SWNOVELS Chapter Assessment - part 2
An hour and forty-five minutes later Robert makes his way into the clearing, just before the time expires and rings his bell grinning.
Robert and Toni stood to attention in front of Alpha Vincent
“Michael was captured after twenty-six hours in no-mans-land and was eliminated from the remaining sections of the assessment.
Robert got twenty-nine technical kills and made it back
Antonia only managed twelve but made it back early
Explain why with 22 wolves left out there you didn’t manage to get more technical kills in Antonia, anything less than high teens needs explaining?”
Even with her eyes downcast, she can feel his are boring into her and without a good reason, she will be deemed to have failed and therefore take punishment.
“Alpha”
She bows her head in respect showing obedience to him as he expects her to, not because she wants to.
“We were told to treat this part of the exercise as an invasion force so I did.
I took out each of the leaders and came back to warn the pack.
In real life, that would mean mind linking, in this scenario, ringing the bell, if I’d been allowed, I would have gone back out to fight.
Leaderless wolves are easier to fight against, but we need to protect the pack first and foremost to ensure our long-term survival.
As my lessons have taught me, if keeping the pack strong and safe means we sacrifice personal wants, that’s what we do.
Getting caught up in a battle doesn’t win the war and I tried to balance the terms of the engagement with what’s best for the pack.”
Alpha Vincent looks at her, there’s a very fine line between punishment and praise and before her answer, she knows she stood on the punishment side, he nods at her, before checking the monitor to one side, she guessed checking who took out the Deltas.
“Smart plan.”
He nods approvingly, that’s the highest praise she’s ever had from the Alpha and she breathes a quiet sigh of relief, for now, at least, she's avoided punishment.
“Antonia takes the right ring, Robert the left”
The Alpha signals to two fighting rings marked out on the ground,
“Anyone who wants to fight against either of these opponents stands on the marked areas, the rest form a circle around the rings.
Fights go on until the defender is beaten, all challengers are down or the defender is thrown out of the ring.
The defenders may only shift if the attacker does first.”
There’s a glint in his eye, as he delivers the last message knowing Toni is stronger in her wolf form, that limitation is there to make her fight harder, at fourteen they have the advantage of size in skin form, but fur side, she balances the equation.
Delta Cole is the first to step onto the marked area on Toni’s ring, his face tells her that he’s out for revenge, but more than that, he looks like he wants to prove a point, alongside him are eight others from his team, all adults.
Five have stepped onto the side of Robert, all strong warriors and ones she trains against, they know not to pick her, but still want to try their chances against the next Alpha.
“Close combat, one fighter at a time, a pin or knockout will end the fight.
Beta John will oversee Robert's fights, I will oversee Antonia’s as she's still a minor.
Ten-minute break, Robert and Antonia may only use items that they packed at the start.”
She watches as Delta Alek moves to Roberts Ring to watch over his fights, with Beta Dan moving towards hers, she isn’t sure why they decided to request to watch over an assessment, but then she realises she doesn’t care anymore.
Sitting down, she knows she doesn’t have enough uniforms to cover nine fights if she shreds each outfit, ahh well, she thinks, if she has to fight naked, so be it, changing into one of the two she carried, she gets out some food and water that she hadn’t eaten in the cells and starts to critique each of her opponents on build and stance.
Just over ninety minutes later, opponent number eight has been dispatched, Robert finished his opponent's remaining unbeaten a while ago and is watching from the sidelines.
Outwardly he remains impassive as if watching unimpressed, but he’s mind-linked Toni after every fight praising and spurring her on, like her, he knows they’d be punished for giving praise.
She’s fighting adults, Cole will be the youngest and cockiest by far, his appointment as Delta was due to his vicious streak, all the other opponents had ranged in age from twenty-two to twenty-eight and she’s successfully dispatched them all so far.
She’d embarrassed each of them so far, taking the first five with Tyra after they foolishly shifted and then three in human form, using her speed and agility to avoid the worst of their hits.
After the first shift, she’d forgone clothes, just using the cloak she had, which could be dropped in seconds.
Walking over to her bag, and taking some water she swills out her mouth, before spitting the blood-stained liquid onto the floor, against Cole she intends to be clothed, she has a plan, knowing he favours fighting in wolf form.
