Jace's pov

The sound of a loud ear piercing whistle rings out , signaling practice is over. Thank fuck. Every muscle in my body is screaming, ones I didn't even know I had at that.

Even though I'm in the best shape of my life, these sadistic bastards find new ways to torture us. Daily.

I use my discarded t-shirt to wipe the blood off my face. The bastard I was sparring with got a few lucky shots in. What can I say, I was distracted. It also may have been that I underestimated his ability to actually land a punch. And my face was paying the price for it.

"Jace, hold up". I hear Blake yell out to me.

Blake is one of the sadistic bastards who ran this training facility.

I stopped and turned immediately, giving him my full attention. Blake was not somebody you wanted to show disrespect to, unless you didn't want your own mom to recognize your face that is.

"Whats up sir?" I'm still wiping up the blood as he approaches.

" That" He gestures to my face. "You fucking new here or something pup?" He crosses his arms over his muscular chest, and the display is aggressive enough that I take a step back.

" Sorry sir, I guess I'm just having an off day".

" You guess??" He yells in my face. "Cause if I had to guess I'd say the top student here just willingly got his face beat to a pulp. Have you forgotten basic self defense pup?"

Shit. He's yelling loud enough now that we've drawn a crowd.

"No sir" Thats all I manage to say before I see his huge fist come flying towards my face.

I dodge the impending hit, but apparently he isn't done. He continues to swing at me, in a flurry of motion, and although I manage to avoid getting hit in the face, he lands one in my left rib cage.

All of the air is instantly stolen from my lungs, making it burn as I try to draw air in. Fuck, there's definitely broken rib.

I don't have a chance to let my guard down though , as he keeps coming at me. I know what he's looking for and he won't stop until either I land a hit on him or I'm unconscious on the ground.

Yup, thats how these bastards work.

After several more attempts, on his part, to land the final blow, I see an opening. I swing with what little energy I have left.

CRACK

My fist lands squarly on his jaw. Thank fuck. Cause any longer and I definitely would have been facing the option number 2.

Great, now blood is running off my right hand as that hit split a few of my knuckles wide open.

But I don't dare move an inch. I'm not stupid, nor do I have a death wish. I've made this mistake once before, only once.

After staring me down for what felt like an hour, but in all reality was maybe thirty seconds, his face splits into a huge grin, showing his front teeth that are covered in blood. Glad to know more than just my hand felt that one.

He turns his head and notices the crowd, "Unless you wanna trade places here with Jace, move it the fuck out."

Blake takes a step towards me and reaches out to place his hand on my shoulder.

"Talk to me Jace, this isn't you. Your five days away from getting out of this hell hole, and I haven't seen your face look this bad since your first year here. ."

" I'm just overthinking the final test." LIE. " Wondering if I'm as good as everyone thinks I am , or expects me to be." Another lie. I know I'm good , otherwise I wouldn't have made it in the top five out of the hundred and twenty warriors who came here three months ago.

In the top 5, there's one member from each pack. So the fact that I made it to this point confirms that I have what it takes. I've dreamed of this very moment since I was 14yrs old.

That also happens to be the age I realized that I did not just see Azariah as a friend. Did that have anything to do with my decision to prove my worth as a top warrior?? Hell yes. I wanted her to see me as something more.

The first two years of training here, there are no cuts. But in the third year they make cuts daily. Someimes just for having a stupid look on your face. I personally seen someone get cut for that exact reason.

There's no way I can tell him the truth, that some curly, dark haired angel, who occupies my every thought is the reason I was distracted.

I'm more focused on the fact that in a week I'll be able to see her extrodinary face in person, than on my training right now.

Blake just nods at me , believing my lie. He pats my shoulder a couple times , nods his head and walks away. I'm glad he doesn't push the issue. I'm not the worlds best liar.

Thank goddess thats over, cause I need a shower so bad I'm sure the wolves in the next town over can smell me.

I've never been more thankful for the upgraded accomodations I'm currently in. Once you make top 5, you get your own room and private bathroom.

