EMPIRE

3. Preparations

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN 

(Image is Talon)

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After I had informed the un-Mated team members of their exclusion from the mission through the mind-link, I moved along to meet my remaining troop at the War Room. This base is set up on the outskirts of the town as to not disturb the Pack during our training exercises and to ensure confidentiality. We plan all of our battle strategies in here and share sensitive information the average Pack members do not and cannot know.

The air is buzzing with excitement along with other mixed emotions, everyone murmuring to each other about the new development with Dreycov.

"Alright!" I yell, catching every single Dark Warrior's attention. I notice their bodies shift to stand slightly straighter and they dismiss any of their previous conversations, clamping their jaws shut. My right-hand man, Talon, raises an eyebrow at me and I nod slightly in his direction. I will fill him in while everyone is suiting up.

"Dreycov's moving closer to us as we speak, at this rate, he should be here by tomorrow in the late morning or early afternoon," I state, loud enough for all fifteen of them to hear. I stand up onto the podium where there are a whiteboard and a large map of our territory. "Our job is to be watching for any scouts that Dreycov may have sent forward. Should they step into our territory without an early warning sent to the Alpha, we have the right to take them down and put them in holding where we can... get further acquainted."

Everyone smirks darkly at this but remains silent as to not interrupt. "I'm splitting us up into four groups and each squad will be responsible for covering their respective posts; whether it is the North, East, South or Western quadrants."

I sort the team out into four squads evenly as and pull Talon to my side. Considering the fact that the Blood Rite Pack will be coming in from the Southern quadrant I will need the best on the team guarding it. I pick the top three Warriors from the group: Talon, Xkalah, and Kale; not including myself, of course.

Xkalah is already Mated but her Mate is not one of the Warrior class. He is a simple working class Wolf and while there is nothing wrong with average Wolves at all, (they make the pack), for a Warrior female to be Mated to the average Wolf is simply unusual. Generally, the male is of the same rank or higher. Once the wolf finds his Mate, the female gets promoted to the same rank and while it is the same when reversed, it's much less likely for that to be the case.

This applies strongly to the Alphas. An Alpha male is almost always Mated to an Alpha female. It is the natural order of life. There has only ever been one situation where an Alpha was mated to someone below the rank of Beta. The Alpha and the Omega. That was eons and eons ago though and nothing like that has happened again since. The likelihood of an Alpha being Mated to a Beta is fairly low and I'll openly admit that I'm quite happy with that fact, I have no desire to be "promoted" to an Alpha rank.

"What's on your mind?" Talon's voice startles me from my train of thought. I jump slightly, juggling my helmet that I'd lost grip on to keep it from hitting the ground. I turn to glare at him, holding my headgear to my chest tightly.

Talon grins slightly, raising his hands up in the sign of surrender. 'Sorry," he chuckles sheepishly, not sounding the least bit apologetic. I roll my eyes and place the helmet on a nearby bench.

"Can you tighten up the back plate?" I ask, turning my back to him with a huff. He crouches slightly to see the clips and their slots. He sighs dramatically as if I've asked too much of him.

"You're so short," he grumbles beneath his breath, struggling to shut the last latch. I snort at his remark, it's not my fault that he's a giant, standing at 6'4 with impossibly wide shoulders.