Chapter 1: Morning Training - Amelia

I’m awoken to the dreadful sound of my alarm. Well, technically it’s my phone playing ‘Kokomo’ by The Beach Boys, but since I’ve selected it as my alarm tone I’ve begun to hate the song with a passion. I love that song but if I keep using it to wake me up in the morning I may never want to hear it ever again.

I reach over and turn off my alarm and roll on my back taking a moment to relax and enjoy the peaceful silence and darkness of my room. This is the only time of the day when I can feel calm before I step out into the chaos that is my life.

“So, what’s on the schedule today?” asks Zara in my head. Zara is my wolf spirit. Now before you go jumping to conclusions and calling me a ‘werewolf’, allow me to explain some things.

By a human’s definition I am a werewolf, but please don’t ever call us that. We really hate it. What I, and the rest of my kind, are actually called is mutolupus, but we’re happy to just call ourselves wolves. It’s kind of shocking how much myths and stories got right about our kind, but there’s also plenty they get wrong.

“Hello! Earth to Amelia, I know you can hear me,” huffs Zara.

“Sorry Zara, I guess I spaced out, what’s up?” I ask her.

“Let’s go for a run, I want to get my paws dirty,” she says excitedly wagging her tail in my head. I chuckle. I love how full of life she is.

“You want to go for a run before training? Won’t you be too tired?” I ask causing her to growl at me.

“I could run around the whole pack and still take on every warrior on the field, don’t insult me, woman,” she says smugly sticking her snout up at me making me laugh. It probably sounds weird to think that I can see a wolf in my head, but this is normal for us, and has been normal since I was born.

For the most part, I look human, the only difference is I’m stronger, faster and have superior senses to that of a human and I can heal fast, among a couple of other things.

Oh and the whole shifting into a wolf thing.

Zara is my best friend; I don’t think anyone is as in sync as we are. We never fight or argue – unless playfully – we are the dynamic duo. Like most wolves, she has been with me since birth, but I didn’t shift into my wolf form until I was sixteen, as most wolves shift at sunrise on their sixteenth birthday. The worst way to wake let me tell you that.

I don’t know what I’d do without my wolf, she’s as vital to me as breathing. Zara and I aren’t your average wolf though, we are of Alpha blood and are soon going to be the Alpha of our pack, but today I’m just Amelia.

Getting up I stretch out my limbs and walk across the room to open my thick purple curtains. It’s 5 am so there’s no sun out yet, which is a relief for my eyes. I strip down and make my way to my walk-in closet and change into a black sports bra, black shorts, put on socks and sneakers then quickly tie my shoulder-length blonde hair up in a high ponytail.

Time to get my training on.

I make my way out of my room and down the three flights of stairs of the packhouse. It’s basically a big mansion and is where the ranked wolves of the pack live. Alpha and Beta suites and offices are on the fourth floor, and Gamma and Delta suites and offices are on the third floor. The second floor is exclusively for pack guests, so this is where people from neighbouring packs will stay when they visit. Then you have the first floor which has the dining hall, conference room, gym, pool, entertainment room, living areas and kitchen.

Pack members are always in and out of here for various reasons and the warriors always have breakfast here after training. Actually, a lot of pack members like to have their meals here because it’s where everyone can come and congregate. The packhouse staff also live here but they have their own wing on the first floor. The staff are a mixture of non-ranked wolves and Omega wolves.

Omega wolves are wolves who are – for whatever reason – unable to shift. They have heightened senses and can even speak to their wolf spirit, but because they can’t shift a lot of packs mistreat Omegas or treat them as less than everyone else, but we don’t believe in that. We don’t enslave anyone and being staff here is a paid job like any other. It’s offered to anyone who wants it, and we offer them free room and board if they wish.

Rank is important, as it keeps order, but ultimately we believe respect is something you earn. At least that’s what my father has taught me and how he runs this pack. We even have some Omega warriors. We don’t focus on what they lack, we look at what they have and how they can better the pack.

