Chapter 1 Dira’s POV - And so it begins

Hello, I am Dira Lockstar. I am a werewolf. I don't shift half a woman and half a wolf, but Reneeira she takes over, and she is beautiful. Like I was saying, I am part of the Dark Claw Mountain pack. Even though we run together under the full moon, and as exhilarating as it sounds, I have always stood out due to my size and my curves; aside from growing up with a killer right hook, it improved by protecting my best friend Allen, the Delta Heir,  whose a genius from being bullied. I aim to become part of our pack warrior's elite team. I enjoy a good fight.

To tell you a little bit about me. My parents, Sylvia and Raoul, were fated, but Dad died when I was 12 in a car accident, and no amount of werewolf healing could bring him back from Death's door. I know Mom still mourns him and misses him, and what they had was the dream, the other half of your soul, the one person that completes you. If I am honest, I am terrified of it.

The pack has a motto, or you can say it is a way of life rather than rules to follow. Commitment, Honor, and Loyalty. A commitment to our families and our pack, Honor to our goddess and all our blessings from her, and Loyalty to those chosen to guide us. 

The pack dynamics are rather interesting. For those outside of what we are, we have a rank system. Once you inherit or mate into it. We first have our current Alpha, Franco, and Luna Rosa. Then, his Beta, Gamma, and Delta couples. Together, they lead the pack with a firm hand, love, and balance. 

Each rank takes care of the different aspects of leadership and the well being of our members. Gamma Theo oversees the training and security of the pack territories, while our Delta Joe manages the Medical and tech area. My best friend Allen, Delta Heir,  is already branching out into the Healing and Magic arts and its application to technology. 

My goal as a pack member is to become a warrior. Because I grew up chubby, that doesn't apply to me but guess what? As I said, I always carried a mean right hook with me. My weight just adds power to it. And with all the training I had received since joining the Gamma Warrior program, I could keep my shapely body and build strength and stamina. 

Once I am officially 21, I can formally join the ranks of our Gamma's Warrior System. I'll try to simplify it. There are five classes in total, which are your training phase. We can start as early as 16-17 to prepare for our first shift on the first full moon after our 18th birthday—classes 1 and 2 specialized in strength, stamina, and pain endurance training. Shifting is a nasty business, not to forget the pain. 

Being around family helps ease the pain just a little. Class 3 will be a choice going forward. Class 3 is for those wanting to continue becoming pack warriors or part of the Elite teams. Class four, which I belong to, is for those that want to specialize either in being Elite or Alpha/Luna Guards, and your training is determined based on your skill set levels. You can call Elite Warriors the Special Ops or Tactical team; only a few details of their training are; only Gamma Theo and his 2nd will know since they oversee those training sessions. Lastly, we have the Alpha/Luna Guards, which is self-explanatory but doesn't help. They specialize not only in protecting our Alpha and Luna, but they are also trained to ensure that in any situation they may be in, they will know how to react, defend, and proceed toward the safety of our leaders. In tactical or diplomatic cases, we are part of The Federation of Packs, a silly name if you asked me, but since you are not, I will keep that to myself. 

Gamma Theo hosts the Tryouts yearly, a competition to see if your warrior skills have improved. We are paired with the next class since their training is more advanced. After all, you don't want to run without learning to walk. The Tryouts will begin this year after the one thing I dread the most, The Mate Ball, which our host will play host to. 

It is a celebration were it marked the end of the war and the foundation of The Federation of Packs by creating an opportunity for pack members from every pack in the country to find their mate, and since you aren't able to scent them til you turn 21, guess who is the lucky winner of this year celebration?, you think it is Me, and to my luck, The Mate Ball falls on my birthday. I must attend because I will be of age and it is mandatory.

Dreading this ball, Mom dragged me to the store to get a dress for the occasion. To say that I love it is playing with my love of languages, and having Sarcasm as the second one is not very amusing for my mom. Regardless, she knows I hate dresses and shopping even more, so we have online shopping. Yes, we may be a pack, but we are modernized and are on par with humans. Like we have phones, cars, and even credit cards, we are not savages. 

After going through racks and racks of dresses, I grabbed a couple that came to my taste: solid colors, either black or gray. You are probably laughing, but my mom is shaking her head, laughing, and making fun of my misery.

"Come on, sweetheart is not that bad," she said, grinning at me. "Is not you the one who will be wearing them while on heels designed to torture women?" I said to my mom. "Ha ha ha, "she is laughing loudly, amused by my dislike of dresses.

