The Midnight Watch

Chapter 1

Alex grinned as he caught my wrist for the third time in a row and twisted it backward so I was forced to turn or break my arm. When he released me, it was my turn to defend again. I repeated the action at a faster pace, all the better to imitate actual combat.

We had spent the last few weeks watching every movie involving badass fighting that we could find, then learning the easier moves in my back garden. Hopefully, it would give me a slight edge against the other candidates, who were likely to be twice my size with ten times the muscle.

We'd been at this particular move for over an hour now, in an already doomed attempt to hone some base fighting techniques before we went to train at Evarlin Fortress next week. Being able to complete this particular move might not be a talent that the Moon Guard valued all that highly, but at least it would accomplish a little more than sitting around in my room watching Netflix.

I decided to surprise Alex with a counter-attack to test if he had really got the hang of it. My hand shot out at the rate that a real punch would come. His wild attempt to block it missed completely, and my fist collided hard with his gut. I had to stifle my grin. Idiot.

Alex casually sat down on the grass and stretched out. I walked over resignedly to check on him, rubbing my sore knuckles. "Let's see, then."

He lifted his shirt to show reddened skin. I hadn't hit him that hard. At least, I hadn't tried to. A shifter's strength is unpredictable at the best of times. "You'll live," I decided with a shrug.

"What, no apology?" Alex asked with a cheeky smirk.

"I won't apologise for my superior talent, or for your lack of it," I teased.

He prodded me in the side, extracting an automatic giggle. "Well, don't get too high and mighty. If your head gets any bigger, you won't be to fit through the doorways at Evarlin."

My best friend and I had spent the last three years of our lives winding each other up and bickering like this, ever since that fateful day of the careers quiz. We had both shown an aptitude for the Moon Guard as our future career, which was essentially the werewolf police, armed forces and royal guard all in one.

"Alex, Savannah," my mother called from the doorway to the kitchen. She was wearing her baking apron, and that could only mean one thing. Food.

"Mum, it's Sav. Just Sav," I complained as I picked myself up off the floor.

"Really? Because I'm the one who named you and I happen to know differently." Mum produced a tray of cookies, hot out of the oven. "Who's hungry?"

Dad wouldn't be home from work for hours, and that left only the three of us in the house. Only three of us to share all those cookies. I kept quiet as I filed into the kitchen to claim my share of the food. Alex scoffed several at once, stuffing them into his mouth like he hadn't eaten for a week.

As I licked cookie crumbs off my fingers, it occurred to me for the first time that the food was unlikely to be for free. Mum never made me cookies unless she wanted something, and it wasn't long before I found out the cost of my snack.

"If you kids have finished stuffing your faces, I have a long list of chores I could use a hand with," Mum suggested casually.

"You know what? I think I should actually get on with some homework." I made a quick attempt to escape the room, but mum seized my arm and stopped me in my tracks. Alex suddenly seemed very busy stacking the plates, and he was grinning as he waited for the ensuing argument.

"I'm sorry, you must have misunderstood. I wasn't asking. And your reluctance to help just earned you the job of cleaning out the fire grates."

Ah, yes. The filthiest, most time-consuming job ever invented. At least, that's how it sounded. But I supposed it could have been worse. One time, she had made me scrub the oven, and I'd never forgotten it.