Chapter 1 Carolina
Carolina POV
Present Day
“ Carolina!” I hear in a distance, as my bed begins to shake. “ Carolina! You need to get up, you are going to be late again for training!” I hear my mom's stern voice saying.“ Your brother has already left for training, and he is expecting you there. “
Opening my eyes, seeing my mother kicking the side of my bed to wake me. “ I'm up!” I yell at her. Trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes, as she looks down at me.
“ You need to hurry or you will be running laps again today. You know how much Gamma Dale hates when people are late. You also want to make sure your attitude isn’t yelling back at your superiors before you make it to training. Just because you are the Beta’s daughter doesn’t give you any special privileges “
“ Thanks mom” as I am running into my bathroom, to wash off my face and change my clothes as fast as I can. I know my mom’s strictness does me good. I am the odd ball in this male-dominating world.Instead of following whatever male wolves tell me and living the easy life, I would rather be a warrior myself. I know what it takes and I am prepared.
Luckily, my family has been my biggest supporters when it comes to my training, they have taken time out of their day to show me different moves and different fighting techniques over the years. I have been training with my dad and brother since I could walk, they were also the ones that worked with me to make the Mission teams, which I did just a month ago.
Finally finished my morning routine, when I hear my mother again, “ you're down to 10 minutes, you will have to run to training to make it on time.”
“On my way.” I told her as I grabbed my shoes and ran down the stairs, running over to her and kissing my mom on the cheek. “ See you after training. “ I make it to the door, before my mom stops me.
“ Carolina, remember we have to get the decorations for the Ball this afternoon.”
“ I will meet you at the pack house when I’m done with training.”
“ Ok, I need to get something from my office, and Luna Meagan would like to join us. You better hurry, you are down to 8 minutes now.”
Running out the door and heading to training, I reached the halfway point of the pack grounds when I noticed that I only had 3 more minutes to get there. I need to pick up my speed if I am going to make it. Pushing my legs harder, I make it to the training grounds, a few seconds before Gamma Dale makes it to the front of the trainees.
“ Girl, you just made it, did you forget to set your alarm again. “ my best friend Beth asked me.
“ I am not sure what happened, I could have sworn I set the alarm and it either did not go off or I just snoozed it. “ given a sigh.
“ I see that Fred is on time, did he not get you up today? “ my other best friend Kris asked
“ He might have tried, but I was in a deep sleep. I had another dream about the black wolf, but instead of one, there were two. Not sure if the moon goddess is trying to tell me something or if it was just a weird dream.
Both wolves were gentle and very handsome, the difference between the wolves is one has blue eyes, with a white paw on his front right paw, and back left paw, and one has green eyes, with the opposite paws being white.” I tell them with a dreaming look in my eyes. I can’t wait for the mating ball, even if I don’t like wearing dresses, I am hoping to find my mate.
This year my 18th birthday falls on the night of the mating ball, the ball is where the surrounding packs get together for all the unmated wolves to meet. It gives everyone a chance to meet their mates, if their mate is within the surrounding packs.
“ Carolina, you know that I have only seen two black wolves in my entire life, one was King Issac and the other one was Future Alpha Zane, do you think that maybe the moon goddess mated you with one of them?” my other friend Melane asked.
“ I don’t know…I have noticed that Zane hasn’t been himself around me lately, always trying to hide, and leave when I come around. We used to be close growing up, I don’t know what is wrong with him…”
“ Do you still have a crush on him and Issac?” Kris asked.
“ I haven’t seen Issac for a couple of years, and with the way Zane has been acting…. “ I let out a loud sigh.
“ Girls, are you ready to train or gossip!” Gamma Dale yelled.
“ Sorry Sir, we are ready. “ replying back as we get into line to do calais statics.
“ Before we start I have a few announcements to make. First of all, tomorrow there will be no training, you will all be assigned a duty for the upcoming ball.The last thing on the list is we are going to have everyone split into different groups today, you will not be sparring with your friends, but with one of our mission team members. With that said, I need all my mission people to the front of the field. “
Making my way to the front to stand beside my brother Fred, who stands about 6’5, and next to my 5’3 height, which makes me look like a 13 year old child not the 17 almost 18 year old that I am.
“ See that you made it just in time, mom said she would get you up this morning because she wanted to talk to you before you headed to training today. “
“ Mom did get me up, but I only had about 15 minutes before training started. I don’t know why it is getting harder and harder for me to get out of bed lately.” I tell Fred with a sigh.
“ Lina, I know you're going to bed early so it doesn’t make sense, maybe your body is getting ready for your wolf to arrive. Your body will need lots of rest before it will be able to shift.” he stops and looks at me as if he is thinking about something. “ Are you still having those dreams you were telling me about?”
“ The one about the black wolf, then my answer is yes, but now instead of one, I have two black wolves I am dreaming about, and a voice in the meadow that keeps telling me to ask about the secrets within the surrounding packs. That I will only come to my full potential when all the secrets are out. Fred, do you think that maybe the moon goddess is trying to tell me something? Could one of the wolves be my mate?”
“ It could be about your mate, but two black wolves, maybe one could be your mate while the other one is a danger warning of some kind, or you could be a rare breed and have two mates. As for the voice saying secrets, I am not sure, maybe we could ask mom, she may know something.”
“ Two mates, now I know you are messing with me Fred, I have only heard that happening once and that was over a hundred years ago. Maybe I will go to the library after I get back from shopping with mom and Luna Meagan. Do you want to join me?”
