Waking up to a screaming phone next to my head at five in the morning is, without a doubt, one of the worst ways to start the day. Grumbling, I reached for my phone and squinted at the caller ID. Who in the furry hell was calling me at this ungodly hour? Seeing that it was Steve, I let out a groan before answering.

“Whaaaaat!” I growled irritably into the phone.

“Good morning, Alpha,” Steve chirped, far too cheerfully for this hour.

“Steve… It’s five in the fluffing morning,” I grumbled, burying my face in my pillow. “Training doesn’t start for another two hours.”

“This is true, but I figured you’d want a shower, some breakfast, and coffee to start your day,” he replied, still infuriatingly chipper.

I dragged my hand down my face, feeling every ounce of my morning reluctance. I was not a morning person. I preferred to sleep through the mornings and run at night. Steve, on the other hand, loved getting up at the ass crack of dawn. For the past six months, he’d been on a mission to convert me to his early-bird ways. Now that he was my beta, he no longer had to settle for sending me emails about the benefits of early rising—he could call and wake me up directly.

“Why me… just why…” I mumbled quietly.

“Sorry, Alpha, I didn’t catch that,” Steve said, his voice tinged with concern.

“Nothing… I’ll be on my way in a few minutes,” I huffed, resigning myself to the inevitable.

“Oh good! The door’s unlocked. Just come on in,” he replied before hanging up.

I sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling of my sleeper. My flat black skyboard hung above me, emblazoned with the Team Amethyst logo. I’d spent a good thirty minutes figuring out how to secure it to the ceiling with ratchet straps so it wouldn’t be in the way and wouldn’t knock me out cold in the middle of the night.

I was an official member of Team Amethyst, but with the world in total chaos, all international competitions had been postponed indefinitely. Now, I practiced when I had free time and needed an outlet. Unlike Star and Cayro, I wasn’t as popular with the crowds. It wasn’t that I was bad or anything; it was more that Star and Cayro were a matched set, and their individual competitions were… well, intimate and epic. The crowd ate it up. Zak and Aura were also on our team, and like any werewolf, they didn’t take kindly to being shown up. Their competitions were just as intense.

I didn’t have a mate or a partner to be that close with, so I stuck to solo competitions. The one person I thought I could be that close to had been assigned to a different group by Zak, and since then, he hadn’t called or texted me. If I were in my wolf form, my ears would have laid back in sadness at the thought, the familiar sting of loneliness hitting my chest.

Rolling onto my side, I laid my head on my arm, only to catch a whiff of day-old sweat and body odor. The smell was strong enough to make my nose wrinkle in disgust. Groaning, I sat up and grabbed my shower bag from one of the cupboards. I quickly stuffed fresh clothes into it and threw on yesterday’s clothes. Climbing out of my truck, I made my way to the back of the trailer.

Stepping through the door of the MCV, the scent of bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes hit me like a warm, delicious wall. Following the aroma, I found Steve in the kitchen, bustling around like it was the middle of the day. He was dressed in his usual work attire—a company polo neatly tucked into a pair of faded blue jeans, finished off with nice business shoes. Over it all, he wore a red apron that read, “Fluffer Nutter at Large,” with a picture of a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich adorned with wolf ears and a tail.

I raised an eyebrow, watching as he scrambled eggs in a bowl. I was terrible in the kitchen—my last attempt at cooking eggs had ended with Mrs. Bracton tossing them in the trash and taking over. Then there was the time I nearly burned down Star and Cayro’s kitchen… I wasn’t allowed near their kitchen on the airship after that.

“There you are. Go shower before everyone else starts coming in,” Steve directed, pointing his whisk toward the bathroom with authority.

“What’s with the apron?” I asked, arching an eyebrow as I prepared to head for my shower.

“That is for me to know and for you guys to try and guess,” he replied with a cheeky grin. “Now go shower. You smell like a wet dog.”