Prior we were all shoved into a military style barracks, complete with a communal shower. As wolves nudity shouldn't bother us, and for the most part it doesn't. I'm just not really a fan of being in that close of proximity to more weiners than an Oscar Mayer factory.

Just as I'm stepping out of the shower, I hear someone knocking loudly on my door. I throw a towel around my waist, as to not scare the unsuspecting person on the other side, and ran to open the door.

" Jace Lyk?"

" Ya thats me" I say looking at the younger boy who's holding a large box.

"This is for you" He says as he shoves the box towards me.

Once I have it in my hands the boy, who's name I don't get, runs off down the hall as if I'm the devil himself. Weird.

I don't even need to look at the tag to know who its from. I can smell her on it.

Fresh rain.

The way rain smells when its raining on a sunny day. And yes there's a difference.

My heart instantly picks up speed, beating so fast you would think I just had to run for my life. Her smell does that to me more often than I'd like to admit.

I close my eyes and bring the box closer to my face drawing in a deeper breath. I can instantly see her in my mind, wild curly black raven hair, hair that she hates but I personally love. I have pictured that wild hair of hers splayed across my pillow and bed an insane amount of times. Her eyes are a mesmerizing cross between blue and grey. More blue when she's happy or excited, more grey when she's sad or pissed off. I've been on the recieving side of both colors, more than once.

Her body is shaped like an hour glass. Curves so delicious if one were to stare to long, you'd have to come up with some creative ways to hide the boner you were sporting. Baggy sweat pants is usually the way to go if you were planning on spending any amount of time with her. Yes, I'm talking from experience.

But the thing I love most about her.. her smile. I don't care if it sounds cheesy, its the truth. I love how when I come home from being here she puts on this thousand megawatt smile like she's missed me more than she loves chocolate.

Goddess , will I ever grow a pair big enough to ever tell her how I truly feel for her.

"no and do you wanna know why? "

Oh great, Ehron has decided to pitch in his two cents worth.

I'm not in the mood for your bullshit right now Ehron.

"well to bad. Your a pussy, thats why. Your to afraid to take whats ours, and one day someone else will, and we'll be left in our own misery with your dumb ass to blame.."

I flop down on my bed and scrub my hand down my face. Not this shit again. I decide to ignore my obnoxious wolf who enjoys nothing more than tormenting me ,and open the box Azariah sent.

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting. Definitely not this.

I find myself hunched over, holding my broken ribs, and laughing so hard there's tears running down my cheeks.

One wouldn't think a pair of silk boxing shorts was this funny.

I wipe the tears off my face to get a good look at my gift. Not that I expected any different, but they are an exact replica.

A replica to what your wondering.

Well let me tell you.

I'm currently holding a pair of red and white striped, with blue trim, silky boxing shorts, just like the ones Rocky Balboa wore in Rocky 4 when he fights Ivan Drago.

Azariah has this little obsession with the Italian Stalion, Rocky Balboa. I can't even begin to count how many times she's made me have a Rocky marathon day. Numbers one through four only though. She hates number five. Her theory is, if she doesn't watch it, then it didn't happen.

I glance down at the box they came in and notice the card. The front of the card has a picture of Rocky and Apollo Creed on it with their arms around each other. Cute. The back has her handwriting.

Jace

I'm so so so proud of you.

I know your final test is soon and is gonna seem impossible.

But guess what

It should have been impossible for Rocky to beat Ivan

but he did it.

I thought maybe you needed to wear the motivational shorts!!

I miss you

Kick ass and hurry the hell up and come home.

Love Azariah

Fuck! How is it possible that my heart is filled more love for her than before. I gotta try to figure out a way to see her as just my friend.

"you've been trying this for years. you get the same results every fucking time. Failure! she's ours and you need to do something about it. "

Ehron is right about a couple things here. First Ive tried hundreds of times to just look at her as a friend, and I fail every time. Second, someone will capture her heart one day. Someone who deserves her. And that person is not me.

