The Alpha Trials

Chapter 3

The bus ride to New Blood was like a special kind of hell that I had never known before. I had experienced many less than delightful things in my life, but the deadly silence of the bus ride was enough to rack even my nerves.

Every so often someone would whisper to the person sitting next to them, only to earn a sharp disapproving glare from the instructors at the front of the bus. It was enough to silence me and the girl sitting next to me.

I had already messed up enough in challenging Captain Sorensen in front of everyone. There was no need to gain myself anymore unwanted and unneeded attention. I needed to blend into the background, not stick out like a sore thumb.

If only Eros knew what was happening to me right now. Would he call me a fool for even trying to embark on this adventure? Would he support me in trying to make a better change in my life?

My brother and I had never been overly close, but we had always been each other's shoulder to lean on whenever things got to be too much. If only I could have his shoulder to lean on now.

"Are you alright?"

The whisper dragged me back into the real world and brought my eyes to the girl sitting next to me. She was taller than me, which wasn't exactly surprising. She was pretty, but not overly so. Her eyes were a darker brown color, and her hair was an equally rich dark brown color with a few hints of reddish tinting in it here and there.

"What." I whispered back, not sure if I was just imagining things at this point.

She sent me a small grin. "Are you alright? You look kind of pale? I wouldn't expect that from the girl who challenged Captain Sorensen?"

Great. That was what everyone was going to me as for the rest of my time here. The girl who challenged the captain and got humiliated in front of everyone because of it.

"I'm fine. I think. This is just a lot to take in. Besides, I didn't come in here thinking I was going to challenge the captain. That just came along later. It was an accident if anything," I mumbled back, earning the both of us a stern glare from one of the commanders at the front of the bus.

The girl beside me just chuckled softly to herself and shook her head slowly. We sat there in silence for a few more minutes before the girl spoke back to me.

"I don't care if it was an accident or not, I still think it was brave. I'm Katie, but the way. From the Stone Peak Pack." That explained her tall and muscular build. Stone Peak wolves were from the highest mountain peaks of all the Packlands. They lived in the cold, training warriors for the other side of the border. The pack was only topped by New Blood as the guardian pack. In fact, it had been the old guardian pack, before Alpha Tristan had challenged the old Alpha Tolin and had won. I couldn't help but wonder why Katie was coming?

Would it not be an insult to her former pack? Why would she come to the alpha who had killed her old leader? Surely the New Blood people who had scanned our profiles would have seen and realized that. They wouldn't have brought in someone to endanger the pack or themselves.

"So what about you?" The girl was speaking again, asking me another question.

"What?"

"You sure say what all the time. Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

"I-. Yes, I mean yes they did teach me manners. I'm sorry I'm just a little lost in my thoughts right now," I sighed, offering her a small smile to try and make up for my apparent rudeness.

She tilted her head to the side a bit more and let out a soft chuckle. "Well, I don't think this will be nearly as bad as everyone."

"Why do you think that?"