Chapter 1: New Beginnings

AVA

The first Monday in June was always an interesting one at school. It was the first day of the formal summer training season. The weather was warm enough that everyone was expected to train outdoors, and all indoor training was put on the backburner unless absolutely necessary. It was never necessary.

I stood in front of the mirror in the changing rooms at school, yanking my curly brown hair into a rough bun to keep it out of the way during my training session with Beta Alexander. Normally my green eyes sparkled with excitement at training with the Beta, but today, not so much.

At lunch time, I was cornered in the cafeteria, my lunch dumped straight over my head. I could have taken down the people responsible easily enough, but the Beta and I had determined that I needed to keep what I was capable of under wraps just until I was ready for it to become public knowledge.

My wolf was special, and once that knowledge was out, there was no turning back. Artemis was a beautiful black wolf with striking yellow eyes and a silver crescent moon on her chest. It was a unique colour; not many wolves were true black. That combined with the fact I could hide my scent was a lifesaver though; I could run as my wolf through the woods without worrying about running into people I didn’t particularly want to see.

I pulled my sports bra and leggings over my curves, having to do what I refer to as the ‘skinny jeans dance’ to wiggle the leggings over my curves. Once I was ready, I dragged myself out to the training grounds, ready to get my training session rolling.

“Ava, how was school?” Beta Alexander threw his arm around my shoulders when I reached the training ground.

I grimaced. “Not great, Beta.”

“I’m sorry, Ava. If you would tell me what is going on, I could help you out.”

“It’s fine, Beta, I’ve got this. Not long anyway and I think I’m ready to start kicking their backsides.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Ava, because I had a request for you.”

I met his eyes, one eyebrow raised.

“I want you to start joining me for the pack training sessions. I need a second pair of hands to teach the sessions, demonstrating new moves, feeding back where improvements can be made and the like.”

My eyes were wide.

“It’s time, Ava,” Artemis’ voice ran through my mind. “We’ve got this. You’re strong, independent, and fierce. It’s time the pack saw what we can do.”

I smiled, both in my mind and in person. “Okay, Beta. Let’s do this.”

His arm around my shoulders tightened, pulling me in against him. He really was like an honorary adoptive father to me.

“Thank you, Ava. We can start from Wednesday.”

“Looking forward to it, Beta!”

He smiled. “Good. Now go run your laps.”

I grumbled under my breath as I started my run. I loved my training sessions with Beta Alexander, and I understood why stamina at a run was necessary, but I hated running loops around the training field.

Once I’d run my ten kilometres, I stopped in front of him, taking a drink of water. “New personal best, Ava, well done.” He smiled. “Shall we spar?”

We took up our positions on the large mat we had out just for us two, circling each other, looking for our opening. “Let’s do this, Beta,” I taunted, a grin on my face.

He moved first, feigning a punch to the left side of my face, but bringing his leg around in a roundhouse kick instead. I dodged both, jumping over his leg and dipping under his arm. It was a complicated thing to land, but one that was made easier by my height.

He laughed when I landed it. “Damn, you’re making that look easier every time.”

I smirked back at him, before darting under his arms to land a series of punches to his stomach, before spinning around him to target his kidneys and finally an elbow to the back of his neck.

He growled at the hit, spinning back around to face me, but I’d already moved again so I was behind him. I was fast on my feet; I had to be. My size meant I’d never be able to overpower an opponent with strength, so I had to be faster, more agile.

I kicked straight into the back of his knee, kicking his legs out from under him, letting him buckle to the floor. Wrapping my arm around his neck, I attempted to get him in a chokehold, but he threw me backwards, spinning to straddle my waist, my arms ending pinned above my head.

I let him think he’d pinned me for a second, just enough for him to drop his guard. As soon as he did, I brought my legs up, running them around his back and using my grip to flip him onto his back.

The match went on for a long time, both of us getting good hits in and knocking the other on their back, only for them to recover and return the favour.

By the time we called time on sparring, we were both dripping with sweat, but laughing.

“Jeez, Ava, I swear you’re faster every time we spar.”

I grinned at him. “I’ve had the best teacher, Beta.” I chucked him a bottle of water, which he accepted gladly.

We moved on to swimming; he had me tread water for what felt like an eternity whilst holding a 100 kilo crash test dummy with him attempting to distract me. All I had to do was keep the head above the water, hopefully not letting my ‘Alpha’ drown.

“That’s enough for today, Ava,” he called out, his voice proud as I dragged myself back out of the pool. “Tomorrow we’ll do strength training and defensive techniques.”

“Sounds like a plan, Beta,” I gave him a high five as we turned and walked back in the direction of the main compound.