One of Runts

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty: Instructions

        The crowd immediately begins to grow larger with wolves unable to deny the Alpha King's order. A few wolves are bowing at the order, though it doesn't affect me. It's mainly those who are late that are bowing.

        The King stands tall on the stage, his Luna and Queen beside him. She's beautiful, of course. Her hair is rose gold and her eyes are hazel. She's got freckles covering majority of her face, though it doesn't look bad.

        She stands tall beside her mate who has black hair and dark brown eyes. Her chin could rest on his shoulders should she stand on her toes, showing her tall height. She's taller than the average she-wolf at most likely five-foot-eight or five-foot-nine.

        The King is dressed in castle-wear. He's wearing black pants and shoes with a white dress shirt. He doesn't bother to wear a jacket, but a forest green vest instead. He's wearing a dark purple tie, too.

        The Queen is dressed much like her husband in the kingdom's colors. Black pants and black shoes, but instead of a dress shirt and tie, she's wearing a dark green blouse with dark purple detailing.

        She's looking over the crowd of seventy-something wolves and her lips tilt up as she spots Azrael. Her eyes stare at me for a few seconds and I tilt my head down in respect. She looks between Azrael and me for a few seconds before turning her gaze to another group of wolves.

        The Alpha King waits a few moments as the last of the wolves join us. "Today is the first day of the tests," he says aloud, his voice booming across the crowd. He attempts to keep the power out of it, though a few wolves end up bowing down at the waist. I barely feel the power, yet I tip my head down.

        "I would like to remind you all that this is not a competition, but a test to see your strengths and weaknesses," he says loudly, looking over the majority of the males.

        The male wolves are naturally more competitive than females and have been known to get so riled up that a fight would break out or someone would end up getting hurt. While us females do not worry too much about competition, our competitive side comes out when there are potential mates around.

        Today will be full of females and males competing to draw in the other's attention, especially when many of the females, like me, are in heat.

        I stare ahead at our kingdom's rulers, ignoring my more competitive side. My heat will draw in many of the males, even though some don't like runts, and it will rile up my instincts to flaunt what I have to offer. It'll also cause the females who aren't in heat to want to compete with me since my scent will draw in the male's attention.

        "The strength test will be held in categories," the Queen says, drawing in the attention of all wolves here. "You'll be tested on the number of pull ups, push ups, sit ups, squats, and weight lifting that you can do." I mentally cringe at the thought of how sore my body will be after this.

        My legs are stronger than my arms and my abdominal muscles are strong, too. I may not be as strong as other wolves, though I am strong and can hold my own.

        "You will be brought to one of our five training facilities to take all tests. After you show your strength, one of my pack will be following after you as you run. They will count how many laps you will be doing." the King says, taking over from his wife.

        "The goal is to keep a constant pace and to not race each other. You are trying to see how long you can last before your body drops. You can choose to run in either form, but I'd suggest running in your wolf form as you will be a wolf for the majority of your hunt."

        "Half of you will be chosen to run first while the others will be doing their strength test," the Queen says, making a lot of people impatient to begin their testing. "I would like you all to walk over to this building," she says loudly, pointing to a small structure with only two doors in it.

        "You will all walk single file towards the right door. One wolf will enter at a time and you will be given a piece of paper. It if is yellow, you will be doing the strength test first. If it is blue, you will be running.

        "Each piece of paper will have a number out of five on it. This will indicate which training facility you will be going to. As there are around seventy-five of you, there will be fifteen in each facility. This means around seven people on each test." Her voice is strong as she explains how we will be separated into each facility.

        The King takes off where she ends. "There will be wolves a few feet away from the second door with numbered signs. You will be following them to your designated training facility. If it is found out that you decided to follow another group, you will sit out on the tests and will automatically stay behind with one of the newer hunting groups for training.

        "I do not appreciate those who do not follow the rules." His eyes are glaring as he says this, looking over the few groups of males and females who want to stick together. "Now, I would like you all to walk towards the building."

        At his words, many people walk swiftly towards the door. I stay behind with Azrael for a few minutes with a few other wolves before walking towards the long line of wolves. It only takes about a second for a wolf to walk out of the small building, a piece of paper in their hands.

        I have no preference as to where I am going, and I know Azrael will be staying with me. A few moments later and it is my turn to walk through the door. I step through it to see a bored looking wolf.

        He stands tall as he spots me, most likely reacting to my heat. I stare coldly at him, putting my hand out for him to place a piece of paper in. His eyes trail over my form as he hands a small blue card to me.

        I hide my joy for running first as I immediately flee the small room. My eyes take in the number on the card and I walk towards the wolf with the number "3" on his shirt. I stand in front of him with a few other wolves, a lot of them being females.

        Azrael stands beside me and a lot of the females look him up and down. I ignore their behavior, and their glaring looks, and wait for the last few wolves to join us. Soon enough, a few males are with us and our escort immediately begins to walk off, not saying a single word.

        I trail behind the group so I don't get pushed out of the way. I'm still a runt, and the females wouldn't mind giving me a shove. I'm the only one in this group in heat and I stand far from the males.

        A few of them are giving me looks before I feel Azrael stand beside me. I tilt my head at him and see the males look away from his glare. "Thanks, I guess?" I say, happy that the testosterone-filled males are no longer looking at me.

        Azrael just glances down at me and nods. We continue walking.

Author's Note:

It feels kinda like a filler chapter and there's more dialogue than I would have liked, but it's another update.

Consider commenting!  It gives me the inspiration to write.