The next day more packs came to our door, not sure what was going on. The three alphas we first recruited, aunt and uncle, and Dimitri and I explained the situation. The same problem occurred. They didn’t believe a word we were saying so there were demonstrations. One after the other did packs join us, and eventually we were beyond a hundred of us, and this was not including women and children. There were ten alphas in total that had agreed to fight with us, we were also turned by a few who didn’t want to risk their lives for a war we may not win. Kyra and Paul had called the alphas and their seconds to the field where the boulder rested. I joined as well, sitting on the rock with the two of them. Everyone here knew I was their niece and did not question where I sat.
“Now we have to prepare our packs before we consider going out in to a battle that could be dangerous.” Paul started.
“What do you suggest we do?” Veran spoke. Paul raised his hand to silence them as he continued to explain our course of action.
“We are going to train our packs, find our best fighters and have them be in charge of smaller groups that you alphas will have little time to command.” Paul answered. They sat in silence as he continued once more.” We will have a spar with each of the members of our packs. That is how we are going to find our strongest fighters.”
“Every alpha is going to fight against their pack members?” Asked Dalia. Kyra answered her question.
“Yes, and that would be their test of strength. If they are able to keep you pinned down they will be worthy enough to take charge of a small group of one of our packs.” Kyra explained. Dalia nodded and crossed her leg.
“We will start tonight, the spars will be held in human form, in this field.” Paul said. Everyone stood up and crossed their hearts before leaving the field. I stood and walked over to Paul and Kyra.
“Will I be able to participate, I know that women and children will not be allowed to fight.” I said and they looked at me.
“It’s not up to us to decide. You and Dimitri need to work out this, but you are definitely strong enough to fight alongside us.” Paul said and I sighed. It was going to be a difficult battle trying to get Dimitri to allow me in the fight. I jumped off the rock and headed towards Dimitri to get this over with.
“Dimitri, we need to talk.” I said.
“I already know what you’re going to ask. No you are not going to fight.” He answered. I stared at him shocked. Of course he knew I would ask this, but it’s even more frustrating that I couldn’t say it before he declined.
“This isn’t fair Dimitri, I want to be part of this. I’m not as weak as you think I am.” I said flustered. He looked at me and furrowed his brow.
“Alright, if you can pin me down tonight, I will consider it.” He answered. I smiled and jumped him. I kissed his lips and he gladly kissed me back.
“Thank you.” I said as I pulled away from his lips. He sighed. I knew he didn’t want me to fight, but I want to be part of what could possibly be a battle for freedom. He put me down and we walked back to our refuge. Walking inside, the room was packed, there wasnt much room left for any of us. I looked around the room looking Lucas. I hadn’t talked to him for two days. I looked around squeezing through people. When I finally found him he was sitting in the corner curled up into a ball. I made my way over to him and sat down next to him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him and he looked over to me. His gold eyes looked sad, and pouted.
“I dreamt of my parents.” He answered. I was shocked, he started to remember. I knew they were treating badly in that place, but it was so bad that he blocked everything that would happen to him. That meant even blocking memories he may have started to remember.
“What did you dream about?” Lucas moved closer to me and laid his head on my lap. He was really like a small version of Dimitri. I smiled and stroked his midnight hair.
“I remembered how my mom would sing to me before I fell asleep, and how my dad would race with me through the woods near our home.” He said. I continued to stroke his hair.” I also dreamt about my brother.” I stopped for a second, but kept going.
“About?” I asked.
“We would play fight, and he would let me win.” He said,” He would teach me how to hunt when dad was busy with the pack.” I smiled while I listened. Dimitri was a good big brother.” I also remembered how Dimitri would let me sleep with him when I had a bad dream.” Lucas looked up at me and I smiled.
“Sounds like you finally remember him.” I said and he nodded. He sat up and hugged me.
“I’m glad he has you.” I hugged him back and kissed his cheek
“I’m glad he has you back.” I said and he looked at me.” He needs a piece of home again.” Lucas nodded, not fully understanding what I meant by that. He is only eight after all. Soon after a hunting party was sent out to bring us back food. It was quite a large party, I mean it’s understandable for the amount of people they would need to feed.
