Chapter 1

The training ground was already active before sunrise.

It always was.

The air with various sounds of movement, feet against the ground and wood striking wood, high ranked wolves calling instructions. It was very loud but controlled. The kind that keeps on going.

Ayla stood at the edge of the field with her arms folded while watching.

Her younger brother Elliot was in the middle of it.

Moving fast,in fact too fast.

He dodged a strike and moved fast to knock his opponent off balance. He did that with ease. The instructor barely had anything to say; he was ahead of everyone else.

“Good,” the instructor called. “Again.”

Ayla exhaled quietly.

Hmm...Yes, he was good. He had transformed early even earlier than expected.

That alone had already pushed him ahead.

Now, he was being considered for early Enforcer training at his age.

She looked away.

To her left, two of her older siblings Peter and Priscila were sparring. Both had already shifted few years ago, both had control, Strength, Speed and everything she didn’t have. 

Everything she was supposed to have by now.

“Still watching?”

Ayla didn’t turn.

“I’m not in the mood,” she said. Her younger sister Elena who was still doing younglings training stepped beside her anyway. “Shouldn't you be used to it by now,” she added. Ayla glanced at her briefly.

“I am.”

“You saw you are but it doesn’t look like it.”

“How does it not look like that and what do you know”Ayla said, snapping at her.

“ I don’t know a lot but I think I know more than you”

Ayla said nothing because there was nothing to say. They both knew the truth. At her age, every wolf should have shifted at least once, even the weakest or the late ones.

But for Ayla there was nothing. She showed no single sign.

No partial shift or heightened senses. Nothing just… normal. And to werewolves being normal was quite a problem.

“You’re going to be late,” her sister said after a moment.

“For what?”

“Your training.”

Ayla frowned slightly.

“That’s not real training.”

“It’s still training.”

Ayla let out a small, dry laugh.

“Yeah. Human training.”

The word sounded almost insulting coming out of her mouth. Her sister didn’t respond.

Because again they knew.

While others were learning how to control their wolf, She was being taught how to fight like a human just ordinary skills and combat nothing like claws or enhanced strength, just balance, movement and precision things wolves didn’t rely on.

But she had no choice but to do it because she wanted to become a warrior at all costs.

If the others had their wolf,she wanted to be able to fight for the oval not just be useless,it was a miracle her parents were able do find an instructor who would show her the ropes

Her instructor didn’t waste time.

“Again,” he said.

Ayla lunged forward aiming a controlled strike.

He blocked it easily.

“Too slow.”

She reset then tried again. Blocked this time

“Too obvious.” Again.

This time she switched angles, trying to catch him off guard. He stepped aside.

“Better,” he said. “But you’re thinking too much.”

Ayla stepped back, slightly frustrated. “I don’t have speed,” she said. “I have to think.”

“And that’s why you’ll lose.”

She clenched her jaw. “That’s not fair.”

He shrugged. “War isn’t fair.” That shut her up. He stepped closer.

“You’re trying to fight like them,” he continued, nodding toward the main training field. “Stop that.” Ayla didn’t respond.

“You don’t have what they have,” he said plainly. “So stop pretending you do.”

She looked away. It hurt because it was true. “Then what am I supposed to do?” she asked quietly. 

“Stop trying to win like they do,” he said. “Use what you have,or they’ll leave you in the dust." He replied her

One day you'll finally get the chance to be like them but for now adapt to the situation 

By midday, the training had stopped, the training ground was now empty and meetings began. Orders were passed around quietly but quickly. The war didn’t wait for anyone, even the pack lands that were far from the frontlines, it was always there.

Ayla sat alone near the edge of the training ground , a small blade in her hand, spinning it slowly. She could hear little conversations ongoing nearby.

“…movement near the border…”

“…witch activity increasing…”

“…Ring Coven…”

That name comes up more often these days, "The Ring Coven". The witches who claimed the wolves had taken something from them. Land, Power and Something older than both. Ayla didn’t really understand it. All she knew was this: Witches and wolves didn’t just dislike each other, they were at war and that war wasn’t ending anytime soon.

She looked around,nobody would care if she wasn’t around for some hours. There were laid down rules that you shouldn’t cross the borders because of rogue and because you could encounter our sworn enemies–the witches.

She stood up abruptly and started walking into the dark woods,she smiled softly inhaling the soft nature scent,everytime the pack went for patrol they never allowed her to go with them,claiming if she got lost she would never be able to track them because of her lack of wolf abilities, she started running through the woods and laughing to herself.

Ayla stopped,the scent in the air had changed it was now spicy and didn’t smell like how plants should smell,she could hear faint crunch of plants like someone was walking in the distance,crouching down she went to the direction of the steps and when she peeped through the trees,she saw them,dressed in blacks and cloaked…without being told she knew who they were–witches and it looked like they were performing a rituals.

That was what the smell was all about,Ayla felt an urge to be with them and she stepped on a dry leave and it sounded before she could check if she had been caught,a hand covered her mouth and pulled her into a corner to avoid being seen,the person scented like spice,wood and early morning dew.

She struggled in the person’s grip,and the hand  turned her to face him but his face was covered just the grey eyes staring down at her,and she heard the voice in head loudly 

“Leave now and don’t ever come back”she stared back at the eyes,she knew the voice belonged to the person in front  of her but his lips hadn’t moved,although he was wearing a mask and he pushed her forward towards the way to the pack lands and without looking back Ayla started running back to the pack lands.

That night, she dreamt that she was back to the clearing where the witches were doing their ritual but this time she was one of the cloaked witches and she was staring back at another cloaked person but it was the same grey eyes and just like what had happened earlier he spoke in her head

“You are back here,I warned you earlier not to return here”

“I didn’t return here,I am just here…I don't know how I got here”

“You don’t know how you got here but you are here”

“I swear I don’t know how I got here”but she could no longer see him,a bright light shone on  her face.