Before I forget... Thanks jawncuffies for reviewing my book.
CHAPTER 28
When first presented to Jonathan and the others, they were against the idea of including Omegas. Tracy was able to convince Jonathan to allow this to be her project as Luna. Jordan had given his immediate support for Carla to be given the rank of Sub-Beta Trainer before he left. He insisted that it was her birthright to be a Beta rather than a Gamma. Everyone was shocked given the family history but Tracy backed it and Jonathan didn't argue.
Tracy immediately called for an assembly of the Omegas. Carla spoke to the Omegas who had gathered per their Luna's request.
"Omegas, there was a time when all wolves were given equal power by the Creator. The wolves divided themselves into packs. The ones that were physically stronger took power, the ones that had more cunning stole power, and then we have the ones who were the most powerful not because they were stronger, smarter, or special. No, they were the most powerful because they had the one thing that very few ever find. They had peace and happiness. The chains of greed did not bind them nor did the sorrows of life steal their smiles. They are the Omegas. I was one of you, I worked beside you. I was given the position of Sub Beta Trainer for the Protector who is your Luna. We ask you to draw upon your wolf's power to train and if necessary to fight for the sake of your future and your children's peace and happiness. A witch wreaked havoc over our world centuries ago. The threat of her power looms over all of us now. Those of you who are not train to stand and fight, will still be knocked down and slaughtered. It has been established by the old laws of wolves that Omegas would not have to join a fight. It doesn't mean you can't but it's your choice."
Carla paused as the crowd of over 200 Omegas whispered among themselves. A man wearing a red cap spoke up, "We cannot go up against other wolves there's no way that we can win against a witch."
Tracy stood, "I am not a wolf, I did not grow up in a pack but I had a family. My father lived and died to protect and serve. I am here for the same reason but I can't do it alone. The warrior wolves will of course fight but sometimes one drop is all you need to fill a bucket. If you train, then Carla and I will be your trainers. Pack members will be assigned to share the workload of maintaining the pack. Those of you who choose to train will write your name on this sheet. Once you sign, you will be trained to your fullest potential. We will meet here at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon."
One by one, the Omegas stepped forward. By the time the crowd had disbursed there were 27 names on the list. It was disappointing.
"Well to be honest that was actually more than I expected." Carla said.
Tracy sighed, "It is what it is. We train them and do what we can to prepare. We now have to round up some regular pack members to take over for some of the Omegas that signed up. Only the ones without regular jobs and young children."
"Crystal and the rest of the Barbie Bimbos?"
"Yep." Tracy said popping the "p."
"Well this should go over as well as a bucket of sunshine in hell."
"If people don't want to cooperate then it becomes a criminal offense to go against their Luna which means execution, imprisonment, or banishment. But I don't want to go that far." Tracy said.
"They could always challenge." Carla said with a crafty smirk.
"Challenge?"
"It's an old law when the wolves were more democratic and equal in strength. Unlike the New Moon Challenge, you don't lose position instead you agree to a temporary slavery of sorts. Where if one wins, then the other forfeits their lives to the winner for an agreed amount of time and only death will break the contract. That means they have to do any and everything that is demanded of them. So if you beat the cream and tar out of a bitch then no one else will dare question you."
Tracy looked thoughtful, "Okay but I'm a Protector so technically I'm supposed to be protecting people not beating them up."
"True but in order to protect then you have to beat their asses."
"Ugh! Now I have a headache." Tracy said, "Fine but if I end up losing, I'm kicking your booty to the Bahamas."
Carla snorted, "If you can beat me in wolf form then fighting a regular packer will be like kicking a puppy."
Tracy raised a brow and stared at Carla, "That is so wrong. Besides Vera is a sweetie... with teeth... and the attitude of a mouse with a prickly cactus shoved up its butt."
They giggled. "Alrighty then, time to round up the some of the disgruntles."
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Meeting went as expected as did the challenge fight. Considering the condition that Crystal and a pack male was dragged off the field, no one else stepped forward. Assignments were handed out and other than the small grumbles of messing up one's manicure on manual labor, everyone went to work.
