“Come on Brian, you got this, man!” I shout like an enthusiastic girlfriend and sure enough my Beta lands a punch into the right temple of his opponent, almost knocking him out. Beta Tison remains down until the crowd counts to 3, the smile not leaving his face despite him admitting defeat.
Jason and Brian 1 - 0 Bolder and Tison
Next up it's me against Alpha Bolder, in human form. I'm all pumped after Brian's victory and take my fighting stance filled with too much confidence. OK, this is not too bad. Just like Beta Tison, Alpha Bolder has a bulkier body with a lot of muscles. Brian and I are slightly leaner, and our youth makes us a lot more agile and nimble.
I follow the same strategy as Brian did before me, so I just dance around my opponent, dodging his blows and effectively tiring him out. A few minutes into the fight, I can see him start to get tired, and I wait for my perfect moment. I zero in, and once his right fist is flying towards my face, I swiftly move my upper body, rotate, and apply a fast kick to his side. That knocks the air out of his lungs and the old Alpha collapses waiting for the crowd to count to 3. I notice him sporting the same smiles as Tison earlier. Weird. Who the fuck enjoys getting their ass kicked, especially by two 18 year olds?
Jason and Brian 2 - 0 Bolder and Tison
We all get a short break before the Betas need to start the next round, this time in wolf form.
“Yo, we may actually win this, Alpha. I'll admit, I doubted your crazy ass when you told me the plan, but I think we got this. “
Brian goes back to his corner, stripping down to his underwear and then shifting into his large brown wolf. The giggles of the unmated she wolves in the audience boost his ego, and I shake my head in amusement.
As soon as Beta Tison shifts into his enormous grey wolf, my heart sinks. Brian lets out a whimper and I slap my hand across my forehead. Showing fear like that, yeah, not a great start. But man that wolf is impressive. He's almost as big as me.
It appears that we were wrong to be so confident, and to think we might actually stand a chance.
Yup, we were wrong, so fucking wrong. The beast that is Tison pounces on Brian sending him flying across the room. The crowd moves to the side creating a corridor for Brian. He manages to turn and snap at Tison ear, but the price he pays for that in the big gash across his abdomen. That's going to be a bitch to heal, and if Brian gets his ass handed to him (which, let's face it, it will happen) I will have to forfeit because.. well, I happen to be without a wolf an unable to shift. And believe me, I have tried to shift, but it looks more and more like that little shit really left me, and without a wolf spirit, I can't shift into a wolf, now can I?
Brian is in serious trouble, I can tell he won't last any longer. Although I know Tison won't kill him, he can still cause some damage beyond repair. I look into my Beta's pleading eyes and I silently let him know he can accept defeat.
Jason and Brian 2 - 1 Bolder and Tison
Fuck. A. Duck.
24 - Loser
Jason
I take a deep breath and make my way to the centre of the crowd. I have to find the best way to throw the fight without anyone knowing I can't shift. Alpha Bolder has already shifted into a massive brown wolf with reddish streaks just like a tiger's stripes. He looks imposing and deadly. I know I could hold my own, I'm confident I can still dance around to tire him even when he's shifted and I haven't. Problem is for this round I have to be in wolf form, which I cannot do. So instead, I turn on the overconfidence faucet and speak up.
“Let's make this a bit more interesting, shall we? Since we have managed to gather such a big crowd, I propose we move into the tiebreaker round, making it worthwhile for all. I hereby forfeit this round.”
The look on everyone's faces is priceless. It would be amusing if I wasn't bluffing like that. Brian's eyes widen in such a way that screams 'What the fuck are you doing?' but his face remains composed. He already screwed up by starting his round with a whimper and the girls in the audience were not impressed by his lack of courage.
The wide grins on Bolder and Tison's faces scream excitement. They don't even question my words, and accept the new score, waiting for the third and final round. Those old bastards are having fun. Luckily this round allows us to fight in either wolf or human form, as we see fit.
Jason and Brian 2 - 2 Bolder and Tison
We take another short break, just like we had before each of the previous rounds.