She changes into a new uniform, foregoing her leather wrist brace, which allows for more movement, she goes for longer leather sleeves along her forearm, they are thicker and less flexible but provide more protection.
Once dressed, she drops her cloak to the floor, attaching the bolas she made her belt along with a spooled thin rope.
Rooting around in her bag, she coats her hands with chalk, it does nothing, but it’s psychological, it makes people think there’s something in it.
She’d been reapplying it after every fight, and while it probably wouldn’t psych Delta Cole, it had with others, who spent time brushing it off their face losing focus on her.
“Good to see you’ve let the rest of the wolves do the dirty work, Cole.”
She says almost dismissively
He’s grinning evilly
“What can I say, tactics are important”
He pauses before a sneer reaches his face
“you would do well to remember I have a title
You should use it, disrespect has consequences.”
His eyes show contempt for her
“But don’t worry, I’m prepared to give you a more public lesson this time!”
His eyes narrow as he loudly emphasises the public part of his statement.
Inside she’s laughing, he’s feeling the need to assert his title and power, trying to make her cower after they both know he backed down to her just a few days ago.
“Not in this ring, you are nothing more than just another challenger and I am nothing more than the defender.
Unless you earn respect in my eyes, in this ring you have no title.”
Her words are calm and unthreatening, but loud enough for the watching pack to hear her disrespecting him openly, but this is also field smack talk so should be allowed, without being punished, not that most would dare to try it, but she’s banking on it amusing the Alpha.
Her face has remained impassive, eyes cold and hard, the look she perfected years ago before she first left this pack, Tyra is clearly showing in her eyes, holding his gaze, letting him know she’s challenging him.
This isn’t just a fight for the assessment this is her telling him he’s unworthy and she knows Tyra is waiting, ready to work with her however she needs, knowing she feels the same.
In no way does Toni look invincible, the previous fights have taken their toll, she has a split lip, and one eye was swelling, but Tyra had been working on that, cracked ribs, at a guess from the last fight and her body was scratched and bruised all over, but most of those were healing already thanks to Tyra.
But, she stands as if there’s no pain and she’d just got up from a nap, relaxed and ready, nothing scarier than an opponent who doesn't react or acknowledge the pain.
The fights have been brutal and painful so far, anything less would be punished by the Alpha after the event, when you fight if you don’t give it your all, you take punishment, even in training.
Cole is tossing a knife, grinning knowing that in her mixed bag of items, she hadn’t taken any weapons, not that he’d seen anyway, what she has are the bolas, but he probably doesn’t even know what they are and wouldn’t care if he did, underestimating their use.
Rolling her shoulders and neck, she stands calmly in the centre of the ring, Cole staying a little distance away tossing the knife.
“Fight” Alpha Vincent’s voice booms out
As the words leave his mouth, Cole throws the knife at her, shifting as it leaves his hand, he launches at her.
Dodging quickly, she slams her fist into the dagger's side as it whistles past, sending it crashing to the ground.
Sliding forward, she kicks him in the ribs as he flies over her, he lands awkwardly on his side as she pushes herself back upright.
Scrabbling up, he turns snarling, running at her mouth open, ramming into her body, knocking her to the floor, she lands with a thud.
He lunges for her throat, wanting a quick submission, she shoves her forearm across his mouth, ramming it deep into the back, forcing his mouth open beyond the point it’s comfortable as he tries to clamp his jaw down, making him gag, she doesn’t release the pressure.
Kicking up with one leg she slams her foot into his balls, human or wolf, it hurts.
A yelp escapes him as he backs off releasing her arm, she scrambles to her feet, blood dripping down her arm, there’s anger in his eyes, and he circles her, warier now.
Pulling the first bolas off her belt, the stones cracking as they bounce off each other, she starts a slow measured swing, Cole looks unimpressed and starts to run at her as she lets them fly, tangling around his front legs, tying them together, he stumbles face driven down into the ground.
Grabbing the knife from the ground, she dives forward onto his wolf, sitting astride him as he’s trying to bite through the bolas rope, she rolls onto her back, dragging him with her in one move, pinning his back legs with her own, she grabs the thin spooled rope from her belt dropping it over his snout as he snaps at her, pulling the ends tight.
“Submit” she growls, yanking his head back away from her head, the thin cord, tightening and cutting into his muzzle, the knife he’d used now pressed against his throat in her other hand.
