Russian Alpha Queen

14

Mila sat high on the hill, eyes closed as a soft breeze rustled her hair. Her breath was slow and steady as she concentrated on a feeling deep in her chest - the thread that connected her as an Alpha to each of her pack members. While all pack members had the ability to communicate with one another telepathically, even in a private group call sense, Mila was trying to draw on an ability only Alphas had. An old, forgotten ability her father had taught her when they were alone. While she was the last Alpha to be able to do so, it was once common for Alphas to be able to see through the eyes of their pack; those that actually cared for it’s members anyway.

This was the ability she called on, though it was a struggle at first. She wasn’t the Alpha when her father was teaching her, thus she was trying to conjour this ability through the memory of a described feeling. While her childhood practice had allowed her to be more in tune with the feelings of her pack members, this pack was still developing it’s unified vibration. The thread she saw in her mind was dark red, tangled and frayed, when it should have been a straight, solid silver thread. This disharmony made it hard for Mila to attune herself with the pack, and by the time she’d fully been able to form the connection, she found she’d missed the first ten minutes of testing.

She spent a few minutes practicing flipping her mind from one group leader to the next, making sure she’d be able to see all the action as it unfolded. Once she was satisfied with her capabilities, she spent a few minutes monitoring each group from the regular pack members’ perspectives. Eliza, the former Omega that Mila saw great promise in, was one of the first to stand out. She’d positioned her group with herself and her tracker in the front, her fighters forming a diamond around the regular members of the pack. This was one of the things Mila was looking for in her leaders - the priority to protect the weaker members of the pack.

Another potential leader wasn’t as promising. Sam, a 28 year old man with thick arms and a buzzed head, was currently turning red in the face as he whirled around to face his group. They’d been running in their human forms thiis whole time, and a good number of them weren’t prepared for 45 minutes of cardio. One had dared to ask for a short break, panting and trailing the back half of the group that had already fallen behind ten paces.

“What do you mean take a break? Did you not hear the Alpha? We’re all being tested and I’m not going to get stuck as a regular fighter because you can’t keep up. Stay here for all I care, but the rest of us are moving on.”

Mila’s lips curled back at this. She’d explicitly stated that part of the challenge was getting the entire group safely to the next checkpoint. Sam was already breaking down and they hadn’t even gotten to their first challenge yet. Mila’s eyes remained glazed over as she took notes on what she saw, her hand moving across the page in muscle memory.

Sam’s pushing wasn’t without it’s positives however. His was the first group to reach the first challenge in this section. The stronger members of the group were a good 20 meters ahead of the weaker group, the first group not noticing the red flags tied to the trees on either side of them, hidden from view at ankle height. Without warning, snarls filled the air as the group was surrounded. 12 of the pack’s top warriors surrounded the group, their stances low and their hind legs tensed.

Sam looked at the intimidating wolves frantically. These weren’t the pack’s top warriors for noelty. They were dead silent as they approached, their auras hidden and scents dampened thanks to their time rolling in the dirt and shrubbery. Sam didn’t have a clue as to how long they’d been watching the group, or if there were more of them waiting to pop out. The Alpha’s voice filled his group’s minds as he tried to analyze the situation.

Uh-oh, it looks like you’re being attacked by rogues. They’ll give you a minute to decide how to respond before attacking. Don’t forget your goal for the day, and respond how you would to an actual fight. While the warriors won’t hurt you per say, they will let you know where you’ve been injured. Good luck, stay safe!

Sam turned to face his group now, barking the first orders that came to mind.

“Each group attack your half of the rogues. Go for the kill and try not to die!” Setting the example, Sam quickly shifted into his wolf form, flying at the nearest warrior. The warrior simply sidestepped, turning and nipping Sam on his left hind leg. The other members of the group followed suit, some trying to take on a warrior alone while others decided to team up on their assailant. The battle only lasted for two minutes as the warriors continued to nip at their opponents' limbs. The two smaller groups who had decided to jump their assailants had managed to “kill”their rogue enemy, the warriors laying belly up to signify their defeat.

After three minutes had passed, the remaining warriors shifted back to their human forms, one of them grabbing a large bag from behind a tree. He silently pulled out a handful of red bandanas and a few black ones before throwing the bag to his nearest comrad. He held up his bandanas so everyone could see as he addressed the entire group.

“Sam Snowfield, you’ve failed this challenge. A majority of your group has now been injured or killed. These red bandanas indicate injuries, the black deaths. We’ll hand out the bandanas according to how you did in battle. If you were nipped, please tie your bandana on the place you were injured. If you’ve died, please tie the bandana around your neck.Please keep your bandanas on for the duration of testing as these will be important again later. You may continue on your path towards the totem.”

Sam just snarled in response, donning the black bandana he’d been handed and stomping away up the hill, his group trickling behind him.

The first group to reach their second challenge was Eliza’s. She came to a stop, signaling the rest of the group to wait a moment as she stared at the bright red paper nailed to the tree ahead of them. Listening hard as she stared around the forest untrustingly, Eliza slowly began to creep towards the tree. Shifting back into her human form, Eliza picked it up as if it was a poisonous snake before reading the paper aloud.