“What the hell, Alpha? What was all that?” Most of Brian's wounds have healed, but the gash on his abdomen still looks pretty bad. He has a towel wrapped around his lower body to hide his nakedness from everyone present, but is now stained red from all the blood flowing from his wounds.
“Can you still fight?” I ask concerned.
“Yeah, of course I can. I mean, it helps when you know for sure your opponent won't actually finish you off, you know?” Brian chuckles, but I know he's in pain and wanting nothing more than to sit on the sofa and down a cold beer. “I can keep Tison busy, but you have to take care of Bolder. No more dragging this on for longer than it has to.”
I agreed with my Beta, and we both walked towards our spot for the beginning of the final round.
Brian shifts instantly. Being in wolf form will speed up his healing, and let's face it, if he is to distract Tison, that's his best shot.
Alpha Bolder circles me for a few seconds, and then he lunges at me shifting mid air and catching me by surprise. I don't know why I thought he would stay in his human form if he saw me not shifting. But I was wrong, clearly, so fucking wrong, because I lifted my arm to shield my face, and the beast nearly ripped it off my body. His sharp teeth sunk into my forearm, nearly ripping a big chunk of flesh. It fucking hurts like nothing I've experience before, but I do my best to push the pain and myself away from his jaw.
I use my human form as an advantage and when Bolder next ran towards me, I jumped up and landed on his back. Swiftly turning, I grab, or try to, his neck with my good arm. I have him in a choke hold and hold on for dear life. His movements start to be less jerky, making me think he's running out of air, and I make the stupid mistake of loosening my hold. Another big mistake on my end, because he throws me off him and I land in a pile a few feet before him, groaning in pain.
I look to my right and see Brian and Tison basically toying with each other. It's more than clear who's fight this is. This round is only about Bolder and I, the other two are merely keeping each other busy until we finish. The crowd seems to follow us also, not paying the Betas much attention.
Turning my head back to watch out for Bolder, I hear his snarls as he charges again towards me, teeth barred and saliva dripping from them like venom. Truly, a scary sight.
Must have been scarier than I thought because, at that same moment, a weird feeling of being complete takes over me. I hadn't realised it in the beginning, but I am shifting. The whole process took less than a second, and it took my attacker by surprise, leaving his neck exposed for me to bite into and take out a chunk of flesh. Bolder was not happy about that. Well, that's an understatement, he's absolutely pissed.
“Nice of you to finally join in the fun.” I tell Luder.
“Well, I didn't want to have your death on my conscience. It doesn't look great for my overall rating, and the Moon Goddess might have sent me an even worse human.” I don't have time for a snarky reply to Luder's insults. I'm just glad to have him back and fighting with me.
Angry Bolder is a whole new story. It's like before I caused him an injury he was holding back, merely playing with me, because now he is fighting at a whole new level, as in Royal Guardian level.
I have no fucking clue how or when he did this, but Alpha Bolder has me pinned down. His large body is towering on top of me, a heavy paw pressing down on my neck, nearly crushing my windpipe. The open wound of the side of the neck is still bleeding, and the blood falls down staining my fur. I guess I've been held down long enough for the crowd to count me out. It's finished. They did the same for Bria
n, and I let out an involuntary howl not from the pain, but from the frustration that I will be delayed for another almost 6 months.
Jason and Brian 2 - 3 Bolder and Tison
Fuck. My. Life.
A grinning Alpha Bolder, now in human form, holds his arm for me to grab and get up. I swift back and wrap a towel around my lower half before grabbing onto my opponent's hand and getting up.
“You did well, kid. I want to see you and you Beta in my office in one hour. Go get yourselves cleaned up first.”
“Yes, sir.” I was expecting him to gloat more, but he silences the roaring crowd with a swipe of his hand and leaves with Beta Tison following suit.
Brian and I head to our rooms to get cleaned up and wash the defeat off us.