I have one foot out the back door when the scent of oranges and pine hits my nose. I quickly duck just as a body comes flying over my head and tumbles along the ground before getting up quickly.

“One of these days I’m going to get you, mark my words,” he says wagging a finger at me.

I grin. “You’ve been saying that for years and I’m still waiting,” I taunt. He grins back and wraps his arm around my shoulders.

Vitali Hughes is one of my best friends; we’ve been thick as thieves our whole lives, and we train together all the time. I know no matter what he has my back.

He’s 6’1” and ripped all over with sun-kissed skin, shaggy chin-length brown hair and hazel eyes. He’s twenty-two and he doesn’t know it yet but I’m going to make him my Beta. Traditionally the Beta title is passed down to the next family member, same with Gammas and Deltas – sorry I should clarify, next MALE family member – but ultimately it’s a position bestowed upon you by the Alpha, and I need people around me I can trust.

I’m about to become the first female Alpha, or at least the first in North America, I can’t speak for other countries. Let’s just say people didn’t take it too well when my father declared that when the time came he’d pass the title to me. Some pack members were excited, others not so much.

Vitali was so happy for me, and I always knew I’d make him my Beta. It sure as hell wasn’t going to the current Beta’s son, Ryker Mathers. The moron barely has two brain cells to rub together and doesn’t give a crap about the pack or training and thinks he’s Goddess’s gift to women and somehow still thinks he’s going to be a Beta just because his daddy was.

Over my furry butt, he will.

Vitali and I walk down to the training field which is only a five-minute walk from the packhouse. The field is surrounded by the dense trees of the forest and consists of a running track, an obstacle course, and a combat area in the centre of the track, with bleachers around the perimeter of the track.

“How are you feeling? Just one more week and not only will you be twenty-one, but you’ll officially be our Alpha,” Vitali says excitedly.

“I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been preparing for this for as long as I can remember, I can’t believe it’s finally here,” I tell him enthusiastically.

“I’ve heard people talking about challenging you on the night of your elevation,” he grits angrily.

“Let them,” I shrug. “I’ll take on every last one of them. The last thing I want is to kill my own pack members, but if they’re not willing to submit and accept me as their Alpha, even though it is my blood rite, then they have to accept the consequences,” I say flatly.

The Invictus Pack is the second largest pack in the United States and is based in Oregon with around two thousand pack members. My pack is my family and I’d do anything for them, but if they’re not willing to show me respect just because I’m a woman then screw ‘em. Neither I nor my wolf is going to just roll over and take it. So if they want to challenge me, they better have dug their graves already.

Vitali lets out a groan. “Woman you’re killing me. You know it gets me going when you’re in badass mode,” he teases.

“Don’t go blaming me for your high libido,” I laugh.

Wolves naturally have a high sex drive and there’s nothing wrong with that and no one is bothered by it. As long as everything is consensual and no pack laws are broken, then let your freak flag fly.

We make it to the training field and slowly more pack members start making their appearance. Pack members eighteen and over begin training at 5:30 am for two hours five days a week. Warriors train for an additional two hours after that, perfecting more advanced techniques. Pack members aged between ten and eighteen train at 7:30 am and only train three times a week. We want them to stay sharp and be prepared and know how to defend themselves, but we also have to think of their schooling. This is why the pack schools don’t start till 10 am. Education is still important, but Pythagoras Theorem won’t save you if the pack is under attack.

“Everyone line up!” Yells Gamma James.

Gamma James Grey – or uncle as I often call him – Is my father’s third in command. He’s forty-four and is responsible for training the pack and our warriors. He has dark skin that reminds me of dark chocolate, pale blue eyes and black hair with a marine’s buzz cut. He’s 6’5” and built like a heavyweight champion. As usual, he is wearing nothing but workout shorts and sneakers. He loves showing off his muscles, mostly because they are pretty imposing. I’ve been body-slammed by this guy and I’m here to tell you that it is not a fun experience. He also loves showing off his tattoos – he has tribal tattoos all over his chest and arms.

