• “Hey since you’re not doing anything can you show me the hunting grounds?” someone asked.
    I looked up and saw a young girl in the door. She must have been with the new students that came in yesterday. She was just like most of the others her grey and brown hair was common and her bright golden eyes weren’t alert and examining yet. You could always tell who was new and who was an alpha student. The alphas were the top students who were the best in the school, then the beta students were those who had only been here a few years and didn’t have the experience and training to be accepted to the alpha ranks, which required general acceptance by the alpha group or you must be accepted by the alpha leaders.
    “So what’s a newbie doing in the alpha student dorms?” I asked her.
    “What? This is the alpha dorms?” she yelled. “I didn’t know, there were some other guys outside that said it was the delta dorms.”
    “Well as it is I’m bored as hell so let’s go to Darkraan Valley. It’s for alphas and invitation only but since your new ill help you out for a while.” I told her.
    I couldn’t help but feel bad for her, she was new to all this and training and studying would be hard enough without the betas messing with her.
    “umm… what’s Darkraan Valley? Is it dangerous out there?” she asked, afraid I was going to take her somewhere to kill her for entering the alpha dorms as a delta.
    “hmm… now that I think about it, it might be safer in the Sirkon district since the alphas are out in the training area or in Darkraan Valley since it’s the unofficial battle ground to train with others of their own abilities.” I explained.
    “Well, I guess we are going to the Sirkon district then?” she asked timidly.
    I started to lead the way out. “Yea, so are you coming? Or are you going to stick around until the alpha guys show up?”
    “Ok so Sirkon it is!”she nodded.
    When we got outside the dorm I saw a race was being run. Unsurprisingly it was in wolf form.
    “Wow looks like Sek is going to beat the beta record!” she yelled.
    “Who?” I asked her, staring after the lead racer as he came up the start of the six thousand meter track which was run with a varying number of laps. The track basically marked the outside of the dorms but was inside the school area and ran in a giant circle.
    “Oh…um he got here yesterday with the rest of us new students and he just wanted to…” she trailed off as I stared at her.
    “He just wanted to force his way into a race that he has no business trying to run on his first day here.” I finished for her.
    “Well, yes but we warned him he shouldn’t do something so stupid but it looks like he did it anyway.” She said, turning to watch as the racers came by again.
    “Let’s go.” I said, not even looking to see if she was following.
    She was afraid. I could tell from just a glance. She kept looking at the lap line and back at the racers every time they came around. If she was worrying then I guess she liked the guy so I figured that instead of killing him id settle for beating the sh*t out of him.
    “Relax, I’m not going to kill him…yet.” I told her.
    “It’s not him I’m worried about, its you.” She said quietly.
    “And why is that?” I asked her.
    “Because if you go after him, he’ll just set his bodyguards on you. He’s he comes from a prestigious family and a lot of people look up to him for favors and the like, no matter how much of an a** he is.” She said fearfully.
    “So the idiot is guarded by bigger idiots that think of him as an alpha huh?” I asked rhetorically.
    She drew silent as we neared the gathering crowd near the line. I looked around and saw a few dozen “guards” scattered around the area nodding and shaking their heads between each other. There were just too many for me to fight them and get away unscathed.
    “You stay here I’m going to go find a friend.” I told her.
    “No you can’t! They’ll just kill you both!” she yelled after me as I ran back to the alpha dorms.
    I ran back to my room first hoping she would be there. I took a quick look around to confirm she wasn’t there.
    “Da*n shes not here.” I said aloud.
    “Looking for someone?” a voice asked behind me.
    “Ah, there you are Kara! In fact you’re just the person I was looking for!” I said, holding my arms out.
    “So you decided to be careless?” she asked stepping into my embrace.
    “Well dearest, you are the only one who can sneak up on me so what did you expect?” I asked her.
    “Well I hate to say, but in the beginning, not much.” She said teasingly.
    “Aww, you’re no fun!” I said, running my hands through her wonderful solid black hair.
    “Well its true but now I expect more than ever out of you!” she laughed softly.
    I looked over at the mirror that covered the wall and nodded in its direction.
    “Now don’t they look happy.” I said.
