004.

Mira's POV

Josh rushed over to me. He stepped between me and the Ironridge boy and put one hand on my shoulder. His grip was firm.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make him eat his words."

An instructor cut through the crowd before Josh could say something. He was a thin man with permed hair and a whistle around his neck. He looked at me, then at the Ironridge boy.

"What is the situation?" she said.

"She issued a challenge," the Ironridge boy said. His voice had settled back into that comfortable tone. Relaxed again now that an adult was present. "And I have chose to accept."

The teacher looked at me. "Is that accurate?"

"Yes," I said.

Josh turned to him quickly. "She is willing to withdraw. Can we just—"

"A challenge that has been accepted cannot be withdrawn by the challenger," the teacher said. "The fight will hold. Standard rules. You will keep fighting until someone concedes."

Josh turned back to me. "Mira. Please."

"I'll be fine."

"He is an Ironridge student. They do not come here to lose."

"Neither did I." I pulled my shoulder gently out of his grip. "Stand back, Josh."

He stayed where he was for another second. I held his gaze until he stepped aside.

The crowd had grown. Students from every school had drifted over. They formed a rough circle, phones out, recording. The Ironridge boy stood across from me and rolled his sleeves up slowly.

I exhaled and flexed my wrists.

He dropped into his stance. Then he shifted.

It was a clean shift. So damn fast. His body compressed and reshaped with the fluid ease of someone who had been doing it since childhood. A leopard stood where he had been. Pale gold with dark markings. Its tail moved in a slow arc.

Applause echoed across the hall.

I kept my eyes on the leopard and leaned forward.

Two years of training. Morning after morning in the cold garage with the light coming through the gap under the door. My trainer had been a retired combat shifter named Petra who had no patience for self-pity and charged by the hour. I had used my savings from three summers of weekend work to pay her.

The leopard moved. I tracked the line of its approach and jumped away from its reach. It adjusted. Faster than I expected. And dashed at me.

I drove my elbow down hard onto the back of its neck.

The leopard snarled and reset. The crowd noise shifted. Less comfortable now.

It came again. Lower this time. Aiming for my legs. I jumped back and it caught my ankle and I went down on one knee. The ground bit into my kneecap. I pushed through it and rolled sideways before it could pin me.

It lunged.

I caught its head with both hands and twisted my whole body into the movement the way Petra had drilled into me until my arms gave out from exhaustion. The leopard went sideways. I came down on top of it with one forearm pressed across the back of its neck, my weight driving down.

It threw me off. I hit the ground and scrambled upright immediately. My ankle was throbbing. My forearm burned.

The leopard circled me.

I did not let it reassess for long. I moved toward it. It flinched back half a step, surprised. I closed the gap and caught its foreleg as it swiped at me. I pulled it forward and off balance, drove my knee up into its midsection.

The leopard squealed and tried to squeeze away. I grabbed its throat, squeezing hard. It raised a hand in surrender.

Silence.

I let the leopard go and it shifted back. The Ironridge boy lay on the ground for a moment, breathing hard. Then he sat up. His eyes were wet with tears.

I stepped back, smiling.

Josh was beside me before I had fully straightened up. He grabbed my arm with both hands. "Are you hurt? Let me see your ankle."

"I am fine."

"You are limping.".

"I am standing." I looked up at him. He was grinning despite himself. I felt something warm move through my chest. Yeah, it felt good to see him proud of me.

I turned to face the crowd.

They were quiet. I didn't hear them clap for me. I didn't see the respect I wanted in their eyes.

Then someone at the back spoke up.

"She beat a weak leopard." A boy's voice. "He is not even top fifty in the ranking."

A few people laughed. Not all of them. But enough.

"Any trained fighter could take him in that form. That win doesn't mean anything."

I felt the warmth drain out of my chest.

I looked at the faces around me. Bored. Unimpressed. Waiting for something worth their attention.

Something hot moved up through my stomach and into my throat.

"Fine." My voice came out loud and clear. "Then bring me your strongest fighter."

The crowd gasped.

"I am standing on your training ground." I looked around the circle slowly. "Bring me the best you have."

Josh grabbed my arm. "What the hell are you doing? Stop!"

I didn't stop. "Is there anyone here willing to fight me or are you all just going to stand there?"

A gap opened in the crowd.

A boy walked through it.

He was tall and muscular. His hair was long and pushed back loosely. He wore the Ironridge training uniform with the sleeves cut off.

He stopped a few steps from me and looked at me.

I looked back at him. Something about his expression was strange. Like he recognised me, except I had never seen him before in my life.

"Yes Caden. Teach that Omega a lesson," someone said from the crowd.

Josh let go of my arm. He stepped toward the boy instead.

"Caden." Josh's voice was careful and low. "She just finished a fight. She's running on adrenaline. She does not mean this challenge."

"I mean every word," I said.

Josh shot me a hard look.

Caden's eyes moved from Josh back to me.

"She's my sister," Josh said. "She's like this sometimes. Please ignore her."

Caden was quiet for a moment. "I have never ducked a challenge. If she wants to withdraw it, I will walk away right now. That is the only thing that stops this."

Josh turned to me. His eyes were serious and tired and asking me, without words, to be sensible just this once.

I looked past him at the crowd. All those faces waiting to see what the Omega would do when a real opponent stepped forward. Waiting for a proper fight. Already composing the story they would tell later about the girl who talked and then backed down.

"I'm not withdrawing it," I said.

Josh closed his eyes briefly.

I caught a flash of respect in Caden's eyes. He nodded once.

"Then we fight," he said.