It was nearing 7am as we finally started our training session. After warming up and stretching our muscles, we started with simple sparring exercises. After dodging my punch, Hawk paused at something behind me, cocking his head to the side which also caused Flint and Clay to pull up. Turning around, I spotted a group of male shifters stood by the sidelines watching us with interest whilst a smaller group of women sat down behind them like spectators.

“We would like to join in if we may?” Alexander asked, gesturing to himself and the others stood by him.

I didn’t have an issue with them joining but judging by the smirks the shifters were wearing, the thought it would be easy training session, likely because they hadn’t been watching us long enough to see us fully invested in sparring.

What do you think Clay? Ask Hawk and Flint, shall we knock them down a peg or two? They seem too cocky for my liking.

Gladly, Hawk and Flint agree as well.

“Fine by us. You should split into 4 groups, one for each of us, it might just give you guys a fighting chance.” I smirked at Alexander as I looked him directly in the eyes, an obvious challenge.

Smirking back, Alexander directed his shifters to form 4 groups, with about 15 shifters per group. He headed one, Wyatt headed the second and two other high-ranking shifters took the other two groups.

“Aren’t they joining?” I nodded towards the women.

“They aren’t warriors.” The gruff sentence came from the leader of one the other groups.

“So, you don’t have any female warriors?” I asked, frowning.

“No.” The same shifter responded. I decided to mentally call him Grumpy.

I just shrugged. It wasn’t my issue if they were deliberately sabotaging the strength of their warrior numbers. I knew from experience that female shifters could be just as deadly as their male counterparts.

“We starting this thing then?”

“You can’t be serious. You’re a woman, you can’t fight against a group of us.” He stated, genuine concern in his eyes despite his sexist comment.

I narrowed my eyes at him and took a step towards him intending to show him just how serious I was. Alexander moved to stand in between us to try and dispel the growing tension.

“Damien, Autumn. Enough. How about a bet instead? Autumn, if you and your brothers win, what would you like?”

“For this sexist asshole to admit woman are capable of fighting.” I was a rarity among Protection angels due to my gender, and I had to prove myself just as good as any male before I earnt any respect.

“And Damien?”

“For this spoilt princess to admit woman have no need to fight.”

“Is everyone agreed?” Alexander looked towards each of us, waiting for our nods, “can we continue then?”

“You guys can decide which group fights which of us.” I turned back towards my brothers, silently seething.

I heard a low growl from behind me, making me turn to see Alexander staring at me, his eyes glowing gold with his hands fisted at his sides. I was confused for a second, until I realised I had put on the training vest this morning, which showed some of my scars on my back and sides quite clearly. I rolled my eyes at him before standing beside between Flint and Clay. I made a come on motion with my hands. Turning to face the leaders of each group, they spoke softly before facing us once more.

“George’s group will face Flint, Damien’s will face Clay, Wyatt’s will face Hawk and mine will face Autumn.”

I shook my head slightly, knowing he made that pairing as he didn’t want the others to harm me, although I wasn’t too fussed. I wanted to be paired with Alexander because he would most likely produce the best sparring session for me. I patted Flint on the arm as I passed him to stand on the sidelines, placing myself next to Wyatt.

“After this session is over, I’ll see what I can do about Dylan.” I told him without taking my eyes off the group of shifters now circling Flint.

“Thank you.” Wyatt replied softly.

I simply gave him a small nod and smile. I felt Alexander move to stand on my other side as everyone watched the sparring match kick off. Within seconds, Flint had knocked unconscious two of the shifters muttering a sorry to them as he did so. He had a very balanced fighting style, alternating between defence and attack as needed.

“Did he just apologise?” The confusion and shock was evident in Alexander’s voice.

“Yes.”

“But… why?”

“He’s a gentle soul. And this isn’t a real battle, so he feels guilty for any semi-serious injuries he inflicts.” I sighed, used to Flint’s habits by now which contradicted the way I fought. It wasn’t surprising considering who we each had as trainers growing up.

We all fell silent as we watched him slowly but surely incapacitate his group of around 15 shifters, apologising along the way. 10 minutes later and the fight was done, Flint hardly out of breath whilst the shifters were in various forms of consciousness. He then proceeded to heal all of the shifters surrounding him.

“Clay.” I nodded towards the training area.

“On it.” He was almost bouncing on his feet he was so excited, a polar opposite to Flint.