I decide to facetime her. I know I probably should just text her seeing how distracted I already am due to thoughts of her, but common sense seems to have left me.

She picks up on the third ring and I'm instantly reminded as to why this was a bad idea. The sound of her voice is like a punch in the gut. I'm immediately sporting wood so hard its borderline painful.

Yup. Just one look at her face can do that to me. I wonder if I took matters into my own hands if she would notice. She'll probably be able to see the motion in my shoulder, then this conversation will just be weird.

Pain and suffering it is.

"Admit it, you love them!!!" She says with a big shit eating grin on her face.

I need to keep my composure if I plan to fool her for a bit. "There awful Azariah. You don't actually expect me to wear them do you?" I exaggerate a loud groan as I say this.

" What the fuck Jace! " Her beautiful smile falters and I almost feel bad. Almost.

I groan loudly again, and give her what I hope is a pleading look. " Come on, I can't wear these. I'll be the laughing stock of the entire camp. How will I ever show my face again?"

She gives me her famous blank faced stare. The one that warns you to choose your next words wisely.

I try my best to match that stare, but in the end lose.

The grin splits across my face before I can even stop it.

"Just fucking with ya girl. There the best!! Honest, this is the best gift I've ever gotten."

Of course it wouldn't matter what she sent me. I'd love it either way.

Her smile returns faster than it left. "Hell yes they are. Micah says there terrible but I think he's just jealous I didn't get him a pair."

We chat for a while about their school situation , and she tells me about Micah's stalker, aka, Priya. It feels amazing to hear her voice and laugh with her.

I don't know how I'm ever gonna go on like this. Go on pretending I just look at her as a friend. Six years is how long I've already been doing it, I'm not sure I have much left in me. I've thought about telling her at least a thousand times, but I always chicken out. Its more than just being afraid of rejection. Azariah comes from a very high ranking family. Me, not so much.

Don't get me wrong, she's never treated me as anything other than her equal. It's my issues. I'm the one who doesn't feel good enough to be her mate.

"Anyways Jace, I better get to bed. Micah's at his witts end with me being late everyday."

" Alright. See ya soon Azari."

She smiles warmly at me and I can just tell from the look on her face she's about to say something that'll deliver a blow to my heart.

" I am seriously proud of you. Regardless of how you do in the finals, your always number one to me"

And there it is. The shot that goes straight to the heart. I need to hang up fast before my poker face falters.

"Thanks, see you soon." I hang up fast before she can see my eyes starting to water.

Well isn't this just great. Im laying here, still hard as fuck, now thinking of her laying in her bed as well. I bury my face in both my hands. What the hell am I gonna do?

" What you always do loser. Jack off while picturing her bent over in front of you cause your to big a pussy to make it a reality."

Why Goddess, why of all the wolves, did I get this opinionated prick???

Azariah's pov

The next two days went by fast. To fast if you ask me.

On Tuesday we had our last day of medical training here at Moonwalker pack, Wednesday both Micah and I train for our upcoming roles as Alpha and Beta.

Basically what that means for me, is an entire day of lectures from my father. Good times.

So before I know it, the dreaded first day at the Snowmoon pack medical facility is here.

Somehow I managed to get up early enough to look presentable. Meaning my hair is not in a ponytail. I took the time to tame the frizz and made my curls look sleek. I normally don't do makeup, except a little lip gloss and mascara, and that's not changing today.

I check the time, still doing good, and head into my closet. I plan to be ready for when Micah gets here.

I need to show him I'm committed, and not to an asylum, to this new training because as his future second in command, he needs to know I take these things seriously. According to one of the lectures I received yesterday.

I've always taken my position seriously, I just don't see why I need to get up at the crack of stupid to prove it.

I somehow, by the grace of the Goddess, make it outside before Micah pulls up. I lean against the house and attempt to look bored so he thinks I've been here way longer than the thirty seconds I was before he pulled up.

He tried to mask his surprised expression quickly as I walk to the passenger's side door. And failed.

As I open the door, I can't help myself from taking a dig at him. "Oh Micah, I knew you loved me. You picked me up before Priya!!"

