"Stop," Malcom yelled as he watched Zaine lift his hand at Denali. She flinched and pushed back into the wall as far as she could to protect her body from being injured by her mate.

Malcom moved quickly across the room and grabbed his father's arm and pulled it away from Denali. Zaine let our a growl and hit Malcom to the ground. Then his other hand struck Denali across the face.

I jolted awake to a loud thunderstorm sending bullets of rain but the window. A sharp pain went through my neck. The memories from the morning flood back in.

A crack of lightning split the sky and lit up the night, followed by a thunderous boom that made my wolf whine. My wolf hated storms which was the exact opposite of me, considering I love storms. I can't think when it's too quiet, it makes me to nervous, so the loud storms help me think.

I heard a voice from outside of my room door as I run my hand over the mark gently. Malcom was outside, I could sense it. His smell was more enticing than ever. I felt him outside, I felt the bond stirring. It was stronger and wanted more.

I let him mark me. His mark is on my neck for everyone to see. His memories appeared as my dreams. I wondered if he saw my memories too, what I've been through living in secrecy.

The room smelled like lust between two wolves, Malcom and I. When I first met him, I couldn't imagine lusting for him but now, I don't know. I wouldn't say I love him yet though.

The door cracked open and Malcom walked in and shut the door. He looked up from the door handle and looked at me.

"You're awake," he states. I nod and rub my fingers over the mark again. It would scar over leaving to wrinkled patches of skin but for now it scabbed over. I looked at the clock and it was four in the morning.

"How long have I been sleeping?" I ask him. I would have assumed only a few hours since it's now dark.

"A day and a half," he mutters.

"What?" I question. I spent a day and a half going through all of Malcom's memories of his father. How much did he see from my memories? Does he know how broken I am?

"I can hear your thoughts now," his voice startled me. I glare at him and he just chuckles. He climbs into his side of the bed. I feel his fingers run over his mark. I bite back a gasp as the sparks were intensified.

"I-I needs to prepare," I stutter as I try to get out of bed but he wrapped his arms around my waist and kept me in place.

"Prepare for what?" He questions me. I had lost a day to prepare for whatever was coming on the 30th. 5 days, 5 days left to prepare for what was to come. "You're crazy if you're going to go out at four to prepare for the mystery attack."

"Then you obviously don't know how crazy I am," I roll my eyes. I needed to go back and heal those royal guards.

"They're sleeping you can do that in the morning," Malcom says through our link that we now share. I slap his shoulder and glare at him.

"Get out of my head," I growl. He laughs again as he lays down, bringing me with him. His scent was stronger and made me drowsy.

"Do you remember where you used to live with your parents?" He asked me randomly. I shake my head and his hand runs through the baby hairs that I could never tame.

"Yes, I haven't visited it in centuries though. The last time I saw it was when I found my parent's bodies," I mumble the rest. I couldn't bring myself to go back there. My whole childhood was there. Everything I had ever known was there. Too many painful memories were there and it hurt to remember it.

"I've seen it before, while scouting out the land," he said. "Your memories are scary ones." My heart stopped. Nothing had been mentioned about each other's memories until now and of course we had to talk about mine first.

"Yours aren't a ray of sunshine either," I mumble into his chest. My words became slurred as my eyes droop down. I didn't realize that marking would take so much energy from me.

"Sleep," he whispers to me. "We'll talk in the morning." I nod and give I in to my body telling me to sleep.

———

"Get up son," Zaine ordered. Malcom wiped the blood off of his mouth and pushed his body up and got ready to fight his father again. "If you're going to fall every time I hit you what's the point of training."

Malcom kept his mouth shut, he never said anything during practice. It would only infuriate his father further.

Zaine put all of his weight in his right foot before swinging his arm at Malcom's face. Malcom backed up and pushed his father's hand out of his face. Zaine countered by swinging his leg to his side. Malcom let out a groan as he fell back down.

"One hit boy, just get one hit on me then we can stop," Zaine finally said. Zaine was getting bored of just hitting, it was like he was fighting a brick wall.

"Fine," Malcom grunted as he pushed himself up again. His body was covered in bruises from the strenuous training he'd been through this week. He'd be Alpha in a few years, but all this training started now.

Malcom dodged his father's first few attacks and managed to stay on his feet. Malcom ducked under his father's swinging arm and pulled his arm back to land a punch on his father's back.

He swung and his father didn't move, as if he were waiting for something. He ducked under his arm, grabbed it and pulled it behind Malcom's back. Malcom let out a growl as he pulled his arm from his father's grasp.

"Weak," Zaine rolled his eyes. "It's been two hours and not a single punch on me, not one bruise. How do you expect to be a good Alpha, Malcom?" Malcom sighed as he put all his force into his punch. He aimed for the face but Zaine was too quick.

He grabbed his arm before it collided with Zaine's face. Malcom swung his leg to his side but Zaine grabbed his leg, lifted him up, and dropped him on his back.

"Sneaky, but too slow," he laughed. "It was really a pathetic move, a move of desperation. Opponents will easily suspect that you'd do that."

Malcom contemplated if he should just stay down and see how long he'd get away with that but Zaine grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up off of the ground.

Malcom let out a growl and tried one more time. With all off the force he had, he swung at his father's stomach. Zaine let our a grunt as Malcom's fist collided with Zaine's stomach.

———