“I'm sorry, Alpha.” The sincerity in Brian's eyes makes me angry, angry because I am stuck here when I could be going to Scotland to find out the truth, angry because we could have gone in search of someone who knows more, but now we have to sit and wait.
--
“So tell me young Alpha, what was all that about, hm? Why do you two want to graduate early?” Wow, Bolder is straight to the point, no beating around the bush.
Deciding I have nothing more to lose, I start telling him about the drama with my mate. I even surprised myself when I started to tell him absolutely everything, not leaving out who my mate is, who my family is and what my father has done. I just poured it all on the 3 men that were in the room with me. Brian does not say a single word, but I can see all the different emotions crossing his face. From recognition, to amazement, to fear and disappointment.
“Do you know the reason I joined the royal guards, Jason?” I'm taken aback by Alpha Bolder's question. What the hell does that have to do with my situation?
“I'm afraid I don't, sir.” I reply with furrowed brows, wondering if the old man is losing it, or if I administered a blow that shook his brains, while we were fighting.
“Well, Jason, I used to think that everything happens for a reason. The Moon Goddess always has a plan, even if we fail to see it in the beginning.”
OK, I 'm still not following, but looking at his Beta I feel like I'm going to understand more about his weir choice of metaphors soon enough. Brian is yet to say a word, I'm glad he knows when to be quiet.
“I had a twin brother.” His face goes soft as he remembers his sibling, I wish I knew the feeling. “His name was Derrick.” I stiffen instantly and even Luder lets out a small whimper in my head. That's a common name, right? It can't be... but Bolder smiles a faint and knowing smile. “Let me explain everything, it will make sense eventually, I promise. And then I can finish ripping you to shreds for rejecting my niece.” I gulp in shock, the shock of my life. His words hold a lot of promise, but I doubt that's going to end well for me. At least I'll understand most of the story before I perish.
“The name I was given at birth was Jerrick Stone. My brother Derrick was born 2 full minutes before me, so that gave him the right to be the heir of our pack, the Midnight pack.”
“Whoa!” Brian blurts out, all eyes snapping towards him. “Sorry, please carry on, I didn't mean to, I mean... I'll just shut up now.” Red with embarrassment, my Beta makes himself small in his chair. I take back what I said earlier about him knowing when to shut up. I clearly had spoken too soon.
Alpha Bolder continues with his story, unfazed by the interruption. “I never minded my brother taking on the role of Alpha of our pack, to be honest, I was always more a fan of fighting and strategizing than the logistics of running a pack. We both went to an Academy for further training when we turned 18, but since I had no pack to go back to and run it, I decided to join the Royal guards instead. I met my lovely mate, Sarah, soon after that. She was the most amazing woman in the world and I fell for her deep and hard.” He smiles and wipes away a stray tear that escaped the corner of his right eye. My mind goes to Sam, and Luder whimpers again.
“Sarah was the Queen's personal assistant so everything fit together perfectly. We were both working with the royal family, so we got to be together a lot. Unfortunately Sarah and only got to enjoy each other as mates for a few weeks. One morning, the Royal family had quests, the Queen's best friend from when she attended the Academy and her husband. There were rumours surrounding the two, but the Queen said the woman had been her rock while at the Academy, so they were allowed to visit the Royal quarters without guards.
The rumours were right, there's never smoke without a fire, as they say, because an ambush meant to kill the queen escalated to the point of my mate losing her life. She defended her Queen fiercely from that power hungry Alphas who wanted to overthrow the King and Queen. Taking their power had been their plan all along, that's why they came to visit.
My mate held her own when the woman attacked the Queen in her chambers. That low life had no idea my mate was in the adjacent room, preparing the Queen's outfit for the day. She got to the queen and jumped on the woman's back, giving the Queen enough time to move away from the silver dagger meant to kill her. In the fight that followed, my mate was not that lucky because the attacker stabbed her a few times, enough for the poison in the silver to be fatal, but she did fight long enough for her Queen to alert everyone of what was happening. I was the first one to arrive at the scene, partly because I felt my Sarah's pain. I didn't wait for any explanations, I just killed her as soon as I laid eyes on her. She was fighting with the Queen for the dagger when I entered the Royal chambers.
