Mia
It was the day of the second stage of my test. It was the day of my fight with Saidah, the strongest female wolf in the pack. It was the day that I was going to show to the doubting Thomases and get my recognition as the Luna of the pack.
I knew that Saidah was the lady that would have been chosen for Quinn to get mated to and make as the Luna of the pack if I wasn’t in his life. It was only logic that the strongest male and female wolves of the pack were mated to each other.
The boys were scared on my behalf but I wasn’t today. I didn’t know why but I wasn’t. Moreover, I had read and trained all through the two days that I had been given to prepare.
Binoo had called me a prepared lady and I wasn’t ready to lose his respect on that. I had made sure that I was prepared despite how hard the current hurdle seemed and how everyone seemed to think that I had no chance. I was determined to show that I had everything in me to deserve what I desired.
I was determined to make Binoo and Kehlan keep acknowledging me as they had done during the first screening and also make Albus and Fredo convinced without any doubt left that I was the rightful person to stand at the side of the alpha of the pack asides his brothers that he had come with and couldn’t dispose.
Quinn moved closer to me and whispered in my ears. “Don’t be nervous. I’m sure you got this.”
I nodded and smiled at him. I knew he was lying and didn’t believe what he had just said but I didn’t call him out on his lie. After all, he had lied for my sake so I could be composed.
I could hear his heart beating fast and knew he was worried about me getting hurt. I wasn’t freaked out about today even though I hadn’t met the Saidah I was to fight with and didn’t know how strong she was. I just had this confidence in me that if I could pass the uncertainty of the first screening with the questions that I wasn’t expected to know the answers to and expected to fail, I could do the rest of the screening and be fine.
“I’m not nervous.” I reassured him.
“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyes searching deep into my soul as if he knew that I was lying.
Jack came closer and wrapped his hand around my neck. I smiled as I turned my head to look at him. “Are you fine?”
I nodded and then gave an inward sigh. I had no doubt that was the question that I was going to answer all through today. I wished the duel would start soon so I wouldn’t have to deal with more questions from others. I knew if John and Albert were here, I would have to deal with them asking me that as well.
“I’m fine.” I repeated to Jack. That was no doubt my response for today.
Jack leaned closer to my ears and I knew immediately that he was about to be naughty but I wasn’t expecting what he said afterward. I gasped at his words and looked at him with disbelief.
“Should I tell Saidah to go easy on you?” He asked.
“Jack!” I gasped.
He gasped. “I’m serious.”
“You can’t be. Trust me. I got this.”
“I’m worried. Saidah is as ruthless as she is strong. I don’t know why that bastard would suggest that you fight with her.”
“Don’t worry. You will do no such thing like telling her to go easy on me. What do you think that would cause on my reputation? If you say she is ruthless, I doubt that she would listen to you to go easy on me. I don’t think a ruthless girl as you say she is would be merciful enough to take it easy on her opponent and lose her win, not even if the alpha commands it. I don’t think that she would want to lose out on the opportunity of beating the mate of the alpha so don’t you dare ask her to go easy on me and make a fool of all of us.”
Jack sighed. “I didn’t think that through. I was just worried and didn’t want to see you hurt.”
I looked at the two of them. “You don’t have to be worried. You have to believe me when I say that I got this. Promise me that you aren’t going to do anything stupid today.’
I got a reluctant promise out of them but I knew that they were going to keep to their words.
Fortunately for me, Albus took over before John and Albert could come over and ask me if I was fine. I might scream if anyone ask me that question again. I just wanted to get this over with.
Albus cleared his throat and faced the wolves that were present there. We were in the cave and though not much people were around, Albert still had to find another excuse for mum on why he had guests in the house after we just had a party and some guests left.
The cave was only filled with the elders, the boys, some of Saidah’s family members and some wolves who wanted to see what was going on. The crowd wasn’t as much as when the pack was trying to pick its leaders and I liked it like that.
Albus raised his hand up as he got to the front and everywhere went silent. He cleared his throat and turned to the crowd.
“We are all gathered here today to witness the test of the wolf the alpha had picked as his mate and determine if she is fit to be the Luna of the pack.”
I was glad and grateful that he had called me a wolf and not a wolf. Calling me a human in front of all those new wolves who were gathered there wasn’t going to do anything to help me.
He waved his hand at me. “Come forward, Mia.”
