CHAPTER 6: The Fight
1971 Words
“Wake up Little Flame.”
The voice was gone as quickly as it had come.
She blinked, staring at Leon through the strands of crimson hair that had fallen across her face.
Her ribs hurt.
Her cheek was burning.
Her arms shook beneath her weight.
“Raven!” Leon’s voice dragged her back.
She barely had time to look up before his boot slammed into her side.
She rolled across the dirt and stopped on her back.
A sharp pain shot through her ribs.
Laughter erupted from the spectators.
Leon stood over her, breathing hard, baring his fangs at her.
“Still want to prove yourself?”
Raven pushed herself onto her elbows.
Her vision swam.
The medication she’d taken that morning had already begun to drag her body down.
She felt very tired and extremely heavy, as if she couldn’t pull her own weight.
Her muscles felt heavier than they should be. If she wasn’t competing, she would have slept on that field.
Seeing Leon barring his fangs on her stirred something deep inside her.
For years, Raven had wondered why she was built that way.
Every other young wolf in Blackthorn had felt their wolf stir long before eighteen.
Some shifted at thirteen.
Others at fourteen or fifteen.
Raven had waited.
And waited.
Nothing.
Not even a whisper.
Leon crouched in front of her.
“What happened?” he mocked. “Tired already?”
Raven wiped the dirt from the corner of her mouth.
“Get away from me.”
Leon laughed.
From the edge of the field came Alpha Aldric’s voice.
“Stop complaining and fight!”
Raven looked toward her father.
He stood beside Selene and Seraphina.
Not one of them looked worried.
Lydia had her arms folded.
Seraphina was smiling.
“Get up,” he ordered.
Raven swallowed the lump in her throat.
She pushed herself to her feet.
The instructor stepped back.
“Continue.”
Leon didn’t waste a second.
He rushed her.
Raven raised her arms just in time to block his punch.
The impact rattled her bones.
He followed with another.
Then another.
She blocked the third but wasn’t fast enough for the fourth.
His fist caught her stomach.
Raven doubled over.
Leon grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her upright.
“Look at you.”
He drove his elbow into her back.
Raven stumbled forward.
“Is this really all you’ve got?”
She turned and swung.
Leon caught her wrist and twisted.
Raven gasped.
“You’re not even trying at this point, Mad Red Wolf.” He laughed, calling her by her nickname.
He swept her legs out from under her.
She hit the ground hard.
The crowd laughed.
“Come on, Leon!”
“Finish it!”
“Don’t hold back!”
Raven heard Seraphina’s voice above them.
“That’s my boy.” Selene grinned.
Raven’s eyes burned.
She pushed herself up.
Leon came at her again.
This time she saw it.
His right shoulder dipped before he swung.
Raven stepped aside.
His fist missed.
She drove her elbow into his ribs.
Leon grunted.
Raven followed with a punch to his chest.
He staggered back.
For the first time, the laughter stopped.
Raven stared at him.
Leon stared back.
Then his expression hardened.
“You got lucky.”
He charged towards her again, but Raven was faster.
She remembered something one of the older trainers had taught the younger wolves years ago.
Don’t fight someone’s strength.
Use their movement against them.
She sidestepped.
Leon rushed past.
Raven caught his arm and pulled.
He stumbled.
She swept her foot behind his ankle.
Leon fell to one knee.
A murmur passed through the crowd.
Raven backed away.
Her heart hammered.
She had done it. She didn’t have time to gloat before Leon lunged again.
His shoulder caught her chest.
They crashed into the dirt.
He rolled over her and pinned her wrists above her head.
“Got you.” He smiled, baring his fangs again.
Raven struggled to get off but couldn’t.
“You thought one little move made you a warrior?” He shoved her harder into the ground.
“Know your place.”
Raven gritted her teeth.
She twisted her hips and managed to free one hand.
Her palm struck his jaw.
Leon cursed.
Raven shoved him away.
They both scrambled upright.
For several seconds, neither moved.
The instructor watched carefully.
“Continue.”
Leon wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
His eyes narrowed.
Then he smiled.
“Gladly.”
He came at her again.
This time Raven wasn’t fast enough.
His fist struck her shoulder.
His knee caught her thigh.
Another punch landed against her ribs.
Raven stumbled.
Leon kicked her legs from beneath her.
She fell.
He didn’t stop.
He kicked her again and again with all his strength.
Raven tried to defend herself, but every movement felt slower than the last.
Her body was giving up.
She knew it was the damned medicine.
Leon grabbed her by the arm and dragged her upright.
“What’s wrong?”
He laughed in her face.
“Where did all that confidence go?”
Raven’s breathing came in short gasps.
He slammed his fist into her stomach.
Raven folded.
Leon grabbed her hair and forced her head up.
“Fight Raven.” Her father bellowed from the audience.
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.
She looked away.
Leon released her.
She dropped to her knees.
Sophie’s small voice rose from somewhere in the crowd.
“Raven!”
Raven looked over.
Sophia stood at the edge of the field, both hands clenched against her chest.
“Get up, Rae!”
Beside her stood her grandmother, Elder Mira.
Unlike everyone else, she wasn’t laughing.
She was watching Raven closely.
“Come on, child,” Mira called. “Don’t you dare give up.”
Raven stared at her.
