Chapter 3

The sunlight was streaming through her window and warming her up. Maya knew that she should get up but she didn't want to. She turned in her sleep to avoid the sunlight falling on her face.

"MAYA..." Ken screamed. He threw her door open and stomped to her bed. "Wake up sleepyhead, we have the pack test today."

Maya simply moaned and turned away. "So you don't want to meet your mate today?" Ken asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. At the word mate, Maya jumped awake. She glared at her brother who walked out of her room laughing to himself.

She then dressed up hurriedly and came down to see her family eating breakfast. As she walked down the stairs, her brother Ken looked at her with his eyes full of teasing and amusement.

"What is the matter guys?", their father Justin asked. Even though he was technically retired from Alpha duties, nothing ever escaped his attention especially when it came to his children. He had noticed Maya's wolf on edge today and Ken's amused glance at her as well, he had noticed that Maya had put on her t-shirt inside out; something that Maya never did knowingly as she was the pseudo Luna of her pack and it meant that she should always be presentable in front of the pack.

"I found my mate yesterday." Maya whispered shyly while sitting down to her breakfast. Maya's mom was offering her the plate with toasts to take and after hearing her speak, she just froze. There was a pin drop silence in the house and suddenly Justin burst out laughing. "Finally..", he said.

"What? You thought I would be angry or something?", he asked at Maya's startled look. Maya nodded mutely.

"My baby girl.. why would I have any objection? I trust in Luna, the Moon Goddess that she will choose what is correct for you." replied Justin with a hint of a smile.

"Be sure to correct your clothes." Judy hinted lovingly.

------------------

Maya and Ken walked side by side to the circle where the wolves to be tested were waiting patiently and the spectators surrounded them in a half circle. The other half was left open for the judges. The elders who would be judging whether the wolves would be worthy of being warriors. Justin and Judy were present with them as well. They had joined the elder rank after leaving the leadership role to Ken and Maya.

There were 4 contenders, three of them as male whereas only 1 female. Ken was pleased that even though the female was a new comer, she was confident enough to try for the warrior pack test.

Maya's eyes immediately went to her mate. Her wolf was drooling over the sight he was presenting. Xander was wearing a pair of shorts and sneakers leaving everything else bare.

Ken lightly bumped his shoulder into Maya's, grinning meaningfully at her. Maya just rolled her eyes at Ken and looked back at Xander.

An elder stepped forward in the circle and gestured for silence. Almost immediately all muttering stopped. "We have gathered here to judge whether these wolves present here are worthy of the warrior rank or not. Today you might pass or you might fail, whatever happens.. do not ever doubt your worth to the pack. Let me remind you that only Luna, Goddess of the Moon, is able to truly judge our worth. In her name, let's begin the test.", the elder declared.

Almost at once a silence fell in the ground.

"The first test.." Ken began, "is to run laps of the ground. To qualify for the warrior rank one needs to complete 150 laps, if you succeed only then you will enter the second round. The rules for the first test are.. that at any given point you will not be allowed to slack off in your speed. And the rounds must be completed in half an hour. Take your positions. At the sound of the whistle you will start running together."

One of the elders made sure that everyone was in position before blowing the whistle.

And thus the race began.. since there were only 4 contenders keeping an eye on them was easy. Maya and Ken though were only watching Xander.

He started off in an easy manner compared to other contenders, but slowly and surely he increased his speed and soon was on the same level as the others. Fortunately all of them were able to complete the first test in given time with the female coming in last just a few seconds shy of the deadline.

As the contenders lay huffing on the ground trying to get their breath back, Ken and Maya walked towards them with the results in hand.

"Congratulations!" Maya said, "All of you have managed to qualify for the second round. Catch your breath, have a glass of water if you need and report to elders in 10 minutes." She ended the statement directly looking in Xander's eyes.

He had finished the test first and was in a better shape than others. Maya had a look of desire in her eyes as she surveyed him, but she quickly masked it. After all, even a pseudo Luna is not allowed to show partiality when it comes to selecting warriors for it would count as a weakness of the pack.

Maya quickly averted her eyes and went to check the preparation for the next test. Xander's eyes were following her every move.

------------------

The contenders were standing in front of the elders again. The second test was to fight against the already existing warriors without switching forms. They would only be in their human form and it was to be a hand to hand combat.

Elder Anne stepped forward and asked the female contender to tie up her hair so that other contenders cannot use it to win unfairly. The female contender obliged.

"The rules are simple, fight will last for half an hour. The person who is able to withstand attacks and is still able to stand will be chosen for the third round. You are only allowed to defend." Elder Anne announced.

The contenders stood facing their opponents, the whistle blew. Each and every one of them was trying to defend against the continual attacks of the pack warriors.

Xander stood motionless as he faced his opponent, the warrior smirked slightly and started attacking him. Xander however had a good plan and he just kept moving slightly any time the warrior attacked. As a result, the warrior was not able to land a blow on Xander and was getting angry. The anger was making him clumsy and was giving Xander an advantage. Slowly as Xander kept moving he felt a slight unevenness in the ground and realised that it could be used to make his opponent fall.

So using a different technique, Xander turned and pretended to run away. The warrior, his anger blinding him to Xander's strategy, went to grab Xander and fell, spraining his foot.

A whistle blew, signalling the end of the fight. Everyone was stunned by Xander's technique. It had been simple and well executed.