NOAH
“And this is Artemis,” dad said, motioning towards the other side of the training grounds.
A huge midnight black wolf trotted towards us with bright yellow eyes. Yellow eyes that we’d seen before…
The wolf, Artemis, walked over to us, stopping directly in front of us before licking each of our faces in turn.
My dad and Beta Alexander chuckled at the show, but the four of us just didn’t know how to react to a massive wolf licking our faces.
“Okay, Artemis,” dad chuckled. “Let’s have Ava back.”
Where once stood a massive black wolf, now stood a very naked Ava with a smirk on her face.
I didn’t know how to respond, I just stared in awe at the person in front of me. “You’re catching flies, Noah,” she laughed.
“Sadly there’s three of us and four of you, or I’d say we could all go for a run,” Beta Alexander said, deep in thought.
Before anyone could say anything else, Ava spun around to face the forest, a frown on her face. She swore under her breath, before shifting midair and sprinting towards the forest.
Without saying anything, Beta Alexander did the exact same thing, his grey wolf sprinting after Ava’s black one.
AVA
I heard something in the forest, something… suspicious.
“Beta Alexander,” I called through the mindlink. “Did you hear that?”
“I did, Ava, I’m following you, Alpha Jacob is staying with the boys.”
I slowed to a trot, letting him catch up to me. “Rogues.”
“Fuck,” Beta Alexander swore through the link.
Artemis howled into the sky, a howl that called all our wolves to attention. Artemis was an alpha, her call was just as powerful as Alpha Jacob’s.
Beta Alexander answered the howl, as did Alpha Jacob, followed by all the warriors we had on patrol.
“Alpha Ava, how many wolves do you need?” Alpha Jacob asked over the link. Alpha? That was a problem for later.
“You plus five, Alpha Jacob.”
He howled in response, a howl I gladly returned.
Once my backup was here and we surrounded the rogue camp, we all dropped in, taking them out.
CALLUM
Ava’s wolf was absolutely stunning. In wolf form, you could feel her power, her strength. Even dad and Alpha Jacob had to respect her power.
One thing I would never get used to though, is the sight and sound of wolves heading out to hunt. Watching first Ava and then my dad shift and run towards danger was unpleasant, and even more so when she howled for backup.
They weren’t out for long. Within twenty minutes, the massive wolves of my dad, Alpha Jacob and Ava were all trotting back to the training ground with the warriors bringing up the rear, blood around all of their muzzles.
With them walking together, I could see that dad was the smallest wolf of the three, but he was still bigger than the warriors behind them. Alpha Jacob was big, a true Alpha wolf, but most surprisingly, Ava’s wolf wasn’t much smaller than Alpha Jacob’s. Artemis must be an Alpha too.
Artemis led the pack. Normally the pack Alpha would, but somehow, even Alpha Jacob’s wolf was showing deference to Artemis. There really was something special about Ava.
I watched the three of them turn and slightly tilt their heads down to the warriors, all of whom returned the gesture by showing submission.
Once the warriors left to shift back, I was shocked to see my dad and Alpha Jacob bowing to Artemis. She bowed back, but not as deep, clearly showing she had the power there.
The three of them shifted back with ease, ending up with Ava in the middle, my dad on her left, and Alpha Jacob on her right, both of their arms around her shoulders. All three of them were covered in mud, blood and grass, but they looked surprisingly happy.
“Ava!” I called out, wanting to run towards her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good, Callum,” she replied with a smile. “I just need a shower, then you four can meet Artemis properly.”
“Same with Kieran,” dad added. “We’ll get cleaned up, shift back and then you boys can meet our wolves properly before we head back to the pack house to debrief.”
Ava came back first, her midnight black wolf looking absolutely stunning. Alpha Jacob stayed to translate since none of us could use the pack link yet.
She stood in the middle of our group, spinning around and showing off until we all relaxed. When we did, she lay on the floor in between us, her head resting on her paws.
Alpha Jacob chuckled suddenly. “Ava says you can touch her, she won’t bite your hand off.” He laughed again, harder this time. “Artemis says as long as you don’t steal their food, you’re safe.”
I dropped down to sit on the ground beside Artemis, making sure she could see me properly. I reached out to run my fingers through her fur, marvelling at how soft she is. I jumped when she spun around, even though it was just to lick my face.
Once we’d all met Artemis and Kieran, Alpha Jacob told us that they were going to burn off some energy and adrenaline in the woods, and that they’d meet us all shortly.
I watched in disbelief as the pair of them jumped up in sync, before dad barrelled sideways into Ava, who just jumped over him and did the same thing from the other side. They carried on running into each other and yipping happily on the way towards the forest; it was surprisingly heartwarming to watch.
“Is this why they get on so well, Alpha?”
“It’s true, Callum, the fact that the wolves Kieran and Artemis get on well definitely helps the relationship the humans have, but really the thing that did it for them is that your dad is the one who taught her to control her wolf when she first shifted. That’s why he trained her one on one until recently.”
The four of us jumped in the car to head back to the pack house, watching intently as Alpha Jacob shifted back to his wolf and howled towards the sky. At his howl, Ava and dad appeared beside him, before the three of them ran towards the pack house together.
They even beat us; the three of them were sitting in the Alpha’s office when we got there.
Ava smiled at us as we walked in, a smile that could light up a room.