Page 4 of Alpha's Choice
A frown flashed across Mom’s face before she shoved the plate at me and laughed. “Don’t get used to it. I wanted our first morning in the new house to be special.”
“Begin as you mean to go on, Mom. I’ll want a hot breakfast every day now.” I poured syrup over my pancakes. “Do you take menu requests?”
“If you do, I’ll put one in for bacon.” Greg grinned as he entered, kissing my mom and spinning her around. Mom rolled her eyes and handed him an already assembled plate. His eyes widened with glee as he saw the tower of pancakes and bacon. It was more than twice as high as my plate, and I knew he’d have seconds before he was done. One thing I learned was that werewolves ate a lot. Apparently, shifting burned a lot of calories.
“Tomorrow everyone gets cereal, or they can eat at the packhouse. I’ll be busy taking my assessment to find out my placement for pack duty.”
“Pack duty?”
Mom nodded. “Every pack member gets a job based on their skill set and talents. Beta Matthew said the tests will take a few days, and they’ll provide any training necessary based on the results.”
“You’ll be taking the same assessment at the end of the summer program.” Greg was already halfway through his second helping.
“We don’t have a say in what we end up doing? What about college? I already have my acceptance for the fall.”
Greg stopped eating. “They take your wants into consideration. Most training is done in pack, but they will sometimes approve outside studies and employment. Under the circumstances, there’s a good chance your college plans won’t change.”
“Honey, don’t worry about it yet. That’s still two months away. You have plenty of time to learn about the pack and consider what you want.” Mom gave me a quick hug and picked up her empty plate to wash it.
“That’s what the Summer Wolf Program is for.” Greg took a couple more pancakes. “Consider it a summer-long career fair, leading up to the assessment.”
“I thought I was going to learn more about werewolves and pack rules.” I tried to remember when Greg first mentioned the program. Admittedly, I kept spacing out at the time, thinking about how I would take classes surrounded by werewolves, but I was sure I remembered him mentioning that.
“You will. That’s why your day starts at seven. You have two hours of classes before the other students arrive. They already know about werewolves and packs, so you need to catch up.”
“That makes sense.” I couldn’t stop the slight frown from crossing my face. Joining the pack was sounding more complicated the more I learned, between blood magic and maybe missing out on college with Gina. I needed to talk to Mom about what would happen if I didn’t join.
I finished breakfast and grabbed my bag. Greg was driving me today to show me the way, but it was close enough to walk. He said they designed the community to be walkable, either on two legs or four.
The drive only took a few minutes. I slipped out of the SUV, making my way to the office, which was located right inside the front doors. I walked to the desk where a woman in her early thirties sat.
“Hello, I’m Emma Chambers. I’m new and need to check in for the Summer Wolf Program.”
The woman looked excited to see me. “We don’t get many new students your age. And none who are human. We scrambled to put together a program for you when we heard Greg found his mate and she had a daughter.”
“Oh. I’m sorry?”
The woman laughed. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. We had fun brainstorming everything a human teenager would need to know about werewolves. I’m Clarissa, by the way.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Clarissa.”
“Here’s your schedule and locker information, and we also drew up a map for you, though navigation around here is pretty self-explanatory. Lora Peters will be your teacher for the wolfy subjects. If you have questions, ask either her or me. Consider us to be your school mentors while you’re here.”
“Thanks.” I took the papers and found my locker. It was near the classroom where an older woman waited for me. “Hi, are you Ms. Peters?”
“Call me Lora, dear.” She rose to greet me. “We’re informal in the pack. The exception to this is the pack leadership team. Always refer to them by their titles.”
I picked a desk in the front. Normally I sat in the middle, but it felt strange when no one else was here.
“To start, tell me what you’ve already learned from Greg.”
“Werewolves exist, mate bonds are important, and you eat a lot?”
Lora’s eyes twinkled. “Okay. Let’s start from the beginning, then.”
I switched between staring at Lora in fascination and scribbling down frantic notes as I learned about a world that just a few weeks prior was a myth to me.
It made me wonder what other myths might also be true. The thought made me frown, and I interrupted Lora. “Are other things real that I thought didn’t exist, like fairies or vampires?”
