Desert Force Academy

Little Warriors

Xander

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel loosely around my hips, and leaned against the counter, staring into the mirror. My black hair had silver streaked through the temples. I wasn't that old, just over fifty, but the stress of having been an Alpha and losing my mate years ago aged me. My dark blue eyes showed the intensity of the life I had lived. I was well over 6 feet tall with broad shoulders and still in peak physical condition. My left side was covered in intricate tattoos down my chest, to my hip, and covering my left arm, my right side left bare. I liked the contrast of it. I had scars from events in my life. A long, thin line across my chest from a fight with vampires and a burn down my hip from a battle with dragons. Both of those came from fighting on the side of good vampires and dragons. Like with every other race, there are good and bad. The fight for good versus evil is what keeps me driven. I dressed and headed out of the house for my little warriors’ training class. I was glad everything was back to a regular schedule. I spent last month in Scotland with my friend and former beta, Johnathan, dealing with some dragon business. That was an entire story all on its own. As interesting as Scotland had been, my home was here at the pack. I love my life and my work.

The children I trained are a very special group. A couple of years ago, we had an extensive operation to take down the wolfen council that had become deeply corrupt. They had been kidnapping gifted children for years and training them or exploiting them for their own greed and dark reasons. It all came to light when they had taken our pregnant beta female, my friend Jonathan’s daughter-in-law Zyanna, and our head warrior's daughter. They were held captive for a couple of months before we were able to execute a rescue. During that rescue, we found several children and my son’s mate, who was an adult but had been taken as a child. The entire operation set my life in a new direction. My goal is to train special forces groups in specific tactics to become the best at what they do. The young group of children we rescued became my first class; they were all very dedicated and gifted.

I arrived and waited for the kids. The four sisters arrived first. Ella was our head warrior’s daughter and an elemental wolf; she could control earth and plants, which was quite impressive to watch. The other three girls were adopted when we rescued them. Leah is a white polar bear shifter with some control over water. We think it will get stronger as time goes on. AnnaLee is a hybrid bear/witch with strong traits both ways so we are not sure if she will be able to shift as she gets older; time will tell. Bex is a full witch, but her eyes are a unique color; they are darker and more of a blue/purple than the typical violet eyes that witches have. Her magic is already impressive for one so young.

Billy and Ben arrived last with little Maria trailing along, she rushed ahead when she saw the other girls. Billy is a fox shifter and was one of the few kids rescued that we were able to locate his family. They live close but are not part of our pack, and Billy goes to school in the pack. Ben is a full-blooded green dragon; his intense green eyes are a tell-tale sign of it. Maria is a Dhampir, and she is half Siren/Vampire.

The kids all lined up in formation, oldest to youngest. Ben and Billy are 14. Bex and AnnaLee are 12. Leah and Ella are 10, and little Maria is 9, almost 10. The kids looked sharp, standing at attention wearing their dark green Gi uniforms. We went through some forms and practice moves before we were joined by several of the adult warriors. This is the kids’ favorite part of training. They called out bets to the warriors as everyone got ready. It was like flag football, each team had to gather as many flags from the other team as possible. I blew the whistle as the warriors sprinted towards the children. The rules were full contact today, the kids are not to use any of their gifts to hold off the warriors; they must go by skill alone. If allowed to use their gifts, these kids are untouchable. It was obvious why the council had wanted them so badly. I blew the whistle, and everyone lined up. The kids won five to three flags. I chuckled as the good-natured teasing commenced. These kids are becoming unbeatable just from skill alone. Being held captive had changed them in ways that made them wiser and more aware of life. They had been through things no child should have. As a result, they had the same vision I had, to become an elite squad taking down trafficking rings and rescuing children.

I also have grand ideas about eventually building a school, but I have not found the right place for it yet. I knew it was just a matter of time, and I was excited to see it come to life. For now, I keep up with training and making plans.

After training concluded, the kids happily raced away to get the ice cream that was owed to them for winning the game. I laughed at the kids as two of my warriors stopped to talk with me.

"Have you decided when to start training them on tracking?" Alix asked. He was one of our best trackers.