He shakes his head in mock annoyance, as I climb in. I know he finds me funny, he just won't admit it.

As promised there's coffee and donuts. Not that I doubted he would keep his word, I'm just a bit surprised that he brought an entire box of donuts.

I look at him, then the donuts, then back at him. Asking a silent question.

Micah chuckles, then in what he thinks is a serious tone, turns to me and says " I've known you long enough to know that you're a much nicer person when you're all sugared up. Consider it an act of compassion towards the other students who will be subjected to you today."

Without acknowledging his stupid comment, I select the first, of several, I'm going to eat. Just as I stuff a huge bite in my mouth, the jerk face decides to compliment me. "You look nice today by the way."

Still, with a mouthful of donut I reply " Are you saying that I normally don't?"

" That's entrapment and I refuse to answer." He outright laughs at me.

I turn to look at him as I reach for my coffee. Micah looks pretty good too. Although if I'm being honest, he always does. There's a reason, besides being the next in line for Alpha, that the females all drool over him.

He has thick, long, chocolate brown hair, the kind that most women would kill for, it's shaved around the back and sides and he normally wears it back in a ponytail. His eyes are a rich chocolate brown as well, framed by thick eyelashes. His eyebrows are thick without being bushy, and he sports a five o'clock shadow that completes his dark and dangerous look.

He stands at 6'4 and is muscular, but what Alpha blooded offspring wasn't? So ya, he looked good too, but I wasn't about to say so. His ego didn't need the boost.

After swallowing my mouthful of coffee I smiled at him. " Well, I didn't want to embarrass you in front of everyone." That was Priya's job after all. I don't dare say that last part out loud though.

Over the years, that she-wolf has done some pretty cringe-worthy things to get Micah's attention. And of course, while doing so, has caused a ton of embarrassment for him. The top of the long list has to be the time she went into our local pharmacy, selected several boxes of condoms and went up to the pharmacist, and asked which ones would be best for her and Micah to use. Needless to say, word got around town pretty damn fast, and the next thing Micah knew, his dad was having "the talk" with him.

The talk for wolves was much different than the talk for humans, I assure you.

Most of us wait until we select who we want to be our mate, to have sex. Otherwise, we run the risk of leading them on. Selecting your mate is a huge deal because once you mate and mark them, there's no going back. As in, cannot be undone. The marking binds your wolves and once done, our furry side will never accept anyone else.

There's an old wives tale our parents like to tell to scare us. They say that if you spend too much time with someone without mating your wolf will eventually make the decision for you and do something called "imprint" on them. Once the wolf imprints, that person is yours rather you like it or not, or so the story goes. Nobody has ever heard of this happening, so I can't understand why the need to tell such lies. Oh wait, to scare us out of unmated sex, that's why.

We arrived with time to spare, and it was kinda nice not to be the last ones entering the classroom. We were however still met with everyone's curious eyes. What else is new?

Each pack selected five students to come to this special training, which was another sore spot for me. Like gee, thanks for the honor. Not.

From our pack, there was myself, Micah, Priya, this shy girl who was super smart, Amber, and a guy who was a year younger than us, Erik.

All except Amber were here. The class was almost filled up when she came in. When I say she's shy, I mean like so shy she barely even lifts her head to meet anyone's eyes. She always dresses very modestly and plainly, as if she doesn't want to draw any attention at all to herself.

She dared to look up and glance around for an empty chair, I waved at her and pointed at the spot next to me. If I was uncomfortable being here I could just imagine how she must feel.

As she started to make her way towards us, a she-wolf from another pack took it upon herself to try to give the entire room a big laugh.

Amber was walking past the girl, and said girl loudly snorts and says "Nice outfit. Mind telling me where you shop? I need to get my grandma a birthday present".

Just as some of the immature idiots start laughing, I jump up so fast that my chair goes flying behind me and hit the wall with enough force that the entire class shuts up and looks back at me.

"The fuck did you just say" I speak with enough venom that the bitches eyes go wide. " Are we in high school here bitch?"

