carried across 33

33 Southern Ass 

Sera 

Mina’s hands were on me again, shaking my shoulder. I didn’t want to open my eyes. My body felt like it was held together by bruises and stubbornness. 

“Training, Sera. Get up,” Mina whispered, her voice tight with nerves. “Yvara is waiting in the yard. You can’t be late again. Not after yesterday.” 

I didn’t move. I kept my eyes squeezed shut, burying my face deeper into the dark furs that still smelled faintly of the woods and snow. 

“Sera, please,” Mina pushed, her hands more urgent now. “This is important. You only have five more days. Taya isn’t going to go easy on you just because you’re tired.” 

I snapped. I sat up so fast Mina stumbled back. “Get out!” I shouted. My throat felt like I’d swallowed glass. 

“I’m just trying to help,” Mina stammered, her hands held up. “You can’t just give up. If you don’t train-” 

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My ribs barked, but I ignored the pain. I grabbed Mina by the arm-harder than I meant to-and started dragging her toward the door. She protested, her boots scuffing against the stone floor. She tried to plant her feet, but I was fueled by pure, unfiltered rage. 

“If you’re so interested in the training, you go,” I told her, my voice low and shaking. “Go get kicked in the stomach for an hour. Go train with Yvara yourself.” 

I shoved her out into the corridor. She turned around, her eyes wide and hurt, but I didn’t care. I slammed the heavy oak door and turned the lock with a loud, final click. 

“Sera! Open the door!” Mina’s voice came through the wood, muffled and pleading. “Please, don’t do this!” 

I ignored her. I walked back to the bed and collapsed into the furs. I pulled them over my head until I was in the dark. Fenris could go to hell. Yvara could go to hell. All of Ironmaw could burn for all I cared. I stayed there until the sound of my own pulse in my ears was the only thing I could hear. 

I slept. 

When I woke up, the light in the room had shifted. The grey morning glare was gone, replaced by the long, deep shadows of late afternoon. I was groggy, my head throbbed, and every muscle in my body felt like it had been stretched and snapped. 

“You sleep like the dead.” 

The voice was low and raspy. My blood went cold. 

I turned my head. Yvara was sitting in a chair by the window, her legs crossed. She was watching me, her eyes like two pieces of flint. She looked like she’d been sitting there for a long time. 

1/3 

wwthorne Ass 

+25 Bonus 

I sat up fast. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt. “How did you get in here? The door was locked.” 

Yvara didn’t answer. She just kept watching me. 

“Get out,” I said. My voice was shaking. “Get the fuck out of my room.” 

She didn’t move. 

“I’ll scream,” I threatened. 

Yvara shrugged, a small, indifferent movement of her scarred shoulders. “Go ahead. Scream. See who 

comes.” 

We stared at each other. The silence in the room was thick. I was trying to figure out if I could make it to the door, but she was blocking the only way out. She just waited, as if she had all the time in the 

mountain. 

“Tell me about Kane,” she said suddenly. 

I went still. “What?” 

“Kane,” she repeated. Her voice was flat. “Your old mate. The Alpha who rejected you. What did it feel like? To be thrown away for someone else?” 3 

My chest tightened until I couldn’t draw a full breath. The memory of the bond tearing came crashing down on me. “How…how do you know about that?” 

Yvara ignored me. “Did you really think you could become Luna? An Omega playing at being a leader? Did you think he’d actually choose you over a woman who could give him an heir?” 

“Shut up, 

,” I hissed. My hands were shaking. I couldn’t tell if it was rage or the old hurt surfacing. 

“Did he ever look at you the way he looked at her?” Yvara kept going, her voice relentless. “The one he chose. Did you know, deep down, that you were never going to be enough for him?” 

“You don’t know anything about me!” I shouted. “Fuck you!” 

Yvara didn’t flinch. She just let the silence sit between us until my breathing slowed down. 

“I don’t like you,” she said finally. “I don’t like your Southern ass. I don’t like your softness or your self-pity or the way you flinch before a hit even lands”. She stood up and walked toward the bed. She was tall, a and built like a literal weapon. “But you’re the Alpha’s mate now. Which means you’re one of us, whether any of us like it or not. And that means I am entitled to protect you with my life. That’s how it works here”. 

She looked down at me. “You need to be able to defend yourself. Not for the politics. Not for the contract. You fight because that’s what we do in Ironmaw. We fight to survive.” 

“Why do you care?” I asked, looking up at her. 

Yvara didn’t answer that either. She walked to the door and turned the lock from the inside. That’s how 

2/3 

+25 Bonus 

she’d gotten in-she had a key, or she’d picked it. “Training is in the yard. You can come or not. Your choice.” 

She left without looking back. 

I sat in the bed for a long time. My heart was pounding. Everything she’d said about Kane and being an Omega was ringing in my ears. I could stay here. I could pull the furs back up and sleep until Taya broke my knees in the duel. 

Or. 

I got up. Slowly. Every movement was a struggle against the stiffness in my joints. I got dressed in my training clothes. 

I walked to the yard. 

Yvara was there, waiting in the dirt. She didn’t look surprised to see me. She just gave a single, small nod. 

The training was different this time. It was still hard, and she still hit me, but she talked. She showed me where to put my feet so I wouldn’t lose my balance. She showed me how to shift my weight and how to watch her shoulders to see a strike coming before it landed. 

She corrected me with words first, then with a hit if I didn’t listen. It was still brutal, but it was making sense. I was learning. 

By the end of the session, I was on the ground again, panting for air. But I’d lasted longer. I’d fallen less. I’d actually blocked two of her strikes. 

Yvara stood over me, her expression unreadable. She looked down at me for a long heartbeat. 

“Same time tomorrow,” she said. It wasn’t a question. 

She walked away, and I stayed on the ground, staring up at the grey sky. 

Five more days. 

J 

*** 

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