High Moon Academy

17 Years Ago "Run, take the children and run." "Dad, I'm not leaving you and mom. I can help." "No, it's the children they want. You need to get back to Silver moon, get back to Rick. He's the only one who can protect you now. We have a traitor in Shadow Moon. That's the only way they could have found you and the twins." "Dad, we can't lose you and mom, please come with us." "There's no time, Hancin said, they are almost here. You know what they will do to the children if they find them. They are too important to lose. We will contact you when it's safe. You mustn't tell the twins until they are old enough to know who they are. I love you Izzy." "I love you too, dad!" I ran, I could hear the screaming in the background as my pack fought off the rogues. I held my children close, hoping they wouldn't cry and give us away. How could a simple visit to let my parents meet my children go so wrong? Those screams, I don't think I'll ever get them out of my head. I can hear him barking orders, my once beloved, as he is tearing apart my old pack. How could I have been so foolish to think he wouldn't hear of the prophecy and come for them. "Please Moon Gooddess, keep my parents safe." Present day Crawling through the dark passageway that lines most of the house. Making our way to my father's office. The dimly lit passageway is only bright enough to illuminate that the floor is made of cobblestone, only illustrating just how ancient these passages are. There are no warm portraits on the walls here, just simple, barely bright lanterns lighting the way. The only way I know how to get around here is that I’ve been using these passages forever. They actually run all through the house as a means of escape in case of attack by rogues or vampires. I used these passages for my own means. Pranking or eavesdropping. I overheard dad tell mom that he had to talk to her about me, so I knew I needed to make my way there. No way was I going to sit around and let people talk behind my back. I needed to know what was so important that I wasn’t even included. My best friend and I got to my dad's office about fifteen minutes after my parents. Since we had to sneak in and be super quiet to not alert their werewolf hearing. Mom seemed to be upset with dad by the time I got there, so maybe it was bad this time. I mean I don’t really remember doing anything too awful lately. I pranked a couple of the pack members, but honestly, I’m sure no one even suspected that it was me. Not many people would expect the alpha daughter to release pigs into the packhouse. Oh, how we loved mom and dad's faces. Legend has it one pig is still missing. Though I digress back to the matter at hand. No matter the reason for their upset, I’m glad that I’m currently sitting with my best friend Patrick, or Patty as I’ve always called him, in my secret room attached to my dad’s office. Patty will get me through anything, he’s already helped me feel so much better about not finding my mate within the pack. As soon as I thought about those words, I realized that's exactly what this must be about. My mating problem. Maybe they are sending me on a euro trip! I could definitely see myself hanging out in Europe going from pack to pack learning their trades and I guess being open to the possibility of finding a mate. Let's get real, the real perk would be the European food and new fighting styles. While I’m now daydreaming of Europe, I’m only slightly aware of the conversation my parents are having. Ah, there it is, my suspicions were confirmed. They were discussing my “mating problem”. Should I say my lack thereof a mate. As we continue to listen, I’m only more thankful that my ride-or-die Patty is beside me. We have been friends since we were two days old. He’s the only child of our Beta. Fortunately for me, he has always wanted to be a doctor, leaving the future Beta position in our pack open for a delegation by my brother. I want that position more than anything. Patty has always been my partner in crime and us sitting in our secret room behind a portrait in my dad's office is not out of the ordinary for us. I’m also positive on some level my dad knows of this room and our use of it since I’m sure he can smell us. Werewolves have an amazing sense of smell, but given I’m his daughter, I think he just lets us listen in and pretends not to notice. He knows Patty and I would never betray anything said within these walls. As we continue to ease' drop on my parents' discussion of my future without my input, I’m reminded that as much as my parents let me listen in, they are still my parents and my Alpha and Luna and they will make whatever decision they want for me and there isn’t much I can do about it. I mean heck, my dad could Alpha command me if he wanted, though he never has, thank the Goddess. My mind starts to drift again as I’m listening to my dad tell my mom it’ll be alright. I’m the Alpha’s daughter. I’m Charlie Woods, I have long amber-colored hair that comes down in waves down to my mid back, bright emerald eyes with what looks like yellow sunflowers around my pupils. Though I am a bit short for a werewolf standing only 5 foot 8 inches, I’ve got curves in all the right places, not to mention my awesome right hook, which could make any wolf stagger on impact. I’ve been training with my brother and father my whole life. Recently, even more so now that school is out. I have known this pack inside and out since I grew up here. I care about everyone in Silver Moon, even those that have treated me poorly before. All this makes me perfect to be the future Beta for my twin brother Damon when he takes over as Alpha in 4 years. Usually, twins would take over the Alpha position together, but given I’m a girl, my dad thought it best I find a mate and let fate decide my position in the world. Though I do no want to be Alpha now or ever, being my brother's Beta is where I know I’m supposed to be. Damon is my twin brother, we are super close and he’s really protective of me, sometimes even overprotective, though I appreciate it. Even though I can handle my own, my brother has always been my person. We look pretty similar, we share the same eyes that come from our grandmother. Thank the Goddess because I have to say these eyes of ours can stop people in their tracks. We both have amber-colored hair. Our main difference is he’s got muscle everywhere and somehow must've stolen all the height in utero, since he stands 6 foot 8 and just towers over me. Even though he also hasn’t found his mate yet, my parents don’t seem to be too concerned, as dad plans on training him personally over the next four years anyway, and Damon needs to concentrate on that right now, lucky him. My dad, or as most call him, Alpha Rick, is the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack in Colorado. We just so happen to be one of the most thriving and richest packs on this side of the country, thanks to my grandfather's investments