The girl whose name I don't know, or care to know, stands up and decides she did in fact put on her big girl panties today and faces off against me.

I immediately take a few steps towards her, putting myself between her and Amber. She matches my move and gets right in my face.

"You got a problem, or are you looking for one?" she says while trying to look tough.

Sorry Micah, looks like I'm going to embarrass you today after all.

I laugh right in her face, considering the level of training I've undergone in the fighting department, the laugh is very warranted. " You think you're going to be a problem for me? Damn, you must have been dropped on your head as a child."

Before she can even reply, Micah's voice rings out loudly, "Beta Winters, she is not worth your time or effort. Please come back and sit down, we're here to learn to treat injuries, not cause them. " He then turns in her direction and gives her his famous polite smile, " As for you, I'd watch who you challenge in the future, next time I won't interfere. "

Micah's use of the term "Beta" gets the reaction he was going for. Everyone was looking at me with wide eyes and open mouths. As I said, I was going to be the first-ever female Beta, and while these were just rumors to the other packs before, he just confirmed its truth.

Even though I wasn't Beta yet, it was a title Micah used to show respect toward me. And probably also to warn others about picking a fight. Wise move.

I stood there for a few more seconds, slowly looking at her from top to bottom, then back up. I smiled at her then turned my back, signaling I took her as no threat and made my way back to my seat. Before I sat down, I needed to let her know something, "If you ever speak to one of my pack members like that again, I promise yours won't be able to recognize you."

A man who I didn't notice yet, walked over to her, " Trish, do you mind telling me what this is all about?"

The bitch, or apparently Trish, bows her head, "Sorry Alpha Zane, it's just a misunderstanding."

He looks over at me, raises an eyebrow, asking if this is true.

Well shit. Less than ten minutes here and I'm looking straight at the Snowmoon pack's newly appointed Alpha. We had all heard that his father, Alpha Joseph, had handed the position down to his 24yr old son very recently. Everyone was surprised as Zane hadn't taken a mate yet, and therefore the pack had no Luna. It was shocking, but not unheard of.

"No misunderstanding Alpha, I meant what I said." Might as well own it, besides I'm not one to back down.

He gives me a polite smile, then takes a seat.

Double shit. He was in this class with us. Could my day get any worse?

The rest of the day goes by surprisingly uneventful. And by that I mean boring. The teacher here, Mr. Mckae, goes over all the stuff we will be learning. He briefly talked about the different types of treatments we would be learning and so on. This definitely could have been summarized in an email.

The class was let out early, and Micah and I made our way out to his truck. Just as I was about to get in I hear someone yell out to us. I'd like to say I was surprised when I turned around and saw it was none other than Alpha Zane, but that would be a lie.

He walks up to us with a big smile and holds out his hand, "Hello, sorry we didn't get a proper introduction earlier. I'm Alpha Zane, a pleasure to meet you"

" Micah Koyle, nice to meet you as well". Micah shakes his hand, then they both turn to look at me.

Great, my turn.

I shake his hand, "Azariah Winters". I don't bother to say nice to meet you, cause honestly, I'm not sure that it is.

"So the rumors are true. You're the future Beta of the Moonwalker pack? " The way he's looking at me makes me a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't that it was creepy, or that he was blatantly eye fucking me or anything, there was just this weird glint in his eye.

Micah must notice my unease as he answers for me. " Definitely true. And if I'm being honest, any Alpha would be lucky to have her."

Zane continues to look at me and says " Lucky indeed. Anyways, I was wondering if you could please tell me what the problem was earlier Azariah?"

"The problem is that I didn't enjoy high school the first time around, and I'm not enjoying it much now either. If your pack members are going to insult and try to humiliate mine, they're going to be met with my unfriendly side." I say as I put on the most insincere smile that I can.

"My apologies. Trust me that it won't happen again. Enjoy your evening guys. "

Micah makes some remarks about it being nice to meet him, but I'm not paying attention. I spot Amber getting into her car and I head that way so I can talk with her.

