But I’m just a human?

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: TRAINING AND TRUTHS**

Koda's world had shifted—literally, painfully, beautifully. The days following his transformation blurred together like a fever dream, filled with questions, emotions, and a strange new awareness that prickled beneath his skin. Something ancient now lived inside him, and though it was still silent, it watched everything with sharp, quiet eyes.

Training began now , immediately.

Tristian and Orion took on the task of teaching him—morning and night, under open skies and inside the pack's old stone training hall.

Koda was a natural, though his body was still adjusting. He ran faster than he thought possible, moved quicker, saw clearer. His strength startled even Orion, who nearly fell on his butt the first time Koda pinned him during sparring.

"You're a menace," Orion groaned, sprawled on the floor.

"You're just slow," Koda teased.

Tristian stood off to the side, arms crossed, smiling quietly. "He's improving faster than expected."

Aside from combat, there were lessons. Long talks about pack hierarchy and history—Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta. Roles. Responsibilities. Loyalty. Then came the more intimate topics: the Mate Bond, how heat worked, how fated pairs could feel each other's pain, their desire, their fear.

It made Koda blush more than once, especially under Tristian's gaze.

They trained in powers too. Telekinesis, invisibility, elemental control. Koda's energy burned brightest under the moon, while Tristian's peaked with sunlight. The twins of power—the Moon-Blessed and the Sun-Touched. Children of the Goddess, written about in prophecy.

"Together, you are balance," Tala had told them one night, her voice solemn. "You are the breath before the storm. The flame that could burn the darkness… or be consumed by it."

Signs of unrest began to appear. Borders being tested. Strangers sniffing at Raven Blood's edge. Dreams haunted Koda's sleep—shadows, fire, a familiar scream.

One morning, Koda and Tristian made the journey to Tristian's family home—a sprawling estate deep in the woods where the Alpha King and Luna rose lived in silence and silver.

The induction ceremony was sacred. A rite to bond their souls before their bodies.

Koda stood barefoot under moonlight, Tristian opposite him, both bare-chested, marked with ancient runes by the pack's elders. They knelt, pressed their foreheads together.

The bond flared like a second heartbeat.

"You are mine," Tristian whispered.

Koda closed his eyes. "And you are mine."

Their marks glowed, sealing the promise.

They stayed there for days—training harder, faster. They ran in their wolf forms, learned each other's scent, rhythm, every muscle and motion. They trained in hand-to-hand combat, in magical focus, even mind-linking.

Orion joined occasionally, cheering them on, bringing snacks, offering sarcastic commentary.

"You two better save the world looking that good, or I want a refund."

By the week's end, Koda stood on the rooftop, wind tousling his hair, moon high above.

He turned to Tristian.

"I'm ready."

But deep in the woods, hidden far from the stars, someone else was ready too.

And he came with anything but peace .