I shot him a mock glare before making my way to the bathroom. The setup was surprisingly spacious for a mobile unit. The toilet was angled into a corner, just in front of the vanity sink, complete with a foot pedal for flushing. The shower stall was larger than expected, offering enough space to move around comfortably, and it even had a teak fold-down seat. A cabinet next to the stall housed a stack of white towels, with a hamper tucked underneath.

Tossing my bag onto the vanity, I slid the pocket door shut and started to undress. I cranked on the shower faucet, using the time it took for the water to heat up to pull out my shower gear. Steam began to fill the small room quickly. Pulling out my phone, I set one of my playlists to play and climbed into the shower, letting the hot water wash over my face and down through my silver hair, rinsing away the remnants of the previous day.

Twenty minutes later, I returned to the kitchen, feeling refreshed. Steve was busy setting out plates, and Jake stood by the island with a go bag slung over his shoulder. I waved him off to go shower since I was done. He nodded and headed out without hesitation, the bathroom door sliding shut behind him as Steve handed me a plate.

“Did you look over today’s itinerary?” Steve asked, flipping a pancake with practiced ease.

“Yeah,” I replied, recalling it from memory. “We have tech training this morning, followed by a lunch break. Then it’s weapons training until dinner. After that, we’ll meet our mechanic and tactical liaison.”

“Perfect. I’ll be handling the tech training this morning. We need to go over the radios that’ll be installed in your trucks, the tablets you’re going to be issued, and how to properly connect your headsets,” Steve explained, his tone all business.

“You?” I asked, a bit surprised.

“Yep, I stayed up late last night going through everything,” he said, his cheerful demeanor never wavering.

“Ah, okay,” I said, just as another member of the team walked in—a woman I hadn’t met yet.

She was a striking figure: a cream-colored brunette with soft blue eyes, standing about six inches taller than me. Her short, spiked hair stuck out in multiple directions, adding to her edgy appearance. She had several piercings in one ear and tribal tattoos around her neck, disappearing under a dark grey t-shirt. Despite her tough exterior, she looked dog-tired, like she had only just gone to bed an hour ago and had been rudely awakened.

Steve offered her a plate of food before returning to the stove. She accepted it and then turned to me, waiting hesitantly. I rolled my eyes and picked up a piece of bacon, chomping down on it to signal that it was okay for her to eat. For Luna’s sake, I just wanted to enjoy my breakfast without having to constantly reassure everyone.

“So, you’re Lyra Acosta?” the woman asked in a timid voice, a stark contrast to her appearance.

“The one and only,” I replied with a smile, trying to put her at ease.

“Oh… okay,” she murmured nervously.

What was with this girl? She dressed and presented herself like a badass, yet she was practically cowering in fear around me. Was she really that scared of me? I took a slow, deep breath, catching her scent—there it was, the unmistakable tang of fear. It hung thick in the air, almost palpable.

As I took a closer look at her, I noticed the black leather arm bracers she wore, covering both forearms. They weren’t just for show—she was using them to hide something. Gently placing my plate down, I took a slow step toward her. She froze, her fear intensifying, practically radiating off her.

In a soft, calming voice, I began to speak. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to be afraid.”

She looked like she was about to bolt out of the kitchen, her fear almost tangible. I stopped a couple of feet from her, lifting my hand so my palm faced upward.

“May I see your arm?” I asked gently, my voice soft and caring.

At first, she hesitated, her gaze flickering between my face and my outstretched hand. But with a little coaxing, she slowly placed her arm in my hand. Our eyes met, and I could see the storm of emotions swirling within her.

“May I have permission to take this off?” I asked, gesturing toward the leather bracer on her arm.

She didn’t respond verbally, but I could feel the tremors coursing through her body. She was too overwhelmed to answer. I made the decision for her, carefully untying the leather cords and peeling the bracer away to reveal the scarred skin beneath. My heart ached at the sight—scars like these told a story I was all too familiar with.

