Another Half
BLADE -- Chapter 17

Azul Springs

June 2012

Andy’s first birthday party a few days later was small but very fun. Crys and Rachel invited several mothers with their young toddlers, Crys introduced Blade as a new member of the pack. The she-wolves welcomed her warmly, and they had all cake, ice cream, and games, and Rachel somehow procured a piñata. Blade even helped Andy open a few gifts.

If not for the many pictures she and her friends took, Blade was certain Andy wouldn’t remember his birthday, but this made Crys’s and Rachel’s efforts more meaningful because they did it for Blade, to make her feel loved and welcomed.

Rachel went into labor that night, which was timely since, according to Crys, her mate was already on his way home anyway. As hoped and expected, Rachel gave birth to a healthy baby boy, whom they had yet to name.

Nonetheless, Blade didn’t see Ax until several days later, when he summoned her to the training center.

The training center was not hard to replace. It was a beautiful two-story, red brick building in the center of town with carefully manicured gardens around it. There was a large room spacious enough to accommodate at least a hundred training wolves, which is what was going on when Blade entered the building.

This is a large pack, Talon whispered in her head. Are all of these warriors or just regular wolves?

I don’t know. I think they’re regular wolves, Blade responded. There are too many to be the elite forces, right?

She looked around at the men and women in training clothes. They were all focused on hitting and kicking their opponents. But there was something wrong with their training.

They’re hitting for the sake of hitting, she told Talon. Their hits are not strategic.

Talon immediately agreed. It’s as if they don’t care where they hit, as long as they hit something.

Not only did this mean they wasted precious energy in each match, but they also depended on sheer strength and numbers to beat their opponent. It didn’t help that women only sparred with women of around their same build and height, and the same went with men. Blade frowned. The disparity was awful, not to mention that most were winded after a few minutes.

Maybe these were just regular wolves and this is the basic training everyone has to have? Talon said. I mean, didn’t this pack conquer the other three packs in less than two years? They must be strong and skilled.

Blade let out a long sigh. Either that or they have depended almost entirely on the few strong warriors to do most of the fighting during their conquests. And that means more deaths among the weaker warriors, the omegas. That’s not fair.

She stayed in the back of the room, leaning against the wall. She recognized who the gamma was by his bulky physique and the authority in his voice when he gave instructions. He wore red basketball shorts, dingy white sneakers, and a simple grey tank top. The session ended when he clapped loudly several times.

“All right everyone! Good job today, but I expect more from the elites. You need to do better!”

The wolves quickly picked up their towels and water bottles lined against the walls and evacuated the room. Blade approached the man who led their training.

“Hey, I’m Ax. I’m the gamma,” the man said. His friendly smile extended to his mischievous brown eyes, and he gave Blade a warm but firm handshake. He grabbed a small towel draped over a nearby chair and wiped his sweaty face before running it over his short, brown hair. Blade guessed he was around six feet, which was tall, but not enough to tower over her.

“Ax? As in Axel?”

“No. As in it was either Ax or Hatchet. As a Gamma, my dad was into weapons,” Ax said, grinning. “And with Sharp as our family name—well, he was going to milk that tit for all it was worth.”

Blade burst out laughing, and he joined her.

“Listen, I can’t complain. At least he didn’t name me Claymore or Dadao. Those were also viable options at the time.”

“But your son’s name is Claymore,” Blade said, shocked. “You didn’t!”

Ax laughed hysterically. “I did! It was either Claymore or Jacob, which is what Rachel wanted. Can you imagine?” Ax faked a shudder. “How unimaginative is a wolf named Jacob?”

“Jacob? Eww. You did right by your boy. At least it wasn’t Dadao.”

They laughed again, and Blade remembered that this was what her relationship with Joaquin had always looked like.

“And what’s your name? Is it something like Annie?”

“It’s actually Blade,” she deadpanned.

It was Ax’s turn to laugh, but then he widened his eyes when he realized she wasn’t joking.

“No way! How did a pretty girl like you get a name like that?”

“How did your cute newborn pup get a name like Claymore? My dad, of course,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “He was a bladesmith. Knives were his passion. He wanted to name my twin brother Blade, but my mom beat him to it and named him Joaquin, after her father. So, I guess out of spite, my dad gave me the name he had reserved for his son.” Blade swallowed the always painful knot in her throat when she spoke about her family.

“Any middle names? Y’know, to at least warn people that you’re not a dude.”

“None. My dad didn’t want any girly names to water down my real name. You should’ve seen my mother’s face every time he told that story,” Blade said with a small smile.

Ax chuckled. “Oh, I can imagine. Once Rachel figured out what a Claymore is, well, let’s just say she doesn’t like me very much right now. You and I are going to have to drink to unique badass names soon,” he said.

Blade nodded. She didn’t care for vodka, but if that’s what Ax wanted, she’d be willing to at least try it.

“Anyway, we should get down to business before Sergio walks in and catches us having a good time. He told me you’re here to try out for an elite warrior position. With a name like Blade, you got any skills?” Ax asked and cleared his throat. “Y’know, fighting skills?”

“I’ve got some skills,” she smiled.

Ax smiled slyly and looked around the training center. It was empty.

He walked to the middle of the large room where there was a large painted circle on the floor and invited her over with his hand.

“Show me what you’ve got.”

They assumed their fighting positions, and she stood still until Ax attacked her with a set of powerful punches to her face and torso. She evaded each one while she assessed his skill level. There was no doubt in her mind he was strong, but he was slower than she had anticipated, which reminded her of Joaquin, her brother. This made it easy for her to know where his punches would land--if she let them land, that is.