Tattoos aren’t fun at the best of times, but they’re more painful for us wolves. We heal too fast and don’t scar easily so the only way to get tattoos is to use a tattoo gun made with pure silver because any injury caused by silver once healed leaves a scar. Gamma James’ tattoos are basically a giant warning sign screaming ‘I’m dangerous and pain means nothing to me.’

“Just once I wish my old man would wear a shirt,” whispers a voice beside me and I have to stifle a chuckle.

Whispering doesn’t do much good around wolves; we have sensitive hearing which is why Gamma James is now glaring daggers at this son Tyson.

Tyson is the spitting image of his father, just a couple inches shorter, no tattoos and not as bulky. But he’s working on it. Tyson is twenty and one of my other besties and for that reason, he’ll be taking on the Gamma position after his father.

“I think you just like annoying your dad,” I say to Tyson through the pack-link.

All pack members can speak to each other telepathically which comes in handy, especially during fights and when we are in our wolf form.

“Not my fault he makes it so easy. But seriously, he really needs to learn to wear a shirt. I mean, why have them if you refuse to wear them?” Tyson replies. He’s got a fair point.

“This morning we will begin with fifty laps, followed by a blind obstacle course I have prepared in the woods and then sparring,” Gamma James announces making several people groan.

Vitali, Tyson, and I put our game faces on.

We love training, and to keep ourselves in the zone and make sure we’re always doing our best we make every training session a contest of who is the best. Though it’s mostly a competition between the two of them since they have yet to beat me in anything.

“What did I miss?” comes the voice of Evalyn, one of my other best friends.

I love her to death, but the woman is late to everything. She never had an interest in training, but after she was badly injured in a cur attack two years ago she’s since started taking training more seriously.

Curs are packless wolves, commonly they’ve been exiled from their pack usually due to committing a crime or on the rare occasion they renounce their pack with reasons varying. Not all curs are bad, some even try to find new packs, but most packs turn them away, sadly. The ones exiled for serious crimes, however, tend to take exile as an opportunity to be as feral as they please, and they are the ones that pose a threat.

I’d honestly hoped to name Evalyn as my Delta, but she’s nowhere near where she needs to be in order for me to give her that kind of title and I can’t just pick people because they’re my best friend. I need people who are strong and smart and are good picks for the pack.  People I can trust who will also challenge me and give me different perspectives on a situation so we can come to the best solution. This is why the position will go to her brother Chris. Their dad is Delta Xander and Chris has worked really hard to earn the position of Delta. It would be foolhardy for me not to choose him. Though looking around I notice he’s not at training this morning, but I have a feeling I know why.

“You’re late, Miss Melgren,” says Gamma James tersely.

“I’m sorry, Gamma James, I slept through my alarm,” she explains sheepishly. I feel bad for my girl because I know she’s in for a brutal training session now.

Evalyn is twenty years old, 5’5”, just a little shorter than my 5’8”. She has wavy light brown hair down to her waist – which is currently up in a ponytail – and sky blue eyes with ivory skin, and not a muscle on her. She’s pretty slender but she’s still beautiful and has one of the most infectious smiles on the planet.

I notice Tyson has a guilty look on his face as he looks at Evalyn and I realise why she was late. Tyson must have kept her up all night and that’s why she overslept.

“That’s your problem, not mine. A hundred push-ups,” he orders making me cringe.

For a wolf, a hundred push-ups are easy, but Evalyn isn’t very strong and her lack of training for most of her life hasn’t helped. She’ll be lucky if she can manage fifty. You’d think since she’s his daughter-in-law he’d go easy on her, but he’s not one for nepotism.

“Yes sir,” she gulps dropping to the ground and starting her push-ups. One thing I respect about her, is she doesn’t whine; she sucks it up and she’ll complete any challenge even if it kills her.

“The rest of you! Fifty laps, now!” Gamma James yells and we all take off and start racing around the track.