    I held her at arms length and marveled at how beautiful she was. Her long black hair fell to the middle of her back and mine was almost as long. We were thin for our age and we both had solid black hair which meant our wolfen fur was entirely black too. We were the best runners and fighters in the entire school and although many thought muscle size was everything, me and Kara always ended up throwing their asses all over the place no matter where we were. We weren’t the alpha leaders for nothing!
    “Now are you going to tell me why you were looking for me or am I going to have to force it out of you?”she asked seriously.
    “It seems our services are required on the racetrack.” I sighed, knowing the happy moment was gone.
    “What kind of trouble is it now?” she asked wearily.
    “It seems that a new student has taken a few liberties with his fellow students backing him up, and I might mention that there’s quite a few of them this time.” I told her, watching her face for what she thought of the news. As usual I learned nothing she didn’t want me to know. Her piercing green eyes were thoughtful as I told her what I had seen at the track.
    “Staring at me doesn’t help me much you know, you and your silver eyes, midnight black hair; they’re as terrifying to me as I am to you.” She said after a few minutes.
    “So have you thought of how we should handle them?” I asked patiently.
    “Well we can always try to spare them but it’s our responsibility to eliminate those who are too weak, ambitious, or disruptive to the clan. Since they run in a pack we may just have to discipline Sek and leave it at that but we’ll still have to be careful about how we handle this.” She said thoughtfully.
    “Then lets go.”I nodded.
    We ran back to the new girl and got to her just as the racers came around for the final lap. As they came down the final stretch, one of the more more experienced beta racers saw me and Kara waiting for the race to finish and realized what we were there for. He caught up with Sek, apparently trying to warn him but he tripped and fell into Sek knocking him over and the other racers rushed around them and finished the race. As the other racers gasped for air at the finish, Sek howled in anger and drew his claws across the unfortunate’s throat, leaving him dead on the track. I glanced at Kara and saw her expression harden and knew she had decided that Sek was going to die before the day was over and I couldn’t agree with her more. Killing a clan member without reason was punishable only by death. I stayed to keep an eye on Sek while Kara went to congratulate the winners of the race and to reassure the new girl. It was as she was walking back towards me many of the “guards” shuddered and changed to their half-forms. Now for new students this is virtually impossible because you have to control the change to wolf-form and stop it on the earlier half of the change which requires enormous control over the change and almost none of the deltas can even pause it at the right time, few of the betas can actually stop it and keep it there, and just a select few alphas can hold it for a prolonged period of time. As for Kara and I? We could hold it almost indefinitely. But when the change is made right you get in appearance an upright wolf with the human forms arms. When she walked up beside me and stopped everyone but the half-wolves who were gathering around Sek. They were whispering among themselves and I wondered what they were planning.
    “We are not going to fight them yet.” I said to Kara as she turned around to look for anyone who might try to come behind us.
    “You never know.” She said with a shrug.
    “Listen Kara, I know our responsibilities but we are NOT going to start a fight here!” I put my hand on her shoulder to try and reinforce my words.
    “I know we aren’t going to, but will they?” She asked.
    “Well the way I see it, if we go straight towards Sek we will have to fight straight through all of them, but if we…” I reasoned.
    “I don’t think they are going to let us try anything other than a straight fight.” She interrupted, pointing towards the group as they advanced to the front of the crowd holding their swords and the serrated fighting knives.
    We looked at each other and nodded as our eyes met.
    “So, my dearest, shall we?” I asked her playfully, but I knew we were both dead serious.
    “Yes, love, I think we shall.” She gave me a quick smile.
    And with that, we charged. We were going to teach these dogs why we were the alpha captains. The captains were the best fighters within each level. Delta was always changing captains and beta was too just not as often, but As we charged towards them we smoothly changed forms and used the extra speed and power we gained to cross the distance of half a mile in mere seconds. Tradition within the clan demanded that when you fought in half-form, you fought with nothing but your teeth and claws. The swords they wielded could cut through small trees with one swing and the knives were lightly serrated and thin to cause the most cutting damage and to stab into critical areas.
