The Pack of the Rejects

chapter :4 Blood and Training

Training started at dawn.

"Again!" Mara’s voice cracked like a whip.

I hit the dirt. Again. My ribs screamed. My arms felt like they would fall off.

It had been one week in the rogue camp and I thought I was going to die.

"Get up, Luna." Mara stood over me, arms crossed. "Rogues don’t get to stay down."

I spat blood and forced myself up. Around us, other wolves were training too. Some with swords. Some with claws. All of them looked like they had been through hell.

That’s because we had.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked between gasps. "Why help me?"

Mara tilted her head. "Because 20 years ago, I was you. Rejected. Thrown out. Left to die."

She touched a scar that ran down her neck. "Someone gave me a chance. Now I’m giving you one."

No one in this camp asked about my past. No one cared that I was an Omega from a high pack.

Here, we were all just survivors.

Day after day. Dawn till dusk.

I learned to fight. To hunt. To track. To use my wolf without fear.

My wolf. She had been quiet since the rejection. Hiding. Hurting.

But here, she started to wake up.

On day 10, it happened.

We were sparring. Me vs a male rogue twice my size.

He knocked me down and raised his fist to strike.

"Yield!" he roared.

Something inside me snapped.

PAIN. HEAT. POWER.

My bones shifted. My vision went gold.

I didn’t think. I just changed.

My wolf burst out for the first time since I was 16.

She was smaller than the other wolves. Silver fur. Scars already forming.

But her eyes... her eyes were full of fire.

The camp went silent.

The male rogue backed up. "An Omega... shifting without permission?"

Mara started laughing. Loud. Proud.

"That’s my girl!"

I fought him as a wolf. It was brutal. Fast.

I lost. Of course I lost. I was new to this.

But I didn’t break. I didn’t cry.

When I shifted back, naked and shaking, Mara threw me a cloak.

"You did good," she said quietly. "The first shift after trauma is the hardest. You did it alone."

I nodded, too tired to speak.

That night, for the first time, I dreamed.

Not of Carter.

Not of Blackwood.

I dreamed of running. Free. Through snow and forest and moonlight.

No chain. No mate bond. No pack telling me who to be.

Just me.

---

Three weeks passed.

I was stronger now. Faster. My cuts healed. My eyes were clearer.

I could take down 2 rogues at once in training.

But I still wasn’t strong enough.

Not for what I planned.

One night I sat by the fire with Mara. The stars were bright above us.

"I’m leaving," I said.

Mara didn’t look surprised. "I know."

"I need to get stronger. Out there." I nodded toward the mountains. "There are rumors of a fighting pit in the border territories. No rules. Winner takes all."

"That’s suicide, Luna."

"Maybe." I pulled my cloak tighter. "But I can’t hide here forever, Mara. I have to face him one day. And when I do, I need to be a weapon."

Mara was quiet for a long time. Then she stood and went to her tent.

She came back with a dagger. Black handle. Silver blade.

"Take this." She pressed it into my hand. "It’s wolfsbane. For emergencies. And this..."

She gave me a small pouch of coins. "For food. For bribes."

I stared at her. "Why?"

"Because you remind me of me." She smiled sadly. "And because someone needs to show those high-and-mighty Alphas that Omegas bite too."

I hugged her. She smelled like smoke and steel.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Don’t die," she said. "And when you’re ready... come back. This will always be your home."

At sunrise I left.

My bag was heavier now. Dagger. Clothes. Food. And a new name I would use in the pits.

Luna was dead.

The girl they rejected was dead.

From now on, I was just... Ghost.

Because I was going to haunt Alpha Carter’s nightmares until the day I made him pay.

The road ahead was dangerous.

But for the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid of the dark.

I was the dark.