5. Unknown stain

Athena

The troop briskly dissolved while I paced, holding on to my hair like I wanted to yank them out. I couldn't let three years of hard training go to waste. It was the time I was waiting for yet I felt scared for my life. The time to prove the Alpha wrong about us—the feminine gender. We were stronger than what they thought us to be if we were given the chance. But, I was scared of being a scapegoat. A laughing stock. Worst of it all, what if he passes a death sentence?

 “Are you scared of getting your ass kicked, Styles?”  One of the best at my level, Scott, scorned me as he approached the exit. It was pointless to respond to him but I was in a tense state and whatever he said made me angrier with myself. Although, he hated me for being one of his strongest contenders.

“Of course not. I'm scared of no one, including the Alpha,” I replied angrily, telling that to myself rather than the nuisance in front of me. He laughed like a snoring pig. I guess that was the right amount of motivation and frustration I needed to take the next move. I stamped out of the room as I gazed at the back view of the other students marching towards the training ground. The air suddenly became intense as I approached the rest. There he was. A tall muscular man with jet-black hair growing all over his head. He looked nothing like the last visit. His eyes were glowing red. It was obvious his wolf was awakened. What if he found out about me? I wallowed in fear, yet retained a straight face as we formed a large circle around the Alpha. The shaman walked around the circle, whispering instructions into our ears as we anticipated the first student to take on the Alpha.

 “Remember, focus on blocking your opponent's hit. Sometimes, that's all you need,” he announced. My eyes were fixed on the Alpha's glowing eyes, which glistened like one on the verge of decapitation. “Who would begin the class?” the shaman asked. We all turned to face each other. The fear was apparent on our faces.

“Scott, you begin.”

I snorted along with a few others as the Shaman pushed him out of the circle from behind. The Alpha took a step forward, while Scott ran back into the crowd. Luckily, he stumbled on me. I pushed him back to the center. The Alpha leaned towards him and pulled him up.

“How would you discover your strength if you don't sustain scars?”

 “Hit me,” the Alpha ordered when he got his balance. He aimed at his waist, but the Alpha missed it and flung his whole body to the ground. He groaned in pain as he crawled away. The crowd gasped at the intensity of the attack. The Alpha was brutal.

“Who's next?“ the Alpha asked. I heard the Shaman whisper behind me as I attempted to make a move, “Defend yourself first, and if the Alpha finds out, at least you died trying. This is your chance.” His words weren't in any way encouraging. It was enough to know I wasn't wanted in that gathering. I stepped out with my fist clenched as I positioned my good leg in front, ready for my first impact. I dodged his first hit. With my small body, I manipulated my way under the Alpha and made my first hit on his back. The crowd cheered. I guess I was carried away, I didn't see the next hit coming. I kissed the soil instantly and began to cough. Unlike Scott, I didn't crawl out. I staggered back to my feet, my eyes were beginning to water from the pain in my spine. It was as though a sledgehammer fell on me. I kept dodging his attempts until he growled loudly and pounced on me. For a split second, I thought I was dead, as my body floated in space before another painful hit on the hard soil. I groaned in pain. There were murmurings from the crowd, I wasn't sure what it was about as my reasoning was temporarily stalled. I looked up to get a view when I found my blood splattered on the ground. I was surprised. There was no cut on my body. The look on the Shaman's face gave me a hint of what had happened. I quickly grabbed a sharp stone and stylishly scratched my lap. I bit my lips so hard as I inflicted pain on myself until there was enough bleeding from my lap. I leaped back on my feet and noticed the confused look on the Alpha had dissolved. “You seem stronger than most around here,” he said with contempt rather than encouragement as I kept leaping on my good leg. It would have been my chance but puberty was betraying me. I knew I couldn't continue fighting. The truth would become apparent as blood kept dropping. I had to walk out of the wrestling ground.

“Who's next?“ I heard the Alpha's voice fade behind me, as I was assisted out of the training ground. “Good work, Styles” the Shaman complimented as I rushed myself to the bathroom immediately I approached the locker room. My tracksuit was drenched in my blood. I washed the blood stains and switched outfits. It was the second time I would be seeing my period so I wasn't as scared as the first time when my mother had to convince me that I wasn't bleeding to death. I slashed open a knee pad in my locker and used it to suck in the flow until I could get back home. “Do you have your wolf?” One of the medical instructors asked as I got out of the locker room. He was surprised to see little to no bruises on me. “Yes, I’m fine now,” I lied, as I joined the rest. More than half of the crowd were wailing on the floor with the Alpha laughing hysterically while he spoke with the Shaman, “I don't know what you're breeding here anymore.”

 “What about him?” the Shaman pointed at me as I approached the grounds.

“Average. Who's he?”

 “Styles”

“That sounds very familiar,” the Alpha responded as he walked towards me. He halted in front of me and lifted the tag from my jacket.

“I've seen this somewhere. Am I missing something?” he shot me a suspicious glance. He tried to read into my mind. My heart clanged in pain as he sniffed the air around me. He flapped the hood off my head as he gave me a close look. I tried to avoid the intensity in his eyes when a cry broke out. I exhaled heavily, backing away immediately as the Alpha turned towards his beta.

“We captured two of them, Alpha. They were spies from the Lycans!”

 “Why then are you worried? I hope you locked them up properly this time. I want them slaughtered immediately. We can't keep giving them wrong signals of being weak”

 “Yes, Alpha, but…” there was suspense as the Shaman directed the rest of us out of the premise. I hung around to have the news drop freshly to my hearings while nursing the injury I inflicted on myself.

“…Zack was taken. We're not certain if…” The Alpha growled so loudly that made a flight of birds vacate the trees in the area. “And you have the guts to relay such a message to me, Lamarck?” Other warriors rushed into the scene and forced everyone out. It was obvious there was a pending war. The Alpha had only one son. Only one legitimate heir, Zack.