"Can one be a warrior without starting as a junior warrior?", James asked.
"Of course", Zack responded. "Normally, after high school, we would join as warriors in training. Right now, we have the same status as warriors in training, but we are at an advantage because we started earlier. After we finish school, we will turn into warriors in training, and we will be eligible to take tests needed for becoming regular warriors and get ranks assigned."
"You can think of us as elite forces.", Erik added proudly. "Most of us who join early get ranked by the time we reach twenty years old. Zack's grades are so good that he got a scholarship and is attending school in the human city."
James' eyes sparkled with curiosity as he turned to Zack. "How can you go to a human city regularly? What if someone upsets you and you shift in front of humans?"
Zack smirked. "I had to pass endurance tests where I proved I can control my wolf. If one can't pass that, he can't leave our territory without supervision, no matter how good his grades are.", Zack said and patted Erik's back. "Like this guy here."
Erik puffed his cheeks in annoyance. "I passed the test last month." He turned to James. "I can continue high school in the human city starting September, but I have a good thing going on here, so I decided to stick around until college."
James' mind was spinning. College? That was something he saw in movies and it comes with staying in dorms and numerous parties where students drink and make out. It's fantastic!
James had so many questions, but he wondered if he will ask too much and reveal how ignorant he was. He should be the next Alpha, cream of the crop in every way possible, yet he was painfully aware that his eager expression was betraying him. However, this was his chance to get answers and he was willing to risk it.
James schooled his features to look cool, and asked, "So, how long are you guys training to be warriors?"
"I'm on my second year, and so is Erik", Zack responded. "Petra just finished her first year, but don't let that fool you because she can wipe the floor with us."
Petra rolled her eyes, and James was focused on her cheeks that swelled from all the food in her mouth. He thought that if she opens her mouth, the food will spill, but she still managed to say to Zack without making a mess, "Don't make it sound like I am a violent person."
She touched her nose and said to James. "I am training to be a tracker."
James' eyes widened. "You get specialization so early on?" In the Red Moon pack, they all start with hellish trainings to build their strength and stamina. It takes years to reach the point where they can choose a specific field, and even that's reserved only for the best ones.
Erik responded, "I wouldn't call it specialization. It's more like exploration. Petra expressed her desire to be a tracker, so veteran trackers from our pack will give her personal lessons once or twice a week, depending on availability. We get real specialization only after we become warriors. Zack wants to be a scout, and I am a fighter."
"A fighter?", James asked. "That's the basic route. Don't you want anything specific?"
"I know what you are thinking.", Erik said. "You are wondering why a genius like me would pick the least exciting path. However, going through the training as a fighter will give me the foundation I need to be a General, which is my ultimate goal."
James pointed at Erik's camera. "You look like a photographer, and not a general."
Erik caressed his camera with the tips of his fingers gently. "I am the president of the photography club in our school." He puffed his chest proudly, and continued, "My photos are published regularly in the school's paper, and in the Darkbourne's magazine. I get to guide aspiring photographers, which counts toward my leadership skills as a junior warrior. As for achievements, I won a few photography competitions that were organized by people outside our territory, by humans mostly. My mentor said that if I continue like this, I will get to be an intern at WW Magazine, and after that a job will be waiting for me…"
James blinked while wondering if this was a different pack or a different planet. Clubs? Studying in human city? Awards? Internships? Mentors for photography? They had no such things in the Red Moon pack where everything was geared toward warriors, and James concluded how teens in the Dark Howlers pack are having exciting lives. They had so many options!
James' admiration for Damon as an Alpha rose by a few notches, and James decided to find out more about the Dark Howlers pack in addition to having fun.
"What other clubs and activities are available? Is that something you do on your own, or is the pack supportive?"
Petra, Erik, and Zack were not sure what to think about James. They all had an impression that people with Alpha bloodlines are above them. After all, individuals like James attend exclusive training and parties and appear in magazines. Compared to such people, Petra, Erik, and Zack were invisible.
However, instead of being a prideful teen with an Alpha bloodline, James resembled a curious countryside kid who came into a big town.
Alpha Damon told them to be good to James and to entertain him to the best of their abilities. They even got a promise of a reward if they do a good job, so they couldn't complain. They knew that Alpha Damon was generous when giving rewards and they hoped to get the latest PS console. Or maybe a full day pass to the amusement park.
When Beta Caden told them details of their assignment, Petra, Erik, and Zack assumed that James might ask for some secretive information about their patrols or security drills.
Teens don't know the super-secretive stuff, but a few spies could collect bits of information that are seemingly irrelevant, and piece it together into something that could be used to sneak into their territory or to plan the vulnerable place and time to attack.
James seemed friendly and the teens wondered if he was genuinely interested in all that regular stuff or if he was just a good actor. Or was he buttering them up by starting easy, so they lower their guards?
They were not sure what to think, so they all stayed vigilant while making sure they don't reveal more than what was publicly available. Better safe than sorry.
By the time they finished breakfast, James found out that Petra was the youngest of the three. She will be sixteen next month, and that made her two months older than James. Zack and Erik were seventeen years old, and the two of them had driver's licenses not only for cars but for motorcycles also. James thought how that was amazing.
All three of them were attending high school, and the school in Darkbourne followed the same curriculum humans have with the difference that PE classes were more intense.
Erik was the president of the photography club, Petra was into astronomy and pottery, and Zack was the star of the fencing club in the school he was attending. All three of them were regularly participating in various activities that are offered in the Darkbourne's community center, and James took a mental note to ask them about the evening gatherings next to the lake. It would be awesome if he could join them.
But the most amazing for James was that it seemed how every path was equally valued, and neither of the three was obsessed to become a warrior. They saw it as an honor and a way to contribute, and that was different compared to what James was used to.
