JASMINE Being a warrior was becoming harder, and I really began to question whether it was worth it anymore. Blake was always so encouraging, and the way he believed in me was infectious. But after spending the day with Charlie harassing me during physical training, strategy, and planning class, and cleaning the gym as part of our warrior duty (where Charlie made me clean the toilets, as usual), we had sparring as the last part of the day. I couldn’t wait to finally be done in two hours. He started the session off as normal, telling us to go for a mile run, and then he had us do a round of burpees, jumping jacks, and push-ups before he paired us off. I was surprised when he didn’t have me do extra of anything, thinking that maybe the rest of the day would go smoothly. He paired me with a guy named Rob who I mostly got along with. We went through all of the different moves as he barked them out, and he didn’t even make a single negative comment to me! The session couldn’t have been go

BLAKE The weather was frigid, and it was the week leading up to Thanksgiving—the whole pack was in a festive mood, with the winter holiday season kicking off. While we didn’t celebrate Christmas, we were still influenced by human culture, watching their TV shows and movies. Many pack members had adapted the Christmas customs by setting up decorated trees in their homes and putting lights up outside for the winter solstice and New Year’s. It was a joyful time of year, and this winter would be more special than usual for me. I was with Jack one evening, doing a loop outside the border in our wolf forms during my patrol run, when we took a break to chat. “You know, I don’t like how they just kidnapped and killed Jimmy, and we haven’t seen or heard anything since. It’s making me very suspicious,” I mindlinked Jack. “It is pretty sus,” he agreed. “I’ve reached out to the other packs, but there haven’t been any other incidents since.” When he didn’t respond, I glanced over to find that

JASMINE Just as predicted, Charlie was even worse now after what’d happened. He spent the entire morning constantly forcing me to do burpees randomly. Blake came by to bring me coffee during our morning break. As soon as he left, Charlie pushed the coffee cup out of my hand, acted like it was an accident, and then forced me to clean it up. I thought about confronting him again, but I didn’t want to end up in another fight. During the afternoon, he made me run several miles while everyone else sparred. I’d never felt so relieved to go home, practically in tears from the day. I jumped in the shower, finally relaxing with the hot water hitting my muscles. I just had to get through it a little longer, and I’d be in a new rotation, not having to deal with Charlie anymore. Of course, that didn’t address all the other problems I was having. Luke and Blake had decided that they no longer wanted me to go to patrol duty anymore, so once again, I was getting preferential treatment and, like a

BLAKE The next day, I checked Charlie’s schedule and saw he had patrol duty. He’d be doing a twelve-hour overnight, from four at night to four in the morning. For these assignments, warriors normally went out in groups and rotated throughout the night in two-to-three-hour shifts, taking turns keeping watch while the others slept. I snuck out of the packhouse a little after four while Jasmine was working upstairs in the office we’d set up for her. I made my way to the eastern border, where Charlie was stationed that evening, pulling up to the patrol station in my car. When I exited, I asked the senior on duty, an elderly warrior close to retirement named Fred, where Charlie was. “He took one of the new recruits out for some training. Told me she needed some one-on-one attention. Nice girl. Comes from a good family. I see them at temple every week,” Fred replied. “Any idea where Charlie took her?” I asked. “I saw them head over in that direction.” Fred pointed toward the forest. “T

JASMINE It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and I had training scheduled once again. Tomorrow I’d have the day off. Not all warriors got Thanksgiving off, but I’m pretty sure Blake had a hand in my schedule. I went to visit Tyler at the clinic before I had to start my workday. “How are you feeling?” I asked, taking a seat next to his bed. “They’re saying I’m fully healed now, and they’re planning to discharge me after one of the doctors looks me over today. Thank Goddess. My mom is getting in tonight, and she would flip if she saw me like this.” “Does that mean I can give you a hug now?” “Yeah, my ribs are feeling much better now.” He smiled. I leaned forward to hug him. “I’m so glad they didn’t do any permanent damage,” I said. “Yeah, me too. It could have been worse.” He looked at me sadly. “Maybe it was a dumb idea to try to live here and be out of the closet. I really wanted to do something good and make a difference. But if they had killed me, Jack would’ve had to liv