I traced my thumb along the ridged skin on her wrist, my touch as gentle as possible. It didn’t take a genius to understand what she had done. After a moment, I re-tied the bracer and looked back into her eyes. The fear was still there, raw and intense, but now mingled with something else—vulnerability.

Without a word, I pulled up the sleeve of my right arm, revealing my own scars. The scars of a werewolf were not easily made—silver was the primary element that caused them, though there were others as well. Silver’s tarnishing property was what harmed us, and enough of it could kill, though it took a lot. A simple blade laced with silver wasn’t lethal, but it would definitely leave a mark, as it had on me.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Gently, I guided her hand to my scars, letting her feel them. At first, she didn’t react, but after a few moments, her focus shifted to the ridges beneath her fingers. She looked up at me, her eyes wide with realization.

“You aren’t alone. At one time, I wanted it all to end as well. But I’m not like your old alpha or luna,” I said quietly, my voice steady but soft.

“I’m sorry, Alpha,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

“Don’t be. I don’t know your story, and you don’t know mine, so I understand. When you’re ready to share your story, I’ll share mine with you,” I replied, offering her a kind smile.

She nodded, her body language slightly more relaxed now. I stepped back, giving her some space, and picked up my plate again. Scooping up some eggs with my fork, I took a bite before gesturing for her to eat as well. She glanced down at her plate, hesitated, and then picked up a sausage patty, taking a small bite. I gave her an encouraging smile before continuing with my breakfast. It was clear she was a very submissive wolf, someone who had been broken by her past.

Not long after, Jake walked back into the kitchen, his hair still damp and sticking out in every direction. His usual smile was firmly in place as he grabbed a plate of food from Steve and came over to stand beside me. He quickly noticed Kira standing off to the side.

“Oh, hi Kira! I’m glad you could make it,” he said, his voice filled with genuine warmth.

I felt a soft burst of energy radiate from him, spreading through the kitchen and making me feel unexpectedly relaxed. I noticed that Kira and Steve seemed to relax a bit more too. Wow, so that was what an Omega’s presence could do.

“Hi Jake, thank you for waking me up,” Kira replied in her soft voice.

“You’re welcome,” he said with a shy grin.

I observed Jake closely. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Kira, as if he were drawn to her. Was it attraction, or could he sense her apprehension and fear? I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Finishing my food, I placed my plate in the dishwasher next to the sink and quietly left the MCV, giving Kira some space. I didn’t want to make her feel cornered. Climbing into my cab, I sat in the driver’s seat, opened my fridge, and pulled out a Red Bull. Cracking it open, I took a sip and watched as the other team members gradually made their way to the MCV.

By seven in the morning, everyone had showered and eaten breakfast. They were now standing around, talking amongst themselves while Steve set up a table with boxes of headsets, tablets, and a radio. I stood nearby, observing the group. Jake was chatting with Kira, his focus entirely on her. Sasha, meanwhile, was standing with a group of guys, talking animatedly. She seemed excited about something, her energy infectious.

“Alright everyone, gather round,” Steve announced, his voice cutting through the low murmur of conversation.

We all moved in closer around the table, waiting patiently as he began passing out headsets followed by tablets. As I took mine, I immediately recognized the logo on the back. This tablet was designed by Nick Cunningham, the head of SkyTeam’s Information Technologies Research Department. He was once the SAF’s go-to IT guru, before his home was destroyed.

I knew what to expect from this tablet: a device stripped down to the essentials, loaded only with mission-specific applications. These would be damn near impossible to hack, too. Nick prided himself on creating tech that was virtually impregnable. My personal phone and tablet, a matched set, were designed by him as a Christmas gift from Star and Cayro last year.

I turned on the tablet, watching as the screen flared to life. The SkyTeam logo appeared, spinning slowly in place as the Android operating system loaded. It wasn’t long before I was greeted by a login screen. Well, I should have seen that coming. I turned to Steve, a questioning look on my face.

