Alpha Academy (Completed)

Chapter 1

*Ava POV*

I can barely stand still, bouncing on the balls of my feet. The harder I try to relax and think about anything else, the more excited I become. After months of waiting it is finally tomorrow and euphoria is vibrating through my entire being. I have barely ever left our packlands in my entire life and that is not me pretending that I have lived a hard life to this point and I am not trying to insinuate that I am some complete shut-in that has been sheltered from the whole world and that absolutely not to say that we don't have everything we could ever need right here. It is not to say that I have ever missed out on anything, but still. The farthest I ever get to travel is to school and that is literally just on the border anyway. I love my school and will miss my friends dearly, but this is such a great opportunity and one that I didn't think that I would ever get.

Let me explain. I am the daughter of the Alpha. I have a twin brother named Tyson who is the future alpha. Tomorrow we are heading to Alpha Academy. Usually, girls don't get the opportunity to attend alpha academy unless they are the only child of the alpha, which is actually surprisingly rare. If that strange occurrence actually comes to be, they will take over the pack. Even though my brother and I are twins, he will eventually take over our pack and even though we were born only minutes apart, he is considered the future alpha and I am merely an alpha's daughter, never sporting the title, only the illustrious bloodline. Just because he is a man and I happen to have a v****a between my legs instead of the obvious required equipment.

I know it is totally archaic.

But I guess that is the way the werewolf world is. I guess it is assumed that all women will find their mates and go running off like love sick little puppies, cutting all ties to their old pack. Therefore, they are unsuitable to take positions of power and that starts the unreasonably common mission of each pack alpha to reproduce to the point that they have a male heir to take over, once again bringing us back to the unlikely even of a woman actually getting to take their birth right.

Bringing us back to my exact situation, it is not that part that I mind so much. For me personally, it is just that I don't like the rigid set-up. For me, I am not sure whether I want the responsibility of running a pack. Yes, I love my pack and yes, I want to be as strong as I can possibly be. I want to fight to protect my family and have the ability to do so, but that is a completely different thing to wanting to actually run it. I am happy just to let my brother run it and help out however I can. He is more of the leadership type than me, nothing to do with gender.

My dad is great and doesn't believe in all the old ways and has been brave enough to fight tooth and nail so that I can also attend alpha academy with Tyson. He believes, as do I, that I really have equal rights to be Alpha as Tyson does. I know the council would never accept it. But if anything was to happen to Tyson, I would be able to step straight in. Not that I would ever want anything to happen to him. He is not only my brother, but he is also my best friend.

Alpha academy is a little strange. You can only go once you have turned seventeen. You have to leave before you turn eighteen and depending on where your birthday falls in the school year is how long you can actually attend for. Tyson and I only get to go for six months but we are very well-trained already, so dad doesn't think it will be any problem for us to catch up.

The whole premise of the academy is to teach future alphas the council rules, strength and endurance training, preparing future alphas for transition and leading. Shifting to an alpha wolf is a lot harder than a regular wolf. The strength and ferocity behind it. The extreme anger and emotions that come with it. It is more than others wolves have to deal with. Every sense is tenfold of a regular wolf. The academy also helps instill bonds between packs to help with alliances later on.

"Ava, are you still packing?"

Tyson’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts. I look at him happily, my crazy smile is met with his usual indifferent face. While his face seems to show the emotional range of a boulder, there is the sweetest, kindest person hiding under that expressionless face.

"Sorry Ty I am just so excited"

The high-pitched squeal of my own voice, surprises me more than it does him. My excitement is met by his eyeroll, something he often does in my presence. Even though he never matches my enthusiasm (and that isn't saying much because no one ever seems to), I know he loves me.

"I swear it is not that exciting, our birthday party is happening downstairs right now. Can't you leave this till later?"

"Fine Ty, but if I forget anything I will blame you. Anyway, have you even started packing?"

"You have to remember that I am not as excited you are, so I have packed, whereas you have packed and unpacked the same luggage so many times I have lost count"

"Yeah, but the difference is that you HAVE to go, where as I GET to go. The two points couldn’t be further from each other"

Tyson jus coughs loudly as he shakes his head, it doesn't matter how many times I say it, he will never get it and maybe it is impossible for him to ever understand.

"Whatever Ava, let's go down"

I reluctantly drop what I am doing and head downstairs with him because, of course, I know he is right.

Should I be at our seventeenth party instead of hiding out in my room being overly excited about where we are going to spend the next six months of our lives? Probably.

Does that stop me thinking about it? Hell no!!

My friends all rush up to me when I finally get to the bottom of the stairs.

