intelligence is key

Vanessa’s pov,

The next morning, I woke up before my alarm and immediately wished I didn’t. My body felt like it had been run over by a truck. It would take a while for my body to adjust to the training, but I had no problem with physical pain. It was something I could ignore while mental abuse always haunts you. Spirit felt uneasy and full of energy, so I decided to let her have a run before the sun came up. I went outside shifted and let Spirits paws take me deep into the forest. The cold wind against my fur woke me up nicely and after the run, I didn’t feel as stiff anymore when I shifted back.

I quickly ran into the mansion to grab some breakfast and waited outside for the rest of the pack to join me. Blake seemed surprised when he saw me standing there alone. He nodded, “trying to make up for your awful performance yesterday I see.”

With a sassy tone, I replied, “The ones that do not give up are the ones that will achieve growth. I am stepping out of my comfort zone and learning. Are you?”

I saw a hint of a smile on his face before he turned his attention to the others arriving. “Today you will run the exact same round as yesterday out of memory. With the work, we do it is important to have a sharp mind and remember paths so you will be able to escape. I will all expect you back in 53 minutes precisely because that is the time it took yesterday.”

Everyone sprinted off and I followed somewhere in the middle. Some big guy named Ron took the lead. For the first 20 minutes, everything went fine but then he went left after a big hanging tree, and I knew we went wrong. I remembered the tree because I thought it had such a weird shape compared to the other trees. “Wait! We should go right here,” I shouted.

Ron stopped and looked at me annoyed, “No we should not! The mansion is to the left. You are wasting everyone’s time.”

I gritted my teeth, “I know the mansion is to the left, but we should take the exact same route as yesterday which is right at this tree.”

Some people spoke up saying they also remembered going right but Ron just raised his voice over them, “Well we have now wasted precious minutes anyway so it would not even matter anymore. Anyone who wants to be with Blake in time follow me to the left. The rest can follow the omega wolf to the right.”

I frowned when he said omega wolf in such a disrespectful way like they were not worthy of the pack. He sprinted off and almost everyone followed him except for 5 other people. They all looked at me to show them what to do. I sighed and said, “We should follow the rest even though it is the wrong way because a pack stays together.”

They all nodded in agreement, and we sprinted after the others. When we arrived back at Blake he all made us stand in a line. “Who was in charge of the run?” he asked.

Ron held up his hand and Blake stood in front of him, “How long did the run take you think?”

Ron gloated, “Around 50 minutes sir. We had some problems because of the new omega wolf speaking out of place. But I solved it quickly and they caught up with the rest.”

Blake narrowed his eyes, “What problem was that?”

Ron pointed at me, “She halted everyone at some crooked tree and said we should have gone right there instead of left. Only 5 people agreed with her, so she came after us anyway.”

Blake walked to me and looked straight into my eyes, “Why did you go after them if you knew the way was wrong?”

I answered calmly, “The end result of choosing the right path is not worth it if it separates the pack. We are strongest if we stay together.”

Blake stared at me for a while before walking in front of the whole group. “This exercise has once again shown that thinking and behaving like an alpha male doesn’t mean you are a leader. A true leader always thinks about what is best for the whole pack. Vanessa has shown that she can not only remember the right path after seeing it only one time, but she can also make selfless decisions in the best interest of the pack. Therefore, she will be your leader with the training in the afternoon.”

I stood straight and tried not to blush, but I definitely felt proud. I gained some respect again by staying true to myself. I looked at Ron and he just seemed embarrassed now, so I walked to him. “Don’t worry you will get a chance to prove yourself again. Making mistakes is part of learning.”

He looked at me surprised, “Don’t know why you are being kind to me after I was such a jerk to you but thanks. I guess I still have a lot to learn.”

I smiled, “We all do, come on let’s have some lunch.”

I walked with him and a group of others to the kitchen and sat down with them after we grabbed sandwiches. For some reason, I felt less shy around people now. I guessed spending time with a pack is something I longed for, and it felt quite natural actually. The others also seemed to slowly accept me now that I had proven I wasn’t some weak woman. I didn’t have a connection with anyone like with Lianna but still, they were friendly to me which felt nice.

After lunch, we all went back to the entrance of the forest where Blake was waiting again. Next to him stood blue and green paint cans. In his hands, he was holding a T-shirt. “For this training, you will separate into 2 groups. One group will be led by Vanessa and the other group by Violet. I will hide the t-shirt somewhere in the forest and the group that brings it back to me will have successfully completed the mission. Anything is allowed. The leaders can now smell the T-shirt and pick their groups while I hide it.”