“Do I use my normal login that I have here at the company?” I asked, slightly puzzled.

“For you… no,” he replied. “But everyone else, yes. If you haven’t done so yet, please turn your tablets on and log in. Alpha, you use your ship’s access login.” He directed.

I arched an eyebrow, confused. Why did I have to use my ship access code to log in? Rolling my eyes, I typed in my old ship access code and waited. It took a few minutes, but eventually, my old familiar account from my time aboard the FSAS Crescent Moon loaded up, complete with all my data and apps.

I noticed three new applications installed on my home screen. One looked like a military GPS mapping system, another seemed to be a communications app, and the third was the company’s mobile app that we used for load information, emails, pay stubs, and other company-related information.

As I listened to Steve walk everyone through setting up their accounts on their tablets, I realized that their setups were giving them access to the same data as mine. Since my account was already in place, I didn’t have to go through the process again. Instead, I watched as each member of the team completed their setup. My tablet dinged with a notification each time, indicating that a new account had been added under my parent account.

I frowned and looked over at Steve. “Why am I getting notified that I have new accounts falling under my account?” I asked, showing him the notifications.

“Uh… I think it has to do with the fact that your account is an administrative account. I’m not entirely sure. This was all set up by someone else,” he answered, looking a bit uncertain.

“I’ll have to ask Uncle about it,” I muttered, more to myself than to him.

“That would probably be a good idea,” Steve agreed.

Once everyone had completed their tablet setups, Steve had us open up our new headsets. Following his instructions, we launched the communications app and linked our headsets to the tablets. This wasn’t as simple as pairing them with Bluetooth—the headsets were encrypted and required a ten-digit code for linkage.

We managed to get our headsets working and tested them by calling each other through the app. There was an option to talk on an open channel, but it was greyed out. When I tried to activate it, the app shook and spat out an error code. Interesting. It seemed the app wasn’t fully operational yet.

“Alright, now that we have your tablets set up and linked to your headsets, please come stand by the table,” Steve instructed.

We moved closer, waiting for him to continue. To my surprise, Kira came up and stood next to me. She seemed nervous but handed me her tablet, her eyes a bit wide with uncertainty. I glanced up at her before taking it, noticing the screen was completely blank except for a handful of basic system apps and the same three apps that I had on mine. There was an admin password request across the screen, asking for approval.

Tilting my head, I typed in my password, and a photo immediately downloaded to the tablet. The image popped open on the screen—it was a picture of me from my last competition in Waco, Texas, a couple of years ago. I looked up at Kira in confusion. This was a photo I had never seen before.

She reached for her tablet, and I handed it back to her. She tapped on the screen a few times and then handed it back to me. I looked down and saw that she had set the photo as the home screen background.

“I took that photo myself at your last competition, Alpha,” she explained, filling in the blanks.

“I thought you were scared of me,” I asked, genuinely taken aback by the gesture.

“I am scared of what you are and what you could become. But I’m a huge fan of yours and Team Amethyst,” she said nervously, her voice trembling slightly.

I blinked, caught off guard by her admission. For a moment, I was at a loss for words. I handed her tablet back, and we stood there side by side as Steve began to demonstrate the radio setup.

“Alpha, may I see your tablet, please?” Steve asked.

I handed it to him and watched as he turned on the radio.

“Each of you will be assigned one of these radios. You’ll link the radio to your tablet the same way you did with your headsets. These radios will replace the CB radios you’re accustomed to. Unlike your CB radios, these babies are military encrypted and will allow you to communicate with the military units we’ll be assisting. To keep some familiarity, your primary communication channel for the team will still be channel nineteen,” Steve explained.

“So, these radios are like CBs but more advanced and encrypted?” one of the others asked.

“That is correct. We don’t want our communications intercepted or used against us. That would be catastrophic for us and the military,” Steve replied, his tone serious.

