"Your firstlessonwill be strength& endurance,withmeanddante," explained Jax.
April's muscles ached.
Every breath she took burned.
She had thought she was strong—thought she had learned something after the fight in the alley.
She was wrong.
"Get up," Jax ordered, standing over her.
April gritted her teeth and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. Her body screamed in protest, but she wasn't about to back down.
"You're fast, but you're not strong," Jax continued. "Wolves are both. You want to survive? Then alter your mindset."
April clenched her fists.
She knew wolves weren't just about speed.
They fought in packs. They hunted with precision. They survived.
April forced herself up, wobbling slightly.
"Again."
Jax smirked. "That's more like it."
Dante was her next opponent. If Jax was the lion, Dante was the mountain.
"Hit me," he said simply.
April hesitated.
"Come on, Wolf. Show me what you've got," Dante proclaimed with his arm's spread wide-open.
April took a deep breath and launched a punch.
The moment her fist met his torso, pain shot up her arm. It was like punching solid steel.
Dante didn't even blink.
"That all?"
April growled and swung again, but Dante barely moved.
Jax chuckled from the side. "You've got the instincts, but no power behind your hits. Keep going."
April threw punch after punch, feeling her knuckles bruise.
But with each strike, she adjusted—focused.
The echoing effect of her hearing let her feel the weight behind Dante's frame, the slight shifts in his balance.
She wasn't going to win against him with force alone.
So she changed tactics.
The next time she swung, she faked the hit.
Dante moved slightly to counter—just enough for her to shift her weight, drop low, and use her leg to sweep under him.
Dante actually stumbled.
Jax let out a short laugh. "Not bad. Not bad little wolf."
April grinned through her exhaustion.
Dante cracked his knuckles. "Alright. My turn."
April's smile dropped.
April's second lesson was speed and agility with Saya & Kai.
If Dante was an unstoppable force, Saya and Kai were the opposite.
"Your strength is your reaction time," Saya said, circling April. "But how fast can you really move?" She smirked to herself.
April had no time to answer before Saya disappeared.
A whisper of sound behind her—April ducked just in time to avoid Saya's strike.
Her hearing painted a picture of the fight.
The way Saya barely touched the ground, the controlled breathing, the sudden burst of movement—April could track it.
But knowing where an attack came from wasn't the same as dodging it.
Saya swept April's legs out before she could react, sending her sprawling.
Kai snickered from the sidelines. "Try keeping up with this."
April barely had time to roll before Kai's kick landed where her head had been.
He was faster than she expected.
But she could hear the slight shift in his weight, the subtle rustle of his jacket before he moved.
She dodged.
Kai let out an impressed whistle. "Nice. But can you do that at full speed?"
He launched at her again.
This time, April reacted quicker—barely twisting out of the way in time.
Her heart pounded.
She wasn't as fast as them. But she could adapt.
And that was enough to keep her standing.
The training continued for days. Pushing, dodging, learning.
April absorbed everything—the way they moved, the way they fought.
Then, one night, something changed.
She was sparring with Jax when a rush of instinct hit her.
She felt the shift before it happened—an overwhelming surge in her muscles, a sharp tingling sensation through her fingertips.
Jax swung. April reacted on pure impulse.
Her hands moved—no, slashed.
A metallic sound rang through the air.
April stumbled back, breathing heavily. Her hands…
Her fingers had elongated slightly, coated in sharp, claw-like extensions, colored orange.
Jax's eyes widened slightly. He looked at his shirt—three clean cuts had been made across the fabric.
April stared at her own hands.
"Oh?"
Jax grinned. "Now you're getting somewhere."
April had unlocked her third ability—Claws.
Now, she was really starting to become a true wolf.
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