Chapter Thirty-Five

Waking up I hear the soft breathing and snoring of multiple beings around me, but I find myself more zoned into the wolf I am currently curled up against, I feel safe for the first time in a long time, the steady beat of his heart soothes my soul as I listen to it, taking a sniff Shadow's scent floods my senses calming me down even more. Opening my eyes, I find myself back in the pile of limbs I found myself in last night, I don't know who brought me back here, but I am grateful to whomever it was.

'Alpha Joe brought us back here when you collapsed last night.' Val growls at me.

'Good morning to you to Val' I feel her roll her eyes at me and I cannot help but grin even though I know she isn't happy with me.

'It's too early for your sass Jen. You really need to slow down. You're wearing yourself out too much. You don't need to do that here; this pack is different. I know we had no choice in the past, but we do have a choice now.'

'I know it's just-'

'the nightmares? But you didn't have any last night.'

'No, I didn't. I'm shocked about that.' They are normally worse leading up to my parent's death; she sends me her love through our bond to comfort me as images plague my mind of them. Wanting to distract myself and with Val now fully on board I check the time to see if I have time to set up something for the pups to distract them from Alpha Rick seeing its only four, I go to get the bits.

"Where do you think you're going?" swivelling around I find Joe standing behind me with his hands on his hips wearing only a pair of shorts.

"Err…morning Alpha I am going to get the stuff I need for the play area" he frowns at me as though he didn't expect me to tell the truth, did he think I would lie to him? Or does he think I am lying to him?

"What things? And you should be getting some rest. You collapsed last night from exhaustion."

"Sorry about that and thank you for taking me back to them but I'm all good now. So, I really need to-"

"You don't need to do anything" he growls at me before I can finish, his wolf pushing forward in support of Joe's words.

"Well, I don't need to, but I want too. Look Alpha it is nice talking to you and everything, but I really would like to get this done for the pups to distract them from Alpha Ricks. I had planned to wait until I had everything ready, but I think they need it now."

"Fine we will come with you and help. They do deserve a distraction from him."

"We?"

"Yes We" Dean suddenly appears beside him handing him a T-shirt, his hair is all over the place and he looks half asleep.

"I can-"

"We either come with you or you don't go" he says giving me an ultimatum.

"Fine. Come on. You can help carry it."

Heading over to where I store everything I work on, I direct them in what I need them to bring to the playground for me, they look confused after I finish telling them and I wonder if it is better for them to go back to the packhouse and get some sleep.

"Where did you get all of this from?"

"Some of it is from the trees blown over in the storm and some of it from Dale he said that he had more than enough for what he needed, and I could take whatever I wanted." Mind you I am still questioning that "I tried to take as little as possible, but I needed some to fix the shed, a couple of rooves and porches and then I used some for the obstacle course and some for this. I am sorry if I have done something wrong."

"You've been busy" Joe muses before getting lost in his thoughts, okay then. Before I can question it and find out if I have done anything wrong, they start picking up bits, so I just follow suit and hope that it's a sign that everything is ok.

With their help it doesn't take us long to get everything there, following my directions we manage to set it all up in half the time it would have taken me to replace the broken equipment and add in new swings and other things I built for the pups to play on. Spreading the woodchips around everything I step back and admire it alongside them.

"Just need to make the treehouse for them to go in that tree and it will be finished. Thank you for all your help."

"It looks amazing. The pups are going to be ecstatic."

"You two look like you need to get some sleep." Looking at them both I can see that they are on the verge of dropping from exhaustion, but they stare at me "you have got training in a couple of hours" I remind them as I start to leave them behind and head towards the kitchen.

"And where are you going?"

"Err..." what is it with them and knowing where I am going this morning "Kitchen?" I tell them it comes out more like a question as I point in its direction behind me.

"To do what? It's early."

"It's my usual time." They frown at me again and it's starting to annoy me I have never had anyone want to know what I am doing only that I should be working harder sighing I decide to ask, "Look have I done something wrong?"

"No. Nothing at all. We just want to help you out. You have been doing so much for the pack. I also don't want you collapsing again."

"Oh ok. I am honestly fine but if you want to come along you can it's you."

"Perfect. Let's go."

After many failed attempts of helping me, I manage to supervise them in making cupcakes for the pack for lunch whilst I make the pastries and get other things ready for Lisa and the others. Once the cupcakes are in the oven, I even get them to cut up the fruit so I can concentrate on the other breakfast items and finishing putting the chicken in marinade ready for tonight's dinner. Everything sorted and kitchen tidy I take the basket off the shelf and place a mixture of the items we have prepared for breakfast in it for Ms Hendricks as I normally would.

"What are you doing?"

"Breakfast for Ms. Hendricks her leg has been playing up and has been unable to get to the packhouse in the morning. So, I take hers to her before training."

