7. Selection day

Liberty pov

I look at my reflection in the mirror and take in what I see, faded bruises, a slightly wonky nose. A more serious expression, a body that’s muscular littered with small scars and a few fresh scabs. I no longer have the body of a bratty alpha daughter but that of a warrior.

Naveah sends a rush of warm pride through me, a sentiment we both share. Over the past three months we’ve kept up with school training with the candidates for the royal academy and put in many more hours to catch up with them.

I’ve sort of befriended Gamma Heath, avoided all but a few skirmishes with Danny, Viera and Verity. I’m proud of how far I’ve come in the past three months. I’m not as good as I would have been if I trained on from my eighth year but with the memories and experiences from my previous life I do have some advantage over my peers.

I take a deep breath and steel myself, I can do it, I mutter under my breath.

/I’ll help you as much as I can,/ Naveah promises.

We both know there’s a lot at stake today. Dad adding me to the list even though I wasn’t good enough was solid evidence against him last time. If Hartley is here I could then get wherever I want by using the matebond but I don’t want to take either route. I want to get in because I’m good enough and I belong.

I walk out to join my packmembers who are already outside waiting for King Truett, Queen Samantha and the Princes Maverick and Hartley. Scanning the crowd I see a familiar face; Candy. To my utter dismay she spots me and smiling as she works her way towards where I’m standing. In vain I hope that she’s on her way to someone else but in my heart I know she’s coming my way.

/Bitch,/ Naveah growls.

Quickly I cover my mouth with my hand but everyone heard Naveah’s growl. Candy raises a brow and hesitates but pushes on towards me, seemingly undeterred.

“Hi, I’m Candy, nice to meet you Liberty” she holds out her hand. Her smile is radiant but doesn’t reach her eyes. Still fake.

“Hi Candy, I am indeed Liberty,” I reply, doing my best to keep the hostility from my voice. We’ve only seen each other on a few occasions; she hasn’t wronged me. Yet. Luckily the speaker crackles and the voice of King Truett booms through.

“Welcome werewolves,” he starts his speech. I put on a mask as I listen to his speech about how grateful he is for the werewolves' servitude to the lycans. How the best werewolves can rival with some of the Lycans. How peaceful our lives have been since the Lycans united all the werewolves under him. Conveniently ignoring the fact that there are neighbouring Kingdoms we are constantly fighting with for land and other resources.

My eyes leave King Truett's face and wonder to Hartley who is standing next to his father. Seeing him brings back a rush of memories. How I used to look into his soft brown eyes, used to stroke his thick brown locks. How sharp his cheekbones were.

Now it nauseates me to know how he played me, how he kept talking about us having babies. Suddenly a wave of sadness crashes over me. Blake, my lovely little cherub. Taking down Hartley and Candy will satisfy my lust for revenge but will leave me grieving my little boy forever. I swallow hard, pushing the grief away.

/Either way, we’re safe from him now. We used the tincture Olwyn gave us. We can watch him from afar.

Behind me I hear Verity and Candy whispering about how sexy Hartley is. How well built he is. Viera utters her disappointment that she doesn’t see Hartley’s older brother Maverick.

Verity answers her sister by telling her how boring the silent oldest Prince is. Never visiting the villages like his younger brother does. Always in the castle reading reports and staring at maps. She concludes that Maverik will not be the crowned Prince due to his lack of visibility but that Hartley has the King's preference.

King Truett has finished his speech, before the competition starts the Kings Beta Xander explains the rules. We won’t be fighting until death. Fights will be called before grave injuries are inflicted. It is prohibited to use anything like wolfsbane or other substances that can weaken a wolf. All sets will be drawn, the opponents and the weapon we will be competing with. The weapons can all be lethal, silver coated knives, sword, mace, morning star, battle axe, bow and arrow the list is endless.

Queen Samantha holds the bowl containing all the names. Beta Xander draws the first fight. No one I know personally. Hartley draws the weapon, sword and shield.

Madelin and I sit together and watch, paying attention to the moves hoping to discern a pack specific fighting style over several matches that we can use to our advantage.

