Kale's POV-

"True courage is not knowing when to take a life, but when it spare it." That's a quote from J.R.R Tolkien. It's a quote that my parents used to say all the time, before...

It was a quote that I understood, but never really cared about. Hell, I'd never seen many people care about it and act it out. I'd never seen someone choose to go down the path of righteousness and redemption instead of fury and destruction, except for my mother that is.

It was a beautiful path to follow; a much harder and more difficult path to follow. It's easy to let anger take over and snap someone's neck. It's easy to look at things from only your point of view. Taking the high road and letting someone wrong you without hurting them... that's difficult.

Lucy was embodying that quote heavily though. Renee had severely disrespected her, belittled her, and tried to show dominance over her over and over again. Yet... Lucine never lost her temper. She was angry, I could see that, but she never let it take over her. She was remarkable, and I was impressed.

Even when Corey questioned her about it, I was impressed by her answers... She hadn't wanted to add to the death and injured numbers. She didn't want to hurt someone from her own pack. She was so pure. I hoped that it wasn't an act because she was amazing.

"Rita!" Lucy exclaimed and jumped out of her seat to talk to her.

She seemed genuinely happy to see her. I smiled at the way Lucy was talking to her so caring and careful. She even hugged her with no hesitations; she didn't even really know the woman. Rita seemed to really like her and looked from me to her. Surely, she was trying to figure out if we were actually mates or not. I wished that I had an answer for her.

Soon the conversation was over, and Lucy embraced Rita again. Rita looked very pleased with Lucy's concern over her and smiled gratefully. I was glad that Lucy seemed to be already accepted into the pack by an elder. I had hopes that maybe the younger generation would follow in Rita's footsteps.

It was when Rita stepped back and bowed her head to Lucy that my eyes widened in shock. That was a thing that people usually only did to the Alpha and Betas of a pack. Lucy was technically nothing but a probationary pack member at that moment. Lucy's eyes widened at the bow as well. Even as Rita walked away from Lucy, Lucy's eyes stayed wide and disbelieving.

Do you think that was because Rita thinks that Lucy is your mate or because she actually feels it? Sam mind-linked me immediately.

I don't know...

I think she really is your mate, she seems genuine. Sam said through the link.

Seeming and being aren't the things. I want her to be, but I have to be careful. I answered solemnly.

I really really hoped that Lucy was my actual mate. She already seemed to be so great. Unfortunately, I had gotten my hopes up too many times before though. I wouldn't make the same mistakes as I had in the past. I wouldn't accept her or even really entertain the idea until I was fully sure.

"So, training..." Lucy finally asked when she returned to our table, still visibly shake by Rita's very obvious display of respect.

I was hesitant when we got to the track that circled around one of our training fields. I didn't want her to hurt herself, but I knew that she needed to get stronger. If there was ever an attack against my pack, she would need to be ready for battle. She would need to be able to protect herself.

"First, we will start with stamina and strength. Once you've gotten enough strength, we'll work on combat in wolf and human form," I told her calmly.

Her eyes widened at the mention of combat, and she nodded hesitantly.

"I want to time your mile first to see what we're working with." She looked up at me in a panic. "Don't worry, I know you've never trained before, whatever time you get can be improved. This is just to show me where you're at."

"We'll run with you if you'd like," Nat reassured her with a smile.

Sam and Corey agreed and the stressed look on Lucy's face seemed to lighten up a bit. She followed them to the starting point, still looking unsure but not so terrified.

I knew that she hadn't trained before, so her time was probably going to be shit. I didn't even expect it to be any better than a regular human's time. I knew that she had lacked exercise and even though wolves are naturally faster, even in human form, we still needed to practice and to push ourselves to maintain our full potential. I knew she probably had a long way to go. The girl obviously even lacked basic sunlight, so I certainly didn't have high expectations.

Her being so young was a plus though. It meant she'd probably be able to learn and adapt fast, especially since she had never been taught anything before. I hoped she was a fast learner, she had much to learn. The quicker she learned, the better because the threat of The North attacking us loomed over our heads daily. I wanted her to be ready, just in case.