    As we neared them a few ran out to meet us, and Kara jumped onto my shoulders and launched herself over the group. I sincerely hoped she didn’t get herself surrounded. They may be slower and less able than us but they had the numbers on their side in this fight. I saw her take out the slowest with a quick slash to the throat. I turned back to the few who had already gotten to me. The first one lunged with a sword and I easily deflected it and used his momentum to pull him towards me, I spun him around and bit into the back of his neck hard, feeling his spine break and sever. I leapt back to give myself room to fight the others and waited for them to make the first move again. I killed three that tried to get behind me with throat slashes as I dodged their blades and killed another by snapping his neck. I heard Kara yell in pain and spun around to find her. As I had feared she had been surrounded by the bulk of the group and Sek was standing in front of her now, and he had somehow managed to cut her just below her shoulder. The bodies strewn around her told me she had managed to kill quite a few of them but I doubted Sek had actually delivered the blow, but the blood on the sword he held was hers and as he raised it to strike at her head I felt the rage course through me. I appeared at his side and broke his forearm, forcing him to drop the blade. I took one look at Kara’s bleeding arm and lost it. I spun around and kicked him through a fair sized tree nearby. He didn’t get up and the few of his dogs still able to do much of anything ran to him, but I knew he was dead, even before they reverently drug his mangy carcass off to bury it.
    “I’m sorry, and thanks.” She said through gritted teeth.
    “Well seeing as you killed twenty six and I only killed eighteen, I’m thinking you win this one.” I said with mock enthusiasm.
    “Yea but I got hit and you didn’t, and I think it’s bad.” She said.
    I stared at her for a few seconds. She passed out and I caught her as she fell, and I looked at the wound with a critical eye and decided it wasn’t anything life threatening and it didn’t seem as though the blade had been poisoned so all she really needed was a few bandages, some fluids when she woke up, and some rest. I picked her up and paid special attention to her arm, and then I ran her back to our room. When I got there I gently laid her on the bed and she shimmered back into her human form and as she did, so did I. There was only one cabinet of importance in the room and it held almost any medical supplied we would need. I went to it and pulled out a few things to treat Kara’s arm and carried them to the bed.Such cabinets were only stocked in the captains rooms within each dorm, everyone else had to go to the infirmary. The person who ran the infirmary was one of the few people here who weren’t students, the medic, a few teachers for the new students, and every now and then a rouge would come through to renew his supplies, and would be gone by the next day. As I began to bandage her arm and realized that I was lucky I hadn’t revealed what we could really do.
    “Being an alpha captain can suck.” I said to myself.
    Well, today is over for us. I went over and locked the door, then I returned and climbed into bed beside her, and slept.


    When she woke up again I had just made preparations for a hunting trip into Darkraan and was contemplating on asking the new girl if she wanted to come with us.
    “So, you’re up.” I said simply.
    “You had it a little tight.” She said, pretending like the gash on her arm was nothing but a small cut.
    “You were losing a lot of blood at the time.” I apologized.
    “Well its almost healed now so lets forget about it and go.” She said, slowly flexing her arm.
    I sat on the edge of the bed and watched her for a few minutes while she stretched her injured arm.
    “How do you always know when someone has something else to say? And how do you always know what to say to make things right?” She asked, finally looking at me.
    “Well I would have to say mostly by instinct and watching a person’s face, body, and the better I know the person the better I get at it.” I shrugged.
    “Yes but your precognition is unheard of and, ow.” She winced as she found how far she could extend her arm without reopening the wound.
    “And you seem to have a knack for playing surgeon.” She added.
    “I try,” I shrugged, “and while you’re out running around playing suicide rouge, I play it safe so I can patch you back up again afterwards.”
    “If you’re always joking around and playing it safe, I’d love to see you wild, reckless, and going all out.” She said.
    “No! it will never happen, it must never happen.” I said quietly.
    “Why?” she asked tentatively, almost afraid, but her eyes still held their strength and defiance.
    “For everyone’s sake I hope you never find out.” I said, turning away from her piercing gaze.
    “I’m sorry for asking, I…I didn’t know.” She whispered.
    “No, you have a right to know what to expect and on our graduation mission and I’ll tell you then, but for now, I will tell you that if I ever lost control of myself, it would be dangerous, even for you. But enough of this, we are going hunting are we not?” I asked her, drawing attention away from a highly sensitive subject again.
    “So are we going to invite Ari?” She asked.
