Today is the day I leave my pack and head to the Royal pack. I drove myself. The Royal pack is only a two to three-hour drive from our pack. My parents, my friends and a lot of the pack members gathered around as I loaded my car to leave. It is a little bittersweet leaving. I’ve never been away from my pack and family for more than a month or two, so I am really going to miss everyone, but I know this is the best thing for my pack and for me. Convel is almost back to normal. I am really glad. I kind of missed that puppy.
“Who you calling a puppy? I’m a full grown alpha wolf.” Convel said in a huff.
Yes, is it nice having him back and grumpy as ever. It was a little lonely in my head while Convel was rejuvenating. I will be forever grateful to Seleste for allowing me to keep him. Even though I have sentenced us to a life without experiencing the mate bond, I am so grateful to have Convel I know eventually, we will need to take a chosen mate to produce an heir for the pack, but I’m glad I have at least two years before I have to think about it. Right now, I can’t imagine being with anyone. I’m surprised Convel didn’t take this moment to say, “I told you so”, I deserve it because he tried to warn me.
“I’m not going to kick you when you are down, Trevor. I think you have punished yourself enough. We have to focus on the future and become the best alpha we can be. We will cross every other bridge when we get to it.”
Convel is right. I need to focus on the here and now. My parents, friends and pack members are here to wish me well.
My mom gives me a hug with tears in her eyes. I know she will miss me the most. I can admit that I am a momma’s boy. I hug my mom back. My dad comes over and we all group hug like we used to when I was younger.
“Well, son, it is about that time. Make sure you drive safe and let us know when you get there.”
“Ok dad, I will. Don’t worry, everything will work out just fine. It’s only three hours away at the most and I’ll be home for the holidays in a few months.”
Dad just smiles. All of my friends gather around and say their goodbyes. The pack members all give me their well wishes and pretty soon, I am on the road.
I decided to drive straight through without stopping. Fortunately, one of the pack member filled the gas tank, and I didn’t need to stop for gas. It was midafternoon when I arrived at the Royal Pack.
After giving my name and papers to the sentinels, was granted permission to drive through to the academy dorm. The dorm is located across the training field from the main packhouse. I say packhouse, but it looks more like a palace. The royal packhouse looks like the Royal Grand Palace in Bangkok, with steeples and all. It is a beautiful white and gold building. The academy dorm is a smaller version of the main packhouse. The dorm looks like a mini palace, maybe like a wing of the main palace. Both building are breadth taking. It makes make want to redesign my packhouse to something more unique.
I make it to the parking area and prepare to get out of the car and get my things together. I see a pretty tall male walking towards me. The sentinel said that the Royal Gamma would meet me, so I assuming that it was him approaching. As he gets closer to me, he really looks familiar. I know my dad knows the leaders of the royal pack, but I have never met them. I can’t figure out why he looks so familiar to me. I kind of stare at him as he approaches me. I guess he knows I’m staring. He looks at me with a smirk.
“Good afternoon, young alpha Trevor. I’m Royal Gamma Maurice True.” The Royal Gamma said.
“Did you say True?” I asked.
“Yes, I did, and yes, I am related to the gamma in your pack. Our ancestors were brothers. We are both direct descendants of Fenroe. My ancestor was the oldest son and became the Gamma for the Royal pack. He had two younger brothers. One left and became the alpha of his own pack and the other linked up with your ancestor and started the Blue Moon Pack.”
‘Does that mean the patriarchs of my pack were part of the leading families of the royal pack?”
“The True patriarch was. He met your great-great-grandfather while traveling for the Alpha King on business. Your ancestor and him became fast friends, and he asked my great uncle to help him found and build a new pack. The king was looking for a pack that would serve as his army, so he sanctioned this new pack. We have maintained close relations since that time.”
“Wow, I never knew that.”
“We don’t publicize the close ties we have for the safety of your pack. Imagine what the rogues and other greedy supernaturals would do if they knew we have family members or other close relations outside of our border. They would try to use that to get to use. That’s one reason we never give our family name to others. We are only known by our title.”
“That makes sense.”
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, young alpha, but let’s get you settled in the dorm. All the alphas and betas at the academy get individual rooms, so you won’t have a roommate; however, you will be frequently teamed up with wolves from your hallway in the dorm. It might be a good idea to get to know them.” The Gamma says as we walk into the building.
“I will be doing a lot of your training. We start at 6am tomorrow. You will have the rest of the day to get settled. I will give you a tour after you have a late lunch. The cafeteria is to your right.” The gamma points out as we keep walking.