As rough of a first day I've had, she's definitely had it worse.

I catch her before she's able to start her car, " Hey Amber, you got a minute?" I holler through the window that's rolled up.

She rolls down the window, not looking at me, and nods her head.

"I'm really sorry about what happened this morning. Some people are just natural-born losers and do shit like that to try to look cool. You know you don't ever have to put up with someone speaking to you like that. "

"It's okay, I'm used to it. I learned to ignore it a long time ago." Even though she says this I can hear the untruth in her words. Nobody ever gets used to being treated like that.

"No it's not okay. And I won't ever tolerate anyone speaking to our pack members like that. And since I caused a nice big scene today, I think it would be best if you wait in the morning for us before you go in. " I wink at her as I say this.

She gives a small nod of her head, then starts her car.

When I get back to the truck Micah is already inside waiting for me. Thankfully the other one is long gone.

"Before you even start, I'm sorry about this morning."

Micah starts laughing and looks at me " LIAR"

Azariah's pov

For the second day in a row, I'm up early and attempting to make myself look presentable. I've promised myself that today I absolutely will not do anything to embarrass Micah. Not that I'm convinced he was overly embarrassed yesterday, but it's probably best to err on the side of caution.

My mother comes into my room just as I'm pulling on my shoes. " Good morning. How's my favorite daughter today?"

"Real funny mom, I'm your only child. And I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Good. Please be home for dinner tonight. Dad has some things he wants to go over with you." She smiles at me.

"Of course. Gotta go mom. Love you." I kiss her cheek on the way out of my room.

I get outside just as Micah is pulling up. Still a win for me. I can see him shaking his head as I walk up to the truck.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" He says as soon as I open the door.

"I didn't realize you had friends. Sorry. " I reach over and grab the box expecting donuts, but I'm happily surprised that he brought muffins today.

" There you are. And to think I get to put up with your attitude for many years to come. Lucky me". Micah says as he reaches over and steals the blueberry muffin, the one he knew I was gonna take. Not that I'm in a position to complain since he bought them and all.

" Anyways Azariah, what are your plans for tonight?"

" Well, I was gonna spend some time with my two favorite boys, Jack and Daniels. Had a rough week." If I can handle it I may invite my other favorite guy, Johnny Walker.

"I see. Instead of getting shit-faced how about going on a little adventure?" He asks with a knowing grin on his face.

"I'm intrigued. Go on."

"Well, I had an interesting phone call last night. It appears the final test for Jace is going to be that of brain not brawn. And they asked for a volunteer."

I don't even have to think about it. " I'm in."

"Don't you wanna know your part?" He asks teasingly.

"Okay, tell me. But either way, I'm still in."

Once Micah finished, I was stunned. Actually a lot stunned. I get they need to test them in all areas, but this seemed weird.

"So let me get this straight. I'll be taken up into the Selkirk Mountains, at night, and left alone, waiting for Jace to "rescue me". "

Micah laughs at me, " First of all, this is a test for Jace, not a question of your ability to rescue yourself. Second, you already said yes."

"The things I do for you two." I groan loudly. "What time are we leaving?"

"I'll pick you up at one am. Just don't tell Jace anything when you call him later to wish him luck."

We pull up to the medical facility with time to spare. I see Amber sitting in her car, so as we get out I wave her over. As always she keeps her head down and doesn't make eye contact with us.

I see Micah look over at her and with a small smile he says " Good morning Amber, how was the drive?"

"Fine thank you." Her voice is so low that if we were human we never would have heard her.

I notice a slight pink hue on her cheeks. Even though I find it comical I don't laugh. To me, he's just Micah, pain in my ass, Koyle, but to everyone else, he's the future Alpha Micah and I guess some find that intimidating.

I'm surprised when were the last ones to enter the classroom. We're definitely ahead of schedule today. Bunch of brown-nosers. The whole lot of them.

"Nice of you guys to finally show up," Priya says as were walking past her.

I keep on walking back towards our seats, thinking Micah was going to handle that, but nope, he doesn't say a word.

