My Personal Hell, D. Richardson [ebook reader browser txt] 📗

For the first week it was just twelve of us. Only a few were from Drake’s pack, the rest were all girls that Tom had victimized. The second week we had nearly doubled in number, this time most of them were from Drake’s pack. In the third week we had tripled. When Jen and Camilla showed up with this group I nearly had a heart attack.

“You know what’ll happen if we get caught right?” I asked before they could join the girls that were warming up for their first lesson. Both of them nodded, serious.

“We’re tired of being second class just because they won’t let us learn how not to be,” Jen replied with Camilla nodding in agreement.

I couldn’t just turn them away, so I stepped out of their path. The numbers slowed a little after that, and shockingly no one had a clue what we were doing. But I never took anyone under the age of fifteen.

After a while Drake started to complain that the young females of the pack were starting to get more aggressive, less malleable. He had reports of five females that came of age and refused their marriage partners. It just so happened that I knew all of those females, and every last one of them simply wanted a chance to find their mates. Rather than settling for an arranged marriage. Females throughout the two packs were starting to gain a backbone, now that they were starting to feel physically equal to the males.

I was proud of them, especially after Kiera managed to knock me to the ground. She won the match, fair and square, and I couldn’t stop smiling. Several of the girls were from the border lines, they fought the most vigorously. I think they felt like they were the first line of defense. Not to mention the ones most likely to get attacked by males who snatched females for breeding purposes.

Turned out that the males that Sadler and I had taken care of were among that group. Though they were working more towards the middle of the pack, where the higher ranked females were more likely to be. The higher the rank the more money they could get for them. They thought they had landed the jackpot with me. Though they had tried for Sarah because they thought she was one of the rare humans that could breed wolf pups. Sadler told me later that that was how a lot of lone wolves survived.

Almost a month and a half after we started the training we started having older females showing up. It was usually mothers but a few were single, not high enough in rank to be married off. Either way, they promised not to say anything if they were allowed to join us, so I was good with it.

Some of them weren’t cut out for the long hall. They could fight, they could defend themselves and others if needed. But they weren’t invested in it enough to go beyond the necessary training. Those quit coming when they reached their limit, after promising never to speak a word of what we were doing.

After a while I started to notice a pattern. Those that had substantial rank, such as Kiera, Jen, and Camilla were some of the best, though any that had any young ones to care for fought the hardest and most vigorously. If we were to set up ranks like the males did I would be the commander, Kiera would be my second, Chris would be my third, followed by Camilla and then Jen. While the mothers would be the elite squad under us.

They were all an impressive bunch, I only wished that we could test our metal against the males. They would be the true test of our skill as a force. As school got closer things started to get tense, though not because of the training.

I walked into the kitchen one afternoon after a hard training. I had gone to the compound to train with the males and then immediately followed that up with the females. I was starting to run on empty and the summer heat wasn’t helping.

Bastion was starting to notice a difference in me. Commenting on how I would watch the way the males trained as a group as well as individually. He made the joke that I might have what it took to replace him as head trainer once he retired. I just laughed it off.

I had no interest in replacing him when he was ready. I simply wanted to do right by the females. Though I had to watch my behavior around him. I had no doubt that he would support me, but I didn’t want any of them involved. If I went down I wasn’t going to take them with me.

But that day things were different. Drake was pacing around the kitchen, pulling at his hair so hard I expected him to come away with clumps of it. Becca sat at the table with her head in her hands, while their main enforcers stood around the walls looking tense. Asher sat next to his Mom, his lips set in a tight line, his anger was barely contained.

Sadler stood leaning against the wall next to Bastion, both of them with a scowl set firmly in place. When they noticed I had walked in Drake turned on me.

“Where have you been!? We’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour!” I felt my shoulders raise in defense, and my eyes widen in surprise. I had been turning my phone off while I was with the females.

“I went out for a run. What’s going on?” I asked hesitantly, moving to lean against the island.

“Van has issued a challenge,” Bastion answered, I stood straighter.

“What?!” Drake handed me a piece of thick paper. It was creased like it had been delivered by the postal service.

It was actually a letter, first explaining that Van was getting married in exactly one month from that day. After that it said that on that day he would gain control of the crudelus pack. And as such had the right to issue a challenge for Drake’s control, via a pack battle. Which would be held the next day. As the challenged Drake had the right to pick where the battle would take place.