I grabbed a couple of dresses and started trying them on. Now there is a thing that you may need to know about me, even though I am a warrior. My body is relatively muscular and toned. I am on the curvy side of life, and I have tits for miles, big jugs, chest cushions, you name it, so finding something elegant, delicate, and sophisticated is a tad complicated with my genetic lottery. It works for me, and for the most part, many warm colors and black have a great relationship with my skin color. I am an exotic mix of my parents. My dad is on the whiter side but tan, as he was out in the sun almost every day, and my mom is a sweet caramel mocha goddess. Good thing I have my mom's looks, but I have some of my father's physique, coming up a bit taller than my mom at 5'9" to her 5'2" and dad being on the taller side at 6'2". I am tall and curvy; I guess the term will be bodacious.

I have tried a couple of dresses now, and they are not too tight, too revealing, or just too wrong for me. I am on the last functioning nerve when I slip into the last one I brought to the changing rooms. The dress is black with gold framed details, a mermaid shoulder black simple dress yet elegant for the evening, the slit parting delicately to just sit on my upper tight in a very sexy way. 

My mom asked, "Is everything ok? I don't hear you grunting, huffing, or puffing", she said, laughing.

I came out of the changing room, and I was shocked. I had never seen myself looking this beautiful in a dress, and I just couldn't take my eyes off it. My chest looks demure. Not like a whole spillage is going on up there. It hugs my curves just the right way and the way the mermaid cut defines my thighs and reveals my legs is exquisite. 

I showed my mom, and she clasped her hands, covering her mouth, also in shock by the looks of it, her eyes shining with tears. She nodded and said, "It's beautiful, Dira, you look so beautiful," while I nodded excitedly.

It is scarce. I like dresses, and this is IT. The clerk comes in to check on us, and I take the chance to tell her that we are taking this one to have it prepared in a garment bag. Shortly after changing back, we went to find some heels to go with it. Found ones that are pointy with an ankle strap and closed so it doesn't show my toes. Guess I can skip the pedi.

We started heading home. Mom doesn't like driving, so I take care of her and the errands she needs to run in the human cities. It's funny. Almost all the packs in the Federation have some route to come to the Human territory since it is neutral ground.

After we get home, I take the garment bag to my room and the rest of the shopping bag. I have to get ready for today's training drill. We will be catching the flag or something like that. The drills are fun and an excellent way to keep everyone on their toes.

This drill will probably be the preliminaries for the Tryouts, but we will see. Once I arrived at the training center, it was a big building with every amenity. Indoor and outdoor pools, inside and outside tracks, a whole floor for weight training, another one for one on one combat with padded walls and floors, and even a sauna. It has accommodations for a total gym, even for aerobics and Zumba classes. I know our elderlies like to shake it. There are also rooms for briefing and gathering, especially when doing this type of drill. Since this is a Class 4 exclusive, the excitement is palpable in the room. I am leaning on the side wall waiting for Gamma Theo, but I didn't expect to see the current rank members of the Elite and Alpha/Luna Guard. I guess I forgot to tell you guys every month, the Elite and the Alpha/Luna Guard hold competitions to determine who is Top Dog, pun intended. So every month, there's always a shift in their roaster. It's good since it keeps them on their toes and in tip-top shape. 

Gamma Theo is explaining that we will be divided into three teams Red, Green, and Yellow, we are at traffic lights now, and I laugh internally. Each team will have 15 members and 1 team leader. It's the luck of the draw, and each name that gets pulled will go to either one of the teams. Finally, my name got called, and I was on the red team. I guess red is one of my favorite colors, and it matches part of my outfit today. Now Jason, Crystal, and Marcel (top place Elite, Alpha, and Luna guard, respectively) take a turn picking up the team's colors. As I said, my lucky day cause I was in group red with Crystal, the Alpha Guard as our Leader, and she's one scary she-wolf once on the battlefield.

Gamma Theo went through a simple set of rules, "First. You must collect as many tokens as possible", "Second. We will be observing all." "Third. No cheating, you and your team will be disqualified, and you will be penalized, and you know how much I enjoy those penalties". Gamma Theo said, smirking. "Fourth, Not changing into your wolves."

Before we leave, we spray ourselves to mask our scents. That way, the next team to come out won't know which direction we run. We run in a V formation following Crystal, and I also notice that a handful of Elites and Alpha/Luna Guards are also perching in some of the trees. 

The tallying was individual scores and teamwork. We won't know til the Tryout, which was our individual and team score. Another good thing is as an added incentive. We get the rest of the week off with no border patrol duties until after The Mate Ball. Yay!