“You’ve accidentally entered into a neighboring pack’s territory. Six guards surround your group, all of you in wolf form. Do you: A, shift back and try to apologize. B, Fight back against the guards. Or C, Run back to the packlands? You have one minute to think about it and/or discuss, then state your answer out loud.”

She paused a moment, her eyes scanning her group. Hardly any of them had been injured during their mock rogue attack, only four of her fighters donning red bandanas. Their formation had protected a majority of the group, but she didn’t want to risk any casualties. Not taking a moment to reconsider, she answered decisively.

“I shift back and attempt to talk to them.”

A warrior stepped out in human form from behind a nearby tree. “Why have you entered our packlands?”

“We were attacked by rogues and were trying to get to safety. I apologize, we didn’t realize we were entering another pack’s lands. We’re happy to leave if you’ll allow it.”

The warrior’s eyes glazed over as he asked his Alpha if the answer had been satisfactory. With a shake of his head, he replied, “There’s a cost to entering our lands. Your group may leave only if you select four members to leave behind as a gesture of your apology.”

“Absolutely not,” Eliza snapped immediately. “These are people, not bargaining chips. You can’t really expect me to just leave anyone behind here.”

“You’d rather cause war than give us a few Omegas?”

“We don’t have Omegas here,” she spat. “I certainly won’t be leaving anyone to go back to being treated like that, and I couldn’t look our Alpha in the eye if I did. We’re all leaving, even if we have to fight our way through you to do it.”

The warrior nodded his head, a smile growing on his face. “Very well, you’ve passed this challenge, Eliza. Your group received a few injuries, but no deaths. You may continue.”

Eliza blinked a few times as the warrior approached with the red bandanas. He gave a few to the uninjured fighters in the very front of their diamond formation before patting Eliza on the shoulder with more force than she’d expected. Stumbling a bit before catching her balance, Eliza looked up at the warrior quizzically.

“You’ve got the makings of a real good leader, Eliza. I can’t wait to see if I end up in your unit some day.”

Eliza beamed at that, a deep red flush crossing her face as a warmth filled her gut. For the first time in a long time, Eliza felt a feeling she’d almost forgotten swell in her chest. For the first time in a long time, Eliza felt pride.

It’d taken another two hours for all the groups to reach their totems. These totems didn’t mark the end of the test though, much to the dismay of the tired pack members. They were allowed a half hour’s rest before receiving the clue hidden in their totem. Each totem could be broken open to reveal a map of the forest. Their current locations were marked on the map with a series of four waypoints indicated. At each marked destination, the groups were faced with a puzzle that required a variety of skills to solve.

One puzzle required them to move a stack of rings that looked like a child’s toy across three pegged boards. The group had to split into three smaller groups, each of which had to remain in their board’s area. Their objective was to move the rings from the far left side to the far right side in the same pyramid shape, but they could only set each ring on top of a larger one.

These puzzles were meant to test for skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, ability to delegate, and ability to take other’s perspectives into account. At the end of each completed puzzle, the group recieved a quarter of a map that when put together showed the final location they had to reach.

Their final destination was a large plateu at the top of the mountain at the edge of their territory. A large circle of fire pits had been dug before they’d arrived, at the time being nothing more than a hole in the ground. It was late afternoon by this point, the sun would be setting in about two hours. That’d be just enough time for their task, Mila hoped.

Mila’d gone to the end point earlier in the day, enjoying the quiet as she kept an eye on the pack’s progress as she continued to watch through their eyes. She’d taken very detailed notes on all the decisions the leaders had made, as well as which pack members had stood out for particular traits or actions. They’d shown a lot of prmise for the most part. Some, like Sam, had really disappointed Mila, but she was determined to help them grow the skills they’d need in the coming years.

After everyone was together, Mila took the opportunity to explain their last task. “Alright everyone, you all did a great job with testing today. I saw a lot of you show your strengths, and I saw some areas that we as a whole need to work on. One of the leaders will meet with each of you to go over your results and we’ll start our new training routines on the following Monday.

“Now we have one last challenge for you. There’s a fire pit dug for each group. Your last task is to start a fire, catch your dinner, and set up an area near the fire for your group to sleep in. If you need additional help or don’t know how to do something, please ask a leader and we’ll be more than happy to help. It’s about two hours until dark, so let’s get a move on.”

With a clap of her hands, and some quiet groaning from tired pack members, the group leaders began delegating tasks before splitting off. Mila and the other high ranking members of the pack participated as a group as well, and it wasn’t long before everyone had their fires going and meals cooking. Some of the men had dragged large logs into a circle in the center of the fire pits, and the cool night air was filled with laughter and conversation.

As the fires and conversations died down, the tired pack members drifting off to sleep around her, Mila felt herself glow with pride in her pack. While the pack run after her initiation had helped the pack begin to come together, this was the first time they’d all worked together as a team, regardless of the pack they’d originally come from. This was the first step at unity. This was the first step to the pack becoming a family.