7 - R O G U E

➳ Pernwél

Alpha Jake looked at me and pointed to the outlines of the field that were marked with a white line.

“They are putting up the obstacle course,” he said faintly, almost whispering. “First we run a lap or two to warm up.”

I was looking at all the werewolves working in perfect sync, but when they saw their leader, they bowed their head to the side slightly, revealing their necks while uttering “Good morning, Alpha.” in unison.

“Good morning Grey Moon pack.” He bellowed, so everyone on the field would hear him. It was a powerful voice and he radiated that aura again. I presumed it was what made him the leader. “Pack, this is Pernwél.” He said gesturing to me. “She will join us today.”

They looked at me with questions burning in their eyes, but they didn’t ask anything. I don’t think they were used to strangers walking in on their training sessions, but they didn’t dare question their Alpha.

“Okay.” Alpha Jake spoke with authority, clapping his hands together. “Let’s start shall we?”

Everyone took their places and we ran around the obstacle course they had laid out.

As soon as I started running I felt in my element. Feeling the wind dancing around my skin and taking in the soft warm glow of the morning sun giving me an energy boost.

I jumped over blocks in swift motions and crawled on my belly pushing forward with my elbows through round pipes. I ran like I was used to in the forest. The werewolves around me were fast too and I was content that I could keep up with them.

Obviously, they were bigger built than I, but I remembered they all had a wolf spirit inside, like Alpha Jake had explained to me yesterday, making them fast and strong, in harmony with it.

Not so different from my species, I thought, they were in symbiosis with their animal selves and we lived in symphony with nature. Each species thriving on the mystical forces Mother Earth provided us.

When we finished the course, and I wasn’t one of the last to cross the finish line, I felt elated. My muscles welcomed the activity and my skin was glistening with sweat.

“God job everyone!” Alpha Jake’s voice greeted us in the middle of the field. He was the first to end the obstacle course and seeing him do it, he made it look easy. “Prepare to spar!” He shouted.

I looked around and saw that the people around me partnered up and separated, leaving space between every team.

I didn’t know anyone around here except for the lady in the kitchen and Alpha Jake, the latter one giving us instructions. Kind of nervous I searched the field for someone I could partner up with.

My eyes met with the brown ones of Alpha Jake noticing my distress and he walked towards me. In a couple of long strides with his muscled legs he stood beside me.

“I’ll partner up with you, if you don’t mind.” He said, raking his hand through his messy hair.

I nodded. I was glad he wanted to team up with me so I wouldn’t have to be the awkward new girl who no one knows. Even though he makes me nervous in a whole other way.

“Beta Darren.” He motioned for the person who found me in the woods. “I’ll spar with Pernwél. Can you take the rounds?”

“Sure thing, Alpha.” He gave a quick nod with his head toward us and left to tend to the other teams.

We took a defensive stance facing each other. Even if he was bigger than me I knew I could potentially be faster than him. I say potentially, because I haven’t been around werewolves long enough to have an idea.

“I’m more comfortable using weapons to fight.” I said softly, looking up to his handsome features.

“Here we spar as humans and do patrols in wolf form.” He explained. “When our body is strong and trained for battle, our wolf spirit gains more power as we shift. Doing this type of exercise we build muscle and enhance traits like speed and tactics.”

“I understand.” I replied looking around and seeing the teams lounge at each other using various techniques to dodge and attack.

“I’m going to let you start,” he said, lifting his brow up in question, “so I can see what you can do. All right?” He made a gesture with his palms upwards moving his fingers indicating to attack him.

Being a warrior all my life I couldn’t stand to be weak. If they trained like this and I was stuck here for the time being it wouldn’t hurt to keep up with them. I definitely could learn new techniques and stay focused.

I took in his frame and tried a swift blow to his right rib cage. He dodged it. He was fast, but I didn’t use everything. I was observing his moves to strategize.

Repeating a sequence going for his right side, I quickly ducked and then swung my left leg with all my force to his right calve.

He blocked my leg with his arm but looked at me in a strange way. Astonishment perhaps?

“You’re fast.” He stated.

I grinned, satisfied that I surprised the leader of the Grey Moon pack.

He was going to say something as his eyes glazed over. That was weird, but my ears picked up commotion in the distance, something was wrong.

“Alpha!” someone yelled from the other side of the training field. “Rogue attack on the east border!”

Alpha Jake started running in the indicated direction and mid-run fur sprouted everywhere on his skin and transformed into the biggest wolf I had seen until this moment. His ripped clothes littered the ground and the sandy coloured fur shined in the sunlight.

There was screaming in the background. My instincts kicked in using my enhanced hearing and darted as fast as I could after Alpha Jake, picking up my bag on the way. The rest of the warriors followed suit, some remained in their human forms and others transformed into wolves, like their leader had.

I took out my daggers while running, thinking that my bow wouldn’t do much damage to big ass werewolves.

The closer I got I saw there were three rogues attacking the pack. Alpha Jake was already taking on one of them. By the looks of it, the rogues didn’t stand a chance. I thought it would be very foolish of them to attack such a well trained pack of wolves, they were greatly outnumbered.

I almost froze when I took in the appearance of one of the rogue wolves.

I had seen that matted and streaked with blood fur before.

It was the one staring back at me in the reflection of the water in my nightmare this morning. It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, the resemblance was too much, I dared say identical. I shook my head, regaining the notion of the task at hand, now was not the time to be dwelling on nightmares, even if it was freakingly similar to the reality in front of me.

The warriors in wolf form attacked the remaining two rogues while the rest of them, those still in their human form were spreading around and scoping the area for the injured.

I picked up the faint cries of a child in the distance, thanks to my good hearing, and headed in that direction. A little girl was crouching behind a tree. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she was trembling with fear.

I noticed the sound of growls and bodies smashing ying down, indicating that the menace had been eradicated. I thought of the swift approach to battle that Alpha Jake had mastered and I was very impressed by him.

Putting away my daggers I got closer to the girl.

“You’re safe now.” I softly said. “Come, I’ll take you back to the pack.”

She stood up and took my hand and we walked out of the treelines, back to the village.