“ No, I have to help dad with a few things, maybe we could meet up later and go over what you find.” he tells me with a smile.
Fred and I have always been close, anytime I would find myself overwhelmed he would tell me a joke or do something to make me laugh or smile. He was also one of my protectors against boys that would take a liking to me. If they asked me out on a date he would spend at least two hours asking them questions, sometimes I would just ask the guy to meet me with a bunch of our friends.
This has stopped Fred from interrogating the poor guys, but what will Fred do when I do find my mate? I already feel bad for what both my dad and Fred had planned, I just hope they don’t run my mate off.
Noticing the last of the mission team made it to the front of the trainees, as we all got ready to hear how Gamma Dale was going to split us up. There was a group of girls, that were eyeing up Fred, as I nudged him on the side, he looks over, “ yeah they have been watching me the last couple of training sessions.”
“ Want me to say something to them? “
“ No, everyone knows I am waiting for my mate to show up, most of them try to get my attention, but when they see that I just ignore them they usually give up. I am just biding my time until they give up.”
“ Ok, but if you need me to say something I don’t mind, you would do it for me.”
“ Everyone, here are your mission team members, please listen to them as they have all passed the test to be up here, they each have worked and trained very hard. You will learn a great bit from them. I would like everyone to line up, and Fred and I will divide you into your groups. “
The reason that the mission team was created was to rescue wolves that had been kidnapped or abused within their pack or by their mate. I have only been on about 10 rescue missions since I passed the test. The test was everything from knives, bow and arrow, guns, hand to hand combat to calistics, we were pushed hard, and only the best were rewarded with a spot.
I was the first female to ever make it on the mission team and I still had to fight for my spot every day. Some of the men think that women should be home taking care of the house and children while the men go out to work. I was taught from a young age to fight for what I believed in and to be determined with making a place for myself.
By doing that, I have caused a lot of men to look at me in a different light, but some still think that I had gotten the position because I was the Beta’s daughter and I was close with the Alpha and Luna growing up.
The first mission I was ever on, the lead told me my place was in the kitchen, even after I was told that I would be in the field, I had to follow the orders that I was given.
I spent the whole two weeks cooking and cleaning for the other members on my team, and when they finally came back with the refugees, and we were able to return home, Gamma Dale questioned why I was not in the field.
The leader said that no female would ever see field action with him in charge of a mission, so I was pulled from his team and placed on Gamma Dale’s team ever since.
“ Carolina, you will take the 13 thru 16 year olds, to the right side of the field.” Gamma Dale shouted.
Walking to the right side of the field waiting for everyone to fall in line before I start. “ Ok, I would like you all to show me your fighting stance. “ Watching everyone getting in their stance I noticed one girl looking around to see what everyone else was doing before she tried to get into her own stance. Walking over to her, I noticed she seemed very unsure if she was doing it right. I stood in front of her and showed her what she was to do, she caught on quickly.
Showing my group how to kick and how to throw a punch correctly without hurting themselves in the process, most of them have caught on quickly while others still need a little help. Noticing the girl that was unsure about how to take her fighting stance, she was unsure about how to kick or throw a punch.
“ Would you like me to show you again?”
She nods her head.
“ You never want to tuck your thumb under your other fingers, you need it over top of your knuckles, it will strengthen your hand and help prevent your thumb from breaking. When you throw your punch you want to make sure your legs are spread apart just right and use your upper body strength to push your fist throw. Why don’t you practice that for a little while, and I will walk around and come back, you will feel comfortable once you do it for a bit. “
Walking around watching the rest of my group, to make sure they are doing it correctly, while every once in a while watching the girl seeing she is really putting some thought into her punch. Maybe I should take her under my wing and help her, she could be the next female on our mission team.
“ You are looking better, it will take time and practice, and if you want more help let me know I don’t mind helping you.” I let her know.
“ You would? Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. Seriously, I have watched you for the past couple of months during training and tried to do the same moves you do, but sometimes I can see and then I don’t know what I am to do next.” She tells me with sadness.
“ What is your name? “
“ Sara, my dad, Rick was on the mission team, he told me all about you.”
“ Your dad is Rick? Oh, I am sorry, but hey don’t worry, your dad will be back on the mission team in no time.”
“ I know, but I like him being home, and maybe if I can be good enough to try out for the mission team then I could spend more time with him. “
Thinking about what Sara just said made my heart break. We can be pulled on a mission at any time, so family members often miss us more than we think about. “ Sara, how about after the ball, I talk to your dad and see if I can work something out with training you.”
‘ You would do that for me.”
“ Yes, and maybe once your dad is able to train he can also help with your training, my dad and brother are the ones that taught me.”
“ Thank you!”
I smiled at her and walked around to the rest of the group as we were getting ready to wrap up for the day.
Once I realized how late it was getting, it hit me that training was almost over. I told my group to fall back in line with everyone else, as I approached my brother again. What I did not expect was to see the Alpha, my father and Gamma Dale talking for a few minutes before Gamma Dale addressed everyone.
“ Good training everyone! Remember tomorrow there will be no training, if you want to do something on your own always have a partner with you. You are all good to go about the rest of your day. Carolina, we need to see you before you leave.”
Walking over to Gamma Dale, Alpha Pete and my father my mind started to race, the three of them together means something is wrong. I bet this has something to do with King Issac, rumor has it he is coming to the ball this year. My heart started to race, as I thought about the two black wolves in my dream.