I could tell the woman was an Alpha as well, but she was no match for an Alpha Royal guard who's mate was dying right in front of his eyes. I killed her by punching a hole into her chest and squeezing her heart until it popped like a balloon. But that was no consolation prize for losing my Sarah. I rushed to her side and cradled her fragile body. I told her I loved her and she said it back, but soon enough the light in her eyes flickered and her soul went to join the Moon Goddess, up in the skies.
Alpha Antoine Gaston, the sleazy bastard who planned everything fled as soon as he realized what happened and that their plan backfired. But we all knew who he was, unfortunately he knew the man that killed his mate was also, and since I didn't have a mate that he could take from me anymore, he decided to go for my brother and his family.” I flinched when Bolder said my uncle's name. I had anticipated when the story was going, but still I felt my heart tightening inside my chest, upon hearing the name of the man who destroyed so many lives, and had been my uncle. Albeit, I don't even remember his face, but still.
“I focused everything to find him and learn what he planned as soon as he had thought about it. I was relentless, out to seek justice, and the King so graciously offered me anything I could possibly need to hunt down that bastard.
I caught up with him in England a few days later and killed him, but not before literally throwing in his face the lifeless body of his dead mate. I know that was sick, but I was unhinged after the loss of Sarah. He was coming to see your parents, Jason. I'm not sure what lies he planned on telling them, but I killed him before he could do that.
When your Sentinels found their bodies, your parents caught my scent lingering, the Alpha Stone scent. In my fit of rage and search for revenge, I hadn't bothered to mask my scent, I wanted the bastard to know who had killed his mate, and was about to kill him.
I had joined the guards, so the only Alpha Stone your parents knew was my brother. I never thought this would happen, but I was so blinded by the pain of losing my mate, that I didn't think the bastards responsible also had a family, who would feel the same pain I was feeling, and who would seek revenge just like I was seeking. A family who, I later learned, knew nothing about how power hungry and merciless the Gaston's were.”
I would be lying if I didn't feel relieved to learn that my parents were not in on the whole thing, that they were genuinely people hurt deeply by the death of their family members. I know Brian feels the same relief, because he was as tense as a spring and now he relaxed slightly. I bet you, when the story progressed h
e thought for sure Bolder is going to squeeze our hearts out too, and now he thinks our lives will be spared. I kind of share the same feelings, I won't lie.
“I got news of my brother and his family being killed and I lost it. I went into a rampage knowing what I caused. I found a nest of rogues and killed them all tearing them apart just for the fun of it. They were planning on killing off the members of a small pack in Arizona and taking over their land, but still, the violence I used was unnecessary. The King and Tison were the only ones that could physically restrain me. Hell they were the only ones who could approach me. The only thing that has bugged me ever since, is that they never found my niece. She was presumed dead, but unlike my brother and his mate, we couldn't find a body. I wanted to search further but the King convinced me that would do more damage than good, and he was right, I would have killed left and right, not caring who was guilty and who was innocent. I felt I shouldn't take over Midnight pack, that was just wrong, not that I was in any state of leading a pack at that point. Once again, the King arranged for every pack member to join the pack of their choosing, dealing with the Alphas and the logistic of everything, so the gruesome secret doesn't get out.
Tison here came up with the idea that I should cut ties completely, and change my name, so I did. I because Julian Bolder.”
25 - Vengeful
Samantha
Curled up in a ball in the small single bed, I'm watching the minutes pass until it's time to head for my shift at The Hound.
I still haven't told anyone about what I overheard Mr Biggins and my dad talk about, and I honestly don't know what to make of it, really, but I do know I will need some help in finding out. As much as I would love to play the role of the strong, fearless and utterly independent female lead, I just lack the overall resources needed to dig deeper and to find out more about why this is happening and who my family really was or still is.
Fight For The Highest Wolf Rank Page 12