Chapter 4

Asher’s POV           

 Last night, Dex was on his way back from the library when he overheard Principal Sinker talking to a tutor. Principal Sinker was telling the tutor to prepare a fresh room.     

“Have you heard anything?” I asked my brother, Fin. As he walked into our dorm room, “Yep. I have been told that we should prepare for survival training. Again.” He responds. His expression tells me he is as unhappy as I am about going on survival training.        

“Great. Let me guess why that is. Oh, wait, I don’t need to guess?” I snappily say, rolling off my bed. I’m so annoyed.        

“A newbie is arriving, and we are being shipped out. So, they can be welcomed with open arms,” Fin says snidely. Telling me something I already know. “This place should be staffed enough to accommodate everyone. They had 18 years to prepare for everyone’s arrival. Why should we be made to suffer because they couldn’t organize a shag in a brothel?” He says. Fin wouldn’t normally say something that crude. But it’s hilarious and coming from him makes it even funnier. I fell off my bed laughing. Where had he heard that comment being said?

Once I can breathe again, I think about how many times we have been sent out on survival training since we arrived here.

“They couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery,” I said, trying to match his hilarious comment. But mine isn’t even close to his.

Even though we are the kingdom’s Wolf Princes. Our dad wants us to have the same experiences as the Alpha’s. So that we understand their education and training. Dad did it when he was our age. Said it provided him with insight into the choices made by an Alpha.

Upon our birth, Dad had our application sent to Alpha Academy. Just the same as all the other children of Alpha’s. Only ours was full of lies. We are apparently from the Windsor Pack. A secluded pack on an island south of the palace. I am Asher Zirk.

Let’s simply say. Our time at Alpha Academy has been an eye-opening experience. These are the people who are supposed to teach and train the kingdom’s leaders. Maybe our expectations are too high because all of us are less than impressed.

We were sent to Alpha Academy the day after our 18th birthday last year. The same as all the other Alpha kids within the kingdom. The faculty don’t know we are princes. That way, we receive an unbiased Alpha education. They apparently were never told we were triplets, either. Which could have been Dad’s fault. The application that was sent had all our names on it. Instead of one each! I guess even a Wolf King can get things wrong. 

Principal Sinker always makes a grand effort to welcome new students. However, this results in ignoring all the other students.

When it first happened, I was jealous. I’m not used to being ignored. None of us are used to being at the bottom of anybody’s priority list. I was resentful towards the newbie. 

It was Dex, the smartest of us, who broke it down for me. The new students knew nothing about what was happening. It was the faculty putting on a show for them. They are the ones who know exactly what they are doing.

It was that day Dex vowed to make changes to Alpha Academy after we got home. Not when we became the Wolf King’s. He plans on making changes when he gets home in less than a year. The man has a plan and every time the existing students get treated like crap; it re-enforces his decision to make changes.    

What’s worse is that when we go on ‘survival training,’ they always insist on separating us. “That is how you will survive,” Principal Sinker keeps telling us. Dexter once argued the point that we are triplets. We have been in each other’s lives since birth. We will be in each other’s lives until death. We will be in charge of a pack together. We will probably share a mate. Our lives are all intertwined. In the end, Dex got nowhere for his efforts.        

As Dad messed up our application, we had to share a bedroom and personal training. They could at least accommodate us in the classrooms, as the rooms were large. Other students received 3 hours of daily training sessions. But we have 3 hours between us. Principal Sinker doesn’t seem to give a damn as long as the box is checked that we have had personal training that day.  

They also cut our survival training short. Most students are sent to one destination for a week. But not us. We are sent for a few days, then we’re switched around. We have yet to figure out why they do this. I think it’s an indirect way to piss us off. The way we piss them off.      

“It’s like they can’t cope with multiple students at the same time, which is ridiculous,” Fin often complains. He is the most sensitive out of the three of us and feels it most when we are separated.   

Now we begrudgingly go with the flow. We have less than a year left, and we just want to get through it. It’s such a shame, though. Alpha Academy has such great potential. It will most certainly be getting a shake-up when Dex gets involved.       

