"What are you talking about?" I asked him, nervous of what he meant.
"Only one person is going to decide if you can leave. That is me." He answered, his expression suddenly turning serious.
"You know what I mean." I replied back.
"It's simple really. You and I are going to compete against each other. Not to the death though, so wipe that nervous look from your face." He answered.
The party and everything was him looking for attention. He wanted to win against me. He wasn't going to hold anything back, which meant I couldn't afford to either.
"Shall we begin?" He said motioning me to go outside.
-
I was told what the objective of the test was. Children were told to go to the forest for this test. I had to find a girl, while Rudolph had to find a boy.
I needed to find the girl and bring her to safety back in the mansion. The girl has never seen a wolf, even if she lived alongside werewolves and was a werewolf herself. She could be scared of my wolf so I had to make sure she didn't see my wolf or know I'm a werewolf. She was four years old and her name was Elizabeth. Brown hair, tan skin and pink dress. That's was all I needed to know.
"Are you both ready?" Jim asked Rudolph and I while we were prepared to run toward the woods.
We both nodded and Jim signaled us to begin with a howl.
And we were off.
We shifted and started running in our wolf forms. To my surprise, Rudolph and I ran about the same speed, but I couldn't focus on him. I had to focus on finding Elizabeth, and quickly.
There was at least 250 acres of pure forest in the pack territory, and a little girl was lost in all of that.
If I wanted Rudolph to let me go with Iris to Puerto Rico, I had to find her.
-
I searched for about five minutes and at the Far East of my starting point, I smelled something that reminded me of a human girl. I kept running and running toward this scent, hoping it was her. It was moving, quite slowly compared to me, but nonetheless moving. Then something else hit my nose. It smelled like something entirely different from the pack.
A rogue.
When I finally saw her she was crying. I needed her to be safe, and if I had to fight to do it, I would. The wolf was walking dangerously close to her and tried to bite her several times. I kept running and used my momentum to attack the wolf. I tackled it and it collided with a tree. Her crying got stronger and thundered in my ears. I decided to ignore it so she wouldn't be afraid of me from any reactions I might do because of her, and so I could focus on this wolf who meant to harm her.
He was alone, thankfully. It was significantly smaller than me as well.
"Wait for them to make the first move. Start reading your opponent. Every movement, every hesitation. Use it to your advantage." Harry's words echoed in the back of my head as I saw the wolf tumbling from the impact it had with the tree.
Once it got stable, it shook it's head, looked at me and growled, and I growled back. It wasted no time in trying to tackle me, I moved to my left and dodged it, but then I remembered Elizabeth. I had let it get a clear shot at attacking her. I quickly turned to my right and jumped just in time to prevent it from reaching her. The wolf managed to claw the left side of my rib cage.
When I landed on the ground, blocking the wolf from harming Elizabeth, I pounded its face with my right paw with a lot of force.
I moved a lot faster than that wolf, and did a lot more damage than it did as well. The wolf only did a scratch. I checked on Elizabeth and she looked deep into my eyes. She seemed to understand that I was there to protect her.
The wolf once again was on its feet, challenging me once again to fight it. It seemed that this time, it had learned a lesson though. I was quick enough to dodge an attack, jump back and attack it if I wanted. It seemed it was my turn to attack now.
I ran up to it and pounded its face once more. I was too quick for the rogue and it couldn't prevent me from hitting its face again. This time the pound was enough to knock it out for some time. I stood over it to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone else. I stood over the wolf to end his life.
"Once you have a rogue down, you have to kill it. You have to make sure they don't hurt anyone anymore. Most rogues are rebels without a cause, but some are only here to destroy pack wolves and their lives. Never forget this Aiden. Rogues are a menace." Autumn's words thundered in my mind.
I was about to do it. I was about to kill the rogue. But then I looked at it. It was scared. It knew what was going to happen, what I was going to do. The memories of my nightmares haunted me once more. This time though, I was the wolf on top about to kill the wolf that was down.
I looked at Elizabeth and she looked scared. I couldn't blame her. Two big wolves fighting, one apparently trying to protect her, and the other trying to kill her. Now the one that was trying to protect her was going to kill the other wolf.
I looked back at the wolf at it seemed to be waiting, scared and confused, with its eyes closed. Scared for what was going to happen, and confused because it hadn't begun.
I looked down and closed my eyes. I growled under frustration because of something my teachers wouldn't like to know.
I couldn't do it.
I looked at the wolf again and it seemed to be regaining energy once more. I couldn't kill it, but it didn't meant I was going to let it hunt Elizabeth.
I bit its left front leg and left hind leg until they bled. The wolf started crying, whining and eventually trying to kick me, but it couldn't. It started crawling away from me once I finished with its hind leg.
