Wolf Tech 4: The Academy

Chapter 1

Adam smiled as he waited for Fabian to arrive shortly after lunch finished. Pulling Brook against his side, he relaxed. He couldn't believe it was almost two years they had been at the pack, and the first of the instructors for the Academy were arriving. The nearest international airport was about three hours drive away in the city he had grown up in as a human. Wild Valley was actually a shorter drive for where his road connected to the highway had almost a straight shot there.

The two SUVs drove up and stopped in front of them, where he had made a loading area near the pack house's front door. The granite and river stone worked well on the exterior of the packhouse.

Fabian exited and looked at the place, then around. Pine trees had been planted in lines around the out buildings, hiding them from view. The packhouse had a cleared area around it, as a fire break.

After trading hugs and sniffs, Fabian shook his head, "From what I can see, it is a much more impressive building than it looked while under construction. Well done!"

Adam grinned at the compliment and Brook laughed, "Wait till you see the inside," Brook warned, before guiding Fabian and the other five instructors. Several helpful wolves came and carried the bags, following them.

Leading them up the stone steps, onto the enclosed wooden deck that wrapped around the building, opening the storm door, "We enclose the deck in winter, to help keep the heat in, and to provide some more warmer area to be." Adam told them, "When it gets warmer, we take the windows and doors off, and leave it open to the air."

Opening the wooden looking doors, the steel inner barely visible, under the carved wood, showing several wolves and many pawprint trails. Adam smiled and held the door for them to go in first.

All six instructors had identical stunned look as they stopped just inside the door. The floor was a rough granite tile, with marble and other stone tiles along the walls for the bottom four feet, with wooden contrast. The upper part of the wall had a mix of photographs; a nice one of Adam and Brook was front and centre in a large photo with a nameplate at the bottom that identified them as Founding Alphas, and other forms of artwork, mostly of wolves or nature. Wolf pawprint silhouettes were used as decorations all over the place.

The main stairs had wood railings, and stone risers. The pawprints of the members were clearly displayed around the edge of the second floor, which was a railing overlooking the main hall. There were now two colours: the black ones of those that joined before the pack was completed and helped—they had the pups and the Elders helping on the work, either supervising or doing some of the painting, or helping carry; it was done so that even the pups when they were older could say "I helped build our home" to any future family—and if they counted they would find 165 of them.

An additional 45 of the pawprints that were a dark grey for those that had joined in the year since the construction was finished. It was about another nine years before they went to the next colour; at that point they would finalize the membership. Although they hadn't decided if they would break the bond they still had with MacLaren, easing any transfer. Any transfers after they finalized would go through a review to decide on it, not the simple transfer they were doing.

About half the tables were packed up and stacked against a wall, out of the way, as was many of the chairs, as it was just after lunch. Several wolves were still eating at one table, at another others were doing a card game, and a few others had laptops out. A couple were curled up on the couches by the fireplace reading.

Leading them up the stairs, Adam described the features of the place, "We have built it with in-floor heating, all the lights are LED, and during the day, natural lights are fed into the common areas, especially ones without windows and the hallways." As they climbed up, he continued on how well insulated the place was, and other green technologies. He told them there was a staircase in the middle and at the far end of each of the three wings.