23 Chapter Twenty

(Credit mainly to CyberWolfWrites for this chapter)

Hey guys and girls,

I am so sorry for my lack of updates. I'm going through a really tough time right now. A lot is going on that I can't explain and I know I promised a chapter the other week but it was literally impossible for me to upload so again, I apologise.

I'm able to update today as I've had time to write a chapter and be in the right mind for it, but there is no guarantee as to whether I'll be back to normal yet as things are still not sorted. I hope you can all forgive me and understand.

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My chest rises and falls as I grab the water bottle out of Azaizal's hands, having already drained my own a while ago. It's been about five hours since I started running and over half of the wolves have already dropped out.

Instead of pacing themselves, they had raced each other causing them to tire quickly. Many dropped out within the first two hours.

Since all the jokers ended up dropping out so quickly, the rest of us have been running at a trotting pace. Not to fast and not too slow. Right now only about four others are still running although one of them is beginning to struggle profusely.

I have the advantage here however, I've always loved to run and being a runt sometimes has its perks. It's in my blood to run as long and as fast as I can should there be any danger. I'm the only runt in this test, however I do believe there are a few others.

Avoiding all the glares from the other wolves I focus ahead of me. Being a runt they believe I'm weak and unworthy.

The good thing for us was that we didn't do much heavy lifting although Alpha Alec had helped me with my strength. We are normally left to track down others, not me though. I want to fight and that's why he trained me.

"Slow down" Azaizal says, airily chuckling as I gulp down water. I'm not sure if he's actually talking about my pace or how quickly I'm gulping down the water in his bottle. I hand it to hun and he takes a swig out of it, whilst he's lightly panting beside me.

He's a few feet away from me and his eyes are a darker shade of  blue even in the sun. He's having trouble with my scent as it gets intensifies if we do any form of exercise. Whenever any female was in heat, we had to stick to easier duties in the pack. Though due to my packs distaste to me, they still forced me to do everything and I'd have to try avoid makes myself.

Our scents get to strong to hide and can distract even the most controlled wolf.

"You look like you're struggling." He just huffs slightly and picks up his pace to meet mine.

Since he's a regular wolf he's having trouble keeping pace. Regular wolves tend to get tired more easily if running for a long period of time at a constant pace. I frown as his panting increases quickly.

I'm panting but not as bad as he is. Surely he shouldn't be panting this hard. He's got royal blood and should be keeping up easier than this.

"Would you like me to slow down?" I ask him, watching as he continues to take panting breaths through his mouth. He shakes his head and takes a swig out of his water bottle.

"No it's ok, it's just your scent." He tells me, switching to talking through wolf link. It being to hard to speak out loud. "Before I was able to tolerate it but now.." He growls lowly in his throat, it barely being audible.

"It's getting stronger the more I run" I finish for him, my already red cheeks growing darker for different reasons. He just nods stiffly, jogging a few feet away from me. "I can stop.."

He shakes his head roughly at me. "No you don't have to stop because of me." I bite my lip and look around at the other wolves left on the track.

"There are only two other wolves here" I state noticing the two struggling had dropped out. Gradually I slow my pace. He looks back noticing my slowing pace and also slows to meet me again. Be hands me his water bottle and I take a small sip.

My mouth is slightly open as I run, I'm beginning to pant a little harder. Now I'm thinking about it, my legs are slightly numb and my training gears drenched in sweat.

I wipe my forehead with my arm. Though I could run further I can tell Azaizal is struggling. I begin to slow down a bit more. "I'm tapping out"

He sighs but doesn't disagree with me. I take a few more laps before fully stopping. I place my hands behind my head to open up my lungs more.

Azaizal does the same but he's turned away from me and breathing through his mouth. After taking several long gulps of his drink he hands it to me and I finish as a wolf comes towards us.

Carrying his clipboard tightly I notice he's trying to avoid breathing through his nose. "How long has she been running and how many laps?" He asks Azaizal, completely turning away from me. That causes a low growl to rip through me in annoyance. I waited patiently for Azaizal to tell him as I'd lost count myself.

He grabbed his counter on his waist. His eyes widen in shock, "we've been running for five-hours-fifteen minutes and she's completed eighty-two laps."

