Mads

When Mads was two years old, he learned for the first time what physical inferiority meant. It meant that it was not he who got the last cookie, but his sister Adahlia, who was one year older.

Not getting the cookie was a devastating experience for the little boy with dark green eyes and caramel-colored curls. The same color as the delicate fur on his large wolf ears. He wept bitterly, but that didn't get him the cookie either.

He remembered this experience for a long time.

At the age of seven, he observed for the first time one of the great brawls of the juvenile wolves. "What are they doing?", Mads asked his sister, who braided her long curls.

"Fighting", she murmured, looking at her parents, who were talking to the Beta couple. Lifa, Mad's aunt, and her wife Sif. Mad's father came from a beta family, but he hadn't inherited the genes. But his sister did.

"Why are they fighting?", asked Mads.

"To find out who has to go to the witches when the soldiers come."

"To the witches?" Mads had already heard of witches. They were the haunted characters from his sister's horror stories. Evil old women who ate wolves for breakfast. "Why?"

"Because the weakest wolves have to go. That's what Mom explained to me yesterday."

"And why not to me?"

"Because you're still too small! Much smaller than me!"

Mads was actually very small and slender for his age. "And the witches eat them?"

"No." Adahlia shook her head. "No one eats wolves! They have to work for the witches."

"Do they want that?"

"The witches?"

"No. The wolves that have to go there."

Adahlia snorted. "Of course not. Nobody wants that. Therefore, Alpha Alva always sends the weakest of the pack. Her... Great-great... A lot of great-grandmother made this agreement with the witches a long time ago and we still do it today."

Meanwhile, a brown wolf had lost the brawl and trotted away with his head hanging.

"Does he have to go to the witches now?" Mads looked after him with a furrowed brow.

"Maybe." Adahlia shrugged. "If he always loses. And is stupid..."

"Stupid?" Mads had just started learning to read and write, but the letters kept running away from him. He also found math difficult. He just couldn't imagine the numbers. Was he stupid? Would he have to go to the witches because of that?

"Mimmie told me that once a wolf was sent to the witches because he was not only weak but also stupid!" Mimmie was Adahlia's best friend and lived in the house next door.

„Oh.“

"So learn to read quickly before Alva sends you to the witches! I can't be sent! I'm going to Beta!" His sister stuck out her tongue and ran away laughing. She had inherited the beta genes from her father, even though he was not beta himself. This rarely happened but it was possible.

Mads looked after her perplexed. A stray tear rolled down his cheek. He? To the witches? No. Certainly not. He would become a strong werewolf. The strongest of all. Stronger than Einar, the son of Alva and Jarl. Einar would become an alpha one day and he bragged about it every day. He and Mads were the same age, but Mads didn't like him. Mads preferred Einar's twin sister Emmie. She was his best friend. She, too, had inherited the alpha genes, but Einar was convinced that he would be the next alpha. Both had short, blond hair and dark brown, almost black eyes. But unlike Einar, Emmie was very nice.

She just came running towards him. "Are you crying again? Did Adahlia annoy you?"

Mads shook his head. "I’m not. I don't know how to cry!"

"But there is a tear." Emmie pointed to the treacherous drop.

"This is Oskar. My sinister lodger! He's always sad."

"What did Adahlia annoy you with?" His friend crossed her arms. "Did she paint on one of your paintings again? Or pulled a leg on you?"

"She said I have to go to the witches if I don't learn to read quickly."

"What? Omegas are sent to the witches! You're not an omega!"

"And if I become an omega?" Mads wiped the tear from his face.

"Well! In that case, you won't become an omega! Easy. We make this our mission!"

Mads nodded. "Good! Today is day one of the mission 'Don't become an omega'”, he announced with newfound determination.

Emmie jumped with excitement. "It's going to be great! You'll see!"

(Yes... That's how it all started. Mission 'Don't become an omega'. Emmie and I had everything planned! I would become the smartest and strongest and would never have to go to the witches. A great plan. And completely useless.)