As I waited for everyone to return I played games with the children like cat and mouse, I chased them around the room, catching them one by one placing them in a small circle. We even sang songs and did dances. Once the party returned they had brought four large elks. The kids jumped happily as they knew they were about to have their dinner. All the males in the packs gave their families their food before eating themselves. Every family should be like this even the humans, but we all know how easily persuaded humans are. We wolves have pride, and we protect our loved ones, not harm them. Everyone ate and the males headed out to the field with their alphas. I started walking to the door when Lucas stopped me.
“Yes?” I asked. He held my hand and kneeled down to his level.” It’s alright Lucas.” I said and hugged him. He hugged me tightly and let go.
“When are you coming back?” He asked.
“It shouldn’t take long, I’ll be back before you fall asleep.” I answered and stood up. He nodded and went to play with the others. I smiled and walked out the door to follow the others. They were walking up the small hill to the field. I took off in a slow jog to catch up. I made my way to the front where Kyra and Paul were leading the packs. I started to walk besides Kyra and Paul.
“It seems Dimitri is letting you join us.” Kyra said.
“Yeah, he said I could join if I could pin him down long enough.” I answered. She smiled.
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” She said through a laugh. I smiled, I wasn’t sure what she meant by that but I would take it as a good sign that I had a chance. I felt as someone grabbed my hand and looked over to see Dimitri. I smiled and he gave a small one back. He still wasn’t happy with my choice. I sighed heavily, this was still going to a battle with him.
We stopped in the field and Kyra and Paul stepped on the boulder. The night was bright as the as the moon shined down on the field. It was waning but with Kyra standing here it seemed to glow with happiness. We crossed our fists over our hearts as a sign of respect and we sat down to listen to them.
“Tonight we will choose wolves who will be able to handle the duty of taking small numbers and guiding them when your alpha or another cannot.” Paul said. A few whispers filled the crowd. No one liked the idea of letting someone else lead the pack, to them it was a sign that they were weak and couldn’t control them when it was needed.” Do not think just because someone is giving commands to your pack member that you are weak.”
“We are doing this so that you can concentrate on the battle you will face, the less distractions you have the more you will be focused to your surroundings and you will be stronger and quicker.” Kyra finished. The crowd quieted once more.” Alright gather your packs to determine, who will be co-leaders of the Beta’s”
With that we split into our packs. I followed Dimitri and our pack members to one side of the field. We were in our own packs and Paul spoke.” Veran, we will start with your pack. Please begin.” Then we immediately started. Veran was a burly man. I would not have thought anyone could pin him down. As we watched, one after the other, no one was able to bring down Veran until the last person. He looked small compared to the others. He looked pretty young as well. They took their stances and quickly started. Veran lunged at him and the boy easily slipped between his legs and jumped onto his back. I heard a few gasps. Veran quickly reached his arm back and grabbed the boy by his leg and tossed him. The boy landed with a thud but stood back up almost as quickly.
The boy ran towards Veran. Veran reached out to the boy to grab him but the boy jumped high into the air and latched his legs around Veran’s neck. Throwing his body back the boy used his body weight and flipped Veran and threw him against the ground with force. The boy stood up quickly and pinned Veran down with his foot to the back of his neck. The boy moved his foot and Veran stood up with a large smiled displayed on his face.
“That was a good spar my boy.” He said placing his large hand on the boys head.
“What’s your name?” I heard Kyra ask. The boy looked up at her and crossed he answered her,
“Vincent.”
“Does he have and relation to you Veran, he resembles you quite a bit.” Paul said. Veran nodded.
“He is my grandson.” He answered.
“How old are you Vincent?” Paul asked.
“Thirteen.” He answered. I covered my mouth, he was still younger than I thought. I looked at Dimitri.
“When we turn thirteen, the males are able to join in with the others.” He answered my unsaid question. I nodded.
“Alright next pack please.” Kyra said. It was Dalia’s pack’s turn. Two of her pack members were able to pin her down long enough. Next was Caleb, and only one was able to pin him down. Then so forth until it was our turn. We walked into the center of the field and Dimitri began to call out each of us to go. Of course Alaric and Gabe were able to pin him down long enough. It was finally my turn. I walked out and everyone had their eyes glued to me. They didn’t question why I was here, only because I was Kyra and Paul’s niece.
