My knee bounced restlessly as I chewed my cheek and stared forward at the whiteboard. Classes were short in this high school, an accelerated curriculum to allow the entire afternoon dedicated to training. Thankfully this meant we didn’t have a lot of time to mingle, but that also meant there wasn’t any time set for me to greet any of the other students. Some glanced at me curiously as they had come to class, but I had spoken to no one and kept my head down. So much for not being a coward..
‘You can make friends at training’ Nya said sleepily
‘Somehow I don’t think they’ll be impressed by my weakness’ I thought back to her
I turned back to my notebook and continued to take notes, trying to keep up with everything being taught. A girl next to me slid a paper onto my desk without taking her eyes off her own notebook. She had a mane of wild brown and gold curls, and tanned skin, I couldn’t see her face but I nervously unfolded the note.
“Rank?” Was all the note said and my stomach sank.
This pack was entirely built on a ranking system, my aunt had spent the drive home from the airport explaining it, there was the elite tier, the best of the best, Alpha Abel held that spot, along with his beta and another warrior. After that there was the gold tier, this tier had 5 in each rank, gold 1, gold 2, and gold 3 for a total of 15 gold wolves. The silver tier was made up of 60 wolves, 20 in each rank. Bronze tier was where a majority of wolves ranked, it was made up of 150 wolves, 50 in each rank. And lastly there was the Iron tier, a lowly group of wolves who couldn’t make the cut. My aunt explained there were about 37 wolves in this, 20 in the iron 1 rank, 11 in rank 2, and 6 in rank 3, which was essentially labeled worthless. Iron rank 3 actually had 7 now that I had joined..
Fear flickered across my face as I glanced over at her, she met my gaze with soft brown eyes, flecks of gold and red in her irises. She gave me a small grin and slid another paper over.
“I thought so, I heard my rank gained a new member last week”
I gasped and looked up at her, she winked and went back to her notes. The relief I felt at the prospect of a friend was palpable and I couldn’t keep the slight grin off my face as I turned back to taking notes.
My aunt had warned me that the ranking system was taken seriously, that climbing in rank was a brutal goal, and that I shouldn’t expect any kindness outside of my rank. I hadn’t planned on fighting too hard to get out of iron, but moving up a rank or two wouldn’t be terrible. My aunt was in gold rank 2, and kicked my ass without hesitation the first night. Something about me smelling weak.
Class ended at 12 and my ass was sore from sitting for 4 hours, the girl next to me slung her bag over her shoulder and looped her arm through mine,
“I’m Leah, I’m so excited to have someone new join us.” She chatted cheerfully and I smiled at her
“I’m Jess” I mumbled and she tugged me along toward training, chatting nonstop and not seeming to mind I wasn’t saying much. She led us to a locker room and started to strip without even a second of hesitation
“So yeah, I shifted when I was 12 and honestly my parents thought I had to be the strongest of my siblings, since all my brothers didn’t shift until 14, but it turns out I’m the wimp of the family. They don’t mind too much since Klein fought up to silver 3 last year.” Leah stopped only as she pulled her head through her shirt, “and that took a lot of pressure off of the rest of us honestly. So what about you? Why did you move out here?”
I fidgeted with my shirt, not being used to changing in front of anyone “I just needed something new..” I said quietly, “we didn’t have many training options at my old pack, so my parents thought it would be good for me to train here”
Leah nodded in understanding “I get that, our parents want us to be strong, but honestly I’m just dying to meet my mate, I hope he’s strong and wants lots of pups”
I laughed at this and she smiled at me, she kept chatting away about all the things she was hoping to do once she met her mate. I finally talked myself into whipping my clothes off and changing into my training outfit, nodding along with Leahs continued string of chatter. As I leaned down to grab my sneakers, they were kicked across the locker room and giggles rang out.
“Oops, didn’t see you there” a tall blonde with perfectly curled hair and long tan legs smirked at me “hard to see such low ranking trash”
Her pack of giggling goons cackled and she flicked her hair over her shoulder as her green eyes sparkled with amusement. I hung my head in submission and scurried off to grab my shoes. I heard a low growl from Leah and turned to see the blonde shove my new friend back against a locker.
“I’d keep that mutt of a wolf chained up Leah, or I’ll have to remind her of how weak iron scum really is” she pushed her again before turning and heading to her own locker, the other girls snickering and trailing behind.
Leah rubbed her shoulder where the blonde had shoved her and her cheeks were pink, she met my eye and muttered quietly,
“Chrissy, her and her friends are bronze rank 1 and they’re a nightmare” she shook her head before scooping up her curls and tying them into a high pony tail. “She used to be in Iron, but she’s been sleeping with a bunch of the guys in silver and they’ve been training her, what I wouldn’t give to kick her ass”
“We should then” I said firmly as I finished tying my laces
“What??”
“We should train up and kick her ass” I said with a shrug “goals are good motivators”
Leahs eyes were wide as she looked at me, “it’s really tough to climb, and I really don’t care about rank”
“You want to impress your mate when you find him? No better way than to be able to kick some ass” I said with a grin, Leah smiled back and nodded
“I think you’re on to something” She chewed her lip and we stared at each other
“So let’s make a pact to train hard?” I asked holding out my hand to her, she paused before shaking it and nodding excitedly
“You’re on!” Her eyes seemed to light up, the red and gold flecks glowing “I can’t wait to kick some blonde slut ass” we laughed and headed out to the training field.
