The Adopted Alpha

No pressure... None!

Clare walked into the training grounds and headed straight for the elite team for once not trudging in while internally bracing herself for defeat but rather with her head raised high knowing that she had a fighting chance at actually winning.

It had been a while since she had been on the field with the rest of the pack so she expected the looks, snares and glares. What she had not expected was the whole pack on the elite training pack.

Rick, her cousin by law looked in her direction and gave her a hard glare. He was older than her and should be in college even with his average S. A. T. score and the fact that he wasn't hinted at his interest in the Alpha position.

That and how often he and his father let her know that she would be a pathetic excuse for an Alpha. She already knew at some point she would have to fight him to keep the Chieftaincy under Alpha Edward's bloodline.

After all Alpha Edward had fought his big brother Uncle Drew for the position too and had, fortunately for the human right of the pack, won.

At first she had thought it was a given that she would lose and would probably be banished from the pack since her cousin was in no way as lenient as her father had been to his father but now that she could take him, she promised herself to try and win against him when that time came.

To save the pack from a dictatorship rule under uncle Drew because she knew he was the one that wanted that position.

She grew up being left out until she practically became invisible most of the time. This gave her the opportunity to silenty observe all the people around her often.

She knew that Rick did a lot of what he did to please his father.

She was not excusing his shitty behavior towards her but she suspected that he would have been more inclined to ignore her rather than insult her if not of his bitter father.

He used to love sketching and painting when they were younger, he even had a nice talent that he could have gone to college to study fine arts but Clare had not seen Rick paint a single thing ever since he turned 15 and started training. She suspected that his controlling father had something to do with that.

That amongst other things.

But he was an adult now and if he was not ready to take decisions for himself, that was on him. She would not be at rest know that the pack went to a wimp. And so she had to win when his father finally pushed him to challenge her to a winner takes all duel.

And he would, it was merely a matter of, 'when?'

Clare smoothly ignored the eyes of everyone drilling mental holes in her with eye lasers and went to stand at her usual spot, under a mango tree.

The procedures were a little different today, usually, Delta Tony shows them some new drill or go over a former defensive move and then asks them to put it into practice, that was when she got beaten up in the name of training.

Today though, apart from the foreign crowd, she could see the best fighters among her age group, which still included Rick as he was a young adult to at twenty one, were shirtless and seemed to be chatty among themselves.

What was going on? She quickly moved closer to the Delta to ask.

Turned out she was the only one who was unaware of the fact that the best of the fighters were going to be chosen for a regional pack competition.

It had been announced for the past few weeks during training but since she hadn't been attending, she hadn't heard and she had no werewolf friends that could have filled her in.

Clare looked down on the comfy grey joggers and sleeveless white hoodie that she had on and decided she was picture ready for an impromptu competition.

It was time to start earning the respect of the pack members. If she ends up ruling the pack, the most she needed from them was their respect and trust.

They were not obligated to love her or adore her but so long as there was reciprocated trust and honest regards, there would be only smooth sailing.

And she had to earn it. She had not done anything to wrong them granted, but she had not really done anything to make them like her either way.

She had let a few harsh words of immature and hormones driven teenagers shut herself away from the rest of the world but that was going to end today.

If her new group of friends had taught her anything, it was that there could be more people out there that were just waiting for an inclination to friendship from her and they would like her for her bubbly talkertive yet frequently reserved, book nerd self.

She told Tony that she would like to join in the competition. He nodded and added her to the ten volunteers.

The whole place became a hubbub of noise and someone even started a bet on how far she would make it.

Of course, a lot of people bet on her dripping out on the first level while some gave her until the second.

No one bet on her making it into the third round at all and no one even believed that She could get into the list of representatives for the Wood Winders Pack.

So Clare did just that, she walked one to the freckled face redhead that was taking everyone bid.

She put her hand into the pocket of her sweatshirt and pulled out a twenty and pushed it in his hands, ignoring his bewildered look and red face, possibly for being caught making money out of her.

"D-d-do yo-you want t-to yourbet on s-self?" He stumbled all over his words "I-i mean... do you want to bet on y-you being selected?"

Clare smiled at his flustered face and shook her head gently before slightly raising her voice. If she wanted to do this, she might as well go all the way.

She was sure she would get selected so why not up the bet and give herself more incentive to win? She had nothing to lose and a lot of money to win.

"I'll come for my money with the championship in my hands!" Clare declared.