His back legs are raking in the air, her legs locking and controlling his lower body, his head thrashing left and right, trying to loosen the rope muzzle she has him just forces it tighter, digging into him he tries to disorient her by slamming his head into hers.
She doesn’t care, Tyra is so close to the surface her shift would appear instantaneous, her eyes are glowing amber, but she’s lending all her strength to hold him in place, her hand presses the knife down further, breaking the skin slightly.
She whispers quietly, voice full of menace knowing only he will hear her words.
All he had to do was shift back, breaking her hold, he could have overpowered her, but he doesn’t think, he’s furious.
His wolf stills, relaxing his head back and thumping his tail on the ground, she pushes him off her and stands up, blood still dripping from her arm she can see the pleasure on Alpha Vincent’s face.
“Antonia, step forward” he calls out.
She steps up to him calmly, standing to attention, chest heaving from the effort of controlling a full-grown wolf, leaving a small trail of blood drops as she walks.
“Why did you not shift in that fight?”
“No need to Alpha, I’ve watched him fight.
At some point, I assumed I would need to fight him in my training, and as you and my father taught me, always study your opponent, Alpha.”
But it was a lesson drummed into her from an early age by her father, crediting it to the Alpha was just to boost his ego.
Her father's rule, number three in her life was simple
‘Rule number Three – Knowing your enemy means it’s easier to predict their moves’.
You are a female, you need to work smarter, not harder, predicting their actions means you can counter them before they are made.’
Pride is shining behind the evil eyes, he’s seen her take on a Delta in human form and take pain like it was a mere scratch, both rate highly in his eyes, his eyes shift slightly to the Royal Beta standing near him, who gives a reluctant nod, almost imperceptibly so.
“Antonia, I name you Gamma of this pack, you have proven yourself worthy.
You will continue to train under the guidance of myself or the Beta until you are seventeen, but your father would be proud of you.
You are excused from training tomorrow.”
He turns away briefly and starts a loud announcement.
“Everyone is required to attend the town square for the branding ceremony tomorrow morning at ten.”
“Thank you, Alpha,”
She bows her head and steps back
“Robert step forward” he continues
“You did well and showed promise in being able to take over this pack one day.
We need to get you thinking strategically, but you will be working with the Gamma for the next few days to support and pass to her, the office work you took on.
I will then delegate some of the Alpha work to you in its stead from next week, to help prepare you.”
“Yes Alpha” Robert replies
“You too are excused from training tomorrow, until Michael is released, you will train exclusively with the Beta”
His eyes do a quick appraisal of his son’s injuries
“Go with Antonia for a medical check-up.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” Robert bows his head
Together they walk towards the pack hospital, her arm isn’t too bad, it’s more crushing damage, pushing her arm that far back exposed her arm to Cole’s molars only, no tearing injury, and the only reason they were sent to be checked, is because the guests of the Royal pack are there.
Cole doesn’t hunt in his wolf form, he sees it as beneath him, meaning he hasn’t trained his crush strength in his jaw, relying on his tearing ability and pure strength to damage in fights.
The only reason she wanted to beat him in human form, was to humiliate him, it has weakened his position with the Alpha and no doubt, he’ll have his own punishment routine allocated to him to keep his position, but that’s his problem.
'Alpha Robert'
She mind links him as they walk, keeping her eyes forward, not seeing her talk to him is key
'Just Robert, Antonia, at least when we are alone away from my father, or chatting via mind link.'
'Don’t ask about or go to see Michael while he’s In the cells, it will weaken you in front of the Alpha and increase Michael’s punishment.'
'He and I are friends Antonia, I need to check on him.'
'Alpha Vincent will find a way to punish you both for it.'
'I know, but Michael is likely to be punished as it is.'
'It will be worse if you interfere, for you both, your father will order you to execute any punishment he dishes out.'
She can hear the sadness in her words, the inner sigh may not have been heard but Robert knew it was there and gives her the briefest of nods.
He and Michael are good guys, but they still believe the pack will be handed to them soon, the reality is, that Alpha Vincent has to die for him to hand the reins over, and Robert isn’t vicious enough for him until he drives out the gentleness Robert inherited from his mother, he will continue to find a reason to deny him his birthright.