Fire and Flames

Prologue

A six-year-old boy with sandy blonde hair, tanned skin, and slate gray eyes makes his way into a camp with a large group of young boys. They were going to be put through immense training here. Only the strongest pups would be able to become a pack warrior.

The boy looks around the dense forest, to the clearing with many log cabins. A bright green moss covered the roofs of some of the cabins.

Everywhere the boy looked there were many different variations of greens and browns. No other colors could be seen yet.

The young children come to a stop in front of an older man. He wears camouflaged pants and a black short sleeved shirt. His arm muscles bulging as he crosses them across his chest. His striking electric blue eyes stood out against his dark ebony skin and black curly hair.

The man has a dark shadow of a beard. Both his hair and beard are dusted with a sprinkling of whiteish gray. He smiles down at the children.

"Welcome pups," The man says. His deep booming voice reaching the children in the way back of the mass of children so all could hear him.

"My name is Gunner. I will be your supervisor for your entire stay. Hopefully, most of you will advance to the final stage of testing, stay the entire sixteen years and be able to serve your pack as skillful warriors. Now I will assign you all to share a tent that you will make out of sticks and tarps with one other pup here. When you have completed two years of training you will upgrade to an actual tent that will shield you and your roommate from the harsh weather conditions. Then after the next eight years of training, you will be able to move into a cabin with your partner. If one of your partners does not qualify for the next level of training they will be sent home and you will be assigned a new partner. You are all required to wake up by five in the morning to begin training every day. You will eat breakfast that we will provide you after your daily mile run. If you are not up after five-thirty you will run two extra miles. No walking or you will start again from the beginning. You then will be trained on how to hunt your own food and practice on teamwork. Helping your fellow warriors is key in a battle situation. Then you will eat lunch which you will hunt yourselves. After that, there will be new activities for each day. Then we will provide dinner. After that, you will train for night battles and sneak attacks. Then finally you will be sent off to sleep. Is there any questions?"

The boys stand in silence. All now aware of the harsh reality that awaits them. They will all go through arduous training every single day with the exception of Sunday, which was their day off from training. They will not see or be in contact with their families for years, other than the occasional letter every three months. Most of the pups were feeling extremely homesick at this point. Wanting to be home with their parents and siblings.

"Alright. Let's get started with the assigning of partners. Remember, if you do not like who you are paired with you will have to get over it. You will be partners until the end of your training, whenever that shall be. When I call your name step up to me. Caden Lancaster."

The boy with the gray eyes slowly steps forward.

"Hmmm. You will be paired with... Adrian Pierce."

A small scrawny boy with wide green eyes and light brown hair wobbles on shaking legs up to where Caden stands.

His father sent Adrian here because he refused to believe that his son was only good for making pups and cooking and cleaning.

Many of the other pups snicker at the small boy. They all were thinking that he would not even survive a week here. The boy was an omega. A weakling.

Little did they know that this small boy would become someone very important to the warriors.

Caden stares at Adrian, realizing that they were going to become very close during their years of training. He knew then that he had to protect this boy. That he needed this boy to make it to the end with him. They will become good friends and hopefully graduate together all because they will stick together. That's what Caden wished for. A friend. Maybe it would help distract him from the fact that he was away from his mate.

"Hi," Caden says. He holds his hand out to Adrian. "I'm Caden. I'm six years old. Nice to meet you." The boy shakes his hand.

"I'm Adrian. I'm six as well."

"We should get working on our tent now. You go get the supplies from the man in that cabin and I will start gathering the best sticks for our tent. It's gonna be like a mansion compared to all the other boy's tents. The best of the best."

Adrian smiles. "Alright. Let's get to it."

Adrian runs up to a tall man with black hair and deep brown eyes. The man hands the boy a large bag of supplies. Adrian thanks the man and quickly drags the bad across the ground.

He finds Caden an hour later. Far from the other pups, in a small clearing in the woods near a beautiful stream.

"I think we should set up here. My father taught me to camp near a river so you can have a fresh supply of water and a place to clean off food. And it's farther away from where the other kids set up camp." Caden has already gathered many large sticks and propped some up between a large gap between two trees.

"It's beautiful here. It reminds me of home," Adrian says softly. "If I'm being honest I don't think I'll get to stay that long."

"Don't say that. I will help you along the way. We will train together and get very strong and skilled and wise. And then when we go back the Alpha will be so proud of us! I'll help you through this. Us outsiders gotta stick together. Now come here and help me tie these sticks together." Caden says.

Adrian could tell that Caden was a natural born leader. He would do great if he got the spot of the new head warrior. Adrian walks over to Caden and ties the sticks together in tight knots while Caden holds the sticks together.

As the two pups set up their home for the next two years, they chatted and got to know each other.

Since their noses were less developed they could not smell the presence behind them. They were not aware of the tall figure watching them from the woods. Inching closer. And closer. And closer...

A howl sounds off in the distance and the figure darts away. His scent had been discovered. The figures heavy footsteps make plenty of noise. The figure's boots crunching the leaves and snapping twigs around the clearing.

The boys turn, startled by the noise.

"Come on let's get back to work. It was probably just a big dumb animal," Caden assures Adrian.

"Yeah," Adrian says warily. He had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was not an animal that they heard. But knowing that they would be protected by the older more experienced warriors, he got back to work on making the best tent they could.