I moved through the forest quietly, like my training had taught me. This wasn't training, this was for real.
He focused on following Derek's path through the trees and undergrowth. "
Stay with me and don't do anything unless I tell you,"
the older warrior told him through the bond.
"
Yes sir,
" I replied. I couldn't afford to screw anything up my first time out with the rest of the warriors of the Blood Moon Pack. At eighteen and having just completed the first phase of my Pack Warrior training, I was on probationary status.
"Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open and your mind focused on the task," my father had told me when I joined the other men. He was a Pack Beta, now in charge of training. He had returned from battle a decade ago missing his left arm, the bite having removed it just above the elbow. The pelt of the rogue wolf that had jumped him while he was fighting another now hung over the fireplace at home. He had killed both, then stuck the stump into hot coals to stop the bleeding. The Alpha had to order him to return home as the battle continued.
I was going to follow in the footsteps of a badass like him, I thought as I smiled.
I was still memorizing the scents of the adults spread around the woods alongside us as we raced to the meeting spot. Our Pack organization separated the trainees from the rest of the Pack for the first two years. After your first shift around age sixteen, all males and females were sent to barracks and training grounds in a remote area of the territory. Dad told me it was to eliminate distractions and keep parents from becoming "a pain in his ass" about things. Conditions were spartan there, you had a bunk, a communal shower and bathroom, and a footlocker.
Training was difficult, of the twenty in his class, only eight had graduated to Apprentice Warrior. The ones who dropped out were also dropped in Pack status; they became the Omegas. The lowest official Pack rank, they were responsible for cooking, cleaning, laundry and other menial tasks. They were higher only than the Unranked (the children who hadn't shifted or were in training) and the Pack slaves.
It didn't matter who your parents were. Your rank had to be earned, and the training was the first step. If you were washed out, you became an Omega. You were stuck there until your classmates graduated before you could apply to go to training again. Fail twice, and the Omega rank became permanent.
Pack life was all about rank and dominance; it determined your job, your living conditions, your pay and even your mate. Mates were chosen. The humans had their fairy tales of destined mates, but reality was more like the way a real wolf pack operated. The stronger males had their pick of the females, and they always chose the strongest one they could get. If you wanted to be Alpha, you had to beat out everyone else, and your prize was the strongest and most dominant female by your side.
Competition was fierce, and highly competitive. Even within our class, pairings had started to form, although mating was not allowed until you were both eighteen.
No one of high rank would mate with an Omega, heck, even Omegas were hesitant to mate with each other. They all hoped for someone better once they climbed the ladder.
"
Get your head back in the game,
" Derek snapped after I stepped on a branch, causing the snap to echo through the forest. "
One more fuckup like that and I'll send you home.
"
I shook my head and concentrated on the run. I hadn't been told what was going on, and I wasn't expected to know. Our Alpha was leading our group, that was enough. We crested a hill ten minutes later, a large field stretched out below us with a stream cutting through the middle. On the other side, three men stood with their arms crossed, looking at us with disdain.
"
Warriors stay at the treeline, Beta, Gamma, with me,"
Alpha Max Connell thundered over the link. Derek had stopped and shifted ahead of me, so I came up next to him and did the same. The thirty warriors with us spread out along the treeline, our focus on the men on the other side of the stream that made up the eastern edge of our territory.
"Who are they," I whispered as I looked over the enemy.
"Rogues," he replied. "A big group of them. We've been scenting them for the last week near the borders."
Wendy moved over and stood next to us. She was in my class, and was a good friend. She was a decent warrior, never the top of her class in brains or skill, but she wouldn't ever give up. She was found six years ago in a human orphanage, abandoned at birth and had bounced in and out of foster homes until they stopped trying to place her. When my father sensed her, he arranged for a Pack family to adopt her. She hadn't even known she was a werewolf.
My father wasn't a compassionate man, but he knew she had to join a Pack soon or be killed. Allowing her first Shift to occur among the humans couldn't be allowed.
I looked her over; she was about five-foot ten, with a solid build and straight black hair to her shoulder blades. She had filled out nicely in the time we were in training, and had already caught the eye of several older Warriors. So far, she had resisted their advances. When I asked her why, she said that she needed to find out how high in rank she could reach before she settled down with a mate.
No one really knew what she was capable of, since we had no idea who her parents were.
"They don't look like much," Wendy said a she looked across the field. I could see why she would think that, the two dozen men across from us were dirty and unprofessional. Their clothes were tattered, teeth yellowed, hair greasy. I could smell their foul odor from here.