    “Who?” I asked while getting fresh wrappings for her arm.
    “Oh, right, the new girl you invited yesterday? Her names Ari.”She replied.
    “Alright ill go find her and we shall meet you at the path in a few minutes.” I told her as I finished putting the new bandages on her arm.
    “Alright want me to bring anything special?” she asked.
    “No, I think we will be fine with the usual but bring some extras for Ari.” I told her as I left to find Ari.
    I ran across the grounds, where we had fought Sek and his dogs. I noticed there were a lot more people out watching and enjoying the races. But I didn’t see Ari amongst them so I continued on to the delta student’s dorms and started asking around for her, but no one seemed to know where she was, so I went through searching a few rooms here and there asking the occasional student if they had seen her, and finally someone mentioned they had seen her heading up to the roof. Once I got up to the roof I found her and a few dozen other students laying around in the sun.
    “Hey Ari! You coming hunting or not?” I said loudly sneaking up right beside her.
    “What the…? Oh it’s you!” she said, startled.
    “Did you forget already?” I asked amusedly.
    “No of course not, I just didn’t think the alpha captains would want to talk to me, much less have me join them hunting!”She stuttered.
    “So you think we would fail to go through with our promise? You thought we were self-centered, egotistical bastar*s? HA! Well let me tell you, there’s no place here for people like that and Sek found that out the hard way.” I told her, while keeping watch on the other wolves there.
    “What? No! I am just surprised. So are you actually going to take me with you?” She asked.
    “Of course! What did you think I came all the way over here to ask you? And Kara said you were smart!”
    “I’m just surprised you’re confident enough to take a liability like me along with you, but after yesterday I suppose it would be nothing to you and Kara.” She reasoned.
    “Either way, are you coming or staying?” I asked her, but she stayed silent for a while.
    “I’ll join you,” She said, recovering from her thoughts, “but I can’t promise I’ll be of any use.”
    “Then let’s go, Kara is waiting for us by the path.” I told her.
    I waited by the door as she got whatever she needed from her room and thought through our plans for going through Darkraan. Only the captains and a few others knew that pure humans and their thrice damned guns were out there searching for wolf kind, thinking we were beasts to be hunted. But there were three or four humans that had spent the last fortnight in the valley and had killed three wolves so far, and tonight, those bustar*s die.
    “Alright im ready, so let’s go.” She said, interrupting my thoughts.
    When we finally met Kara at the path to Darkraan Valley, Ari was out of breath already and it was getting dark. Now was the time for prime hunting but it was also the most dangerous. Humans would be out en masse to hunt us. We are taught from the instant we start school to use the abilities we have to blend in and not be seen even when running, and if we must, neutralize them. Only alphas are allowed because we have had enough experience and training to avoid them and survive for more than a few days. But on occasion, Kara and I take a few beta or delta students out with us so they have real training, but this was the first time we would take a pre-delta student with us. Kara and I weren’t going in lightly armed either, we were taking swords, fighting knives, kunai, stars, and I had even brought a few sets of throwing needles.
    “So what are you taking Ari?” Kara asked while she checked through the equipment.
    “Well I’m only allowed a sword and fighting knife…” She said thoughtfully.
    “Kara, give her a few kunai so she can practice.” I said over my shoulder, not daring to take my eyes off the heavy tree line.
    “You still haven’t told me your name you know, and I’ve noticed Kara hasn’t used your name either or at least since I’ve met you.” Ari said as she threw a knife at a tree.
    “If you make it out alive, then I’ll tell you.” I told her, not taking my eyes off the trees.
    “What do you mean ‘If I make it out alive’?” She yelled at me.
    “Kara, explain it to her.” I told her as I belted on the sword harness.
    As I strapped on my throwing blades and attached a sword to each of the four holders on the harness, I listened to Kara explain all about Darkraan Valley and that it was dangerous not just because of the groups of human hunters, but also because competing clans sent out strike teams to check the strength of other clans. It was a rare occurrence but sometimes squads or teams met and fought to submission or in some cases, to the death. I finished by strapping on a giant shuriken and jumped to make sure everything was on the way I wanted it.
    “I should be back before the sun sets completely.” I said to Kara and Ari, and with that I began my cursed recon of Darkraan Valley.