This place is a joke, and we are all looking forward to going home. “Isn’t Matty due to go to Beta Academy soon?” Fin asks me. Matty is the son of our dad’s Beta. We are the best of friends, and he will be our Beta when we become the Wolf Kings. “Yeah. Hopefully, he will have better luck than we have. At least we have each other. He has nobody. I doubt he will survive.”        

Dex walks into our room and tells us, “We are to prepare for survival training.” He uses air quotes when he says it. He’s not impressed.       

We each pack a backpack and make our way down to a car that is waiting for us. Fred, one of our instructors, is driving us. We drive for hours. Then he pulls over at the side of a road and hands me an envelope. “You’re here for 2 nights, Asher. Be back at this location by 10 am. There is a resource marked on the map. Good luck,” he said. It’s still early in the day and I made sure I had a substantial breakfast.       

As kids, when dad would tell us about survival training, we never understood why they tell you the location of a resource or give you a map. He would smirk and not answer us. 

Now we know the answer. It’s a resource they want us to stay near. So that they can find us if we don’t return to the pickup point.    

Although we are identical triplets in our human forms when we shift, Cooper, my wolf, is the biggest out of the three of us. He’s the kind of wolf that carefully assesses the situation before deciding what to do. I think that’s wise. He observes before he attacks. He also prefers to be alone, which is not good when he has two brothers.

Often, on survival training. I shift, and I let Cooper sleep out overnight. He loves survival training for this reason. He doesn’t talk to me often and when he does, it’s only a few words and he’s always grumpy.    

“See you in a few days, bro,” Dex says. As I climb out of the car, “A few days,” I say to them both. It’s always weird not having my brothers around. I feel lost.  

I pulled out the map and compass and started walking. I walk for miles. But at some point, I walk from a nice healthy green forest into a dimly lit dark forest. I don’t care though. I have enough confidence in my abilities to know I can handle anything stupid enough to attack me. I carried on walking until I reached a stream.       

I heard a noise and went to investigate. When I looked behind a tree, I saw what I thought was a house. As I got closer, it had been a house at one point. But now, from what I could see, no one had lived here for a while.      

I walked up the steps, each one creaked under my weight. The door was partially open. I gave it a small push. Expecting something to be living inside. It fell off its hinges as soon as I touched it. If there was anything inside, the noise would have startled it.       

I walk inside when I am confident the floor won’t collapse beneath me. The inside of the house appeared to be in better condition than the outside. There is hardly any furniture. A few chairs, a table, a bed frame, and a bucket.       

My priority is getting water. I hid my bag and grabbed the bucket. Before, I walked outside carefully. I honestly don’t see the need for survival training. As an Alpha, why the hell would I need to do this? Unless your pack was attacked.     

The stream is pretty fast-flowing. I carefully filled the bucket and took it back to the house for later. I have a few bits to eat in my backpack. So I sit and gobble them up as a late lunch. “Cooper, can you hunt for our food later?” I ask him. He doesn’t respond to me. Which is a typical response from Cooper.      

It’s afternoon, I started preparing for the night. I quickly broke up the bed frame to use it as firewood, as it’s likely to be chilly on one of the nights I am here. If I don’t use it, one of my brothers will. Overall, even though it may be classed as a dark forest, it’s not that bad. Nicer than the dark forest back home. 

That place is full of so many creepy creatures. I am sure I saw a ghost one night when we sneaked out. We quickly ran back home after that.

Our tutors inspect our bags before sending us out on survival training. So, we hide a few matches hidden under a small fabric flap in our backpack. Cheating, I know. But the Academy doesn’t check our bags thoroughly enough to find them. So, I blame them for making it too easy. Another failure on their part.      

I fall asleep because of the boredom. When I wake up, I am in my wolf form. Cooper probably heard something and shifted without me knowing it.    

But whenever he does that, he ruins my clothes. I only have two more sets for the week. I couldn’t be mad at him, though. I know he only wants to protect me. Guess Cooper is going to be in charge most of the time.

It must be nearly dusk as daylight is disappearing. When a scream startled Cooper, causing him to jump. Next thing I know, he is running through the forest, catching the scent of rogues. “An Alpha protects,” he says as he runs towards the screams. But he is not an Alpha. “A Wolf Prince protects,” I correct him. Which is when he blocks me out.