TO KILL A KING

FIFTEEN-GOHOME

KING

I paced through the rows of sweaty bodies in the training room, inspection each and every one of them as I passed. Though not in the greedy way a man looks at a woman, I was watching them for weakness.

His men and mine trained along side one another, strangely enough some of them had even began to make friends. 

Ironic as in a few short days they would be killing one another for rights to stay in the pack.

Two males grunted as their shirtless torsos slammed against one another in the fight ring, and though one male was clearly larger and out weighted the other in brute strength, he was far slower than the slighter male, who himself was still not small.

I watched as the slighter man dodged a heavy footed blow, spinning and throwing a well aimed jab into his monstrous counterparts throat. He fell to the floor, holding his throat as he coughed and spluttered, spraying the grey floor with red and slamming his hand to the ground twice. 

Signalling submission.

"Well done." I said with a smile, leaning against the railings of the ring, though smaller, this male still had a few inches on me. "You fight well."

He shot me a side wards glance as two males ducked under the bars to pull the unconscious man out by his arms, before he grabbed a dark towel folded over the railing and used it to wipe his face and shoulders. "This is no place for a woman." 

He said coldly. "Go home."

My smile didn't fade, though my eyes turned vicious. Now the flash of teeth was not an endearing display of appreciation, but was a warning, a dangerous flash of fangs. "Is that so?"

I didn't rise to his bait, I barely even reacted. Instead I played bemused.

He scowled at me, wiping a bead of sweat from his shoulders as if wondering why I was still talking to him. He didn't know who I was, clearly.

I hoped he didn't, because if he didn't and he still doubted my competence then he was in for a nasty shock.

I climbed between the railings and into the ring, the small smile still on my lips as I held out my hand for the rag, "Let me." I said meekly, c*****g my head slightly, "You just look so tired after that fight and after all, it's a women's job to take care of the men."

With a snort he chucked the towel at me, allowing me to stand behind him as I wiped the mixture of sweat and blood from his muscled back.

Big mistake.

In an instant I had him on his knees, one foot pressing painfully to his calf, keeping him down, whilst my forearm forced into his throat, using my held hands as leverage.

"What the f**k!" He said, or.. at least I think that was what he was trying to say, except he couldn't really breathe.

"Don't think I won't f**k you up just because I'm a woman," I spat, increasing my pressure on his windpipe, feeling cartilage click beneath my arm. "Now go home, before this woman kicks your ass."

His fingers clawed at my forearm, so I stamped my heel into his calf with all my might. He howled out in pain, the guttural sound echoing across the training hall and turning heads. People around us stopped what they were doing to come watch.

"Crazy b***h!" He gasped as I released him and he fell to the floor before my feet, scrambling away on his hands and knees until he leaned against the railing.

I couldn't help but laugh, almost everyone in the hall had stopped what they were doing now and gathered around to watch the fun. 

All except one.

Their Alpha still carried on, either ignoring or ignorant to the spectacle unfolding before him.

-And my god he was a sight to behold, I watched every muscle in his back contract and shift with misguided pleasure as his heavy fist slammed into the punchbag. 

I had seen many shirtless men before, probably more than most, but this was something entirely different.

He looked like hell and heaven and everything in between. Delicate ink covered his entire back, wrapping around every curve and plane of his body. Stories of shipwrecks and hell fires all held within the confines of his skin. He was devastating.

Even from this distance I was entranced by his skin, I could barely tear my eyes away, until the male on the floor before he let out another deep gasp, hungry for precious air.

"I assume this is one of yours?" I shouted, glaring daggers into his hellish looks. It was ungodly really, that something so wicked could look so fine.

He turned slowly, to reveal that his front was just as delectable as his front. I refuted the urge to press my legs together as he slowly stalked forward without a word. The crowd parted like the dead see for this monster of a man. 

It would've been no surprise to me if he actually was a god, or something far more blasphemous. Godly implied good, and he looked as though the word good disintegrated like a wilting flower before him.

He stopped before the floor sprawled man, who now scrambled to his feet before his Alpha.

"What's the problem?" Everything inside me from my chest to my core tightened, he sounded as rough as the oceans ride and standing before me shirtless I wanted nothing more than to ride him like a wave.

My eyes lingered on an inking of a black wolf on his chest, head raised to the crescent moon above it, so realistic I couldn't sworn I saw it move and heard it's howl.

"It seems as though one of you men-" 

If he could even be called that, "-Took offence to my presence."

He was silent for a moment before looking to the panting male. "Akaias, Is this true?"

He seemed to have got his breath back as he managed to growl, "They shouldn't be in here. It's wrong."

