They all follow.

"I wonder what they have made today?" James asks. And I smirk. "Whatever it is we can expect it to be delicious," I say as we walk through the door. We walk into the dining room and take a seat at the table with Eros, Nathaniel, Kylian, and Jaxon.

"Hey, where have you been?" Jaxon asks.

"We had a few things to discuss. Oh, you also might want to talk to this Matt Terry guy as he is really pissing me off. He lunged at Elliott after Eros stopped the fight and then lunged at Sebastian for telling him the truth that he looked like he couldn't handle fifteen bags never mind 20 bags" I say. Jaxon growls.

"He was my dad's best friend so of course he would give you trouble. I will talk to him." Jaxon says. I smile and kiss his cheek before starting to eat some food.

I exit the house with everyone else and walk towards the mat again. "Alright, Simone you're up," I say she nods and walks onto the mat. A girl who looks just like Leon walks on the mat.

"Name and age," I say.

"Leona Goldbach. Eighteen years old" she says.

"Are you Leon's twin?" I ask.

"Yes and thank you for what you said. I have been trying to get him to make friends for so long" she says.

"It's alright now let's get started shall we," I say. She smiles and nods.

"Fight," Eros says. I smile and watch her. Another three. I hold up three fingers as Kylian says

"three". Eros nods so I write three in the box. I suddenly hear a yelp over to my right and see Niyah has been pinned by a musky brown wolf. I growl and shift losing control. I run over and jump onto the wolf, biting into the scruff of the wolf and dragging him off of Niyah. I growl harshly as I move so I'm in front of Niyah protecting her.

'I'm sorry Diana I didn't see him coming. I had my back turned and by the time I realised what was going on and turned around he was already too close,' Niyah says through our mind link, as I claw at the wolf.

'It's alright. It wasn't your fault' I answer her back before cutting her mind link and linking with Alice. As soon as she senses me in her mind she asks

'Diana what's wrong?'.

'Niyah has been hurt. She's bleeding a lot. Hurry!' I manage to link her before I refocus on the wolf.

-Diana, it's that Matt dude from before- Drekia says. My growl turns harsher when she says this. Matt lunges at me. I growl and dodge. I feel both my wolf and Lycon push forward making my eyes mix the red and gold they usually go however I push them back.

-I want to beat him myself- I say to them.

-Alright Diana just stay safe- Gia says. I smile. By now both packs are surrounding us. I growl and jump to the side avoiding another of Matt's lunges. I use that momentum to kick off the ground and bite into his neck pinning him to the floor. He growls and tries to struggle. I put more pressure on his throat and he whimpers. He finally gives in and submits. I shift the same time he does and glare down at him. I place on the sweat pants and hoodie that Laila gives me.

"I was going to let the last two times you lunged at one of my members slide but you lunged at my destined sister and you should know by now no one hurts one of my sisters without paying the price. Take him to the cells. I'm sure my mate will deal with him after he is done with pack work. Sebastian will you be okay handling this test on your own. I can leave Kylian with you if you want?" I ask him. He smiles but shakes his head as Alice runs out and over to Niyah.

"Niyah I want you to keep your eyes open okay. We are going to get you all fixed up okay" she says looking at her. I watch as Niyah is put on a gurney and then Alice and the doctors all run back over to the hospital house. A tear leaks out my eye as I watch her go.

"Go be with her we will do the rest of the skills test," Eros says as Kylian nods.

"You two Mia and James," Nathaniel says. I look towards James to see him on the floor staring into space. I walk over and put my hand on his shoulder. He looks up with tears in his eyes.

"I'm s-sorry. I froze. My mate was in trouble and I froze. I could have got Alice here earlier" he says. I shake my head.

"It's alright. Your mate was hurt. Come one let's go see her" I say helping him up. We all then walk over to the hospital house.