By admin 288 Vouchers
Alpha Kieran had kept his promise. The fight between me and Dylan was officially set. The thought of it sent adrena- line through my veins. I’d waited a long time for this.
Two days after the shopping trip, Selene and I arrived at the training grounds early in the morning. We were dressed in the matching track suits I had gotten for us. We looked good. Selene even smiled when she saw us in the mirror be- fore we left.
Having a best friend was something special. She wasn’t just someone I trained with. She was family. Training with her made it easier to push myself, to stay focused. Even when I was tired, knowing she was there made me want to keep going.
Alpha Kieran stood at the far end of the training field, arms crossed, watching us as we warmed up. Dylan was there too, but he trained in a different section. I saw him from the corner of my eye, catching glimpses of him every time I stretched or changed directions. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle. He kept glancing at me between his drills, shoot- ing smug little smirks my way like he already knew how this fight would go.
We started with physical warmups, stretches, jumps, push-ups, the usual stuff to wake up our muscles. After that, we shifted into our wolves for track work, racing through laps around the grounds. Alpha Kieran nodded as he watched. I could tell he approved, and that meant something.
After a couple of hours, I told Selene to continue training on her own. I needed a break and wanted to check in with Alpha Kieran anyway. I joined him at the edge of the grounds. He didn’t say much, but I could tell he was proud. We both stood silently, watching Selene as she soared over hurdles and wove through obstacles with ease. She moved with such focus, she was a natural, she learned drills quicker than most recruits and was always eager to learn.
I glanced at Dylan on the other side of the field. He was still at it, pushing himself like he always did. His movements were sharp and controlled. He had the confidence of someone who’d been training for years. I wasn’t denying his skill. He’d earned it. But every time he landed a difficult routine or beat his own record, he’d look over like he expect- ed me to clap.
I didn’t give him the satisfaction. I kept my face calm. He had no idea how badly I was looking forward to that fight. He’d see soon enough.
What made this personal wasn’t just his cocky attitude, it was what he did to Selene when she first arrived. The way he treated her. He and Hunter had both panicked when she came and Instead of trying to understand her, they tried to push her out.
Selene never wanted power. She came here to heal, to escape from her nightmarish former life and to be with her family. I nearly cheered when she rejected her mate. And when she humiliated Sylvia? I was this close to running over and knocking Sylvia’s arrogant face into the dirt myself. The only reason I didn’t was because of Pack law. Oth-
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erwise, I’d have made sure she never spoke to Selene that way again.
What Selene had been through reminded me of my own pain in Senior year, just a year ago. I had believed Tiffany was my friend. I believed all of them were. We laughed together, sat at the same table, walked the halls like we ran the place. And then one day, I forgot my math book in the girls’ bathroom, and when I went back for it, I heard them mocking me. They said horrible things about me, my hair, my clothes, my laugh. Everything I thought made me… me. They thought it was funny.
That moment made me realize how naive I had been. But it also hardened me. It taught me that real friends are rare. That trust should be earned, not given freely. I carried that lesson with me to this day, and it only made my bond with Selene mean more. She was the kind of friend people don’t get twice in a lifetime.
I blinked away the anger that memory brought and focused on the present. This wasn’t about the past. This was about now. About showing Dylan, and everyone else, that I wasn’t just some Beta’s daughter tagging along for fun.
The day had finally come. I stood in front of the mirror, tying my hair into a tight braid, trying to keep my hands from trembling. I’d trained for two years for this. I’d been training long before Alpha Kieran made it official. I had no friends at the time, no one to hang out with, and too much energy to sit still. While other girls painted their nails or talked about boys, I trained in secret. I learned to fight. Now I was finally going to see if it was enough.
Selene walked beside me as we reached the training grounds. I could feel her nervousness, but she said nothing, just kept glancing at me like she wasn’t sure if she should smile or beg me not to go through with it.
But it was too late to back out now. What I didn’t expect was the crowd. Not just the Alpha;s family or my family like I thought. No, the entire training field was swarming with pack members. Over a hundred of them. People lined up around the fighting circle, murmuring in anticipation.