"They?" He raised a dark brow.

"The women." Akaias replied confidently, if I were him I wouldn't be so sure the Alpha would take his side.

"Well then." North said, and I felt my heart drop, certain he was going to side with this sexist prick. "What are you going to do about it?"

Akaias stared up at the mountain of a man, his mouth opening and closing but no words coming out. "What do you mean?"

North darkly tipped his head towards me, not tearing his eyes from the man who's face was now glowing a strangled shade of red. "If she doesn't belong here then fight her. The winner stays."

The trace of a smirk tugged upwards at the corners of my lips. Akaias spluttered, "But..I.."

"What's wrong?" North laughed, a deep and booming sounds that was rich as gold yet smooth as honey. "Scared of being beaten by a girl?"

"No!" Akaias shouted back a little too quickly.

"Well then what are you waiting for?" I joined in, edging closer to him, "Hit me."

"I would never hit a woman." He held his chin high as I closed the distance between us, effectively getting in his face. "It is forbidden."

I let out a dry scoff as I slammed my fist into his proud jaw, knocking him sideways. "What if that woman hits you first?"

The crowd fell about themselves, some with laughter, some in horror.

A switch within the male had been flicked, he no longer seemed to hold his morals so highly as he span around to face me with eyes filled with red hot rage.

Akaias clutched at his cheek as he staggered towards me, throwing his weight into a low blow that I easily dodged. 

He was letting his anger get the best of him, letting his wolf take hold, making him stronger, but sloppier. 

In the brief moment his back was to me, I span, using my momentum to place a well aimed punch to his temple.

My knuckles ached with the force that had shocked even me. I couldn't loose this fight, I had to stay grounded.

My eyes met with North's unreadable face, and for just a second I let my guard down as Akaias kicked my legs out from under me. My head slammed into the fight floor.

Black stars and multicoloured flashes lined my vision as I opened my eyes with a groan. Good thing I did too, as I was able to roll just in time to avoid the stomp of a foot that pounded into the earth where my face had been just moments prior.

I scrambled to my feet, but in the brief time I was off balance he had managed to throw a fist spiralling towards my cheek. I had no time to dodge or block, so instead I braved myself.

Knowing how to be hit was just as important as knowing how to hit. It meant that instead of being entirely ruined by his punch, I was only knocked back a few feet.

Copper pooled on my tongue. 

"You pull your punches?" I taunted, wiping my bloody lip with the back of my hand.

He grunted a sound fat more animal that human. Winding him up was helping, he was only getting angrier and angrier, and just judgement only growing more clouded.

He rushed me, barrelling towards me like some kind of damn human juggernaut.

"Stop playing with him." I heard a familiar voice say amongst the commotion of the crowd. It was the first thing I had heard him say since North's bloody arrival, and when he spoke again I caught his sorrowful eye, giving him a nod that held with it a promise. "End this already."

I would.

Akaias's closed fist skimmed my cheek, leaving a trail of blazing fire in its wake as I blocked his next attack, aiming my fist low, below his navel.

Enough was enough. My point was made already.

I hit him hard, and he doubled over so that I could feel his low moan and the air forced from his lungs fan against my ear. I hit him, over and over and over and over again.

I hit him until my fists bled and he collapsed to the floor. I hit his face, until blood crawled from his nose like a river would carve its way through mountain valley.

I hit him until his eyes rolled back in his head.

I hit him one final time, his head flying to the side and what looked like a tooth, or atleast the remains of one fell from his lips, before pushing to me feet.

"Anyone else?" I challenged, scanning the crowd around me for any possible competitors.

The only eyes that dared to look me in the face were his. The colour of winter storms and rain against my bedroom window. He watched the fight with his arms folded across his broad chest, the light dancing across the ink tattooed across his muscled body.

His head tipped in a small nod that if I hadn't been paying close attention to his every move I would've missed. 

A nod that said well done in the way that words could not.

Deep down part of me wondered who he had willed to win? One of his own? Or me? He had no real reason to want me to win other than the unlawful bond that tied our souls, but that again if the bond had mattered that much to him, if he really cared he probably would've murdered Akaias the first time he punched me.

Instead my mate watched blankly as we fought, completely unreadable. He still hated me, I knew that much. I still hated him too.

The history between us could never be forgiven or forgotten, but seemingly this short time, somehow our wounds felt less raw.

He turned, and I stared at his beautifully carved back as he left the training room, when no one else dared to move.

"From now on," I boomed, "The females will train alongside you. If you've learnt anything today let it be this, never question our competence. Brains wins against brute force every time."

***

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