On a patch of open ground atop the sheer, snow-covered peak, the thirteen young men who had made it to the top in the Wolf Pack trial knelt on one knee and paid their respects to James Howlett. Then they glanced at one another, bewildered.
Remus Pitt stepped into the middle and said, "Anyone who wants to compete for the title of 'Alpha' can step forward."
Most of them breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought this would be a forced free-for-all.
Opper hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and stepped forward. Bucky shrugged. They had come this far, so they might as well fight again. He had gradually run out of opponents these past few days. There was only one man he still couldn't beat.
Colin Pitt watched Opper, Bucky, and a third young man with a stocky but not particularly tall build and black hair. He smiled faintly.
He was Remus's son and the strongest among this generation of young Wolf Pack candidates. He had brown hair and green eyes, stood nearly six feet three, and looked lean rather than muscular, with a well-proportioned build.
He was the only one to climb the thousand-meter cliff alone. He had done it with ease, reaching the top well ahead of everyone else. His Killing Technique was only a hair's breadth from the third stage.
Ever since he was a child, Colin had been trained by his father, Remus, who had entered the second level and undergone a complete transformation. His technique and physical abilities were far superior to those of his peers.
The Wolf Pack trial was, after all, an internal family selection, not a brutal "Gu" competition where only one survived. Anyone who could climb the cliff had already earned the right to become a full