Chapter 5: Proving Ground

The first punch caught me square in the jaw before anyone said the word began.

"That's how it starts," a voice called from the crowd. "No warm-up. No warning. Welcome to the Kade pack."

"Little warning would've been nice," I said, spitting to the side.

"Nothing here is a formality," the Beta said, already circling for a second hit. "Formalities don't earn you a rank."

"Good to know. I wish someone had mentioned that before my jaw found out the hard way."

"Would you have wanted the warning?"

"Would it have changed anything?"

"No."

"Then no, I wouldn't have."

He came at me again, faster than I could track, and landed two more hits before I managed to get an arm up.

"Move your feet, Briar," Asher called from the sideline. "Speed, not size."

"Easy for you to say from over there."

"I'm not the one getting hit."

"Noted. Feel free to switch places anytime."

The Beta laughed, low and confident, and used the distraction to land another blow that snapped my head sideways. I went down on one knee, ears ringing.

"Stay down if you need to," he said. "Nobody scores you lower for knowing your limits."

"Is that what you tell everyone you're about to beat?"

"Only the ones I respect enough to give an out."

"Keep them out. I didn't come here for one."

"I don't know my limits yet."

"Everybody's got them."

"Then let's find out where mine are, since apparently you already think you know."

"I know where most wolves' limits sit. You're not most wolves."

"Is that a compliment or a warning?"

"Ask me again after the match."

"She's not learning," someone in the crowd muttered.

"She's not trying to learn to dodge," someone else said, quieter. "Look at her stance. She's not bracing to avoid the hits anymore."

"Then what is she doing?"

"I think she's just deciding she can take it."

"Nobody can take that many hits and keep standing."

"Watch her. She's about to prove you wrong."

"You're supposed to dodge," the Beta said, breathing harder now.

"I'm supposed to win."

"That's not how this works."

"Then teach me a new way it works."

He hit me again, and this time, I barely moved.

"How are you still standing," he said, and for the first time, his voice had lost some of its certainty.

"I keep asking myself the same question."

"That last hit should have put you down."

"Maybe you're not hitting as hard as you think you are."

"I'm hitting exactly as hard as I always do."

"Then maybe I'm built differently than anyone you've hit before."

I swung back, clumsy, untrained, but heavy enough to connect. He staggered, more from surprise than pain.

"She hit him," someone in the crowd said, louder now. "She actually hit him."

"Beginner's luck," another voice said.

"Beginners don't stay on their feet through six hits first."

"Maybe she's not a beginner."

"Maybe none of us know what she is yet."

"Lucky shot," the Beta said, resetting his stance.

"Then let's see if I get lucky twice."

"You won't."

"You said that about the first punch, too."

"I didn't say anything about the first punch."

"You implied it with your face."

"That's not a real thing."

"Ask anyone in this yard. My face is very expressive right now, and it's telling you exactly what I think of your confidence."

He came at me again, and I let the hit land, absorbing it the way you'd absorb a wave instead of fighting the current.

"He's slowing down," Asher said from the sideline, arms crossed now instead of shouting instructions.

"I noticed," I said, breathing hard but steady.

"You're not."

"I noticed that too."

The Beta swung again, and this time, the punch landed without half the force behind it.

"You're tiring," I said.

"I'm pacing myself."

"You're tiring. I've been counting."

"Counting what?"

"How many of those actually hurt anymore. We're down to about half."

"That's not possible this early in a match."

"Tell that to your arms. They're not listening to you the way they were five minutes ago."

"You talk a lot for someone who's bleeding."

"I talk exactly as much as I want to. That hasn't changed either."

"Yield," I said a moment later, not unkindly.

"I don't yield."

"Then keep swinging until you can't anymore. I'll still be standing when you're done."

"Confidence for someone bleeding from the mouth."

"I've had worse said to me by better people."

"That supposed to scare me?"

"It's supposed to explain why a few punches aren't going to be what stops me tonight."

"Everyone says that before they hit the ground."

"Then I guess we'll find out which one of us is right."

He swung twice more, both weaker than the last, and on the second one, I caught his wrist and used his own momentum to put him on the ground instead of me.

Silence dropped over the training yard, thick and complete.

"She won," someone finally said, disbelief written into every syllable.

"She didn't dodge a single hit in that entire match," another voice added, quieter, almost reverent now.

"I've never seen anyone win a match like that."

"Neither have I, and I've been watching these for a decade."

"She didn't need to," Asher said, stepping forward, pride settling into his voice. "She just needed to still be standing when he stopped."

The Beta pushed himself up off the ground, wincing, and extended a hand toward me instead of walking away.

"That's the first time anyone's beaten me by refusing to move," he said.

"I'll take it."

"How does it not hurt more than it clearly does?"

"It hurts a lot. I just decided it wasn't going to be the thing that stopped me."

"Welcome to Kade pack, for real this time."

"Does that come with a rank, or just the bruises?"

"Both, apparently. You earned every inch of that rank."

I shook his hand, and for the first time since the ceremony, the look on someone's face wasn't pity or disgust. It was respectful, plain, and uncomplicated.

"Get her some ice," Asher called out. "And if someone finds her something to eat, she's earned both."

"Ice first," I said. "Definitely ice first."

"Anything broken?"

"Just my dignity, and that was already gone before tonight started."

"Your dignity looked fine from where I was standing."

"You were standing pretty far away."

"Far enough to see clearly. Close enough to step in if I'd needed to."

"Would you have?"

"Only if he'd actually hurt you. He wouldn't have. Kade pack doesn't run tests that end someone's career on the first day."

"You did well," Asher said, closer now, voice dropped to something just for me.

"I got hit about fifteen times."

"You got up at sixteen."

"That's not usually how people keep score."

"It's how I keep score."

"That's a strange way to run a pack."

"It's worked so far."

"Sixteen times is a lot of getting up."

"Feels like fewer when you stop counting the ones that hurt."

A murmur of approval trailed through the dispersing crowd, and for one full minute I let myself just breathe, jaw throbbing, shoulder aching, feeling more like myself than I had in longer than I wanted to admit.

Then, a scout came sprinting into the yard, breathless, cutting straight through the dispersing crowd.

"Alpha," he said, chest heaving.

"What is it," Asher said, already turning, all the warmth gone from his voice in an instant.

"Ashguard wolves. A dozen, at least. They crossed the border ten minutes ago, and they're headed straight for us.”