The Dragon Queen and her mates.

"You are expecting too much from me." Bree panted through her lips. She had no idea what made this man even think that she could do this, but given the current situation, she did not believe that she could do what he was expecting from her. How was she supposed to strengthen herself and even become better than the soldiers that he had trained? Without her beast—without Serafina, she was nothing, damn it. She was just a simple woman who was dragged into this world without being given a chance to learn how to survive. And now people wanted her to do this and that. How was she going to do it?

To her surprise, Ahmar shook his head and remarked, "I am not expecting too much from you, your majesty. You are stronger than you think."

"My beast—"

"You need to stop worrying about your beast." Ahmar’s eyes turned cold as he looked down at the woman in front of him. "Sure, for a shifter, his or her beast is the most important part of their existence, but you are forgetting that they are just an essence of us. Even without our beasts, we are stronger than humans. As long as you are willing to train harder, you can always fight back."

"Your Majesty, the council is not making trouble because they look down on you for losing control of your beast but because they know that by putting you down like this, they will be able to break your spirit. Is this what you want to show them?"

Bree sat up straight and shot a look of sheer frustration at Ahmar. "Fine, let’s say that I continue doing this training, but what and how will this training help me? Can I really fight the villains? Can I even deal with them with this broken body of mine?" She did not even have her beast with her; how could she fight back against those villains who were looking at her from every corner?

She was not a superhuman. Sure, she was the queen, but without her beast, could she even fight back?

Ahmar’s eyes flashed, and he walked over to where Bree was. He crouched down, not much, but enough to look at her in her eyes, and then spoke in a low and gravelly voice, "Your Highness, I am not being hard on you, but if you keep throwing a tantrum like this, then I am sorry; I have to admit that I will look down on you a little. What do you mean by saying your body is broken? Just because your beast is a little out of control, you are acting like you have lost an arm or a leg. Soldiers like me head down to fight even if we have lost an arm when we are at war."

He jumped right back on his feet before placing his hands on his abdomen and explained, "Now start breathing from here rather than taking as much air as possible in your lungs."

Bree wanted to fight to scream, but she still calmed down and did what the man asked her to do. No matter what, her situation was not too optimistic. Her beast was out of control, and her powers were not something she could use as she wanted. If Ahman was insisting that she could use this set of skills to control her beast, then she might as well try it. Maybe she would be able to regain control of her beast?

Soon her panting stopped, and her breathing was back under control.

Seeing this, Ahmar nodded and said, "See? It’s not as difficult as you make it." He then continued explaining the basics to Bree. As the queen of the empire, she should have learnt these things long ago when she was a child, but something told him that she did not remember a thing that she learnt when she was a child. "You should also keep an eye on your surroundings. Be constantly aware of what is going on around you. Utilise your senses at all times. You not only have to be aware of the noise that you make, but you also need to control your own scent."

"Since your beast is weak and you cannot protect yourself at the moment, the one thing you can do is to make sure that you will not be detected in times of danger. Protecting yourself is also fighting back. Keep an eye on the wind; try to control your pheromones by suppressing emotions. Even if you’re scared, angry and worried, you need to be calm at all times. Especially when you are in danger, that way you will be able to keep a sane head and control your scent."

"It will throw your enemies off."

"Got it."

"Be patient when things are not going according to your plan. Being stealthy doesn’t mean that you are a coward, nor does it mean that you have to do things slowly. Be imperative. Patience helps you remain silent, and it will keep your life safe. Remember nothing is more important than your own life. Not even your courage and self-respect."

He then clapped his hands and said, "Now go and hide in the forest. I will give you a head start and come to look for you after thirty minutes. Make sure that you have hidden yourself quite well."

Bree thought that it was a simple thing and got up to her feet. Dusting herself up, she jogged to the forest that surrounded the palace training ground and quickly found a place but–

"You really like this scent, your majesty. I have smelled it on you three to four times."

"You made a sound."

"I can see you tapping."

"Nice tune that you are humming."

"Goddamnit! I did not even know I was doing it!" Bree stepped out of her hiding place and released an exasperated sigh.

"I know you did not." Ahmar looked at her with an almost sympathetic look. Almost. "Like I said, you need to be fully alert; you need to be aware of what your body is doing when you relax yourself. Now one more time!"