"We thought you weren't even going to come down and say goodbye"

"Of course I am going to say goodbye. I am sorry I just got a little sidetracked"

I hear an near inaudible snort from Ty but conveniently ignore him as I grab some food and head straight out to the dance floor, followed by my friends. As well as Ty, I have my main group of close friends. There are seven of us. Rachel, Cade, Damien, Melanie, Cleo, Ty and I. Melanie and Ty have had a bit of a thing going on for a year and I assume that is why he is so deeply unmotivated by the whole prospect of leaving for six months.

I mean these friends are great, but I am keen on making more and meeting new people. Everyone in this pack has all grown up together, so it is the same old people all the time. The same conversations over and over, no one ever says anything new and nothing is exciting. I have a few human friends at school, but it is so hard to be so close to humans in case they notice something.

At seventeen, we still can't shift, but we can access some abilities from our wolves from a young age. We have increased strength, hearing and vision to humans. So it is very easy to slip up.

Meeting other wolves from other packs from all over the world just sounds fun. I mean some future alphas are super stuck up, but there must be a few good ones. If not, then ones from surrounding packs might be good as well. I am just a sociable, friendly person, so this lack of variety bores me.

But I have to stop thinking about that. I will be there tomorrow. It is so close I can nearly taste it, so tonight I have a cute little royal blue party dress on. I am surrounded by my friends that I won't see again for six months.

It is time to DANCE.

I wake to a knock on the door. I groan and look at the time. It is seven thirty and we have to leave at eight. I am so late.

I jump out of bed and rush around throwing everything I can think of in my bag.

I wish I had finished packing last night.

Damn Tyson, I am going to kill him.

I jump through the shower and get dressed with not a second to spare. I run out the bedroom door with my hair still wet. A brush in one hand and my bag in the other. My jacket only on one shoulder. Half my clothes are hanging out of my barely zipped-up bags.

Tyson laughs at me, as I finally join them downstairs. He is looking his neat and tidy self. His bag perfectly packed. We are twins, but I swear we are polar opposites.

"This is all your fault, you know that don't you?"

I shout at him in a joking manner, I am not actually mad at him, I just need to blame someone because it can’t possibly be my fault.

"You should of woken up earlier"

"No, you should have woken me earlier. This is entirely your fault"

He just laughs again. We look really similar apart from the whole boy/girl thing. But personality wise. He is neat and organized and I wouldn't say guarded. Maybe reserved is more the word. Me, on the other hand. Chaos and clumsy. I blurt out everything I am thinking before I get a chance to think about what I am saying. Complete open book. I have heard people describe me as annoyingly bubbly, but that is just fine by me. I like to bring laughter and joy everywhere I go. That doesn't mean I am a pushover at all. I am a fierce fighter and can kick ass with the best of them.

I glance sideways as my mother comes down the stairs.

"Ava it is about time"

She looks at me with a sneer over her perfectly maintained face, not a single blonde hair out of place, then there is me, her daughter who has a literal brush stuck in my mess that is attached to my head.

"Straighten yourself up, you look ridiculous"

"Mum, I got the whole journey to sort myself out"

"Fine, just remember you are representing the red dawn pack, make sure you make us proud, or if that is too much to ask at least don’t embarrass us"

I roll my eyes, she never says anything like that to Ty. I bet she was totally against dad getting me into alpha academy. I am just imagining their conversation now. 'how could you Max, she will just embarrass us. She doesn't know how to hold her tongue blah blah disappointment this disappointment that'. As you can tell, my mum and I don't have the best relationship. She thinks I need to be more proper and more lady like, whereas, I don’t give a damn what she thinks, I am just happy being me.

I hear a greeting from behind.

"Good morning Alpha Max"

I turn around quickly with a smile on my face.

"Dad"

I shout excitedly. His kind smile matches mine. He opens his arms wide, and I run in for one of his patented bear hugs.

I will miss my dad most of all.

Mum speaks again.

"It is time to go, Ava has already set us behind"

I roll my eyes again, I bet she is happy that she doesn’t have to see me for six months.

"Bye dad"

I give him a kiss on the cheek. Quickly hug my friends goodbye. Do some great fake dry retching at Melanie and Tyson's tear-filled farewell kiss. I grab my bag and run out the door to the waiting car. Mum gives me a small wave and that's it. She gives Ty a hug, and he comes out the door and meets me in the car. He sits in the front seat with the driver and leaves me the back seat, so I can sort myself out.

On the bright side, this takes up heaps of time, making the five-hour car journey a little more tolerable.

When we finally arrive, I nearly resemble a put-together human. My hair is naturally dried, brushed and tied back. My clothes are all in my bags and my jacket is on properly. I even turned my singlet around the right way after noticing it was inside out. That would have been embarrassing. I wipe the drool marks from the corner of my lips. What? It was a long way.... I may have napped.....a lot.