"Oh"

"Ok see you guys at training" I grab the basket and head up to change my clothes and grab the cushion and blanket I made for Ms Hendricks rocking chair. All done I quickly whizz over to her cabin and place the basket on the table like normal and add the finishing touches to the rocking chair before entering the training ground.

Five minutes into the training session Joe nor Dean have shown up. Guessing they have probably fallen asleep I decide to cover for them, after all they've helped me this morning. Turning around to face the group I place my fingers in my mouth and whistle gaining their attention.

"Ok guys, it seems that their meeting has gone over. Alpha asked me to take the session over if they were not here by now. So sorry your stuck with me." I hear Carl and a few others cheer and I have to hold in my chuckle. "Let's all get warmed up then. Those who train with me normally you know the routine, everyone else just copy them."

Warm up done I decide to get them sparring and watch them carefully "Right if I can have everyone's attention" I see Scarlett and others watching me from Zach's class completely ignoring him as they gossip, he catches my eye and rolls his eyes before pretending to shoot himself in the head behind them all, shaking my head I turn my attention back to my session "I have been watching you all whilst you have been sparring and I have observed you all giving away your moves, in a fight this will give our opponents the opportunity to take you down if you are not careful. However, giving them the idea to attend to move in a certain way can be beneficial and give you the upper hand."

"So, for the rest of this session we are going to be working on using your other senses. I want you to group up into threes. Then one at a time you will need to be blindfolded. I want you to use your sense of smell and sound to guide you on what is happening around you whilst you are blindfolded the other two in your group will then attempt to touch you, the goal is to manage to stop them doing this by the end of the session."

"You may wonder why I am getting you to do this and how this is going to stop you giving away your moves but by doing this you are tuning more into your body and will eventually stop thinking about your moves as you will be using your body to fight without thinking meaning you will not be giving away your moves as you will be doing it naturally. Plus, by not seeing you cannot determine how or where your opponent is going to touch you."

By the end of the class Carl and a couple of others have managed to get the hang of it the most, just before I go to disperse them Joe and Dean stumble into the grounds looking dishevelled. "How did your meeting go Alpha?" I ask, "Did everything work out ok?"

"Yeah, I mean yes thank you. How did today's session go?" Quickly picking up on my hint.

"Ok I think they were just finishing their stretches."

"Alpha" one of them steps towards us "Can we carry on working with our senses tomorrow?"

"Err…sorry?"

"Jenni was teaching us how to use our other senses."

"Was she now? Well as long as Jenni is up to it then perhaps, she can carry on the lesson tomorrow." Everyone looks at me pleadingly.

"Yeah, sure why not." I tell them "Ok I think this class is over with. You all deserve to get something to eat."

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Plating up some food for myself and Scott I hear whispering behind me, when I hear the name Adam, I turn around to find him standing in the doorway. "Hi Adam. Saved you a seat if you want it" I point to where Scott is sitting, he comes up to me and gives me a small smile.

"Morning Princess" he chuckles when I side eye him "sorry"

"Yeah, yeah. Get some food." Moving as one we head over to the seats and start digging into the food. We don't get much peace though when I feel Alpha Ricks approaching the room and even from this distance, I can feel that he is up to something, quickly glancing around the room I am thankful that the pups are all with someone who will take care of them and thankfully Danny is sitting between Sam and Conner so I know that he cannot start on his son without us knowing.

'Ignore him' I quickly link all the pups and I see them stiffen slightly before carrying on with their food.

Moments later Alpha Ricks stalks into the room with Caspian by his side, while the latter heads of to get food Alpha Rick storms over to our table and seats opposite me, his eyes narrowing on me as he glares at me not even taking notice of anyone else around us.

"Good morning, Alpha Ricks. I do hope you slept well." Sarah calmly welcomes him to the table "Please do help yourself to the food."

"How do you know how to fight?" he snarls at me choosing to ignore the Luna.

"Alpha Ricks, I do apologise but I think you may have not realised but Luna Sarah was talking to you, and I don't want her to think you are being rude and ignoring her, but I would like to reassure you that not a single member of your pack helped me in anyway."

"I didn't ask who-"

"Alpha Ricks" Joe snaps "this is highly irregular, but I must insist you apologise to my mate. Even with Jenni giving you an excuse to why you did not answer her and notified you of my mate talking to you, you still ignore her."

"My apologises Luna Sarah, Alpha Joe. I am still in shock from yesterday and have not slept well but that is no excuse for my behaviour. I am deeply sorry and hope you can both forgive me for my transgressions."

"Very well we will let it slide this time." Before Alpha Rick can open his mouth again to question me, Scott saves me.

"Jenni, can I go play?" Scott asks.

"Of course, you can."

"Oh, that reminds me. Jenni, would you mind accompanying me to my study this morning I would like to go through some things with you."

"Sure, I just need to let Betty know that I cannot help this morning, so she doesn't-"

"All done" he chuckles tapping his head as I roll my eyes at him, sneaky git. I wonder what he needs to talk to me about unless it is about me covering him for today's training session.