Leah and I were good to our word, training fierce and grinding to claw our way out of iron rank 3. In 2 months we were able to make it to iron rank 1, but found reaching bronze was a challenge that we would need more guidance on. My aunt was often too busy to help us train so we would watch other ranks and try to imitate some of their techniques, but we really needed more insight into what we were supposed to be doing.“We need to find someone to train us, try flirting with the bronze boys” Leah nudged me as we sat under the trees watching the bronze train. She giggled at my disgusted look, “you’re so pretty, you could do it”I scoffed and rolled my eyes “says the golden goddess”“Shush, you have this whole porcelain doll vibe going on girl, mysterious and tempting” she waves a
I kicked off my shoes and shut the door behind me, the smell of dinner cooking hit me and I hurried to the kitchen. My aunt turned around as she heard me walk in,“Hey, how was your day?” She asked stirring a pot on the stove“It was okay” I shrugged and peered into the pot, she was making a big batch of her chili, and my stomach grumbled loudly, my aunt chuckled when she heard it.“Settle down,” she laughed and turned the stove off “it just finished, but I want you to take a batch to Alpha before you eat”I let out a sigh and eyed the chili as she ladled it into a giant bowl and closed the lid. Thankfully the pack house was fairly close and it wouldn’t take long to get back. Having lived here for almost 3 months I was getting used to to
The sun was shining but the air was chilly, with flurries of tiny snowflakes swirling around, the roaring of the falls was drowning out our laughter as we splashed and swam. Despite the frost clinging to the pebble shore, we were enjoying our swim and our wolves kept us warm. Leah had been forced to miss training, so it was Nico and I alone for the first time in the last 3 months. Nico had become a silent ally in our climbing of ranks, it was an unspoken agreement that we didn’t mention his help to anyone. We weren’t entirely sure it was against the rules or not, but I think we all had concerns. Would the Alpha be okay with his son wasting time on bronze ranked wolves? The harsh whispers from Troy and Rayna lingered in the shadows when we passed them. Climbing the ranks wasn’t exactly a team building exercise, it was a competition. The packs tradition believed that an army was only as strong as their weakest warr
The engine beneath me roared to life, I kicked up the bike stand and adjusted my leather jacket before leaning down and pulling back the throttle. The wind whipped my hair that hung beneath my helmet. 10 years had passed since my family’s death, I had salvaged my fathers broken down bike that he had spent years trying to get running, it purred beneath me, a reminder of him every time I went for a ride. My mothers old locket and my brothers favorite jacket were the only other tokens of my family that I found in the wreckage of my childhood home. My heart had shattered completely at the state of my old town, buildings smashed in the fight, some burned down.. I wandered through the neighborhood, silent tears on my cheeks and a rage burning and growing within me. It was outside of Jensens home that I sobbed, my friend had died and the last moments we had together left me feeling hollow. I had abandoned him.His
I climb the steps to the pack house, I had left my bike at my aunts and walked the short distance. Nico glances up at me as I shut the door behind me and he smiles, he looks exhausted, his hair ruffled like he’s been running his fingers through it to disperse his stress. I nod at him before taking a seat while we wait for the rest of the group to show up.“Listen, we have some disturbing news..” Nico starts as the last person sits down “a rogue was captured alive in the silver dawn pack shortly after we arrived. All interrogations in the past have left us empty handed but this wolf..” his eyes get dark “we broke him”A murmur runs through our small group before he continues, “For the last 20 years this pack of rogues has been hell bent on bringing down all packs, wanting to destroy our hierarchy and bring about chaos. A large
“Fuck fuck fuck” I mutter as I toss workout clothes, pajamas, and a few outfits into my giant duffel bag, I don’t know what to expect on the trip so I pack a variety of things “fucking moon goddess and her bullshit” I’m whispering and trying to hold myself together. I feel like I can’t even breathe, I sit on the edge of my bed and bury my face into my hands, what the fuck am I going to do?‘Mm Nico isn’t bad, but he’s not mate’ Nya grumbles‘Massively fucking helpful, thanks’ I snap‘Maybe..’ She whines in pain ‘maybe mate was killed’ I almost let out a howl with her as the thought sends an ache of pain through me‘Will we be happy with Nico?’ I ask, avoiding the thought of our
Liam and Nico were stewing, we sat at the cafe near the Inn and sipped coffee after our lunch. We had been waiting on the alpha for 2 hours now, the streets were moderately busy especially for such a small looking town. I’d guess they were all finding a reason to catch a glimpse of the visitors, I wouldn’t be surprised to find someone vacuuming their porch just to have an excuse. I tapped my foot quietly, anxious for this exchange to be over, but also dreading the trip ending. I felt like there was no time to contemplate my choice on choosing Nico as a mate, but then maybe I already knew I’d have to choose him, was there really any point in dragging out the inevitable?‘Romantic’ Nya huffed in annoyance, we both wanted to wait for our mate, but at 26 with an impending war, a mating proposal, and the high possibility our true mate was dead, neither of us could really fight it.
My wounds sting considerably more in human form, I’m curled in the fetal position but push myself up to sit, drawing my legs closer to my body and wincing as my bloody feet scrape the ground. Wrapping my arms around my knees I glare at Jensen as he stands a few feet away.“Maybe it’s just you I’m always needing to run from” I spat at him“Noted” his eyes darken “but don’t be fooled kitten, I’ll always find you if I want to”I scoff at him, “I’m not the same pathetic little girl you knew” I raise my chin and he quirks an eyebrow at my position, ragged and bleeding on the forest floor“Funny, you’re still clinging to that pathetic alpha all these years later”