I was honestly a little worried though. I had never trained a fully grown wolf who had no experience before. We always started our wolves out as soon as they could start comprehending and learning. She had a big deficit to make up for and I was worried that she wouldn't be able to do it. Don't get me wrong, I knew Lucy wasn't weak. I could see that she wasn't by the way she had survived all the attacks against her when she was at Fleming's pack. I was just worried that her lack of training when she was growing up was going to be an issue for her as an adult as well.

The four of them all got ready as I approached them. Everyone looked at me expectantly. "First, we'll warm up with a light jog. Then we'll do some stretches and then we'll do the timed mile. You need to make sure you're really stretched and limber, Luce, I don't want you to pull anything," I said and nodded to the small girl next to me.

She nodded once and took off in a very slow jog. We all watched her for a second and followed suit. She was running slowly with her eyes closed when I approached her to run right beside her. I was trying to keep a very close eye on her; I wanted to be sure she was doing okay and not hurting. She had a slight smile on her face and her breathing was at a leisure pace, I could tell she was enjoying the light exercise and was finding it easy. Good.

We went around the field twice, equaling one mile, slowly. None of us, including Lucy, were even breaking a sweat. That was good, that meant she had at least a little bit of stamina.

I helped her stretch. Her muscles were very tight but as she stretched them, I could see her posture get better and her movements were less labored. She just needed to loosen up her muscles and engage in exercise more, it seemed. I was happy that she seemed to be enjoying the physical activity.

"Can we run now, or what?" She asked me after twenty minutes of stretching. She seemed very eager suddenly.

"You're extremely eager when before you were leery of the whole running thing," I said with a smirk.

"I feel restless. I want to run! I hardly ever got a chance to actually run before in their pack. I'm excited to be able to stretch and have fun. I want to learn everything," she said with a beautiful and excited smile on her face that reached her eyes.

I laughed at her and nodded. "Calm down little one, you will learn, but you need to pace yourself. You're going to be an amazing warrior once we've gotten you trained well," I said and patted her head. "Are you sure you aren't restless because your wolf needs a run? I know it has been at least several days since you got to go out in your wolf form... We can do that after this if your wolf wants a run."

Her face faltered and she sucked in a sharp breath. "No, I am just excited to be running finally. Can we just focus on this task for now?"

Her response caught me off guard and I looked at her skeptically. I have never known a wolf to not want to get out in their wolf form before. Most people feel more natural and freer in their wolf form; I know I do. It made no sense, but I didn't push her. I figured she'd explain to me when she wanted to. I didn't want to scare her away or offend her.

"Okay, you can explain to me what is wrong when you are ready..." I said pointedly to her. I wanted to be sure she knew that I knew something was going on and that I wasn't going to just let it go. She looked at me with wide eyes, but didn't deny anything. "Let's see where you are with your human form, Luce."

Everyone lined up and got ready to spring off to run. I saw a beautiful look of determination on her face as she bent her legs and breathed deeply. A breath caught in my throat as I looked at her for an extended period of time; the feelings I was feeling for her were inexplicable. They were suffocating me all while making my heart flutter in a crazy way. I couldn't take my eyes off of Lucy.

You're staring. My sister mind-linked me and took me out of the daze I was in.

I cleared my throat, "1-2-3 GO!"

As soon as the word left my mouth, they all four began running. Rodriguez obviously had the lead because of his Alpha training and abilities and Sam was not too far behind him trying to push himself to catch up to the young Alpha. I wasn't worried about them though; I knew they were fast. I was watching Lucy intently as she was neck and neck with my sister. My sister was quick, partially because of the Alpha blood that ran through her veins, and I could see that she was running like she was trained to do. What was throwing me off was Lucy's quick strides that were almost side by side with Natalie's. I watched Lucy as she pumped her arms quickly and took short but incredibly quick strides.

