The Alpha King's main compound is massive. It sits on a mountain overlooking three pack territories, and from the highest point, you can see for miles in every direction. The compound itself is a combination of training grounds, living quarters, and administrative buildings. It feels like a city unto itself.
Sage and I are given apartments near the main training facility. Raven is our supervisor, and she wastes no time putting us to work.
"You're not just Elite Warriors now," she tells us on our first day. "You're also teachers. We have warriors coming from various packs to train with us. You'll help me develop their skills."
The first group of trainees arrives a week after we do. There are twelve of them, ranging from young teenagers to warriors in their twenties. Most of them are from packs that have recently changed their rules about female warriors.
One of them immediately catches my attention. She's small but intensely focused. Her name is Maya, and she reminds me of myself when I was younger—trying to be invisible while secretly burning with power.
During the first training session, I notice that Maya is holding back. She's not pushing herself as hard as she could. It's the same thing I used to do when I was trying not to threaten people.
I pull her aside after training.
"You're stronger than you're showing," I tell her.
"How did you know?" Maya asks.
"Because I used to do the same thing," I say. "We get taught that we're supposed to be less than we are. It's hard to unlearn that."
"How did you unlearn it?" Maya asks.
"I found people who believed I could be more," I say. "And I kept fighting until I became that person."
Over the next few weeks, I work with Maya and the other trainees. Some of them respond well. Some of them are resistant to the idea of pushing themselves harder. Some of them are dealing with pack leaders back home who don't support their training.
But most of them are hungry for what Sage and I represent. The possibility of being powerful and respected on their own terms.
During this time, my father becomes something I think about but no longer fear. Marcus sends me letters updating me on pack life. My father has become increasingly isolated. The pack is changing. The younger members especially are starting to question the old ways.
One letter from Marcus stands out:
*Father tried to prevent some of our younger warriors from applying to train with the Alpha King's Elite Warriors. But when they went anyway, nothing happened. He couldn't stop them. I think he's realizing that his power is fading. And it's terrifying him.*
I feel something when I read that. Not satisfaction, but sadness. My father is a victim of his own system as much as I was. He believed so much in the hierarchy and the old ways that he couldn't adapt when things started to change.
Three months into our time at the compound, Sage receives a visitor. It's her mother. I've never heard Sage talk much about her mother, so when I see them together, I can sense the complicated history between them.
"Your father wants to speak with you," her mother says when they're in private, but I hear anyway. Werewolf hearing.
"No," Sage says.
"He's dying," her mother says. "He's been sick for a while, and the doctors say he doesn't have much time left."
I watch Sage process this information. I can see the conflict on her face. The anger and the love mixed together.
"I'll come," Sage says finally. "But not because he asked. For myself."
Sage leaves for a week to visit her father. When she comes back, she's different. Quieter. Sadder.
We sit in her apartment one evening, and she tells me what happened.
"He asked for my forgiveness," Sage says. "He said that what he did, trying to take political advantage of the situation with my friend's father, was wrong. He said he's regretted it every day since."
"Did you forgive him?" I ask.
"I don't know," Sage says. "I wanted to. But forgiveness isn't something I can just give. It's something that has to happen over time. And we might not have that time."
Her father dies a week later. Sage doesn't go to the funeral. But she does go through his things when they're sent to her. She finds letters. Letters to her that he never had the courage to send. Letters where he tried to explain himself and ask for forgiveness.
"He was a coward," Sage says, holding the letters. "But he was still my father. And he still loved me."
Kai comes to stay with Sage for a while after her father's death. He helps her process the grief and the complicated feelings that come with losing someone you have a complicated relationship with.
Watching them together, I understand something about love. It's not simple. It's not just positive or negative. Love and pain and anger and forgiveness can all exist at the same time.
Six months after the trials, the Alpha King holds a ceremony to officially recognize the new female Elite Warriors. Packs from all over are invited. It's a big event, designed to show the entire pack system that change is happening and it's official.
