Chapter 18

Elena’s POV

As I duck a punch from a very irritated and irate werewolf, I get to see Jane slamming her knee into the stomach of her opponent leading him to the ground.

A red-light shines above them and it is the signal that she had won.

“As expected of Beta Harold’s daughter! She even beat Thomas!” Katy says loudly from behind them. She is third in line.

Jane’s cocky smirk makes me sick.

We have even paused our fight to look at them.

Another werewolf in Jane’s line adds into the conversation. “If this continues, she will soon inherit her dad’s position! She is so capable and strong!”

“Oh, I know!” Jane agrees happily as she presses her bloodied-knuckled hand to her chest. “I can’t wait to be a Beta just like my daddy! I want to see King Harvey as often as possible; I just love him!”

Jane punctuates her words with a masterful glower in my direction.

I grit my teeth to swallow a scream of pure rage. How dare she.

I am doing this luna training for the benefit of every werewolf, including her. All I want to do is help and be strong.

And… I do want King Harvey. At least… I believe I do.

Jane walks off to the side as the next two partners take their spot to fight and makes a show of staring at me, yawning loudly.

She wants me to fail.

I will not!

My opponent, James, with a shaved head doesn’t take me seriously, smiling cruelly at me.

He is not even wearing the armor that the upper strength students are.

The rest of the upper strength students get bored with themselves and crowd around James and I, making it extremely difficult to breathe.

Only adding to my nerves, they all boo and begin to chant James’s name to pump him up. It goes to his head as my stomach drops to my feet. He bounces on the balls of his feet to their chanting,

I know they all want to beat the poor stupid unaware weak human to the ground.

However, there is one thing I have that these werewolves don’t.

Thinking.

James begins to swing his fists at me wildly, left, left, then right, left.

This means he is left-handed.

My physical strength is much more than before. My strength is thinking this through. Werewolves fight by instinct.

Instinct is strong, but so is a clear mind. I can build my own instincts, can a werewolf? Do they have enough in them to go slow?

James sticks to his left foot too, confirming that he is left-handed. His right hand and side will be his weakness.

James continues trying to punch me with his left hand, leading with all his strength.

He leans too much and too fast, his footwork is sloppy, and he is almost falling over himself.

Taking the moment when he leans too close to me, I punch him under his right ribs as hard as I can, three times.

He gasps as he leans into me entirely, resting his head on my shoulder as he gasps harshly. Being gentle, I guide him to the ground as he shakes in pain.

Finally, the chaos ends and the whole crowd falls into a deathly cold silence. All with wide and shining eyes, they say nothing.

James recovers and slowly lifts his head as he blinks tears of pain out of his wide eyes. He stays on the ground in his shock.

“…What happened?” James asks.

The boy with his slicked back black hair snaps. “Am I right?! James was defeated?!”

“Well!” Katy huffs in the crowd. “James’ grades are at the very bottom! He is basically a human being! He is a worthless werewolf!”

The werewolves take their time to discuss among themselves in a low rush, they all look up at me with unstable wide eyes.

They didn’t expect me to win, I know.

I am eternally grateful King Harvey always called me brave. I understood what he meant, that I need to lean into my bravery. I am brave because I am observant. His clue worked.

Jane steps through the crowd with a menacing grin on her face. She steps straight up to me and shoves her taloned finger in my face.

I inch backwards out of self-preservation.

I make sure there is a healthy gap of safety between us.

“You cheated! How could you win?!” Jane trembles from head to toe with her fury, her fangs beginning to expand and pop out the corners of her mouth.

Ferally, Jane whirls around to the teacher and howls.

“What?” I whisper as the other werewolves stop breathing.

“No, Jane. You may not fight Elena. You two are not at the same level of strength. Now, go settle down.”

“She cheated!! I know she did!” Jane yells as she points at me freakishly.

The teacher sighs, looking up from her clipboard. “Elena’s grades are valid, Jane. She does not cheat.”

My goal is not to defeat Jane, even though I would enjoy that especially after her comment about King Harvey. I want to pass this class.

James was careless and underestimated me. I only have that cover for this battle. Now, they all know I am smart. So, I must get smarter and stronger.

If James tried again at full strength, or rage, I would not win.

I will keep trying.

Jane leaps at me suddenly and everyone gasps.

I throw myself backwards as my heart beats rapidly in my chest and burns in my ears. I press my back to the wall and pant.

She could kill me in one swipe of her taloned hands.

“I want to see what you did, Elena!” Jane roars as her fangs touch her chin.

“I just did my best, Jane!” I exclaim back, trying to calm her. “I have no powers like you do!”

“I know!” Jane cries to me, as if she is excited. Her eyes shine with a cursed hunger.

She won’t be satisfied until I am on the ground. Jane is nothing more than a spoiled child.

Jane licks her lips and begins to move towards me slowly, barely picking up her feet.

She is going to circle around me soon. As a matter of fact, I can see the bloodlust in her eyes and Katy’s.

Katy seems to want to join Jane, the look of pure excitement meeting her eyes and illuminating her face in a fearsome grin.

I shudder. Cold pinpricks stab all over my body as I try to calm my mind.

I need to stay smart in this situation and look for a weak spot.

Jane has none. She walks tall and open, then hunches over but keeps her stance wide for full coverage to fight me.

I am in trouble.

Jane’s fangs glisten at me as menacingly as her talons. My blood freezes on my left side.

Is that an example of the power she has? I have never seen King Harvey’s fangs that big before.

Jane charges at me again and slashes at my face barbarically.

I see several black talons skim my right cheek and almost take out my eye.

A blur of red kicks Jane so hard that she skids to the front door and bangs her head on the door with a dense thud.

King Harvey?!

Weakly, I gasp out the syllables of his name as I try to breathe.

My heart doesn’t still. It beats so irrationally I feel it will break through my shirt front. Adrenaline coats my blood and leaves me trembling. Falling to the ground I stay there.

I hear the teacher gasp and begin to apologize profusely.

For a moment all I see is darkness, but something pulls me to sit up, then King Harvey begins to address the class.