He takes his seat beside me and I give him the "what the fuck" look. The bastard has the nerve to roll his eyes indicating she's not worth the effort.

I disagree. And he's gonna hear all about it later.

The teacher finally comes in and explains that we will break up into smaller groups for the day. One group will go to the lab, one to the surgical, and one to the tech area where they teach us how to use the upgraded equipment.

Amber is looking around nervously. Micah took notice and turned to her, "You're with us."

We notice Priya and Eric joined up with some other students, thank fuck. I can't guarantee my good behavior all day if she joined us.

One of the male students from another pack, don't know who or which one, comes over to us. "Hey I'm Chris from Ambersy pack, can I join you guys?"

" Of course, I'm Micah, this is Azariah and this is Amber."

"Ya, everyone knows who you guys are." He's looking straight at me when he says this and the laughter is written in his eyes.

" Well, I see four, got room for number five?"

Oh Goddess, please tell me he's not behind me, talking to us.

But of course, he is, and of course, Micah, the ever so polite asshat, accepts his offer.

Alpha Zane steps around in front of me and asks which area we want to go to. Micah says surgical, thankfully, and we head out.

The facility here is relatively new and has lots of upgrades compared to ours. Not that ours is shabby, but certainly not as nice as this. I find myself excited to get my hands on some of this equipment. In the surgical unit that is, if they let me touch the stuff in the lab, well, let's just say it won't be good.

On the way to the department were going to be working in, Chris steps up beside me and tries to make small talk. "Did you always want to work in the medical unit at your pack?"

"No. Micah here forced me into it." I say with a laugh. "Plus, I'm gonna be his right-hand male, or female in this case."

"How does your mate feel about that?" His inquiry as to rather I'm mated or not is funny as shit.

I conceal my laugh, "Don't know. I haven't met him yet." And isn't that the sad truth?

Almost twenty years old, and I've never even been on a date, or been kissed. Most of the males in our pack hardly even speak to me. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I'm always either with Micah or Jace. Not too many would be brave enough to approach me, that's for sure.

We get to the classroom, and the teacher sets up all the practice skins. She talks about the wound we'll be closing like it's the first time any of us have seen this. I seriously want to roll my eyes at her, but I refrain.

She finally gets to the point of teaching us a new technique that involves gluing the wound closed. I'm not sure how efficient this will be considering it's for smaller wounds, but I'm curious to try it out either way.

After half an hour, I can tell you it's harder than they made it look. I glued my gloved fingers together, several times. The worst part was listening to Micah and Zane laugh at me. Time to see how much better they do at it.

While the boys were practicing the gluing, I went over to watch Amber, who was trying to stitch a wound closed. She was pretty bad at it, so I decided to try and help her. I needed a break from the others anyways. I was annoyed with Micah about earlier, the Chris creep keeps checking out my tits, and Zane has just been full of compliments all morning. You wouldn't think that would be annoying, but it was.

Just as Amber is getting the hang of it, Zane comes over. "You should be helping to teach this Azariah, you're a natural."

Oh boy, the shit's getting deep in here." Umm, thank you, Alpha Zane."

"Please just call me Zane. I'm not used to the title yet, besides I think we're gonna be good friends so no need for that."

Really? Good friends? That's stretching it. But I'm not going to insult him by saying so. Believe it or not, I do know when to keep my mouth shut.

"Right, so anyways Zane, the thing is I'm far too busy to be taking on any more work. Thanks for the vote of confidence tho."

"Just think about it. Were short on people who are good at this and I know many of the packs would benefit from some extra help." The look in his eyes suggests this conversation is far from over.

Well, it's over for me. How many people do they really need to teach this stuff to anyways? It's not like any of our medical facilities are overrun with patients. The busiest would be on a Friday or Saturday night when the bar crowd gets out, and the males are drunk and aggressive.

But even then, it hardly happens. Unless he knows something I don't, I'm not seeing a big need for more teachers.