Soon enough, she passed my sister and was several feet behind Sam. She passed where I was standing and finished the first half mile in two minutes and twenty-eight seconds, that was unheard of for someone in human form with such little training. She was so fast! I was so surprised and prideful as I watched her determined face concentrate on running. She was even starting to close in on the distance between her and Sam as they came to their last quarter mile. She was still a few feet behind him, but I could see her distance nearing him. As she ran closer to him, he felt pressured and sped up which pushed her to run harder as well.

A few moments later, Corey crossed the threshold that I was standing at and moved next to me to watch the finishing runners. What he didn't expect was for Sam to be across the line just a few seconds later with Lucy nipping at his heels. His eyes widened in shock as he watched Lucy continue her run.

Never once did she slow down; she only sped up. I looked in awe as she ran, she didn't look the slightest bit tired. Of course, we were equipped to run several miles before we got even an inkling of tiredness, but that was usually after we built up stamina. Lucy hadn't ever run long distances before; she should have been out of breath at least...

"How quick was her mile?" My sister said after standing next to me and eyeing the oracle suspiciously.

"Four minutes and fifteen seconds, just behind Sam's by just under six seconds..." I said as I watched my maybe mate pass us again, running at an even quicker pace.

"That almost beats my personal best," Nat said with a big smile on her face. "She has Alpha blood in her, I know it! There's no way she could run this fast without it."

I rolled my eyes at my sister and stepped out onto the track as Lucy rounded the last curve. I wanted her to stop before she hurt herself. I knew it was highly unlikely, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I wanted Lucy to be careful and safe with her training.

She saw me and came to a stop in front of me. I looked at my watch and then to her. The girl had just run two miles in under eight minutes with no prior training. This was looking suspicious to me... Could that actually be a thing or was this all a set up and she was lying about who she was?

"Seven minutes and fifty-seven seconds." I said firmly.

She had a sheen of sweat on her forehead, and she was breathing a bit deeper than usual. I was expecting her to be drenched and tired, but she seemed fine. "I-is that bad?" She asked innocently. "I could probably do better, let me try again."

"Who are you?" I asked, cutting her off.

"What do you mean? I'm Lucy..." she answered in a confused voice.

"Who are you?" I asked again, not believing that she could be someone that had been locked away for her whole life with times like that.

"U-um..." She stuttered and looked away from me, staying silent at my questioning.

"I asked you a question, Lucine."

Her eyes met mine and she had a pained expression on her face. "I, um, don't know... I don't know who I am or where I came from," she answered, and her eyes immediately filled with tears.

I was taken aback by her words and took a deep breath in when a tear spilled onto her cheek. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I've always called myself Lucy Doe... Like Jane doe, ya know? I-I didn't even know my name was Lucine until the moon goddess called me by i-" she cut herself off and inhaled sharply.

I looked around at the others that were watching us and held my breath as Lucy did. Suddenly she reopened her eyes, and the electric blue was swirling around beautifully. "Lucine Elara," she said in a strong voice. "Oracle of the Moon Goddess, seer of all, and your mate," she finished with such command and power that even I was affected by it.

I walked forward to her and wiped the last forgotten tear off her face. I didn't know if I believed her, but the power that she held was something to reckon with. Her statement was obviously divinely touched, and I didn't even need the swirling in her eyes to tell me that. I could feel it in the power that she spoke with.

"You hold a lot of power," I finally commented.

"I'm an Oracle," she reminded. "I don't know much about myself or my gifts, but I do know that I am intimately connected to our mother moon. I can feel her powers running through me. It's powerful. I don't know how powerful, and honestly it kind of scares me," she told me honestly. "You're supposed to help me, Kale. You're supposed to help me harness my powers and training. You're supposed to help me reach my full potential."

I stared at her still swirling eye intently. The depths that those eyes held were almost suffocating. And yet... I saw no lies within them.

"I will," I finally answered her after long pause. "I will help you with your powers. You have the potential to be everything, Lucine... Everything."