“Don’t go easy on me Dimitri.” I said. He nodded and we got into our stances. I looked at him carefully. Where were his openings? Did he have any weak spots, which I could use to take him down quickly? So far nothing that I could see from a quick glance. He had already moved towards me. I quickly dodged his charge and went to kick him. He turned quickly and grabbed my leg and threw me to the ground. I didn’t feel hardly anything as I was thrown. It was like he was holding back. I looked at him and quickly got up, and I jumped at him. He caught me and slammed me to the ground, and once again I hardly felt any of the impact. He was definitely holding back on me.
“You’re holding back aren’t you?” I asked. He looked at me and his eyes turned from me.” Didn’t I tell you not to go easy on me?” I felt as my body heated up. Dimitri looked back at me and his eyes grew in shock. I knew what was happening and honestly it was a good thing I was about to teach Dimitri a lesson, for underestimating me. I lifted my hand and Dimitri began to float into the air. I stood up and dusted my pants.
“Seera, calm down. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that.” Dimitri said struggling to get down. I glared at him and threw him across the field. I ran over to him and went for a kick, he blocked it and swung his arm to punch me. I dipped in between his legs and I kicked him in the back making him stumble forward. I ran behind and grabbed his shoulders and I flipped myself in front of him. He moved to jump back but too late as I took my leg and swiped his from underneath him. He fell to the ground hard, and he groaned. I jumped on top of him and let my claws grow and hovered them just above his throat.
Dimitri was inhaling deeply. I let my claws go back in and I stood up. I felt as my body went back to normal, and I pushed my hair back. I looked over at Dimitri as he stood. I glared at him and walked back to the rest of our pack. I felt eyes all over me as I stood there. I looked at them and they seemed confused, shocked, and bewildered. Gabe walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders.
“What the hell was that Seera?” He asked me.
“What was what?” I asked trying to play dumb. I should punch myself in the face. They weren’t supposed to know I could do that. Everyone else was thinking the same as Gabe.
“You know what I am talking about Seera, don’t play dumb.” He said. I gulped loudly and looked towards Kyra and Paul. They didn’t look angry, they seemed pretty calm in this situation.
“Let her go Gabe.” I heard Dimitri say as he took his hands off of me.” They’re going to explain.” I looked back up at the boulder as Kyra had jumped down.
“Well I believe this is the perfect time to get this out there.” She started, she motioned for me to go over to her and I obeyed.” You just witnessed something that you could have never imagined in your life.”
“What is going on?” Someone voiced. Kyra cleared her throat and continued.
“Your alphas already know what is going, but we told them to not say a word to you until we felt it was time. As it has already happened unexpectedly, we might as well tell you now.” Kyra looked at me and stroked my hair before moving to the center. Paul had jumped down in the process and walked pass me to Kyra. He took her hand and they looked at each other.
“You know the legends you were told when you were children about the goddess of the moon and the god of the night. They’re very much real.” Paul said. I heard some whispers erupt one more from the crowd.” What we’re saying is that we are those legends, and Seera is to inherit my mate’s place.” They went into an uproar.
“There is no way the Gods would come here!” One screamed.
“They would never set a foot on this land, not while such chaos is here!” Another screamed.
“Be quiet!” Kyra yelled. It was the first time she had raised her voice. They grew silent once again and she spoke.” We understand that you would not believe our words so we are going to demonstrate, as our niece had already done.”
I watched as their bodies began to glow. Kyra had a silverfish glow, while Paul had a dark purple almost black surrounding them. Kyra lifted her hand and everyone in the field began to lift off the ground. I twirled in the air enjoying the feeling. Then I saw as Paul lifted his hand and a Black shadow enveloped us. I began to look around frantically, I could see a thing, and it was like my sight was taken from me. Then it was back just as quickly as it was taken. We were placed back on the ground again and everyone was silent.
“There’s your proof.” Paul said. No one uttered a word as Paul spoke again.” Tomorrow we shall begin training, alphas will train the ones who pinned you down and Betas will train the rest.” I watched them and noticed Kyra was unbalanced.
“Kyra…” I started before she collapsed.