Chapter 2

The moment Daniela and Williams met in the center of the arena, the impact echoed through the stadium like thunder. The force of the collision sent dust flying beneath their feet, but neither of them seemed to notice the thousands of spectators screaming around them. For that brief instant, the rest of the world disappeared.

Daniela reacted first.

Before Williams could pull away, she drove a heavy punch into his side. A sharp crack rang out as her fist buried itself beneath his ribs, and the air rushed from his lungs in a painful gasp. He staggered backward, clutching his side, his face twisting with anger.

She didn’t give him a chance to recover.

Daniela had learned long ago that strength alone didn’t win fights. Every movement she made had a purpose, and every strike was carefully chosen. Instead of trading blows with someone who was naturally stronger, she picked him apart one weakness at a time. She attacked his joints, his balance, and the places where his guard dropped for the smallest fraction of a second.

Williams answered with raw power.

His fists came at her one after another, each capable of ending the fight if it landed, but Daniela refused to stand still. She slipped beneath wide swings, stepped around his reach, and twisted away just before every punch connected. Whenever he overcommitted, she was already there to make him pay for it.

Her fist slammed into his throat.

Before he could catch his breath, her heel crashed into the back of his knee.

His leg buckled instantly.

She swept his remaining foot from under him, and Williams hit the ground hard enough to shake the dirt beneath them.

A wave of cheers rolled through the arena, followed by stunned murmurs. Few people had expected to see the favored son of the Blackthorn family thrown around so easily.

Williams coughed violently as he forced himself onto one knee. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and when he looked up at Daniela, the hatred in his eyes was impossible to miss.

She had seen that look before.

He had worn it for most of her life.

Growing up, Williams never let her forget that she was born a girl. Every insult, every shove, every cruel joke had been meant to remind her that she would never measure up to him. The rest of the Pack encouraged it without realizing it. They praised him as the future Alpha while treating Daniela as though she were an afterthought.

Edwards had been no better.

The two brothers found endless ways to make her feel unwanted. If they weren’t mocking her during training, they were laughing whenever she failed or telling her she didn’t belong among the future leaders of the Pack.

Looking back now, Daniela almost felt grateful.

Their cruelty had given her something she desperately needed.

A reason to become stronger.

While everyone else rested after training, she stayed behind and practiced until her hands bled. She watched veteran warriors from the shadows, studying every movement they made and committing their techniques to memory. Whenever she found an old combat manual, she read it until she knew every page by heart.

Nobody saw those long nights.

Nobody saw the bruises she hid beneath her clothes or the exhaustion she carried every morning.

They only saw the results.

Now, standing across from Williams, she finally understood that every sacrifice had been worth it.

“Tell me,” Daniela said as she slowly circled him, her breathing calm despite the intensity of the fight. “Do you still think I’m only a girl?”

Williams answered with an angry roar instead of words.

He charged straight at her, trusting his size and strength to overwhelm her.

Daniela stepped aside at the last possible moment.

As he rushed past, she drove her elbow into the back of his neck with brutal precision.

The blow snapped his head forward.

Williams stumbled before dropping onto both knees, blinking as the world spun around him.

For a second, it looked as though he might stay down.

Instead, he gritted his teeth and forced himself upright once more.

Daniela was already moving.

She stayed just outside his reach, striking whenever an opening appeared and disappearing before he could answer. It almost looked as though she knew what he planned to do before he did.

Every successful hit carried years of frustration behind it.

She wasn’t just fighting Williams.

She was fighting every insult she had endured.

Every person who had dismissed her.

Every moment her father looked past her as though she didn’t exist.

Williams grew sloppier with every exchange. His frustration clouded his judgment, and the more reckless he became, the easier he was to read.

Finally, he lost control.

A furious roar burst from his chest, loud enough to silence part of the crowd.

Daniela watched as his body began to transform.

Bones shifted beneath his skin with sickening cracks. Muscles expanded, tearing through his clothes as dark brown fur spread across his body. Within moments, the man standing before her had vanished.

In his place stood an enormous wolf with murderous eyes fixed entirely on her.

Daniela couldn’t help smiling.

No one else in the Tournament had pushed Williams this far.

She had.

That fact alone would force people to see her differently.

With a savage growl, the massive wolf launched himself across the arena.

Daniela met him without hesitation.

Her own claws slid free as she darted toward him, weaving around his attacks with practiced ease. His jaws snapped shut where her shoulder had been a heartbeat earlier, and his claws carved deep furrows through empty air.

His wolf was undeniably faster and stronger than his human form.

It still wasn’t enough.

Daniela refused to fight him on his terms. She stayed light on her feet, guiding him into awkward angles and forcing him to waste energy on missed attacks. Every mistake earned another quick strike before she slipped away again.

The crowd watched in disbelief.

Gasps spread through the stadium each time she escaped what should have been a certain hit, and every successful counter drew another eruption of cheers.

Then, for the first time, Williams got it right.

He anticipated her movement.

His claws flashed across her shoulder before she could pull away.

White-hot pain exploded through her body.

The force of the blow tore through her clothing and ripped into her skin, sending her crashing across the arena. She rolled several times before coming to a stop, blood staining the dirt beneath her.

The pain barely registered.

Something else stole her attention.

The chain around her neck had broken.

Her silver pendant bounced once against the ground before sliding away from her reach.

Fear gripped her chest so suddenly that everything else disappeared.

She lunged toward it without thinking.

No one in the roaring crowd noticed what had happened.

Williams didn’t.

George didn’t.

But two pairs of eyes followed the pendant as it fell.

One of them belonged to Alpha Charles.