I watched as several team members nodded in agreement, their expressions reflecting a growing understanding of the gravity of our mission. Steve continued using my tablet to show everyone how to link their radios and tablets together. As he did, I heard a few of them murmuring about how many apps I had on my tablet compared to their own, which were still mostly barren. They knew I had connections, but most of them didn’t realize just how deep those connections went within the supernatural world.

After finishing the radio setup, Steve handed me back my tablet and asked if anyone had questions. There were a few, but he answered them easily, his familiarity with the tech evident. He then moved on to the military-grade GPS application.

We all opened the app on our tablets and began to explore it. A map filled my screen, showing twelve green indicators representing where we all were. One indicator was further away, located inside the maintenance shop. That must have been our mechanic.

“As you can see, we’re able to track each other,” Steve explained. “However, if you don’t have your tablet near you, we won’t be able to find you.”

“Ha! We’re werewolves. We can track each other down just fine,” one of the team members snorted. It was Tyler, a tall redheaded man with a matching beard.

“I think you’re missing the point, Tyler,” Steve said, casting a glance his way. “Not everyone we’ll be working with will be a werewolf or even supernatural for that matter.”

“Good point,” Tyler conceded, nodding.

“Anyway, each time we get a load through the company app, it will automatically push the coordinates to the map for us. The military will also push known threat pins to indicate where we may run into some trouble,” Steve continued, keeping the focus on the task at hand.

We spent the next couple of hours delving into the details of each of the two apps and the new section in the company app. Together, Jake, Kira, and I practiced working with my new radio and exploring the functions of the apps to familiarize ourselves with them. Kira was gradually warming up to me, her nerves easing, especially with Jake close by, his presence clearly a source of comfort for her.

As we were testing the features, Sasha walked up to us with a casual "hi." I noticed Kira instinctively duck behind Jake, using him as a shield. A small frown tugged at the corner of my mouth—I would need to find a way to help her come out of her shell soon. A scared wolf could be a liability on our mission.

“So, what are your thoughts so far?” I asked the small group, curious to hear their impressions.

“It’s rather more intense than I expected,” Sasha admitted, her tone thoughtful.

“I’m having fun,” Jake chimed in with a grin.

“It’s… different. I’m not used to being around so many wolves anymore,” Kira said quietly, her eyes flicking between us.

“Yeah, I was expecting us to be on our own, not working as a group,” Sasha added. “But money talks, and I’m not passing up a huge paycheck.”

“I think money is the big motivator for most of the group,” I said, nodding in agreement.

“It’s playing a big role for everyone, but I don’t think it’s what’s keeping everyone here,” Jake replied, his expression thoughtful.

“No?” I asked, intrigued by his insight.

“Nope. I think it’s the camaraderie of being around a group of wolves again. We aren’t meant to live alone for long periods of time,” he answered, his voice steady with conviction.

“You have a point there, Jake. I was beginning to get depressed and lonely myself. It’s actually nice having people I can talk to and spend time with,” Sasha admitted, a hint of relief in her voice.

“Huh,” I murmured, a pensive expression settling on my face as I absorbed their words.

“Alpha,” Kira began softly, “listening to the others talk… they’re confused by your actions. But the kindness you’re showing everyone is making them feel like you’re approachable. I don’t think it’s something they’re used to seeing from an alpha.”

I raised an eyebrow, glancing at Jake and Sasha to gauge their thoughts.

“She’s not wrong,” Sasha said, nodding. “Everyone is noticing how you’re willing to get down and dirty to lead by example rather than being demanding. Several of them like that about you.”

“Give it time, Alpha. They’ll warm up to you,” Jake added with a reassuring smile.

I nodded, a sense of quiet satisfaction settling over me. Just then, Steve announced that it was lunchtime. The four of us made our way toward the MCV to grab leftovers from last night, a small but meaningful step toward becoming a true pack.