I shifted to my human form so I could speak. "Leave and never come back to this pack. If you do, I might not be able to show you so much mercy next time." I told the wolf as it looked at me in a mix of awe and fear. "Leave!" I shouted at it. The wolf tried to get up but couldn't. It just kept crawling away from me.
"Elizabeth." I spoke so she knew I was talking to her, but I didn't turn toward her because I was entirely naked. "Grab my fur and hold on really tight. We're going home." I told her.
"Understood?" I asked since I wasn't sure if she had even listened.
"Yes sir." She said.
I shifted to my wolf and walked closer to her. I lied on the floor on my belly so she could climb me and stay in my back. Once she was up in my back I started running. Not too fast since she could fall off, but I ran quickly so I could reach everyone. There was a rogue inside the territory and I needed to tell everyone.
-
When I got there everyone started cheering and jumping. While I approached the crowd, a man with a robe ran toward me. I slowly shifted back to human while Elizabeth was on my back. I managed to hold her piggy-back style before she fell.
"Thank you." She said with a smile on her face.
The man covered me with the robe once I was human again.
"No problem, kid." I told her and smiled back.
Then I finally saw Autumn and Harry, they were cheering alongside with the crowd. I ran to them to tell them what had happened.
"Guys, while I looked for Elizabeth I saw a rogue. I battled it and defeated it, but I don't know if there are more out there. We need to get everyone to safety!" I told them, but they didn't seem to be the least surprised by my words.
"We know." Autumn said.
"Wait, what?" I asked, surprised and confused.
"That was the test. Being able to protect her." Harry told me.
They both looked toward their left and I had to turn my head to look at what they were staring. Rudolph was coming back from the forest with some men carrying another in some type of hammock. When he shifted, the same man who lend me a robe covered him in one, then he walked toward me looking at me proudly.
"Well done, Aiden. You passed the test." Rudolph told me with a smile on and extended his arms widely.
"Wait, where your kid?" I asked him.
"There was no kid for me Aiden. I was only out there making sure you didn't kill the wolf sent to attack you." Rudolph told me.
"No no. The wolf tried to attack Elizabeth. She was crying!" I said and moved my head looking for Elizabeth, once I found her I told her, "Tell them what happened." I told Elizabeth.
"He told me to cry and pretend to be scared." She said referring to Rudolph.
"I wanted to see if you were strong enough to protect your mate. With this test I could see you could easily battle various wolves at once." Rudolph told me while patting a hand to my right shoulder.
"But, the wolf! I hurt him pretty bad." I said, while the men carrying the wolf who was supposed to attack me passed by us. "Isn't he a rogue?" I asked.
"He technically is, but he hasn't been for too long. He was part of the pack. Your duty was protect Elizabeth by killing him." He said and then his features turned emotionless. "That is the one thing you didn't pass. You didn't try to kill him."
"I wasn't about to become a murderer in front of a little girl. Plus all I needed to do is make sure he wouldn't harm us anymore." I backfired at him.
"How do you know the rogue wouldn't come back to avenge his legs and pride? You showed mercy." He asked.
"I think I made it pretty clear that I can kill him if I wanted. Demanding respect seems like a more logical choice for me." I answered.
"You know nothing about rogues." He said with a challenging tone.
"And you know everything about rogues?" I asked him in a sarcastic tone.
"I know how merciless rogues can be! Don't even try me." He almost growled at me, leaving no room for argument.
"Look, the test was about being able to protect her, right?" I asked.
"Yes. You did protect her." He sighed and then continued, "Therefore, you may leave with your mate to Ceiba Negra." He told me while looking at Iris. "But remember this Aiden. Rogues aren't to be trusted. I wouldn't like to hear that you and your mate died. If I do, I swear, I will find any way to bring you back to life, just so I could kill you for being a dumbass."
We both chuckled after a small moment of silence, while everyone around us looked at us awkwardly. I didn't want to be angry at him, even if I didn't want to believe what I heard.
I saw Iris and walked up to her. She had a worried look on her face, but when she saw me, she changed it to a happy smile.
"Congrats babe." She said and pulled me into a hug. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks." I said and hugged her back. "It's everything alright?"
She seemed to hesitate answering me. "We should go inside. There's something I need to tell you."
She grabbed my hand and we ran to my room. Everyone would believe we were about to do something, if they didn't see her face at least. She looked really worried.
Once in my room she pulled me into a strong hug.
"Iris what's going on?" I asked now worried.
She pushed me a little bit so she could see my face.
"Sit down for a moment." She told me.
I sat down on the bed and waited for her to tell me.
After a lot of hesitation she finally told me. "Aiden. Johanna is in the hospital. It's a tumor."