The other males eyes widen and he whistles lowly. I just cock my head confused. "Is there a problem?"

Azaizal laughs, "No of course not Ella, we are just surprised because in that amount of time normal wolves should have been only able to do between forty-sixty laps and you did eighty-two. You even surpassed my score of seventy-five laps.

I scrunched up my face, "Really? You're lying" they both laughed at my response. It was the male that responded.

"We don't lie Ella, I swear even Azaizal couldn't last that long." I look at Azaizal shocked.

"Well we best get over to the strength test" the male nods and walks away. I play with my fingers nervously as we head over. There's only a few others which are the ones that dropped out not long before me.

"I'm going to get another bottle of water for you little wolf." He states lifting up his empty bottle. I tap his arm and hand him my bottle. He walks off when I turn to the instructor.

Luckily it's a female so I don't have to worry about how she'll react to my heat. My legs shake slightly as I approach the older female and she smiles. "I'm going to get you started on your arm exercises first to give your legs a break sweetheart" she smiles warmly at me.

I nod and smile gratefully at her before walking towards the pull up bar. There's only one other wolf here doing pull ups and her arms are shaking. "Just do as many pull-ups as you can, don't worry about counting, I'll count until your mate gets here"

My cheeks flush tomato red with shyness while  I continuously shake my head at her. "He's not my mate Miss" I tell her, standing under the bar preparing myself. I have to jump at least a foot in the air to reach but I do it and grab on tight, while the woman stares eyes wide as she refuses to believe what I said.

I begin the pull ups and pace myself to complete as many as possible. Even with the wolf ensuring me she's counting, I keep count myself to push myself.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Azaizal return and he approaches sipping on his water. He has my smaller bottle in his other hand "I can take over now, what's she on?" The female wolf smiles and leans over and whispers something in his ear.

He slightly blushes scratching his turning back to me, focusing on my pull ups and making sure he's ready. I announce my number so far, "I'm at thirty" He just nods at me and stands quietly.

After about half an hour my arms are killing and I'm struggling to continue. I lost count a while ago. "How many?" I ask, struggling.

"You're at one-hundred and forty" He tells me. I nod and force two more out of myself before dropping.

Azaizal writes my number down and we walk over to the floor mat. I lay down and he holds my feet, leaning away. I felt bad for how he was suffering.

"So what did the female say?" I ask curiously, trying to distract has mind. Azaizal practically chokes on air and I stop for a minute to make sure he's ok. He shakes his head as a way for me to continue.

"She, uh, told me we should be mates." He tells, making looks away.

"I said we weren't mates when it got mentioned." I have a feeling he's not telling me everything.

I continue my sit ups, my stomach aching.

After a while I can't manage anymore and finish. I look up at Azaizal waiting for my score and he smiles. "One-hundred and twenty-five"

I look down not fully happy with it but accepting it. I get straight in to my push ups and put in all my effort.

By the end of them I've let my arms collapse under me and I'm now flat on the mat, like a pancake laid on my stomach. I sit up and get a drink and breathe before the next test, squats.

Grimacing at the feelings in my body, I stick through it and do as many as possible. I don't last long. "Eighty"

Nodding my head I make my way over to the weights and sit down, giving myself a small break before I begin. I've already drank nearly all my water.

After a few minutes I begin lifting the various weights. Every ten lifts, I move up ten pounds on each arm. I keep going until I hit fifty pounds. Then I switch to bench pressing with Azaizal helping me.

I lift the weight as my arms shake and I place it on the bar catchers. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, happy that this is my last test of the day. "Wow I'm going to be so sore tomorrow" I tell Azaizal quietly.

I lift myself up and feel my arms tremble. I open my eyes to see Azaizal looking worried. I smile and shake my head. "I'm good" I grab my drink and guzzle the rest before grabbing Azaizals and drink half of that. I stand, stumbling a little.

Azaizal catches me and I just close my eyes to steady myself. Instead of letting me go, he wraps his arm around me. I don't say anything and just lean into him, grateful he's here.

"Thank you" I tell him. He just nods and smiles as we head over towards the female wolf. He hands over the paper with my results and we head off.