03

After the meeting, I went back to my house to put on my training gear. I trained in a black sports bra, black leggings, and black running shoes. It was the only time I was not in my cloaked attire, and that was only because running in the cloak would get too hot and I needed wolves I was training to be able to see my body when I demonstrate techniques.

I ran to the training field, and waited for all of the wolves scheduled for the 10am training class to show up. Usually, wolves trained much earlier in the day unless they were still in school, but the training was postponed in light of the pack leader meeting that was held this morning.

By 10am, all 25 of the wolves arrived. They knew better than to be late. Despite having over 100 pack members eligible for training, I preferred to keep training classes small, so I could really correct each individual. Technique was the most important part of combat training, and it required my attention to detail.

They started off by running 10 miles, with me running ahead of all of them. 10 miles may seem like a lot, but it’s not that bad with their werewolf stamina. Also, I didn’t really care if it made them tired. Their enemies wouldn’t care how tired they are in combat. And trust me when I say that everyone is tired in combat.

Then, they practiced hand to hand combat in human form. Each individual chose a partner, and they would fight each other until one submitted. Occasionally, the wolves would get too wound up and would have to be separated before they seriously could get hurt. However, I was not against people being hurt in training. Training was the best time to get hurt, because then they would learn from their mistakes. After they fought their partner, they would rotate and get a new partner to fight until they all had fought each other. I would step in occasionally to correct their form, or tell them why their opponent was able to best them.

After the fighting in human forms, they would each fight in their wolf forms. This tended to be way bloodier, and way more entertaining for me. When their wolves took control, there was almost certainly blood to be shed. It was harder to make their opponent submit, since it is not in a wolf’s nature to submit to someone who isn’t above them.

I preferred fighting in human form, partially due to my Gift, but also partially because fighting in wolf form was not always an option. Sometimes, wolves will get poisoned with wolfsbane, prohibiting them from shifting, and they need to know how to fight as a human in case if that were to ever happen to them.

After they fought in wolf-form, the ones that weren’t too injured would be able to practice their weapon-wielding skills. Typically, only 10-15 wolves made it to this portion of the training day. However, this was many of the wolves favorite part of training lessons with me.

I am the master of wielding weapons due to my gift. I have been summoning knives, bows and arrows, swords, and many other weapons since I could walk. This has made me incredibly familiar and incredibly accurate with them.

Many of the wolves also enjoyed using weapons, and have gotten really good at using them due to my training. Typically, packs don’t stress the importance of using weapons, as it is hard for them to obtain large quantities of them, and there is no guarantee that pack members would be good at using them. This gave us an edge.

Training ended after about 4 hours, and I went to the Pack House to eat lunch before I had another training session with wolves ages 5-10. Another thing that made our pack different was training pups to fight. However, the pups mostly only learned self defense and shifting mechanisms, and there was hardly ever any blood spilt during their trainings, which were significantly less intense than the 18+ or 11-13 or 14-17 trainings.

Contrary to my reputation as being cruel and heartless, I had a soft spot for the little pups. They were so full of energy, innocence, and haven’t yet been destroyed by the harsh truths of being a werewolf. I may have had my childhood ripped away from me, but I was glad that most of them haven’t. I also knew that self defense was incredibly important in case of a war, and that’s why pups and women alike trained. In other packs, women are not typically trained.

As I ate my lunch prepared by the Pack House chefs, Alpha Wilson walked up to me, closely followed by John. I narrowed my eyes at John, already knowing he wasn’t up to anything good.

Alpha Wilson cleared his throat, and looked at me with sympathy. “Delta John is invoking his right to challenge you to the death for the Gamma position. The duel will take place tonight at midnight on the training grounds.”