Violet Ashes: The Blood Ridge Alpha - Chapter 69: Chapter 69

Vincent
Violetta's arrogance has no bounds. She keeps asking us to trust her, but it's more than evident that she doesn't trust any of us. We've tried to talk to her, and all she does is turn it around on me, as if I were the one who's broken the laws we were taught to follow. She's completely forgotten where she came from.
She stands beside me as the juveniles line up for today's training. Everyone is staring at her, no doubt having heard the rumors about where she's been all this time. I don't know how to talk to her anymore. This shouldn't be this hard. There are two of us for a reason. She's a lot more dangerous than she was before she left. The training she has is not the same she did when she left.
The betas in charge begin the warm-ups.
Violetta joins them for the mile run. I watch as she plays around with this so-called kid, the son of one of the most feared rogues in existence. The only reason the former Alpha King had them hunted was for what they did to Eliza Rizen; her remains were never found. My parents led the search alongside Reginald Nelson, the King's favored assassin. He's not just some kid to her.
The two of them, despite horsing around and hyping up the pups, make it back first without even breaking a sweat. They help bring out the water bottles for the others and wait for the betas to start preparing for training. I continue to watch as the two of them help the pups with the proper stances and forms.
The way they move tells me that they've been working together for a very long time, possibly even fighting together. The reports indicate that Roman is a team player, able to follow orders and get along well with the other recruits. However, no one sees him after training. He's never around to be sent out on errands, and he doesn't own a phone. I am fairly certain that I've seen him using one before.
"Let's pair up for sparing," Beta Jon orders.
"Before we ready up to spar, Luna Violetta and I would like to demonstrate how to use basic skills in skin form," I announce.
The pups immediately get excited and clear off the mats. When she tries to step up, the boy grabs her arm and stares at her for a moment. She smiles at him without saying a word. It looks as though they're communicating through a pack link.
"Don't lose your temper, Violetta," he growls at her.
"What temper?" she smirks as she steps onto the mat. She stands across from me and smiles. "You sure you don't want to stretch?"
"I've been on the training grounds all day, Vy. I wake up with the pack," I inform her. She rolls her eyes and takes a beginner's stance.
The two of us circle one another. I move in first, and she dodges me, going so far as to roll between my legs, making the pups laugh. I'm already in a terrible mood. Some of the wolves I have watching her informed me that Arsenial Barnes was with her in the new Lycan Tech tower.
There are pictures of them meeting, and they look incriminating. It's not just him; it's also two of his five brothers, the ones known for trying to get into the archives. Violetta has them with her in the Clocktower, where she promised there was no better place for them.
When she swings at me, I grab her wrist. She smiles and pulls herself up. I try to release her, but she grabs hold of me and swings her body around mine, wrapping her legs around my neck. She falls back and punches the back of my knee. On instinct, my knee bends, and she takes me down, pulling my arms up behind me. I can't catch my fall, and my face hits the mat.
"Whoa!" Some of the girls stand to get a better look. She releases me and rolls away with ease.
"That is not basic training," I pant, looking over at her.
"You're training all the pups equally, but we're not all equal. You're a whole lot bigger than me. These girls need to learn how to use that to their advantage. I learned that in basic training at Nova," she says, looking at the girls who moved to the front to get a better look. "Tradition dictates that females must always be protected and must shift when we're under attack to prepare to run."
"You are not going to do this here in front of the pack," I growl.
"Do what? Teach them how to fight better? Show them that there is more than what tradition teaches us. Isn't that what you brought me back for, or was that all bullshit so that we can become alpha again?"
The gym falls silent as she stands there, as if expecting me to answer her right here in front of everyone.
"I asked you to come back because this is your home. Where you belong. I understand that you've been out on your own for a long time now, but we are not them," I point at the boy. "We are a pack, we fight as one, and we live as one."
"You're dying as one," she spits back. "This shit doesn't work anymore, Vince. We had to recruit from outside the city to replenish our ranks because you refuse to acknowledge that the city is at war because of your so-called morals and traditions."
"This is not the place for you to do this, Violetta. This training session is over," I dismiss everyone.
"So, you rather rot the way the old man is?" she scoffs.
"The old man, your father, is the only reason this pack has made it as far as it has. I don't know who the fuck you are anymore. I should have had you evaluated. I have half a mind to have you investigated."
"So, investigate me," she shrugs. "You're not going to find shit. You're upset because you want to be right so badly, you're willing to blame me for all the shit happening to you, even after all the help I've given.
"Fuck this. It looks like your father won. You let him destroy you, and I'm not going to let you do that shit to me or my siblings. You and he can be buried in the same grave,"
"Is that a threat?"
"You'd know if she were threatening you," Roman growls at me. "You're making a huge mistake. You have no idea what Violetta is capable of. You're just like every other alpha out there. All fragile ego. Always barking like all domestic dogs behind the comfort of their gate."