Something about the old woman’s voice steadied her.
She pushed herself up.
Leon shook his head.
“You’re still going?”
Raven raised her fists. “Yes.”
Leon laughed. “Fine.”
He rushed her.
Raven blocked his first punch.
His second struck her cheek.
She stumbled.
He followed with a kick.
Raven jumped back.
His foot missed.
She stepped forward and punched.
Leon blocked.
Raven swung again.
He blocked.
She kicked.
He caught her ankle.
Raven twisted and struck his shoulder with her free foot.
Leon released her.
She landed badly but stayed upright.
The crowd had gone quiet.
Leon was breathing heavily now.
So was Raven.
But something had changed.
She was no longer letting him lead the fight. She was putting into practice everything she had ever been taught.
She watched him.
His stance.
His breathing.
The way he shifted his weight before every attack.
Leon charged.
Raven ducked.
His fist sailed over her head.
She drove her shoulder into his stomach.
He staggered.
Raven grabbed his wrist, turned with his momentum and threw him over her hip.
Leon hit the ground with a heavy thud.
A few people gasped.
Sophia screamed.
“Yes!”
Raven stood over him.
For one second, she felt a weird strength come over her.
Leon rolled away and jumped back to his feet.
His face had gone red with embarrassment.
“You little freak.”
He said, charging towards her.
Raven raised her guard.
Then she caught him across the jaw.
Leon staggered.
She grabbed his shoulders and slammed her forehead against his.
Pain exploded through his skull.
She closed her eyes from the pain exploding through her head.
Her hands trembled.
The field blurred.
Then she heard it again.
Little flame.
Her breath caught.
“Get up,” the voice said, sounding urgent.
Raven looked around.
Nobody else seemed to hear him.
She felt a renewed strength go through her.
Her fingers closed around the dirt.
Something hot moved beneath her skin.
She gasped.
A strange pressure built inside her chest.
Leon pushed up from the floor grunting in pain.
“You’re finished,” he said in her ears and raised his fist.
Raven saw it coming.
She should have been afraid.
Instead…
Everything went quiet.
The crowd disappeared.
The only sound she heard was the pounding inside her chest.
Raven’s eyes snapped open.
Leon swung.
She caught his wrist.
The entire field went silent.
Leon stared at her hand. “What the…”
Raven gave a cruel smile and twisted his wrist.
He cried out.
Before he could recover, she drove her fist into his chest.
He flew backward.
He landed several feet away.
There was a collective gasp from the crowd.
Raven stared at her own hands.
They were shaking.
“What did I…”
Leon groaned and tried to stand.
Something inside Raven pulled tight.
Her head snapped toward him.
He had barely gotten onto one knee when she was suddenly in front of him.
She struck him across the face.
Leon fell.
She hit him again.
And again.
“Raven!”
Someone screamed.
She didn’t hear them.
Leon tried to protect his face.
She knocked his arms aside and gave him another blow over and over again.
Blood appeared at his nose.
Then his lip.
He stopped fighting back, but Raven kept going.
“Raven, stop!”
The instructor rushed forward.
She shoved him away.
The crowd erupted.
“She’s going to kill him!”
“Get her off him!”
“Someone stop her!”
Leon curled into himself.
Raven grabbed his shirt and pulled him up.
Her amber gold eyes turning a shade darker.
The instructor finally reached her with two warriors.
They grabbed her arms.
Raven fought them with a strength none of them expected.
“Let me go!”
“Raven!”
She kicked.
One warrior stumbled.
It took three men to finally drag her away from Leon.
The field had gone completely silent.
Leon lay on the dirt, blood covering his face.
Raven stood several feet away, breathing hard.
She looked at her hands.
Then at Leon.
Her expression slowly changed.
Confusion replaced the rage. She couldn’t believe what had happened.
The instructor walked toward Leon first.
“Get him to the infirmary.”
Two warriors rushed forward.
Then the instructor turned toward Raven.
The crowd waited.
Everyone knew what should happen.
She had won.
Even the whispers were starting.
But the winner was not announced.
“Declare the winner.” The crowd murmured. But nobody paid attention.
Sophie came out of the crowd and went straight to the instructor.
“You need to declare the winner.”
The instructor looked at her and shook his head. “Can’t you see young Alpha is seriously wounded?”
Sophia stormed across the field.
“But that is cheating! Raven clearly won and should be declared the winner as tradition demands.
“Watch your mouth.”
“You watched what happened!”
Sophia pointed at Leon.
“He couldn’t even stand!”
The instructor’s expression hardened.
“The fight is over.”
“Then why isn’t she the winner?”
He didn’t answer.
Sophia grabbed Raven’s arm.
“Come on.”
Raven didn’t resist.
She was still staring at her hands.
Sophia pulled her away from the field, anger written all over her face.
“This is ridiculous.”
Raven barely heard her.
Selene, who was on her way to the infirmary, turned to look at Raven.
Her face had gone pale.
She had watched everything.
The impossible speed.
The sudden strength.
The way Raven’s eyes had changed.
And unlike the others…
Selene wasn’t wondering how Raven had done it.
She already knew something was wrong.
Her gaze followed Raven until she disappeared from the field.
Behind them, Elder Mira remained standing, her eyes trained on Raven.
And for the first time in decades, Elder Mira looked genuinely afraid.
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