"I've decided to implement that next month. Have you given any thought to building a curriculum for it?" I asked him.

"I have already started. We are using Jax and his mate to go over the information." He motioned to his friend standing next to him.

“She is just learning, so it helps me break down the instructions better, and Jax will critique it to the limit."

Jax laughed, smacking him on the back. "I have to be good at something besides brute strength."

I picked up my phone as it rang, excusing myself, seeing it was Johnathan; he and Madeline must already be back from Scotland. He asked me to gather the leadership team and meet in the conference room in an hour. A full leadership meeting was never a good sign.

When we arrived, Johnathan was the one to speak first. "Madeline received a call from a friend in her former pack, The Desert Moon. I know none of us have ever been fond of their alpha. Her friend, Kyra, said she overheard the alpha felt slighted that Xander and I were not at the full moon ball within their pack. Kyra is on track to be a server for the ball this coming weekend. We are hoping she can stay under the radar long enough to make it here. We may need to find a way to keep her here after the ball. There is also a girl named Alice. She spent time with Ronan at our full moon ball two months ago. It is suspected that she is carrying his child. Alice believes the alpha is planning on using her as leverage against Ronan, possibly for money or connections with our pack. Very few people are aware that Ronan was killed in Scotland; let's keep it that way. A friend of Madeline and Kyra’s was mated to the alpha’s son, and when he discovered the connection, he killed the girl for being an omega. This pack has issues with outsiders, mixed breeds, and non-shifters. It seems worse than we knew." A round of growls went through the room.

"Can you contact Kyra before she gets here to see if we can get more information?" My son, Alpha Matthew, asked.

"No, she does not have a phone. She called me from my old boss’s phone and kept the conversation brief; she was afraid of being caught." Madeline replied.

"How trustworthy is the boss?" I asked.

"I would trust Emma with my life. She helps a lot of the lowest-level pack members. She is firm but fair." Madeline explained.

"What are some other things that have happened at the pack?" Beta Nikolai questioned.

I watched Madeline hesitate. "The Alpha teaches that being mated to a lower rank makes you weak. Kyra was mated to a warrior, but he never had permission to mark her. He was killed in a rogue attack; Kyra was whipped because it was her fault he was weak enough to be killed. She almost died because of it. No consequences for child or mate abuse. It's the right of the dominant partner. I'm afraid someday his son will be worse than him." She concluded.

Everyone sat silently, thinking.

Alpha Matthew spoke up. "I think we should give the alpha a false sense of security. They will be here this weekend for the full moon. We should compliment him on hosting the last ball. Have you two express regrets for missing it since it was the first one they hosted. We may be able to work our way in with the friendly approach." He motioned to Johnathan and me. "Let's send a team in for recon work in the pack and find out where Alice is housed. We may need force to get her out if the friendly route does not work. Madeline, if there is anyone you feel is trustworthy, let’s see if we can get any more information so we have multiple sources filing complaints." Alpha Matthew said as we all agreed.

"There are a lot of pack members who would turn in information to the alpha for a pat on the head or a chance to move up in the pack. Lana is the mom of my friend who was killed. She is trustworthy, but I do not want her at risk." Madeline said.

Alpha Matthew nodded in understanding. "We will make sure the recon team does not make contact with anyone. They will be instructed to observe only unless there is imminent danger to an innocent person."

Johnathan looked at his daughter-in-law. "Zyanna, is there any immediate danger?" She was mated to our beta, Nikolai, we watched her eyes go white as she used her seer gift to search the future.

"Nothing at this time. Kyra’s phone call was the catalyst for help." She was usually vague, not wanting to interfere with the future.

Alpha Matthew looked at Johnathan. "Welcome home. Looks like there is more work to be done." He glanced around the room. "Think about it for the next 24 hours, and we will meet again tomorrow night to see if anyone has any more ideas. Madeline, let us know if you hear more from your friend. Beta Nikolai and I will put a team together. Thank you, everyone, for your time."

I had an uneasy feeling about all of this, my wolf was unusually silent about everything.