Initiation (Wolf Blood Academy Book 1) by RaShelle Workman (best book club books for discussion txt) 📕

Sometimes it sucked having four other wolves inside my head, but today it would help us hunt and kill our prey. Ten minutes isn’t a long time. Does anyone have ideas? I had a plan, of course, but a good leader listened to his pack. One of them could have seen something I missed.

I can distract it while the rest of you go for its belly, Butch chimed in.

I snarled, allowing the animal in me to show. We’ll attack it together. If it starts to run, we flank it. I’ll get in front and go for the throat. 

What about the fangs and the venom? That’s a dangerous place to be, Nick said, letting out a whine.

I'll be fine. Nick was more than my second. He was my best friend, which meant we always had each other’s backs.

I appreciated his worry, most of the time. I’ll be fine. Butch and Logan, the two of you follow me on the left. Nick. Sundance. Take the right. On the count of three. Two. One. I took off, heading right at the monster. According to what I learned in school, lupangus' and all monsters of the Shade were ferocious killers with one goal: eradicate the humans polluting the land. Their history was a whole complicated thing, and I sometimes doubted the truthfulness behind what we'd been taught.

The closer I got to the beast, the more I doubted the ferocity of its kind. It didn’t move. Just continued to pound its tail once in a while.

When I was ten feet away, the monster opened its mouth but held its position. What the hell? Despite the rain, I could see it strained against an invisible force. Something was keeping it there. Magic, I said to the others and swore.

So what? Logan shouted. Let’s use it to our advantage.

I still hesitated. My father had enlisted a magic blood to disable the monster. Did he not trust me? My pack? The idea that he thought so little of us that he had a magic blood cast a spell over this low-level monster sent all sort of anger coursing through me. I’d disliked my father for many years, but at that moment, I hated him.

Challenge him, my wolf demanded, but I quickly throttled that instinct. It was a fact that all wolves had a place in their pack—even monster blood wolves like me, and all wolves at the Academy. As the Alpha of my small group, I was always contending with my packmates’ wolves to maintain my dominance, especially in the fall, when it seemed our wolves were more anxious to move up the ranks. It wasn’t anything personal, just the law of the wolf. Our instinct was to climb the social ladder.

I was smart enough to know that if I challenged my father, I would end up dead or banished, and a lone wolf was a truly desolate creature.

Nick looked back and whined.

I barked, hoping he got that I needed him to shut up. He was my second, but I speculated how long that would last with Logan around. He was the newest member of our pack. A few months ago, I knew he allowed himself to be dominated by the others during our placing ceremony even though I didn't know why. But he was in no way the least dominant wolf. I sensed his need for authority and guessed he had an ulterior motive.

Come on, Wyatt, Butch shouted.

I couldn’t let my pack down even if my father was an arrogant narcissist. Let’s do this!

The wolves howled in response.

Because I was so far behind the rest, Sundance veered over and went for the animal’s throat. I’ve got him! He leaped, grabbing hold of the monster's throat.

It snarled, trying to shake his head back and forth as its eyes got big. Then it howled, and the sound reverberated into my bones. Milky venom dripped from its fangs, and some of it landed on Sundance.

My friend dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Even though the monster couldn’t move, seeing Sundance in such a vulnerable position shook me from my resentment. Pushing off with my hind legs, I closed the distance and gave orders. Butch, get Sundance out of the way.

Got it.

Logan. You and Nick go for its haunches. 

What are you going to do?

I’m taking the beast down. I waited until Butch had dragged Sundance away. It worried me Sundance hadn’t said anything through our pack bond, but maybe the venom paralyzed the mind too. Careful to avoid the toxins leaking from the lupangus’s fangs, I got under the monster. There was a lot of fur and snakeskin, but directly at its throat was a clear circular area, like a black X marks the spot.

The lupangus’s bulk blocked the rain. I shook myself off and then leaped until my teeth connected with skin. It was soft and quickly tore open. Again I thought of my father. I wanted to tear him to shreds. The lupangus would have to do for now.

Blood gushed from the wound, but I held on as long as I could. Slick with gore, I dropped back to the ground, taking some of its flesh with me. Spitting it out, I trotted back, allowing the rain to wash away what I’d done. Life left the monster's eyes.

The others howled at our success.

I wanted to feel pride over my first monster kill, but my father had taken the hunt out of the equation. Instead, the lupangus had been a sacrifice. It didn’t matter that it was a monster. Nor did it matter that if it had the chance, it would’ve done all it could to kill my pack and me. My father had humiliated me, and I could barely contain my rage.

Not that I should’ve been surprised.

As a kid, he barely acknowledged me. I’d done everything, hoping to catch his notice, to hear him tell me I did good. But with each accolade, each prize, and every accomplishment, it was always the same.

Nothing.

By the time I reached the Wolf Blood Academy, I was done worrying about what my father thought. At