The barracks were well…like their namesake, except they were quite closer to the city center than she had anticipated. 

Felix had stationed the barracks as close to the edge of the countryside as possible- deeming the soldiers as so lower class that they couldn’t be allowed to share the air he breathed. Only a select few elite guards made his personal squadron of royal guards, and those were only from an aristocratic background. Their only criteria was being as corrupt as possible and having an arrogance that could rival the alphas. Felix himself never trained beyond the occasional dual with them, because he considered himself too superior for ‘pointless’ physical exertion, as he so eloquently put it. His idea of physical exertion was of the more horizontal variety, involving a bed and at least two bimbos. 

The carriage jostled upwards by bumps in the road Eileen grabbed onto the side rails to steady herself. Unfortunately her moment of stability was shattered the moment Marcus turned to her and informed her, ‘alpha Nathaniel wants to have dinner with you tonight.’ 

His eyes met hers in a sheepish grin, making her realize that she had been gaping her mouth open in surprise.

 ‘He wants to welcome you to the pack officially,’

Her shoulders sagged in relief at this statement, but also in..disappointment? So it was an official dinner, meaning other important people in the pack would be invited as well. She didn’t think she could handle eating with him alone. 

The carriage stopped near a heavy black gate, and Marcus hopped out, reaching her side promptly to open the door for her. Touched by the gesture, she smiled and got off, glad that she wore her boots because of all the dirt and grit in the open fields of the barracks. The fields were stretched out wide, covering acres as far as she could tell and there were heavy fences that had sectioned it off into smaller arenas. There were a few buildings on the periphery, probably where the weapons were kept and the changing rooms were. 

Out of the buildings, there was one in particular that was cordoned off to the side and had heavy locks on its front gate. It had an ominous air compared to the others and unlike them, there were no trees growing in its front garden, that’s how deserted it was. She had a tingling suspicion that this was one of the possible sites where they kept that special herb- the one that was practically the bane of her existence at this point because she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what it was. 

Forcing herself to avert her eyes and not wanting to look suspicious, she followed Marcus behind one of the buildings where there was an arena with a match already taking place. A large crowd of brutish soldiers surrounded the ring, their cheers and the clicking of their beer bottles echoing all over. She struggled to see over the crowd who the fighters were and missed the entirety of the fight- something she realized after she had gotten a stool from the sidelines and stood on it- and flushed as the crowd parted to make way for the fighters. 

Who were moving towards her. While she stood alone on a stool. Like an idiot. 

The identity of said fighters made her want to dig a hole and bury herself into the ground because while one of them was a blond haired man she had never seen before, and the other one was Alpha Nathaniel. She got off quickly, so quickly, so quickly that she tumbled forward and was caught by two muscular arms wrapping around her and a wall of muscle pressing against her chest.

 Alpha Nathaniel. A very very shirtless alpha Nathaniel. 

She stepped back in embarrassment and cleared her throat while he watched her with an amused expression. 

‘W-what are you doing her?’

Dammit, she was stuttering. He laughed in that rich, masculine way of his that made her shiver.

‘I like to train the newbie soldiers myself, three days a week.’

She looked up in surprise, clearly not having expected this. ‘That’s very..generous of you.’

He shrugged modestly and grabbed a towel that was offered to him by someone standing next to his. He rubbed it over his chest, which was glistening with a sheen of sweat, his eyes never leaving hers.

‘I take it Marcus told you about our dinner tonight’

She nodded, thinking that the way he said ‘our dinner’ seemed too suggestive for an official dinner. ‘He said that I’m to give medical treatment to some soldiers here.’ Nathaniel points towards a camp site, informing her,

‘That’s where they’re gathered. Ill be here if you need anything and so will Marcus.’

Her businesslike persona was set in place now that the moment was over and after making an affirmative noise, she walked towards the camp site with purposeful strides. Marcus watched her go and noted the concern on Nathaniel’s face,

‘Would you like me to follow her in case she needs assistance?’ He asks in a low whisper. Nathaniel shakes his head in response, giving a wistful smile.

‘She’ll handle it. She’s a queen after all.’