Queen, Alpha, Mate

Chapter 10

Diana POV

My friends silently follow me to the training fields. Katie is has an amused smile on her face. Of course she has faith in me. This seems to be the case less so for my mate and his beta, who both look ever so slightly worried.

"As long as you don't expect me to stand here in silence if you get hurt." Joshua says.

"No worries, love." I respond. "Have a little faith in my fighting skills." I add and I shoot him a little wink.

Soon enough, the rest of the training group follows us out onto the field and we do a group warm up. We run a few laps and do some stretching and defensive exercises before we go into the ring. When I'm about to go into the ring, I don't spot Rebecca anymore. I mind link Katie and ask her if she can still spot Rebecca, but she says she cannot. A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth as I mindlink the group in a sugary sweet voice. 

"It seems that we have lost Rebecca. I would so hate for her to miss the most important part of combat training. Will you help me look for her, please?" Kysandra bursts out laughing at my tone of voice, as does Katie. The group disperses for a moment and Rebecca is quite quickly found, hiding out in one of the castle's bathrooms. Rebecca is one of the higher ladies in the court, so of course she would have just gone there. Typical. I roll my eyes as they bring her back out to the sparring ring. 

I taunt her, saying "I'm so glad that you're back. I would have been heartbroken if you hadn't been here". She's standing opposite me, white as a sheet, knees buckling beneath her and her fists in front of her face in a pathetic attempt to take a stance against me. I focus, a smile tugging at my lips as I tower above her, steady and strong. The whistle blows and the fight starts. We circle each other, both waiting and seeing what the other will do. 

I strike first, or well, strike, scare her. I jump at her and feign an attack. She screams and tries to turn on her heels. She trips and falls flat on her bum. I cross my arms and look down at her. "Pathetic." I say. "Get up."

Slowly, she gets back up, rubbing her backside. She gets back into her stance and runs at me, fist out. I dodge it and put out a foot, over which she trips, falling into the ropes. When she gets up, her nose is bleeding and I feel she's learned her lesson. She's cowering before me and I don't think she'll try to humiliate me again. So I tell her "you're done, get out of the ring and patch yourself back up". The last thing shouldn't be a problem, due to the naturally fast healing abilities of werewolves. I turn my back and I reach for my water, but as I do so, I hear a screech behind me and the ripping of clothes. I turn around just in time to see her mud-brown wolf lunge at me. 

I dodge her attack just in time. She's growling maniacally at me and lunges for me again. 'That mutt', I hear Kysandra say. I dodge the attack easily. From the corner of my eye, I see Katie holding Joshua back, telling him I'll be alright. Of course I'll be alright. It's just inconvenient that Rebecca is clearly not very good at making decisions. Rebecca is not one of our skilled warriors, so even in wolf form, I can handle her. I just don't enjoy hurting my pack members and members of the royal court. It's so unnecessary. It seems though, that a lesson still needs to be learned here. I get into position and on her next attack, grab Rebecca in midair and slam her ribs first onto the ground. I jump on top of her and force her on her back, grabbing the skin of her neck and pressing it down onto the ground. It is a way to force both dogs and wolves into submission, though it is one of the severest forms of humiliation for a werewolf. I stay like that until she realizes she has no other option than to lay calmly under my grip. 

"Shift back." I command her when she finally gives up. Her wolf form slowly and painfully changes back to her human form, until she's just laying under me, panting and crying from humiliation and pain. 

"Have you learned your lesson?" I ask her. In reply, she spits in my face. She spit in her princess's face. Normally, the acts she commited today would force a reaction of either banishment or death, but I'm feeling generous. While still restraining her, I mindlink my father and inform him of the situation and that I have it handled. As she thrashes, I raise my eyebrows at her as one would at a child who's crying, kicking and screaming in the store because their parent will not give them that one thing they really want to have. I simply tell her "You've been demoted to omega and you're on toilet duty for the next month. You're dismissed."

She looks at me horrified. "You can't do that! You're not alpha yet!" She screams. 

"Take it up with my father if you don't agree. He's aware of what happened and I have a rough estimate of 25 witnesses here. Don't make matters worse for yourself, you goose. Just go and be happy you're not banished or dead. If you behave like an adult instead of a child, I'll revise my decision in three months."

I get off of her and watch her as she walks her walk of shame back to the castle. As she does, I'm wondering if my decision to let her go like this was the right one.