Chapter 337: The Candidates

Rebecca’s POV

THREE YEARS LATER!

​"Ten seconds earlier," my father remarked, stepping out from behind the safety barrier with his arms crossed over his chest.

​A smirk slowly spread across my face as I stared at what remained of the thick wall of bricks in front of me. A few seconds ago, they had been stacked neatly on top of one another. Now pieces of broken brick were scattered across the training ground, and a cloud of dust still hung in the air.

​I brushed a stray lock of hair away from my face and turned toward him. "I’m getting faster."

​"Very impressive," Lord Drake said, a proud smile spreading across his sharp features. "Your control over the Fae magic combined with your raw wolf strength is finally becoming seamless."

​"Thanks." I couldn’t stop the proud smile that appeared on my face. Getting compliments from my father during training was something I had slowly gotten used to over the past three years, although I would probably never admit how much I enjoyed them.

​I caught my breath and wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead. "That will be all for today. I have to go see my mother."

​My father nodded in understanding. "Give Maria my regards."

​Over the past three years, a lot had changed. I still lived with my mother in the Stone Pack territory, but I came to my father’s kingdom regularly for training. Having him as my personal trainer had slowly allowed us to build a genuine relationship. We weren’t constantly walking on eggshells around each other anymore. Somewhere between him teaching me how to control my abilities, destroying training grounds, and the many times I accidentally sent him flying across the field, he had stopped feeling like Lord Drake.

​He had become my father.

​As for his wife and his two sons, my half-brothers, I chose to keep my distance. I didn’t hate them, and they didn’t hate me, but we all understood the boundary. Whenever I came to the kingdom for training and happened to cross paths with them, a polite nod or a simple "hi" was usually enough. Nobody tried to force a relationship between us, and honestly, I preferred it that way.

​"See you tomorrow, Drake," I said.

​With a single thought, I focused my mind on my mother’s office back at the Stone Pack estate and allowed my power to pull me through space.

​Teleportation had become much easier for me over the past three years. I no longer needed several attempts or strong emotions before I could teleport. As long as I knew the place I wanted to go and pictured it clearly in my mind, I could usually appear exactly where I wanted.

​Well, usually. There was one time I tried to teleport into my bedroom but somehow ended up inside a bathroom while someone was using it. It was extremely embarrassing, and no, we were never going to talk about that again.

​Some memories deserved to die.

​A second later, the training grounds vanished, and my feet landed on the soft carpet of my mother’s office.

​Alpha Maria jumped slightly in her chair, almost dropping the stack of papers in her hands before raising a sharp eyebrow at me. "At least alert me before you pop into my office, Rebecca."

​I scoffed lightly and took a seat on the leather armchair across from her desk, crossing my legs comfortably. "Where’s the fun in that?"

​She gave me a look that told me she didn’t find it nearly as funny as I did.

​I smiled, but it quickly faded when I noticed the heavy frown on her face and the pile of folders scattered across her desk. "What’s going on? You look stressed."

​My mother let out a long sigh and rubbed her temples. "Another small pack in Germany was attacked this morning. The tiger shifters took the territory and locked it down behind that Dark Fire again."

​My smile disappeared completely. "Again?"

​She nodded.

​I frowned. "That’s five packs in less than a month. What is the Werewolf Kingdom doing about it? What is the Alpha... King..."

​I froze mid-sentence.

​Kaden.

​Even thinking his name after so long felt strange.

​For three whole years, I had actively avoided anything that had to do with him. I avoided his name, news about his territory, and if I ever heard he was attending an international supernatural gathering, I made sure I was nowhere near the guest list. I had built a completely new life for myself, far away from everything that had happened between us. This was the first time in three years that his title had even crossed my lips.

​It wasn’t because I hated him. At least, not anymore.

​I simply didn’t want to know anything about his life. I had worked too hard to build one that belonged completely to me, and keeping my distance from Kaden had been part of that.

​My mother looked at me carefully, obviously noticing my hesitation, but thankfully, she didn’t comment on it.

​"Alpha Kaden held an emergency council meeting with all pack leaders yesterday," Mother explained, setting her pen down. "He requested that every pack, including hybrid territories, submit a list of their most gifted warriors. He’s forming a special unit made up of wolves with rare abilities. They’ll be brought to the royal pack and trained together to find a way to break through the Dark Fire and fight this war."

​I took a moment to think about it before slowly nodding. "That’s actually a smart move. Regular warriors stand no chance against Dark Fire."

​My eyes drifted toward a neat blue folder sitting in front of her.

​"What’s that?"

​"It’s a list of the gifted wolves in our territory." Mother sighed, tapping her fingers against the cover. "I’ve been going over their files all morning. Out of dozens of candidates, only two are actually qualified to join a high-level unit like that. I’m sending their information to the royal pack before midnight."