Ax continued to attempt to hit her in the face, probably hoping to knock her down with one punch, and then aimed for her torso. She let him land a couple of hits on her stomach to test his strength and, just like she guessed, they hurt as much as her brother’s hits. She never stopped looking for her entry.

“You’re good at evading,” Ax huffed.

After a left punch that unexpectedly left Ax’s left side open, Blade delivered a power left into his jaw. She felt his teeth shift under her fist. The hard hit surprised him and she immediately followed it with a powerful uppercut right up and into his abdomen.

As expected, it winded him. The surprise was written all over his face, and Blade used his short pause to continue to deliver a quick set of jabs and right crosses to the face and throat that distracted him. Blade took two steps back and sent a powerful roundhouse kick into his already-winded abdomen. Ax hit the floor.

But once down, Blade knew better than to let him get up. She quickly straddled him before he realized what was happening, and pinned his arms with her legs. She started a volley of quick punches to his face. He twisted and arched his back to throw her off, but she tightened her thighs, held on, and broke his nose.

“STOP!” he managed to roar, blood spurting over his shirt.

Blade stopped, blinked, and immediately got off of him.

Shit.

Blade hadn’t fought so hard in a long time and she got carried away. She doubted they’d kill her, but she was probably going to get kicked out of the pack, out of the territory--hell, maybe even out of the state--for beating up a ranked leader.

Don’t be ridiculous, Talon said with a snicker. All because the Gamma can’t take a few punches from a girl? She snorted. He deserved it anyways. He’s weak.

Ax is not weak. He just relies entirely on his strength to beat his opponent. That’s fine as long as his opponent isn’t either skilled or stronger than him. But, I don’t know. I beat him up pretty badly. Look at him. His nose is a mess and I think I gave him a black eye.

She never felt guilty for beating people up--it was a good way to work off Talon’s aggressions--but she really liked Ax. He seemed like a really nice guy and, more importantly, a potential friend.

Meh. He’ll heal before he leaves this place. His ego might be more bruised than that eye of his, Talon said, retreating to the back of her mind where she watched with interest.

Blade stood and offered him a hand up, partly out of politeness, partly to gauge his reaction.

Ax surprised her by accepting her help.

“Who the hell taught you to fight?!” He gingerly straightened the bones of his nose before he retrieved his towel to wipe the blood from his face. “That was awesome! Once you started, you never fucking stopped!”

Blade relaxed. Ax had spoken with awe, not anger, and the expression in his eyes was unmistakable. Respect.

“My uncle,” she said, clearing her throat.

Ax stared at her, still patting his face with the bloodied towel.

She looked around and saw a large freezer in the corner. She nodded toward it. “Can I get you an ice pack or something? Your eye is--Fuck, Rachel is going to kill me for hurting you.”

He shook his head. “That’s not important right now. Listen. Are you interested in--see, our Training Master just retired, like yesterday, and the Training Master Tournament starts next week. Did you have something like that in your pack?”

The whole tournament for the Training Master position was designed to replace the best and most skilled warrior in the pack. It prevented anyone from cheating and playing favorites between ranked and unranked wolves. It was simple: the best warrior wins fairly and garners the respect of everyone, essentially becoming a ranked wolf if they are an Omega. During training, only the Alpha and the Gamma have more authority in the Training Center than the Training Master, but they usually do not intervene.

"Of course.”

In the best packs, Training Master and Spymaster were two of the pack positions that were filled by skill and merit alone. Birth and rank did not matter, which was why unranked wolves like Blade and her family were extra motivated to hone and perfect their skills before passing them on to the next generation. Both skill sets were a much-guarded Zamora legacy. Her grandfather had trained Blade and her brother to be spymasters, and Uncle Danny trained all the cousins so that any one of them would be the pack’s Training Master after him. It did not matter which cousin earned which position as long as both positions stayed within the Zamora Family. Uncle Danny trained pack members to fight, defend, and win wars, but he trained his family’s kids to become Training Masters. Fighting skills were a family pride thing. Keeping secrets was also a family pride thing. The difference was that most pack members did not know the Zamora family included spies and spymasters. Only the pack’s Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and the Zamora family knew that their grandfather was the pack’s spymaster. And they all understood that the pack and their families were safe as long as the Zamoras's secret remained safe.

This is why Blade often wondered how anyone found out Abuelo was the Spymaster. His death had to be linked to his spy work.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m wrong and you won’t get far in the tournament itself for the Training Master position,” Ax said. “Every male in the pack tries out and the competition will be tough. As if that wasn't enough, our Alpha wants she-wolves to have a shot at the pie, too.” He heaved a heavy sigh. “I don’t know what the hell Rex is thinking, but that's good for you because I want you to participate in the Training Master Tournament next week. If any female has a chance, it would be you. At least you know what you’re doing. Show me what you’ve got—-I mean, besides being the only one besides Rex to beat me to a pulp. We’ll determine from there where in the elite forces you’ll be. Probably somewhere at the top, though.”

Besides the Alpha, the Gamma was supposed to be the best warrior. But what Blade liked most was that the invitation spoke of Ax’s nature; his pack was more important than his pride, even if it meant working with a she-wolf that had just beaten him.

Blade couldn’t help remembering Joanna’s words about Nick’s sudden interest in replaceing her: Become indispensable. For Andy’s sake.

If Blade played her cards right, there was no way Ax would permit Nick to take her and Andy away if he ever came to Claim her. At least, that was the hope she hung her following words on.

“Where do I sign up?”

“You just did! Starting on Monday, plan to be here every morning. Eight in the morning. The tournament will likely last two weeks. All of the elites have signed up and there are a lot of other pack contenders signed up, too. Matches are only in the morning and into the early afternoon. Participants spend evenings resting and licking their wounds in preparation for the next day. It’ll be so much fun to watch you beat up other people!”