I moved forward before the crowd and raised my head as I squared my shoulders, pretending to be bold. If I could fake the feeling, I was sure that I could have the feeling and that would also be what the people present would think of me – a bold lady.
I could see Fedro smirking at me from the corner of my eyes but I wasn’t bothered.
“Come forward, Saidah.” Albus said.
She moved forward and I could see why the boys were worried for me. She was tall – no, huge was the word – and was heavily built with muscles rippling all over her body. I gulped, swallowing down my fears but I wasn’t going to act like I was afraid. I was going to be fine. I knew it. It was a different scenario but having dealt with the dark wizard who could change his form as he wished and also control snakes set my heart at peace. This wasn’t even a fight that we had to change our shapes into that of wolves. We were to fight as humans. I could do this. I only had to be smarter about it.
I didn’t have to be worried of being torn to pieces by claws and teeth of a ferocious female wolf flying at me. I only had to be careful and avoid getting crushed by her body.
I guessed I had someone to thank for not making me fight with her in the form of a wolf. I wondered if that was the protocol for the duel.
“The duel can begin.” Albus declared and left our midst.
She growled and charged at me, her huge body rolling as she came after me.
I moved to the side and watched as she threw punches in the air before she got to me and then she hissed when the punches didn’t hit me.
I watched her for some minutes and then found a way to beat her. She wasn’t the best fighting female wolf because she was smart. It was because she was fast and had a strong body and she took advantage of it.
If any of the punches that she had been throwing for the past ten minutes should hit me, I would have been down flat on my face and she would have been crowned the winner. I guessed that was how she had always fought and was crowned as the strongest female wolf in the pack.
She was fighting with aggression and not intelligence and a smile curled up my lips as I realized that I had found a way to beat her.
She was getting tired and cranky as she had been throwing punches in the air for a while now and I had been busy avoiding them.
I was soon going to have my moment. I just had to make sure that she became more tired. I continued moving away from her, avoiding her fists that were trying to fly at me.
“Are you going to fight, Mia, or keep running away like a coward?” Fredo hissed at me in a taunt.
Albus wanted to say something but Quinn beat him to it. He hissed and glared at Fredo. “Have you forgotten the rules, Fredo? You know we aren’t meant to get involved, say anything till they are done to avoid distracting them.”
Fredo snorted. “Of course, we aren’t but this is getting boring. We aren’t here to watch a game of hide and seek. Tell your girl to make her move already and stop prancing about like a rabbit.”
“If you are bored of watching, you are free to walk out.” Jack hissed at him.
Fredo looked at the boys and then at the crowd, annoyed and embarrassed that they had talked to him like that in front of everyone. He was about to say something else again but Albus shook his head and grunted at him.
“That is enough, Fredo. You have broken the rules enough. As an elder, you shouldn’t be doing that. There are young wolves here and you should be setting an example for them.”
Albus’ words had been a whisper but I had heard the rebuke in them all the same. It had felt like a slap on the face to me and I couldn’t imagine how Fredo must feel at hearing that. Fredo winced and went silent.
My moment was finally here. I watched as Saidah started to weaken and groan. Her moves weren’t as precise and fast as they were at the beginning. I waited for her to try to swing at me again and evaded her. I didn’t wait for her to turn and try another move at me before I slid down on the floor, supported my body with my hands by placing them on the floor and pushed at her with my legs.
She was weak already and wasn’t expecting the push. She went down, and a groan escaped her mouth as her face hit the ground.
That was it. That was all I needed to win. I didn’t know that all those running around was having their toil on me and now that I was done with the fight and the adrenaline was draining out of me, I could sense that I was getting tired as well. I struggled to keep my feet on the floor.
I looked at Fredo to see if he was convinced yet that I was strong and smart enough to lead the pack and noticed that he was looking at me with anger and disbelief. That was his problem. I snorted as I looked away from him. I had done what he wanted and he wasn’t going to give me another condition for me to prove myself. That was all that mattered to me.
The boys cheered at my victory but couldn’t run to congratulate me till I was done. I hoped that I was going to be given some time to myself to rest before I had to move on to the next stage.
I was wrong. I wasn’t given any time to rest. Albus told me to move on to the next stage immediately. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and shifted into the form of a wolf and went hunting.
I was meant to kill and bring back an animal in the next ten minutes and hoped I would be able to do that with how tired I was.