One: Kyle

Me and my wolf are all hyped because of the training scheduled today. It’s not a big event. We have trainings scheduled every day. What I like most about these training sessions is the hand-to-hand combat sessions. All the wolves aged between 14-17 are trained by the pack trainer for a couple of hours every day. They are made to run around the woods, build up their stamina, and get the basics right for combat fighting. The real fun begins when you become seventeen years of age because then you’re allowed to do real hand-to-hand combat with your peers. That being said, I’m excited today because after an excruciatingly long wait, I have finally turned seventeen and today will be the first day I’ll join the 17-22 age group for combat fighting.

My wolf has waited for this moment for so long. In my opinion, I have been a little extra eager for this moment than the other wolves of my age and I guess one of the reasons for this is because my wolf is exceptionally angrier than all the other wolves around here. I have no explanation for its anger though. It’s something he and I have always carried around it’s become a part of me and I wouldn’t know what to do without it. My anger has shaped who I am, how I react, who I respect, and pretty much everything else in my life. So, any shift in my anger would bring a huge shift in me as a person and a werewolf and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that right now.

The only people who have been as remotely excited about this stuff as I was, were my two best friends, Ryder, the alpha of the pack, and Alan, the beta of the pack. But then again, they both were supposed to inherit the two most important positions in the pack. In the future, they would be responsible for taking care of the pack, leading it, and creating measures to protect it. So, it only makes sense that their wolves would be ferocious, blood-thirsty, hugely possessive, and instinctive. At the same time, I had no explanation as to why my wolf acted like that.

Most werewolf kids my age, that is, when they finally turn seventeen, are not exactly crazy about being able to join the combat sessions. They are more excited about finding their mates, as in their soul mates. We werewolves have a pretty sorted system about families and having babies. On our seventeenth birthday, the moon goddess assigns each of us wolves a soul mate and we usually find them by the time we turn twenty. That soul mate, our mate is the one person in the whole world who is made just for us, made to suit us in the best way possible. When we are kids, the first thing we learn about being a werewolf is the gift of mates. I used to ask my mom about it, how we didn’t get to choose our soul mates like humans did and she had a pretty straightforward answer. If werewolves were left alone to decide their partners, hell would break out, considering we are so jealous and possessive of everything and everyone we “own” and “belong to”.

Having a mate out there seemed so final to me and I have never really had any expectations about having a mate. Sure, I think about it sometimes but it isn’t something I fixate one or become anxious about. Surprisingly, my wolf is pretty much the same, which I know is very rare because I have heard from my best friends that from the moment, they were able to shift and their wolves became capable of voicing out their thoughts, they started yapping about finding their respective mates. Which must have been a very big bore. More importantly, my best friends told me that when they first tried to get physical with their girlfriends, their wolves protested violently in their minds and they were unable to shift for a couple of days. It was during that time that my best friends learned to block out their wolves and lose their virginities to their respective girlfriends at the time. Hearing about their experiences made me so very glad that my wolf was unlike theirs. When I touched a girl for the first time, there were no mental protests from my wolf and I lost my virginity without any hitches and didn’t experience any problems with shifting afterward.

I think it is because I have had a different life from most of my werewolf friends. Most of my best friends’ parents are mates but mine are not; even then my parents have been in love a much as any other couple in the pack. The whole story about my family is for another time but I wanted to emphasize the fact that since my parents weren’t mates and are still happy and in love, me and my love don’t necessarily correlate everlasting love to having a mate. I’m not saying I or my wolf don’t get curious now and then but it’s more of a passive curiosity and not something my life revolves around.

Anyway, coming back to my reason for excitement, everyone aged between 17-22 has scheduled training sessions after high school ends and since it’s my seventeenth birthday today, I get to have my first-ever training session. Ryder and Alan both turned seventeen a few months ago, so they have already been attending the classes. A month ago, on Alan’s birthday, I requested the current alpha to let me join the combat sessions, considering I would have been of age in a month but he refused and went on about rules and regulations. My crazy little uncle, the current alpha!

The school ended a half hour ago and all of us assembled in the pack ground, waiting for the instructor to come and give us some instructions. The instructor, a fifty-year-old pack warrior called Rodrigo, takes everyone in and when his eyes land on me, he gives me a barely imperceptible nod, as if he has been waiting for me to join this group for ages, which I have. “I want twenty rounds of this ground. The last one to complete them will run for five more. And if I catch anyone stopping, they will have to run five rounds extra to.” He looks at each of us and then barks, “Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? Start running!”