With less than two months of school left. Carla and Tracy have worked tirelessly on the Omegas training. From 5 a.m to 8 a.m. and again from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. the Omegas trained everyday in building their strength and stamina. The ones that couldn't shift were still stronger and faster than any human so Carla immediately trained them as her father's wolf trained her; fight hard, fight dirty, and take an opponent down fast. The Omegas that could shift were slower and weaker than regular wolves mostly due to a lack of training.
But despite the obvious physical disadvantages, Omegas were tough and could take a hit. They were also skilled laborers and brilliant nerds. Silver and wolfsbane didn't affect them like other werewolves because they had more human in their blood.
Being a rare red wolf made Carla smarter than other wolves and she suggested that perhaps the Omegas could do with a boost. Tracy and Carla worked into putting the Omegas into teams. The nerds, with the assistance of Firelight, used their knowledge to create armor, traps, and weapons. Gideon helped with weapon training both traditional and whatever was on hand. Regular bullets had little effect on most supernaturals but silver wasn't readily available to Omegas. Wolfsbane however could be obtained with no trouble. Lenny, one of the nerds, mentioned a toxin that could paralyze a wolf in under 2 minutes. You only had to administer it in tiny amount.
^Leonard (Lenny) Hanks^
"We have a couple of blacksmiths and woodworkers." Tracy suggested.
"Old school it is," Carla said nodding to Lenny, "Alright get the craftsmen together and have them work closely with the nerds. We need spears, darts, arrows, and a means of firing them. Then we work on training everyone else on how to use these weapons. Armor wouldn't be amiss either."
"I have a few other relatively low costs and easy to acquire options." Lenny said, "We can use ammonia and bleach bombs. Bleach and ammonia in concentrated form can cause temporary blindness in both vampires and weres because of their enhanced vision and pepper spray," he said with a slight smirk, "courtesy of our own Sub Beta Trainer."
"It's good stuff," Carla agreed, "but it takes a while to get use to it. If we plan to actually use that then we'll have to expose our wolves to it before the battle or they will be just as useless as the enemy."
"Weapons will help us even the odds." Tracy agreed.
Lenny left to gather a team to help in the manufacturing of an arsenal. Tracy and Carla watched as the group began buzz excitedly around Lenny.
"Never thought I would be using all the training Julius taught me to help others." Carla said. Despite everything he put her through, he made sure she was strong and trained her well. She missed him sometimes because he was all she had. Her mother had been a failed musician that took to drinking and drugs but was still able to give music lessons that helped support them along with government assistance. Her parents were toxic to each other but still both cared enough about her to try and be there for her in their own dysfunctional way.
"I know what you mean. Grandpa and my dad always trained me to defend myself. I never thought about it but the lessons they taught me were to fight against a much larger and stronger opponent than a mere human. I guess they were trying to teach me in order to protect myself in case I ran into a supernatural." Tracy said remembering how they would push her to learn different techniques and methods to take down an opponent.
Less than two weeks later, practice weapons were made and the Omegas had come a long way. Only by working together could they take on Carla's wolf, Vera, alone they were as helpless as a bird trying to take down a dinosaur. Using the weapons was awkward at first but after another 2 weeks a single Omega could manage to even their odds against a werewolf. Thanks to Gideon, the Omegas learned a few extra tricks that vampires had used against werewolves. Vampires knew where to hit to cause the most damage, even though they weren't as strong as werewolves, and blind spots. Firelight worked with the Omegas to create effective weaponry.
Tracy was proud of what they had accomplished despite all the teasing and ridicule that they incurred from both the other Omegas and the other pack members. A few more Omegas signed up but were dropped when Tracy and Carla saw that they were only interested in joining to get out of chores. School would be out soon and Jonathan asked for a demonstration to be held the first of June. Expectations were low which just made Tracy and Carla giddy with anticipation.
Jonathan and Tracy's relationship was once again put on hold because of all the training and responsibilities placed on their shoulders. Their bond made it impossible for them to be apart so after the mattress burning, Jonathan slept in Tracy's room.
At first, Tracy protested but Jonathan said that since she burnt his bed it was only fair she share hers. Tired every night they would fall into an exhausted sleep. Despite the distance between them before they fell asleep, they would always wake up entangled. Eli's impatience was growing and Jonathan knew it was only a matter of time.