*****

At the end of the day Micah and I walk Amber to her car. I'm not gonna give that Trish bitch any opportunity to catch her alone and harass her again. Thinking about Zane's words from earlier, I look at Amber and think to myself that maybe I am up to making new friends. I've never really had any female friends, maybe I could give this a try.

I try to think up something to ask her to do with me, without coming off as some weirdo. Did I ask her to have lunch on our day off? Or maybe she would like to go on a shopping trip. Hell, I have no clue what to suggest. Then I remember about the party for Jace coming home.

"Hey, I was wondering, if you're up to it, Sunday night we're having a dinner for Jace completing his training, would you like to join us?" I ask her with what I hope is a genuine smile and not a creepy one.

She looks a little taken aback, like she's not used to being invited out. She's probably not to be honest. " Um, ya, I mean ok. If that's ok. I don't want to impose. Or really, you don't have to do that. I'm good if not. "

I couldn't even stop the laugh that escapes my lips, " I'm inviting you because I want to. Plus, I don't have many friends and I thought maybe it's time I change that. Please come. Rescue me from the sausage fest. "

"Okay, I would like that." She has a real smile on her face and is looking right at me. I'll take that as a win for now. Hopefully, she doesn't chicken out.

After exchanging numbers with her Micah and I jump in his truck to head home. I'm gonna need to have a nap if I plan to be up most of the night.

I still can't believe I've been roped into being dropped off in the woods in the middle of the night. It would have been better if I was allowed to just fight Jace instead. I think I could hold my own. The advantage I have is that he's the one who taught me how to fight. Like really fight, not just defend and throw a punch or two. So ya, I could hold my own against him.

Micah hasn't said a word since I got in the truck, and I'm betting it's because he knows I'm pissed right off about earlier. This nice guy act he has going needs to end. In a couple of years, he's gonna have an entire pack to run, and maybe he doesn't know it, but the nice guy usually gets stepped on. Sure, I'll be there to help, and I pity the idiot who tries to step all over me, but still, he needs to grow a pair.

"So Micah, you wanna tell me why you allowed Priya to publicly disrespect us today and did nothing?"

"She's not worth it, that's why. She's always looking to get a rise out of me just so I'll pay attention to her." He says this like it's obvious.

"So for the sake of avoidance, you let her act like that. You know I let it go because I thought you would say something. Won't make that mistake next time. You may not mind being spoken to like that but I sure as hell do. You sure your not actually fucking her?"

Micah doesn't even look at me or acknowledge my rude remark. We drive the rest of the way in silence. I know I crossed a line, but he seriously needs to address that she-bitches mouth. The longer he ignores it, the worse it gets. Maybe she thinks it's encouraging that he doesn't say anything to her.

We pull up to my house and as I'm about to jump out Micah grabs my arm. "I'm sorry."

Before he can continue I jump back and mock him from earlier, "Who are you and what have you done with Micah?"

"I'm serious here, I'm sorry. Your right.Not about me fucking her, jerk. I shouldn't have let her get away with speaking to us like that. My father would never allow it and I need to learn to do the same. It's just every time I even speak to her she's encouraged to start trying to get me to date her again. I'm so sick of having to dodge that bullet."

" I get it. I certainly don't envy you. " And that's the truth. "But you can't keep letting her say and do shit without addressing it. You need to put your foot down and stop this bullshit."

Cause if he doesn't it's just going to keep on happening. Ignoring her hasn't worked for him so far.

"I know. I was hoping she would just give up but that's apparently not happening."

I hop out of the truck and grab the box of muffins we didn't finish. " I'm going to take a nap. See you at 1."

"Try not to be late." He chuckles at me. The jerk just had to get in the last word.

***********

Several hours later...

It's way colder out here than I thought it was going to be. It's pitch black, cold, and I'm literally alone. Yup, they just dropped me off. Oh, I'm sure they aren't far away, but still, I'm kinda having buyer's remorse right now.

If it wasn't for the fact that they gave me the green light, actually encouraged it, to give Jace a hard time, this wouldn't be worth it.

He better move his ass. I don't wanna be out here all freaking night.