There are about a hundred wolves of all kinds running in the pack grounds, panting and desperately trying to not stop in between or be the unlucky one who comes last and hast to run the extra five rounds. Me? I’m barely winded. I and my friends are jogging side by side at the head of the group, barely making any effort. I don’t think my heart has even sped up yet even though I just completed my fifth round. I look at Ryder and Alan at my side and we all grin at each other and decide to race the three of us. So, we start running and that’s when I feel my wolf rear up in my head, crazed about the competition and I pump my legs faster. I defeat Ryder by two seconds and Alan by a fair ten seconds.

Even though Ryder is the next alpha, I have always been the fastest runner among us, which pisses him off to no end. I have always been able to beat him and it always sours his mood. We have tried having to race each other again and again and every time we get the same outcome. Not one to brag, but I like it. I may not be the son of an alpha but I sure am the fastest runner in the pack. Something to be proud of! “I won again!” I gasped and sat down on the grass, waiting for my heart to calm down.

“Yeah, you did.” Ryder chuckles and lies down on the ground to calm himself down. If I’m right, everyone must be completing their fifteenth round now, so we have enough time to cool down.

Tanya finishes her rounds a few minutes later and comes to join us in a few minutes, huffing and puffing. She is the closest thing I have to a girlfriend and I am very pleased with my choice. “Hey!” She sits down beside me but doesn’t touch me or make any move on me. She knows how I prioritize my training sessions over everything and don’t fool around during them. “Hey, T. You did good.” I nod and she beams at me. We are both very serious about our training sessions and I respect her for her dedication. Tanya wants to be a pack warrior, just like me and I could easily imagine her as one.

When everyone finally completes their rounds, we all stand together as a single group, waiting for Rodrigo to pair us up. “Anya and Raymond. Andrew and Jake. Alan and Paul. Kyle and Ryder….” I stop listening when I hear I’m paired up with Ryder and we both grin at each other. All of us move towards our respective partners and face them. Rodrigo’s voice calls out again, “I want you all to fight like I have taught you. For those who are new, fight with what comes naturally to you and I’ll come around to judge your fighting style and correct your stance.”

I nod in Rodrigo’s direction because I know his last comment was directed at me since I’m the only one who is starting today. I turn around and focus on Ryder who is jumping on the balls of his feet, eager to fight. Ryder has been attending these sessions for a few months now and must have a pretty good idea about the perfect stance and other tips but I’m not worried about that because I know my instinct will make up for my lack of experience.

Turns out I was right. I sidestep a punch Ryder throws me at the last second and grins at him. He doesn’t give me a smile back which means that things have turned serious and we have just left out our friendship outside this arena. He tries to land another punch on me but I grasp his hand and I plant a hard on his jaw. His nostrils flare at my attack and the next thing I know, Ryder has slammed into me with full force and I fall on my back. Without delay, he starts to punch me in the face and I bring up my hands to block his attacks. My wolf growls inside my head at the blatant attacks and disrespect and using my weight, I throw him off me. Before he gets up, I reverse our positions and I start pummeling his face with my fists.

In a flash, both of us are standing and going at each other like crazed demons. Ryder lands a punch in my side and I plant a kick to his stomach. We forget everyone else we just focus on pummeling the shit out of each other. Things go bad when Ryder punches me and cracks my nose and I spurt blood everywhere. This is when my wolf goes crazy and I lose all control. Without warning, I shift in my wolf form which is forbidden because only senior werewolves are allowed to fight in their wolf forms.

I can see the moment Ryder loses control too. His eyes dilate, his nostrils flare and a huge gust of breath whooshes out of him. In a second, Ryder changes into his sandy brown wolf and I match him in height with my midnight black wolf. We are both growling and snarling at each other, beyond all reason and just waiting for the other to attack. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realize that this is a bad idea, that fighting in our wolf forms could hurt us and since our wolf forms are more primal, we will have a lot of trouble controlling ourselves but none of it matters. We are going to do this!

 “Stop it, you two!” The voice booms across the whole training ground and I find my whole body has frozen. I’m unable to move and as I look at Ryder, I find that he is in a similar condition. “Shift back.” At the alpha’s command, we immediately shift back into our human forms, naked as the day we were born. Both of us get handed a pair of basketball shorts and we quickly wear it, not looking at each other or anyone else. Even though being naked comes naturally when you’re a werewolf, the idea of standing naked in front of completely dressed people doesn’t sound appealing to me.

“In my office. NOW!” The whole pack ground has fallen silent as everyone watches me and Ryder follow the alpha to his office in the pack ground. I’m sure it is the first time when the alpha had to discipline two wolves during a general inspection. So, I’m not very proud right now and it’s only been my first day! I and Ryder sneak a look at each other and it’s clear that neither of us is happy about this turn of events. I watch the alpha’s tense muscles and figure we are in big trouble!