Chapter3: Pulverize

All it took was the confirmation of a showdown and the other young men that had previously been training, ahem, showing off with Jessup, formed a circle around the two. Each one hooped and hollered, while behind them the group of females formed a line so they could see the action as well. Not so surprising as it wasn’t every day that the daughter of the Alpha and the son of the Beta squared up to challenge one another.

“Rules?” Jaxx posed as she watched Jessup size her up.

“None,” he replied and casually tossed away his tight-fitted t-shirt, exposing his muscular upper body.

“Ugh, I have one,” Jaxx scoffed. “Put your boobs away.”

Loyalties aside, that comment caused every single person in the vicinity to burst out in laughter. Everyone except for Jessup of course, who’s normally tanned face had turned slightly crimson around the cheeks.

He didn’t waste time formulating a comeback. Instead, he did what every testosterone-riddled male did, and charged her. With a quick side-step and turn, Jaxx avoided his first attack. He slid through the newly formed mud and jerked around, once more coming at Jaxx full force.

She was ready for it, having anticipated her smart mouth would rile him up even more.

This time though, she didn’t avoid his attack, but countered his overhead strike with a block from her right arm and sent a punch solidly into his right side.

He stumbled backward and took a second to gather himself. Jaxx was tough, she was strong, not much shorter than him, and had also been training since a young age. If he was going to show her up, he had to think smarter.

Rather than charge her again, he moved in slowly, arms and fists up in a boxing pose. Jaxx took a step back and changed her stance to match his. He went for a jab, and Jaxx blocked, but mistakenly left her opposite side open, which Jessup used as an advantage and landed a rock-solid hook into her ribcage.

The crowd of onlookers gave him a round of cheers, but it was short-lived, because Jaxx quickly returned the blow, not to his ribs, but right along his jaw. He fell backward once more, and rather than wait, Jaxx moved forward and threw a series of punches meant to destabilize him.

It worked. Jessup was on the move, too busy defending himself to lock in another shot. The two circled around one another, Jaxx throwing punches, and Jessup blocking each one.

“You think you’re such a badass,” Jessup grunted through the barrage of strikes. “But in reality, you’re just a freak that got her brother killed.”

The comment took Jaxx completely off guard, her arms dropped, and Jessup slammed his fist right into her nose. Blood spurted forth, rolling down her chin as she staggered down onto one knee.

Jessup hurried forward to capitalize, but just as his fist was about to connect with Jaxx’s left eye, a hand shot out and caught him around the forearm. His eyes widened, and so did Jaxx’s.

Thea had positioned herself between the two fighters, her hand still on Jessup’s forearm. She glanced down at Jaxx and then met eyes with her current mate.

“Enough with this pointless show of brazenness,” she said loudly.

“But she was…” Jessup began, but Thea threw his arm backward and pushed a finger into his chest.

“You hit too far below the belt, Jessup,” she reprimanded with a scowl. “It’s one thing to challenge someone to a fair fight, it’s another thing to use such dirty tactics in order to win.”

“You’re outside of your place!” Jessup roared as he pushed Thea to the side.

That’s all it took, too. Jessup pushing Thea like that. Throwing her to the side as if she was the one in the wrong, and suddenly, that feeling from earlier couldn’t be contained. Jaxx pushed up to her full height, and with a heaving growl, transitioned into wolf form.

Everyone in the circle backed away, faces dumbstruck, each on high alert. Thea stumbled from between the two and Jessup stood there, a look of shock and awe on his chiseled face.

Jaxx sprinted forward on all fours and knocked Jessup onto his back, one heavy front paw on his chest, pressing him into the mud. Her midnight black fur bristled, the white ends standing at attention as a low growl passed through her saliva-stricken maw.

As fast as the rush of unbridled emotion had overtaken her, it faded, and Jaxx suddenly cowered back, removing her paw from Jessup’s chest. Her large green eyes were engulfed with confusion as she looked from Jessup to Thea and then the others.

“Jaxx…” Thea called softly. “Calm down, everything is alright, just, calm down.”

“What is the meaning of this foolishness?” a booming voice echoed through the circle and all attention snapped toward the sound.

There, just at the edge of the circle stood Octavius Lorient and at the sight of him, everyone took a step back and bowed their heads out of respect. He stared at each of them, but his focus quickly turned to his still-shifted daughter.

“You lack even the basic respect to return to your human form when your Alpha addresses you?” he seethed, eyes narrowed, and lips pursed. “And you.”

He shifted his gaze toward Jessup who was pushing himself up from the ground to his feet.

“This was all a misunderstanding,” Jessup began but Octavius held up a hand.

“Don’t think for one moment your words haven’t carried on the wind,” Octavius warned. “The audacity you display in thinking you’ll be chosen as our next successor when you speak such bitterness to those you would lead.”

Jessup’s jaw clenched but his lips remained firmly together, and he dropped his eyes to the ground.

“For all of you,” Octavius continued as he eyed each member of the group. “Tonight’s Blood Moon Ritual will be the first you’ve witnessed. It is a powerful but trying ceremony that will decide the fate of this sacred pack and this is how you choose to prepare for it? Gathered like mindless hyenas around a dog fight?”

He waved an arm, dismissing the group. Most everyone left immediately, happy to be outside of the range of Octavius’s crushing aura. It was Thea that lingered, eyes on Jaxx who shifted on all fours not that far from her.

“Let’s go,” Jessup said as he gently took her by the wrist.

She looked down at her wrist and then up to Jessup. There was a sudden and deep desire to slap him across the face for the way he had acted, but what would that solve presently? Instead, she turned ahead of him and stalked off without a word. Jessup followed but stayed three steps behind.

“Daughter,” Octavius began once everyone else had gone. “As obvious as my anger is, it is my disappointment that cannot be overstated. As a member of the ruling family, how can you allow yourself to bring such a blight on our name with this irresponsible display?”

Jaxx lowered her head and tucked her tail between her back legs.

“Shift back this instant!” her fathered bellowed.

But try as she might, she couldn’t. So, she ran. All fours pounding across the mud-slick training grounds and straight into the forest. She ran until her chest heaved, until her four legs ached, all the way to the edge of their territory, up the Crescent Mountain, until her paws skidded against the loose rocks of the cliff’s edge.

It was there she threw her head back and released a howl unlike any heard before. A shrill, stiff-edged sound that reverberated throughout the valley below. Only when her voice was ragged and exhausted, she stopped and finally…collapsed.