Kingdom Wolves: The Flames of Struggle

Chapter 3

      "What?! You've got to be kidding me..." Kira groaned and covered her face with her paw. The Instructor nervously shifted from one paw to the other. "I'm sorry, miss. I really am. But Grove and the others believe the two of you have good chemistry."

    Kira gave him a dirty look. "I do not have good chemistry with her."

    He grinned sheepishly. "Don't bite the messenger. Maybe you should speak to Mr. Grove about it, if it really bothers you. Have a nice day!" The Instructor bounded off to report to Grove, leaving Kira wallowing in her disbelief. She was grouped with Prissy Paws. Again. She moaned with frustration and clawed at the ground. She had had enough of that brat's whining yesterday. She had lost count of how many time the big baby had whined about her paws hurting and not be able to go on any farther.

     The last howl warning the Cadets to get to their groups rang out, and Kira huffed and grudgingly made her way over to where Prissy and three new wolves were standing. She thought she recognized one of them from Trace and Livy's group yesterday, the grumpy one called Flor. Prissy looked mortified as Kira walked up.

     "You?!" Prissy nearly shrieked. Kira sighed. Whoopee for me, I get another whole day with this Devwolf.

    "Alright, look. I think we got off on the wrong paw. Hello, my name is Kira." Kira held out her paw as non-threateningly as she could. Prissy was silent for a moment, then cleared her throat and grumbled. "Lacy."

   Kira gritted her teeth and attempted to keep her hackles from rising as she set her paw back on the ground. What a stuck up brat. She couldn't believe she had to deal with this for another whole day.

    "Just stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours. Got it, Prissy?" Kira growled, keeping her voice as even as possible.

     Lacy's hackles rose. "Will you stop calling me that? My name is not Prissy! It's Lacy, you jerk!"

    "Oh, I'm the jerk? I'm not the one who looks down on innocent wolves who can't do anything about their heritage!" Kira snapped back.

     Lacy looked taken aback for a second, then her eyes flickered back to full wattage. "It's not my fault I was born a high pedigree either."

    Kira sniffed. She didn't have time for this. "Just stay out of my way, and nobody gets hurt." She turned and sat at the opposite corner of the group area.

     Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. This day couldn't be over soon enough.

    "Cold! Cold! Cold!" Shrieked once of Livy's new groupmates. "It's so cooooold!"

    "Have you ever even swam before? This is beautiful!" Livy waded through the water and splashed around, wagging her tail. She missed water. She sighed, remembering her private oasis by the river back home. She loved to swim in that river. Her mom had too, at least according Lucia.

    "The Water Races are about to begin! Each of the Groups will race, and then the winners from each group shall race in the final heats. We shall go in numerical order, from Group 1, through Group 14. So all competitors from Group 1, come up to the starting line!"

    Livy watched as Group 1 assembled themselves by the bridge. "Today's course consists of a thirty stretch swim. Whoever gets to the other side of the bank first wins, and gets to race in the finals! Are you ready, Group 1?"

     The wolves in Group 1 howled, and Grove flung his head back and howled. "Then Three! Two! One! Go!"

     The five wolves flung themselves into the water and began swimming feverishly, a greyish he-wolf quickly taking the lead. As they neared the five stretches mark, a sandy brown she-wolf pressed up close behind him. Livy's eyes widened as she recognized the wolf.
 
     "Swim Sandi, Swim!" Livy howled for her former Groupmate.
Sandi's ears flickered and her legs pumped forward with new power. Livy felt herself truly excited for once, and began bouncing around like Trace always did. "Go! Go! Go!" She howled, joining in with the excited howls of the other Cadets around her.