I looked at Violet and I could tell from the sharp look in her eyes that she was intelligent so I should not underestimate her. I smelled the T-Shirt and immediately recognized the smell of whiskey and cigars that Don Lorenzo carried. Blake went away into the forest, Violet and I started picking members. I picked all the people that agreed with me this morning during the run, and I also picked Ron. We all painted ourselves with the blue paint and waited for Blake to come back. In the meantime, I discussed strategy with my group. “So, the only way we are going to win this is if we are smarter than them. We should split up into 2 groups, I will go with 2 others to find the T-shirt but we will hide and not take it. We will look at which person from the other group takes the T-shirt. The rest of you will be waiting somewhere hidden at the beginning of the forest. We will chase them so they think they must return quickly and then when they don’t expect it Ron will tackle the one carrying the T-Shirt and bring it to the finish. We will all be in wolf form so we can keep communicating together.”

They all looked at me with open mouths and Ron said, “You really are something else, Vanessa. Most wolves would just try to be the strongest or quickest.”

I winked, “Let’s surprise them. We are wolves, not sheep.”

Blake came back and counted down to 3. At 3 we all shifted and sprinted into the forest. We all split up, but I knew 2 of my group were close. Spirit smelled the ground and quickly she found the scent of cigars and whiskey. Spirit has a really good nose so luckily; I was probably the first to find the trail. I followed it deep into the forest until eventually, I saw the T-Shirt hidden in a hollow tree. Luckily, there was a river close by that gave me a view of the tree without my scent giving me away. I laid low and watched the tree until 5 minutes later Violet and 2 other wolves came running. They changed into human forms to take the T-Shirt and looked around anxiously to see if there was no one else there. I saw Violet take out another T-Shirt from her pocket. She gave the T-Shirt of Don Lorenzo to a woman with purple hair that quickly changed back into a wolf with ruby fur. I chuckled because I had to admit that Violet her plan was smart.

They all changed back into wolf form and ran away. Spirit howled and told the other wolves of my group close by to start the chase on Violet. I also followed their scent as quickly as I could while sending a message to Ron his wolf Rolo. “You have to tackle the wolf with the ruby fur. She has the Alpha’s T-Shirt. The other one is fake.”

Spirit enjoyed the thrill of chasing the other group and the further we ran the more wolves of my group joined us. The other group thought we were chasing them to try and steal the prize, but we were chasing them like they were a bunch of cattle that needed to be directed to the stable. Spirit howled and barked at the other wolves instructing them on certain positions so that Violet’s group would take exactly the route we wanted them to take. I could see Violet her wolf in the front, and we were getting close to the beginning of the forest. The ruby wolf was running somewhere on the left side and just when Violet her wolf howled about victory, a big black wolf jumped out of the bushes and tackled the ruby wolf. He grabbed the T-Shirt that was tied around her tail and sprinted out of the forest. Spirit and the other wolves of my group raced past the other group that was now in chaos and surprise.

We sprinted out of the forest and shifted back into human form. We fell into the grass laughing and panting. Ron proudly held up the T-Shirt and we all shared a high-five together. When everyone was back Blake asked us how we won, and Ron told him about our strategy proudly. Violet walked towards me and shook my hand, “Good game, it was nice to have a worthy opponent.”

“Same to you, your plan was good so I look forward to seeing what we can come up with together next time.”

Violet smiled and gave me a respectful nod before walking away. After that, everyone mixed together and started talking about the training until Tomasso walked onto the terrain. Everyone immediately became quiet when they saw the beta of the pack. Blake shook his hand and asked, “What can I do for you, Tomasso?”

Tomasso looked at the group, “I am going on a special spy mission tomorrow for Don Lorenzo. I could use some assistance and I would like for you to select a wolf that will be able to handle this mission.”

We all looked at Blake and he hesitated for a moment before replying, “I normally wouldn’t propose someone so new, but I think you should take Vanessa. She has shown great potential in a short amount of time.”

Tomasso looked at me surprised but he seemed pleased, “Very well. Vanessa, I will find you tomorrow to prepare you for the mission.”

I bowed in respect and couldn’t believe I actually got picked. I wished my old pack could see me now. If they had ever given me a chance, they might have known about all the potential I had. But fuck them because I didn’t need them, and I had a great new pack that accepted me. While we walked back to the mansion, I got several congratulations on landing the mission with Tomasso. It felt good that it was something I earned by actually proving myself.

The rest of the night I spend talking with Lianna. I told her all about the date with Duke I had yesterday, and we giggled like 2 schoolgirls when I described how good he looked. It was nice to have someone whom I could share innocent things with like talking about men. After giving her all the juicy details, I went back to my room. I took a hot shower and before I went to bed, I got a call from Duke saying that he was busy investigating the shooting tomorrow but that he would like to see me soon. I told him that he could call me when he had time again. I didn’t want to sound like some desperate woman even though I was already longing to see him. Besides that, I had the mission with Tomasso so I would probably be busy myself. We hung up with the promise of seeing each other soon and I fell asleep feeling happy and proud of myself.