My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 270: Filling In

Nina

I watched Enzo storm off in the direction of the hockey arena. He was clearly angry, and if I was being honest, I was angry as well because of the nasty things he had said. I didn’t think that he fully meant what he said, but it still hurt nonetheless and I had to blink back a few more tears.

“Enzo!” I called. “Enzo!” But he didn’t turn around. With a sigh, I turned back to face the recruits, who were now standing around me with confused expressions on their faces. I had no idea how to train them, and I felt like I was left with a job that I wasn’t qualified for.

“Um… Should we go home?” one guy asked, scratching his head confusedly.

I sighed again and glanced at the time on my phone; there was still supposed to be another half hour of practice, and we really didn’t have enough time to be ending training sessions early because of arguments. Enzo was telling the truth when he said that the Crescents — or the Luna’s special rogues, or whoever we were really fighting against at this point — could show up at any time, and we needed to prepare.

“Um…” I felt myself getting nervous already just from the fifty recruits staring silently at me. “Let’s just finish up with training for the day,” I said. “How about… Everyone, line up over there, by that cone, and I’m gonna have you take turns running to the end.”

The recruits all groaned, almost in unison, but lined up at the cone I was pointing at nonetheless. I scooped up Enzo’s discarded stopwatch off of the damp grass and clicked it on.

“Okay,” I said, walking over to meet the recruits. “On the count of three, I want the first person in line to sprint to the end and weave between the cones, turn around, and come back. Tap the next person on

the shoulder when you get back and then that person can go immediately. Okay? Three… Two… One!”

The first recruit, a girl, took off running through the cones. But her legs were tired and shaky, and she kept slipping on the grass. When she whipped around at the end, she slipped in the wet grass and fell with a yelp. Pausing the stopwatch, I ran over to her and helped her up.

“You okay?” I asked, to which the girl nodded tearfully. I bit my lip, thinking, as I realized what the issue was; these students didn’t know how to channel their wolf’s energy. I could tell that it came naturally to some, but not to all of them. I decided then and there that I needed to help them learn how to channel their wolf’s energy if they wanted to perform well, so I waved them all over and began to give them instructions.

“When you’re running, you sort of need to let go of your own inhibitions and put your trust in your wolf,” I said, pacing back and forth in front of the students as I struggled to put into words how it was done. “If you don’t trust your wolf, then it won’t work. You and your wolf aren’t really the same consciousness; you have to work together. Everyone, I want you to close your eyes and try talking to your wolf now.”

The recruits all looked at each other confusedly before they closed their eyes one by one. I watched as they seemingly struggled for a few moments. Then, one girl suddenly popped her eyes open and grinned widely.

“I did it!” she exclaimed. “My wolf’s name is Freya!”

After the first girl spoke, the other recruits slowly began to open their eyes and smile. Even just as they stood there, they appeared to fill with more vigor than before. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Good!” I said, clapping my hands together. “Line up at the first cone, and try again. And this time, ask your wolf to give you strength and speed, and trust your wolf to do the rest.”

The recruits lined up. The same girl from before started off, and on my count, she took off running at the speed of light through the cones. She wove deftly back and forth, and when she came to the end she spun around almost in a pirouette, then wove her way back to touch the next recruit on the shoulder. The recruits cheered as the next boy ran just as deftly through the cones, and by the time they had all finished, it had only been under a minute for all fifty of them to complete the course.

Enzo still wasn’t back yet, so I moved the recruits on to their next activity and had them do calisthenics. I had them use the same method as before, which allowed them to power through their exercises with ease; some of them even went above and beyond, feeling themselves become more and more powerful as they became more used to their wolves.

After that, I had the recruits accomplish several more training exercises. The training session actually went on for more than half an hour, but no one was eager to leave as they were having too much fun training. By the end, they had returned to the cones and were running a new course that I had set up.

“Good job, guys!” I shouted as the recruits sprinted around the cones. “Remember to let your wolf give you power, and you’ll be able to do more than you thought possible! Just rely on your wolf!”

As I watched the recruits run around the course I had made, I couldn’t help but smile. But at the same time, I felt a presence behind me; I turned to look over my shoulder and saw Enzo standing there. My smile faded a bit as I half expected him to return to his previous methods of training, but much to my surprise he said nothing. In fact, he just stood a few feet away, watching me calmly with his hands in his pockets.

I smiled back at him and turned back to look at the recruits.

“Good job, everyone!” I said as they finished the course and jogged back over to me. “I think you can all call it a day now. See you all again tomorrow morning.”

The recruits walked off of the athletic field, grinning and laughing. I watched as some of the boys shot forward, racing each other with their newfound speed back to the quad, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Just then, Enzo finally came up to me and put his arm around my shoulder. I looked up at him and saw that he seemed to have softened, and no longer looked angry.

“Wanna go for a run?” he asked gently.

I felt myself blush and looked down at my clothes. I wasn’t wearing athletic gear, and was even wearing my lace-up boots due to the snow earlier that morning. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly dressed for running.

“Um… I don’t think I’m really dressed to go running,” I said.

Enzo just chuckled and shook his head, then ruffled my hair. “I was talking about running in our wolf forms, silly.”