Rejected

Chapter 26

One year later

Tab's POV

The past year flew by, between the training and the lectures I hardly had any time to think about how long it had been since I'd seen Alex, or any of the guys really. I didn't see her around the dorms, but if Ular had any say in the matter, I knew he was keeping her as far away from the other guys as possible. He had this weird idea that the guys would lose focus if they knew a girl was around, but in reality we were too busy to really notice who was around us. I just hoped that she had learned as much as I had. Before coming here I had no idea how much paperwork went into being Alpha, like travel requests or pack transfers, when one wolf found their mate and wanted to switch packs a whole file was required from one Alpha to the other, and each file was kept in the Alpha's office. These files had everything anyone could possibly need on anyone in the pack; full name, date and time of birth, blood type, family, date and age they shifted, and so much more. I didn't think that much work went into just one aspect of being an Alpha. No wonder my father hardly left his study.

"Tab, you ready for today?" Rhett, one of the Alphas I had gotten close with, pulled me from my thoughts. Rhett and his roommate, Luca, had come from packs fairly close to Blood River and we had become good friends quickly. Rhett was referring to the graduation test we were taking today, not like a midterm or final in school, but a test of fighting skill and endurance. Today each student would spar with their trainer, if the student could incapacitate their trainer then that student would move on to the next round. If the student failed they would have to go through a more rigorous field training for another six months.

Tomorrow every student who passed the first round would then spar with their fellow students until each Alpha was ranked, best to worst. In order to be the best an Alpha would have to work their way through the wolves who have already earned their spot. As they worked their way up and dueled with better and better fighters their endurance will be tested to the max. Each student started at the bottom, meaning the last wolf to go would have their work cut out for them big time. This round would also determine the rank of the packs once the student accepted the Alpha title from their fathers. No pressure, right?

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, but I'm more excited to see everyone. I know my father and Beta are coming, but if I know Tyler and Zack like I think I do, they'll tag along. And then there's Kole... and Alex. Man, I haven't seen or heard from her since we got here."

"What do you mean? We haven't had any contact with the outside world since we got here. It wasn't aloud, some sort of nonsense about a distraction or something." Rhett didn't know about Alex coming to the academy. No one did except for me, Ular, and whoever trained Alex for the last year.

"You misunderstand. Alex is... well. Ah hell, its the last day anyway. Alex came with me to the academy. She's here, just like we are, learning how to be an Alpha. But Councilman Ular made the same "distraction" excuse to keep her away from us guys. Said that we wouldn't be able to handle a girl being around so she got different class times and private training." Rhett's reaction was all I needed to know that Ular didn't know what he was talking about when it came to an Alpha's focus.

"Dude! Screw that distraction crap. With the workload we were given every day we didn't have time to shower, much less trying to impress a pretty girl. She is pretty, right?" I couldn't hold back the laugh that erupted from my throat. Rhett had a point, we were kept insanely busy, but I have a feeling some, if not most, of the guys would have taken notice of a young woman in our classes and found a way to impress her. Or at least get her attention.

"She's beautiful. But more importantly, she'll kick your ass if and when she needs to." Rhett chuckled, but only because he didn't know how true that statement was. Alex is strong and smart, she's not afraid to speak up and frankly she's got a sharp tongue. The few times she's told me off I've been scared to even try to snap back. She was slightly stronger than me in the fighting skills when we got here, with private training for a whole year, I don't know how much more amazing she could have gotten.