The second fight is between Viera and a warrior from Candy’s pack. I pay extra attention hoping to learn something on her fighting style should I draw her. Viera and her opponent get a mace as an attack weapon and a shield. The additional rule is not to hit your opponent on the head because even with wolf healing it will maim someone.

Even though I don’t like Viera I don’t want her to become maimed so I root for both of them. Her opponent is a male warrior who is quite a few inches taller than she is. Making it harder for her to get a hit in as he can easily step aside. They battle for quite some time before Viera ducks to avoid a high swipe and while she is down on her hunches she takes a swipe at his ankle.

The sound of breaking bone as she hits him with the mace shattering his ankle is terrifying. The cheering stops as everyone shudders in horror, realising it could have been them. Viera gets back up and steps back, stopping the fight just before Beta Xander calls it.

Her eyes are large as she realises it could have been his mace on her shoulder causing a possibly larger damage to her. Her opponent rolls on the ground screaming. Healers rush out with a stretcher to tend to him. Once he’s carried off of the field Beta Xander congratulates Viera with her victory. She at least has the decency to not look proud. Madelin and I expect the guy will never run pain free again. No way they can fix the tiny slivers of bone.

The two fights after that are uneventful, no serious injuries and no one we know fights. The fifth and final fight before lunch is Madelin and a female warrior named Claire from Alpha John's pack. Alpha John is King Truett's brother and the only Lycan Alpha. He’s well known for his ferocious tendencies and misogyny. So I’m surprised he has let a female join the academy.

She looks downtrodden when she picks up her battle axe and shield. Madelin on the other hand looks fresh and eager. I can’t help but feel sorry for Claire. I watch Madelin size her up, looking for strengths and weaknesses.

When the whistle blows they both lift their shields as they circle each other. Madelin fakes a hit to test Claire’s reaction which is faster than I expected. Claire immediately steps up to Madelin trying to get a hit in with the sword. Madelin blocks and the sparks fly off the shield. I notice I’m holding my breath, Claire looks as if she’s not much but she’s got plenty of fight in her.

They are evenly matched for some time exchanging blows and blocking. Madelin suddenly fakes a blow and immediately steps closer while dealing another blow, forcing Clare to step back. She loses her balance and goes down. Letting go of her sword, Madelin kicks the sword out of Claire’s reach and points the sword at her throat.

Xander declares Madelin the winner as he helps Claire up. Madelin joins me smelling of sweat but luckily unscathed.

I nudge her as I congratulate her with her clean victory. She nudges me back, “Now you have to win too,” she winks.

“Hmm, I hope so. As long as I don’t have to shoot a bow and arrow I’ll be fine,” I laugh back.

“Don’t jinx it!” she replies laughing.

A strong tall heavy looking male named Tomas is the first contender of the new fight, he draws Candy. They will fight with a silver coated dagger. The silver will stop wounds from closing quickly and they cause keloid scars more often than not.

I, not so secretly, hope that he manages to run the dagger along Candy's face.

They start, I see Candy move her mouth and though I can’t hear what she’s saying I know she’s trying to rile him up in the hope he makes a mistake. I hope it doesn’t work.

I see his lips move and immediately I see an angry look cross Candy’s face and she lunges for him. I wonder what he said that got her to go from 0 to 100 in one remark. In her anger she manages to stab his left arm, but the dagger is in his right. He grabs her right arm in which she has her dagger and twists it high up on her back. Forcing her to kneel down.

On her knees she squeals for him to not squeeze her arm so tightly he bends over but before he can put the dagger on her throat she twists. Candy willingly dislocates her shoulder in the move, leaving Tomas frozen in surprise as she grabs his dagger and points it at his throat. Tomas taps out and Beta Xanders calls the fight pronouncing Candy the winner.

“I really thought he had her,” Madelin can’t hide the surprise in her voice.

“Same. I really want to know what he said to her. I’ll search for him later and introduce myself,” I reply.

“Bring me along,” she grins back

“Liberty Redd, Howling Moon Pack is the first contender for the next fight! Come down Liberty!” Beta Xander calls out my name causing the smile to drop from my face.