I scanned the crowd and sure enough I saw them, the bitch squad. Tiffany stood with her arms folded, flanked by her usual minions. I hadn’t seen her in a while, not since I humiliated her and her little pack of followers last year. Three of them against me, and I still wiped the floor with them. She’d never forgiven me. Judging by her smug grin, she was here for one reason: to watch me fail. Well, she was going to be disappointed.
I stepped into the fighting circle and rolled my shoulders. The moment I locked eyes with Dylan across the ring, he winked at me. He stood tall, confident, and calm like he always did. Arrogance practically rolled off him. But I couldn’t really blame him for that. Dylan had been training since he was five. Everyone in the pack knew he was the best young warrior we had. He earned that reputation. But what they didn’t know was that I’d been training too. He chuckled. “Don’t get distracted. This’ll be over before you blink.”
Just then, Alpha Kieran stepped into the center of the ring and the murmurs died down. But before he could start, Se- lene slipped through the barrier and reached for my hand.
Her eyes searched mine, full of worry. “You don’t have to do this,” she said gently. “I don’t need you to fight my bat-
tles.”
“I know,” I replied, gripping her hand tighter. “But this isn’t just about you. He thinks all girls are weak. He needs to
learn that we’re not.”
Selene looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time, her eyes glistening a little. She nodded slowly. “I’ll be
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cheering for you,” she whispered.
“Always?” I asked with a small smile.
“Always,” she said, and stepped out of the ring.
I turned back to Dylan just as Alpha Kieran began speaking.
“This will be a standard Duel! Three rounds. Five minutes each. No shifting to wolf form. No intentional maiming. You fight until one submits or the time runs out.” He looked between us. “Understood?” We both nodded.
The moment the Alpha Kieran raised his hand and shouted, “Begin!” Dylan lunged forward with no hesitation, his body coiled with the kind of muscle memory only years of training could produce. His fists were tight and he was here to end it in one strike.
But I was ready. Just as his fist cut through the air toward my jaw, I pivoted smoothly to the side, his knuckles barely grazing a strand of my hair. Before he could fully process his miss, I spun and drove my foot hard into his ribs.
Dylan staggered back, shocked. That was the moment I saw the confused look on his face, he expected me to put up much of a fight at all.
The crowd roared, but I kept my eyes on him. He shook it off, trying to cover his surprise with a scoff, but the sting was there. I didn’t give him time to recover. He came at me again, more cautious this time, throwing a combination of punches and kicks, but I ducked and weaved through them like they were in slow motion. I answered with a fast jab to his sternum and an elbow that clipped his chin.
He fell flat on his back and the Alpha Kieran announced loudly “First round Over! Return to your positions and pre- pare for the second round!”
Dylan paced in his corner, spitting onto the ground, glaring at me like I had personally insulted his ancestors. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and glanced out at the crowd. He’d invited half the damn pack to this fight. He thought he was going to humiliate me in front of everyone. But they weren’t laughing at me. They were laughing
at him.
After a short moment of respite round two started, and this time Dylan didn’t rush in like before, he changed tactics, and was fighting more cautiously. He even managed to get a few hits in on me.
I decided to adopt his earlier strategy and lunge at him with a burst of speed. He didn’t expect me to come at him so quickly he staggered back, but threw out a lousy kick to my leg, he clipped my thigh, and it hurt, but I absorbed it and responded with a hard right hook to his cheek. His head snapped to the side.
We circled each other. I noticed blood dripping from his nose. His breathing was heavier now. My arms ached, and I was sweating through my tank top, but I kept moving. He swung again.
I ducked, slid behind him, and kicked out one of his legs. He stumbled forward, falling to one knee. The crowd cheered. Dylan wiped his face and looked down at his hand at the blood.
Alpha Kiera raised his hand “And that’s the second round, back to your positions”
Dylan scrambled back to his feet, glaring at me like he wanted to tear my head off. I walked to my side, gulping water
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and wiping my face with a towel Selene had tossed to me. My legs were shaking, but I couldn’t show it. I glanced over at my mom. Her hands were clasped tight, eyes wide with fear. Dad had his arms crossed, jaw clenched, doing a better job hiding it, but I could see it in the way he shifted his weight.
Selene gave me a weak smile, but I could see the worry in her eyes too. Even though I had bested Dylan in the earlier rounds they knew Dylan wouldn’t take losing to more than a hundred people lightly. He would get desperate in this fi- nal round and that meant he would be dangerous.