My Female Alpha

(Mackenzie's POV) "What do you mean I have to go to High School?" I bellowed as the 4 men at the table visibly shrank and looked around uncomfortably. Izzy my Beta dismissed them as I stalked around the room, trying to tone down my irritation.  As they left, she came over and sat down waiting for me to calm down. "I think they're right Kenz", she said in a soft voice. I looked over at my exceptionally pretty, strawberry blonde Beta. Then with a raised eye brow, skepticism dripping from my tone, I said, "I'm seventeen and have been leading this pack for the last 2 years. What the hell do I need to go to high school for?"  She sighed and those pretty features pinched as she tried to formulate her thoughts. I knew her well enough to know that she was trying to work the problem, which she was a master of.  In this case, I didn't appreciate it as much because right now, the problem was me.  She sighed, "Okay, to start because its tradition and although we aren't traditional, there are some traditions that matter."  She was right, we really weren't traditional. I was the only female Alpha leading her pack and I was discussing this with the very first female Beta, that we knew of anyway. As for me being the only female Alpha, that's because female Alpha's are exceptionally rare. Right now I was the only one. That’s me, Mackenzie Thunder, lone female Alpha.  I led my pack at such a young age because my Mom had died in an attack on ThunderRun, during the Werewolf War. The war had happened when I was really young and it had essentially killed both my parents. By the age of 3, I was parentless because my dad died of a broken heart within a year of my Mom being killed.  Werewolves who lose their mate often don't survive the loss and my parents bond had been incredibly strong. He had slowly faded without her. Our community has had years of peace since the war, mostly due to an alliance between my pack and the 4 others in our area.  Once the war finally ended, pack leaders looked around and recognized the c*****e of one packs thirst for power and fully embraced the alliance. The memory of all the senseless loss was fresh and we were all thankful that we had successfully managed to keep the peace for more than a decade. During that time, my Dad's Beta took over. Jon was also Izzy's dad and he had done a wonderful job of being in charge while I was young and he groomed me to take over.  He had acted as Alpha until I turned 15 and we both felt I was ready to lead.  I was now seventeen, turning 18 in a few weeks. That's why I was currently so annoyed. It seemed a little ridiculous that although I had been successfully homeschooled since toddler years and running my own pack successfully for two years, my higher ranks were advising me to start and finish high school for my last year. It just seemed like absolute bollocks to me! As Izzy continued to list her arguments as to why this needed to happen I realized that I actually supported the tradition, and that she was right. I just hadn’t come around to it applying to me.  At ThunderRun we believed that it was best for our werewolves to do their last year at the high school for a few reasons. It gave them a chance to make other connections, helped them learn how to get along with other packs and it gave them a chance to fight other werewolves (outside of their pack) on a neutral setting. I understood what she was saying I just wasn't looking forward to adding one more thing to my already full plate. There were 5 of us that were turning 18 this year and there were two big events traditionally in this year. We were meant to do our last year at the werewolf high school and after you turn 18, it is possible to find your mate. I looked at Izzy, recognizing the importance of what she was saying. It looked like at least one of these things was happening for me this year. (Izzy's POV) Kenzie sat quiet for a minute and just listened. Her dark hair was up in a messy bun and there was a flush on her cheeks that told me she was still irritated. There was a reason that I had been chosen as her Beta. I had just celebrated my 18th birthday two weeks ago and had officially been given the role when I turned 16, so we had been working together closely for two years but had been best friends our whole lives.  We had become family and as such we worked together as a team really well. I knew she just needed time to come around to the idea. My Dad Jon had sat down with us a week after Mackenzie had officially taken over her Alpha duties. He had been watching for who would take his role and although it was unheard of to have a female Alpha and Beta, he didn't think that anyone else would compliment her quite as well.  He always had this way of seeing the big picture of what was the best thing to do for our pack and he seemed to think that I had this skill as well. He was very honest and said that he thought it was the best thing to do but that in order for it to actually happen I needed to step up my training. Kenz had her natural Alpha strength and was the strongest fighter in our pack but our pack would initially fight the idea of me being chosen as her Beta and we needed to consider how other packs would view us.   We needed to be tougher and smarter and be ready for any resistance. I immediately started upping my training. No one expected that I was training to become the Beta and it wasn't until I turned 16 and beat our best fighter in a match that we felt we could announce without as much of the push back. It was also the day Kenzie had her first kill. I quietly continued to list why I thought we needed to be going to high school for our last year, yes I was including myself in this.  I agreed with my Dad, as word spread that ThunderRun had a female Alpha and Beta, peace agreement or not, other packs would start to test us. It was shitty that we needed to worry about it, but I'd rather us be prepared.  Heading to the high school that sat between our neighboring packs, and showing them our skill would help to tone down any unrest. I also felt it might give us an edge as fighters, opening up the chance to train against the best fighters of other packs.  Plus, I didn't feel we could continue to send our youth for their last year, if we didn't continue on with the tradition.  At the end of the day, it's one of the traditions that make our pack better fighters.  I knew Kenzie well enough to know that I had her agreement by the end and figured I'd take off before she lost it again. I looked back at my friends beautiful features, she was finally back in a good space and I knew I was about to ruin that as I walked out the door. I had almost left completely when I stopped and glanced back smirking "you know it start's tomorrow right?"   Then I got the f out of dodge,  hightailing it out and laughing a little as I heard her coffee cup smash against the wall.