“This is your room. As you can see, there are 5 other rooms on this floor. There will be 4 alphas; including you, and 2 betas on this hall. I suggest you make friends. You all will need to depend on each other throughout your two-year stay at the academy.”
“Thank you Royal Gamma. I really appreciate you showing me to my room and providing a with all of this information.”
“Truthfully, I wanted to meet the male that rejected my little cousin. I wanted to get a feel for what type of person you were. I heard good and bad things about you and I wanted to meet you before I formed an opinion. Just know that I love my little cousin and you are only still standing because, 1, she forgave you and 2, you appear to sincerely be open to learning from your mistakes. I hope I am not wrong about you.”
“Thank you Gamma, for giving me a chance. I will prove to you and my pack that I am committed to being the best alpha I can be.”
“Well, young alpha, keep that attitude and you will make it through this academy just fine. I will leave you to get settled and unpacked. There is an intercom that links to the pack omegas if you need anything.” The gamma says as he walks out of my room.
I do as the gamma suggests. I unpack and get my room set up. Then I head to the cafeteria to get a late lunch and snack. I am a little hungry since I didn’t stop on the way here. The cafeteria is just for the academy house. They have a variety of food laid out. You can get just about anything you want to eat, from basic sandwiches to full meals. I decided on grilled chicken and smashed sweet potatoes. It reminds me of eating at a restaurant we have back home. The food was absolutely delicious.
I go back to my hall and go into the common area. All five of my hall mates were in their watching TV and playing video games. I step in and speak to everyone. They all seem pretty low key. I can deal with that. We all introduce ourselves and tell what pack we are from. The two betas are here with their future alphas. If Ben wasn’t already mated, he could have come with me.
I found out that they have all just recently gotten here. Young Alpha Burton, whose room is closer to mine, is a third-generation candidate of the academy. His father and grandfather both graduated with top honors. His father was at the academy at the same time as my dad. He also did not have his Beta with him. His beta is taking on more leadership of his pack while he is here. Like my pack, his beta is being trained by the current beta. His current beta attended the academy with his father. I don’t know if Beta Vareen attended the academy with my dad, but I know he is respected all over the kingdom as a wish Beta. Alpha Justin is here with his brother, Jona, who will also be his Beta. Justin is a year older than Jona. He says he is closer to Jona than anyone else and cannot see anyone else being his beta than his brother. I would probably feel the same way if I had a brother. Ben is like a brother to me and truthfully, even if Beta Vareen was not his father, I would have still chosen Ben as my Beta. The final hall mate is Alpha Brennan and his future beta Casion. They are actually cousins and grew up like brothers. All in all, we have a pretty good mix and I think we will work well together. So far, no one seems to have a big ego. I believe we will all grow to be good friends and build alliances for our future. They have not heard about my past. I will tell them after I get to know them better. I don’t want to be pre-judged before they get to know me. They have not found their mates yet, but from our conversation, they are all looking forward to finding him or her.
None of us knows what to expect. Like my dad, none of their fathers or other family members would tell them what to expect.
After talking and hanging out for hours, we all go to our rooms and get ready for dinner. Dinner is served every night from 6:30 to 9:30. After dinner, the staff will lie out snack food for us to have if we get hungry later in the night. That is a good idea. I think I will take that back to my pack. I can remember many nights running into other pack members late at night searching for something to snack on.
Dinner was just as amazing as lunch. There is a little something for everyone. Tonight is chicken night. You get chicken done several ways: fried, grilled, stir-fried, jerked or in a variety of sauces. You can also get steak. Steak is available every night. There is a variety of sides and vegetables. The dessert selection is mind blowing. There are cakes, pies, tarts and things I have never heard of before. It’s a good thing we will be doing a lot of physical training. We will need it after a couple years of easting like this.
Looks like most halls eat together. That works for me, since I hardly know anyone else here. I saw a couple of wolves from packs close to my own, so I know a few of the alphas that are here and a couple of future betas. I guess at the end of two years, we will all know each other pretty well.
After dinner, we all agree to have an early night. Tomorrow will be the first full day of training. We will start with the physical training at 6am and then move into the classroom for several other subjects. We will end the day with strategic planning this month. The end of day subject changes monthly according to the schedule the gamma left in my room for me to read. After looking over the schedule for this month. I take a shower and go to bed. This has been a long day and I know tomorrow has the potential to be longer. A good night's rest is exactly what I need and probably what Convel needs so that we can both be at 100% tomorrow. I may need him.