I see my brother Marcus at the ceremony. He's here representing our pack since my father refuses to come. After the official proceedings, Marcus finds me.
"Father is stepping down," Marcus says. "He's appointed a council to run the pack while I'm away training as an Elite Warrior."
I'm shocked. "He's actually allowing that?"
"He doesn't really have a choice anymore," Marcus says. "The Alpha King has made it clear that packs that don't support warrior training for all interested members will lose access to the compound and will be considered behind the times."
"That's good," I say. "That's really good."
"There's something else," Marcus says. "I think Father might come here eventually. To talk to you. He hasn't said as much, but I think he knows he needs to find some kind of peace with what happened."
I'm not sure how I feel about that. Part of me still wants to prove something to my father. But I'm also starting to understand that my father's approval isn't something I need anymore.
A year passes. Sage has officially joined the Alpha King's council as an advisor on pack matters. She's using her power to help change policies and push for better treatment of women across all packs.
Kai is now training other male warriors who are interested in supporting the changes. There are more of them than anyone expected. It turns out that a lot of men were also tired of the rigid hierarchy. They also wanted something different.
I'm working with the trainees full-time now. Maya has become my special project. She's developed into one of the strongest warriors in her training group. But more importantly, she's developed confidence and self-respect.
One day, she tells me that her pack wants to make her an official warrior.
"You should say yes," I tell her.
"Aren't you worried that I'll become like the old warriors?" Maya asks. "That I'll use my power to hurt people?"
"No," I say. "Because I know you. And you care about people. You care about fairness. You'll use your power to help, not to hurt."
"How can you be so sure?" Maya asks.
"Because you're a lot like me," I say. "And I know who I am now. I know I want to be someone who helps other people find their power."
Two years after the trials, I finally see my father. He comes to the compound without warning. He looks older. Smaller somehow. Like everything that made him powerful before has been taken away.
Raven tells me he's here. I almost don't go to meet him. But then I realize that I want to. Not for him, but for me. To finally have closure on this part of my life.
We meet in a quiet garden at the compound. He looks at me for a long time before he speaks.
"You look happy," he says finally.
"I am," I say.
"I'm proud of you," he says. "I wanted to say that. Even though I don't have the right to be proud."
I look at my father, and I feel the years of hurt and rejection sitting between us. But I also feel something else. Pity, maybe. Or forgiveness. I'm not quite sure which.
"Why did you come?" I ask.
"Because you were right," he says. "About the system. About the way I was treating you. I was wrong. I know that's not enough to fix anything, but I wanted to say it."
"It's not enough," I agree. "But it's something."
"I've stepped down from the position of Beta," he continues. "I realized that I was holding on to power because I was afraid. Afraid of change. Afraid of being left behind. So I left before I could hurt anyone else."
"What will you do now?" I ask.
"I don't know," my father says. "Maybe try to be the kind of father my daughter deserves. Even if you don't need me to be."
Over time, my father and I build something that's not quite a relationship but isn't nothing either. It's fragile and imperfect, but it's honest.
Marcus becomes a full Elite Warrior and works with me training other warriors. Kira and Mira have both achieved high positions in their own packs, using what they learned to push for systemic change.
And Sage... Sage has become one of the most influential voices in the entire pack system. She's spearheaded changes that have made things safer and fairer for everyone. She hasn't completely gotten revenge on her father's memory, but she's done something better. She's changed the system that allowed her father to be destroyed in the first place.
One evening, two years and six months after the trials, Sage and I sit in the same courtyard where we first met at the Alpha King's compound.
"Do you think we accomplished what we set out to do?" Sage asks.
"I think we accomplished more than we set out to do," I say. "We wanted to be warriors. We became warriors and changed the entire system."
"That's a lot of responsibility," Sage says.
"It is," I agree. "But we can handle it."
Sage smiles. "You know what the best part is?" she asks.
"What?" I say.
"We did it together," Sage says. "And we're going to keep doing it together."
I look at my friend, at the woman who believed in me before I believed in myself, and I know that whatever comes next, we can face it.
We've already survived the impossible.