and eagerness to create treaties with surrounding packs during his time as Alpha, securing our financial stability and safety. Our lands are vast and beautiful. You can see the mountains in the distance and our pack lands are full of trees and mini-lakes all over, definitely perfect for werewolves. Dad is definitely one of the most respected and revered Alphas around thanks to his father's teachings and his strong Luna. My mom or Luna, as most call her, is Isabelle. She's the epitome of a kind, generous, and understanding, but will also bite your head off if you piss her off. I really love that last part about her. Sometimes I think she is more Alpha than even dad. Then we have my baby sister, Jaymee, a sweet, kind, gentle Jaymee. I'm sure she will be something amazing one day, but currently, she is 15, so mostly she just hangs out with her friends and rolls her eyes at a lot of what mom and dad say. Oh, to be that young again. Life has been pretty great so far. I may not have a lot of friends as being the Alpha's daughter has somehow made people worry about being friends with me. probably assuming if they ever did anything wrong in front of me or to me, the Alpha would hear of it and tear their heads off. Or maybe it's the fact I enjoy pranking and training more than shopping and gossiping. I tend to just hang out with Patty and Damon a lot. I have been able to train with the pack more and now I get to train every morning since I turned 18 a couple of months ago. After training, I hang out with Patty in the afternoons once he's done his apprenticeship training at the pack hospital. He’s learning how to become one of our pack doctors. Luckily for me, we have our own hospital and instead of sending my friend off for eight years to learn how to become a doctor, we get to do things differently. In the werewolf community, he gets to apprentice instead of going off to school. Thanks to us being such a huge pack with our own hospital, he gets to live at home and learn. When we all hang out, we tend to play COD and talk about all the crazy things we are going to do over the next four years before we rock this pack as the wild trio we are with Damon as Alpha. One of our favorite things to do though is, of course, to go for lots of runs in wolf form. We have this clubhouse we started building when we were all about ten years old. It used to take us a couple of hours to get there on foot, but now in wolf form it only takes us about thirty minutes to get there, since it's on the outskirts of our territory. This is our sanctuary where we can all just be ourselves, though it wasn’t much more than twigs and ropes when we were kids. We have since built it and now it has a big comfy couch, the kind you just melt into, a big 60” flat screen TV, a small 4-piece bathroom, and a fridge for snacks because Goddess damn it, I love my snacks. No one else comes here except the three of us, not that others aren't allowed per se. It's just it's always been kind of like an unsaid agreement, like I said it's our sanctuary, we aren’t Alpha and Beta kids here, we are just normal teenagers here with no real responsibilities. It’s for that reason that my brother and I decided to go to our sanctuary when it came time for our first transformation on our 18th birthday. The night of our transformation into our wolves. You could barely see the stars in the sky as they were dulled out by the moon being so full and bright. The moon felt as if it was touching the earth we were standing on. Patty and our family were there, as is customary with a first change. They stood proud around us and the first cracking of our bones began silencing the night. The crisp air on our bodies as we screamed out in pain, as everyone knows the first change can be difficult and painful, but it was so worth it. Once we were fully changed into our wolves, we knew our choice of location was perfect. Our wolves were so happy to be in our sanctuary surrounded by woods and the small pond nearby, that they instantly started running and jumping on each other, nipping each other's ankles. My wolf's name is Iris and Damon's wolf is Jax. We instantly mind-linked each other to ask if the other felt the same and they did. There is always a worry between Alpha twins that when they transform for the first time, one wolf might want to challenge the other for the Alpha position. Something that elated Damon and I both was that our wolves already recognized each other as the Alpha and Beta, which is unusual as most Alpha wolves wouldn’t recognize an unmated female wolf as their Beta, but the connection was instant and we both felt it. We knew after that moment that our only obstacle was going to be convincing our dad that I was the rightful future Beta with, or without a mate, as my dad had always envisioned me being a doting albeit kickass Luna mate, but I never really wanted that for myself. When I didn’t find my Mate after my 18th birthday and first shift in our pack like my family had hoped, my father began his planning on how best to go about finding my Mate. My father had come around to the idea that I could be the Beta of the Silver Moon pack someday, but only if I had a strong mate to do it with me. It’s because of his insistence that I need a mate in order for me to become the Beta that he and my mom have gone into his office to speak in private. I’ve decided I hope I don’t find a mate anytime soon, as I want to train more and prove that I'm worthy of this position with or without a mate. I want to claim the title of Beta all on my own, not because some guy, who is supposed to complete my soul, is standing by my side. I’m not against a mate by any means. I know I will bask in the glory of my mate once I find them, but I’ve always felt I have things to accomplish by myself first. This brings me back to the beginning of my story. Hiding behind the portrait of my grandpa and grandma that hangs in my father's office, secretly and intently listening to my parents' conversation, where, even threw the wide eyes of my best friend Patty, I knew my whole life was about to change, welp no Europe tour for me. Hearing where my parents want to send me is a bit daunting even for me. High Moon Academy, you have to be a ranked member of your pack in order to attend or be granted special permission if you are to be a master warrior. I have seen past ranked members from other packs come back from there and though they are awesome and kicka** upon return, the thought of leaving all my plans and people behind to go there is discouraging. Though their warrior training is unmatched by anyone's standards and the wealth of knowledge you learn about the werewolf world through their courses would be amazing, we also have to attend these quarterly mating balls in hopes of finding our mates if we don’t find them at the academy, that is, and that might throw a wrench in my whole getting dad to see me as a worthy Beta on my own, instead of a Betas mate.