My mind whirled while I stared at the paper. When we foiled his plan to take over before he must have found a female willing to marry him. So he could do it a different way. I should have known that he wouldn’t give up so easily. After a short freak out I took a deep breath and sat down directly across from Becca.

“How do these battles work?” I asked, everyone paused in their own speculation to look at me like I was nuts. “Don’t look at me like I’m an idiot, someone answer my question. What is the protocol here? There has to be some kind of custom to go along with this.” Drake sighed and sat down.

“Each pack is allowed six warriors of their choosing to take the field. We’re allowed one pack to stand witness to the battle and it’s outcome. If the challenger comes out on top he gets the other’s territory and every wolf on it.”

“Does the ruling alpha have to be on the field?” I asked, he shook his head.

“No, it can be any wolves of their choosing. Traditionally we each send in our best fighters, and cross our fingers.” A though struck me.

“What happens if he loses?” He got a confused expression.

“What do you mean?”

“If the challenger wins he gets the pack and the territory, but what if he loses? What happens then?”

“He’s disgraced and risks getting challenged by every bordering pack, allied or not.” I leaned back, lost in thought.

It was quiet for several minutes while I toyed with the paper I still held. I vaguely felt everyone slowly moving in, though I wasn’t paying much attention. The next thing I knew Bastion and Sadler were standing right next to me.

“What are you thinking?” Sadler asked, I looked up at him.

“Van isn’t this reckless. He wouldn’t risk his own pack. He has something else going on.”

“This isn’t the time for one of your conspiracy theories,” Drake said, exasperated. I leveled my gaze on him.

“One day, you’ll learn to listen to me.” He dropped his eyes for a minute before finally looking back up at me.

“Then talk,” at his word I stood and started to pace around the kitchen.

“Van is a tyrant, he won’t risk his control unless he plans on coming out on top. Why do think he bought young girls to lord over instead of his own wolves. If I had been fully human he would have had us under a very tight hold.

“But he’s not arrogant, he’s precise. He’ll follow the letter of the law, but not necessarily the same law that everyone else is reading. He does his homework, gets to know his supporters and his enemies, learns everything he needs to know to stay on top. I’d bet my stay on this territory that he knows you, Drake,” I said, turning to look at him. “He knows how you’ll react, he knows how you’ll prepare. I read somewhere that after a challenge is issued the challenged has the right to demand a peace meeting. Basically asking to settle on terms to avoid the fight.” Drake nodded.

“Yes, I’ve already scheduled it for tomorrow afternoon.” I nodded.

“He wasn’t surprised was he?” He shook his head. “He’ll say no, but he’ll come himself purely to see how you’re handling your men. He’s not arrogant, but his men are, and I’m willing to bet that he has something to rub in your face. An ace that you don’t know about.”

“So what would you suggest?” he asked. I met his gaze, knowing that he wasn’t going to like what I had to say next.

“Let me be there.” He opened his mouth, but I held up a hand to cut him off. “Not at the meeting, outside of it. Let me close to his men.”

“Out of the question,” Bastion answered, okay, I hadn’t expected it to come from him. “If his men get a whiff of you they’ll realize you weren’t actually human like they thought. You’ll become a target.”

“And if they win the challenge? Where will I be then?” I asked. No one seemed to know the answer, or at least not willing to voice it. “They’ll realize that I’m not human, but they’ll still see me as nothing more than a female. A female they used to have control over. A female they’ve already made bleed. They won’t say a damn word to you or any other male on this territory. But they’ll gloat to me, try to intimidate me.”

“What good will that do us?” Sadler asked, giving me a sidelong glance. I grinned.

“Arrogance is the easiest attribute to manipulate. You’ll reveal things to someone who you don’t see as a threat that you wouldn’t to a true opponent. All it takes is pushing the right buttons to piss them off. All of you can argue with me all you want, but I‘m the only one that can get close enough to get them talking and still handle it.”

“She’s not wrong,” Dalton added, several accusing male eyes landed on him and he raised his hands in surrender.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Sadler replied, looking at me. I couldn’t help the small feeling of betrayal his words brought. “If you go out there specifically to rile them up, they might not be able to control themselves. There’s no guarantee that you’ll walk out of it without a mark.”

“You can’t fight them, Ailith,” Drake muttered, at my glare he held up a hand to show that he had more to say. “What I mean is, at this point, you’re our