Zeke

The crowd stayed quiet. They all stared at me and some looked at Nick. "Anyone is allowed to challenge a rank for their position. Beta Kingsley is giving you all an advantage by taking you at once. Anyone who wants to challenge him should step up" Nick announced. Hesitantly, one guy stepped forward out of the crowd. Then one-by-one, more people stepped up. I locked eyes with each one of them, but none of them could hold my stare.

Once people stopped coming out of the crowd, Nick stood in between me and the challengers. "I can't stop you guys from challenging the Beta. But I can suggest that you be smart" Nick told the challengers. "Know when to give up. Giving up is better than dying" he advised. He turned to me. "Try not to kill all of them" Nick mind-linked me.

I gave him a single nod before he moved out of the way. I looked at my opponents. There were six of them in total. Let's just call them by the order they stepped up. One was the first to begin the fight. After letting out a loud howl, he charged at me. The others copied his actions. I ducked under One's fist before catching Two's foot that almost hit my gut. I threw Two to the floor and punched Four in the jaw. We all heard a crack- the crowd even cringed. Four was knocked out.

The others looked at their packmate who was on the ground. They were much less confident about the fight. They all looked at each other, waiting for another person to take action. I smirked at all of them. "Step back into the crowd if you're too scared now" I told them all.

Three and Five walked away, grabbing Four in the process. I looked at the others, but they didn't seem like they would back down. I wasn't going to hurt them too bad. I wasn't even going to be the one to attack first. I waited for one of them to move.

Six charged at me, his shoulder hitting my gut. I wrapped my arms around his waist as he was leaned over. I flopped onto my back, causing his head to hit the ground. Groaning, he held his head and crawled away.

Quickly, I jumped back up and looked at the two people left. One and Two. They looked at each other before nodding their heads. They both charged at me. Two's shoulder made contact with my gut as One kicked my legs out from under me. As I went down, I grabbed ahold of Two's hair and brought him down with me.

My head and back made hit the floor. Two landed on his face. But he got back up at the same time as me. They started circling me. I felt warm liquid rolling down my back, but I ignored it. Glancing to my right, I saw Two's bloodied face. His forehead was cut and his nose was gushing with blood- probably broken. One wasn't even slightly hurt.

Again, they came at me simultaneously. I dropped onto my stomach, causing them to hit each other. I snickered, getting back up. They growled at me. Two was obviously more angry than One. Two went for me again. But One didn't.

Two extended his claws and stabbed them into my leg. I clenched my jaw, shoving him away before I growled at him. He slightly cringed, but quickly covered it up. He growled back and sprinted towards me. I jumped back as he attempted to stab his claws into my stomach.

The crowd gasped as I dodged the hit. I wasn't expecting a move that bold. My shirt was was cut with four large lacerations. I actually liked this shirt. It was one of the ones that Valerie picked out. I pulled off the pieces of fabric, leaving me shirtless. As I threw the shirt onto the floor, I took note of how the back was stained red from hitting the hard ground. I'll have to take Valerie back to the mall so she could pick out another one of those.

I shook the thoughts out of my head as the guys continued circling me. One kicked the shirt further away as they moved around. I waited for one of them to attack. Everyone was on edge, looking back and forth between the three of us. People had even come out of the packhouse to watch the fight. Some stayed inside but looked out the windows.

I glanced up, spotting Valerie at a window. We locked eyes for a split second, but that was a good distraction for the guys. One send a hard punch to my back. It hurt more than it should've. It must be bruised or something. Two went for my face. I brought my hands up, protecting my face. I kicked my foot back and it made contact with One's reproductive parts. He groaned, backing away but not going into the crowd.

Bringing my knee up, I hit Two's ribs and heard a satisfying crack. He sucked in a breath, his hands flying to his gut. Wincing, he held his hands up in surrender and disappeared into the crowd. That left One and I in the center of the pack. He smirked before shifting. That was an advantage that they all had, but didn't use. I would not shift. That didn't mean that they couldn't.

One was obviously bigger than me, since I was in human form. He bared his teeth at me and continued circling around. I kept my eyes locked on him. He pounced at me, but I ducked under his body. He growled in anger. "Come on Beta" he spat out the title in disgust. He shared his words through the pack-link. Everyone could hear him. "You too scared to show your true colors?" he taunted me.

All eyes were on me. I scanned the crowd, locking eyes with every person. They all looked away- except for Valerie. She was still standing in the window, watching anxiously. "I'm not scared. I'm confident. I know I'll beat you either way. In human form, it's more likely that you'll still be alive when I win this challenge" I said honestly. However, it only made One very angry.

His next growl had the crowd cringing, but I simply met his dark eyes with a blank face. Once again, he pounced, but I didn't duck. I caught him by his open jaw. With one hand on his muzzle and the other on his bottom row of canines, I swung his body away. The crowd parted as he flew towards them before hitting the makeshift stage- which broke by the impact. He slowly got up, shaking his head to refocus himself.

I allowed him to continue with his pointless circling. His next attack wasn't pouncing on me like the previous times. He charged with his head tucked toward his chest. The top of his head impacted with my gut. I grabbed ahold of his ears and dug my heels into the ground to stop him from pushing me. Slowly, our bodies stopped moving and I pinched his ear. He growled, attempting to move away from me. I squeezed harder and he started to whimper.

Taking that as his surrender, I let go. However, he jumped in front of me as I advanced towards the pack house. "Randy! That's enough!" a woman shouted from the crowd. She came to the front, but didn't step into the battling area. She stared at One with pleading eyes. "End this now while you're still alive" she begged. One stared at her for a few moments before shifting back and retreating into the pack house.

Nick came to the circle, grabbing my shoulder to stop me from entering the pack house. "Ladies, gentlemen, and others-" he began, shooting a look at the others who were my challengers. "Your rightful Beta still stands. Zeke Kingsley" Nick declared.

The crowd cheered and Nick released me. I went into the pack house and straight upstairs. "You're an idiot" Valerie blurted as I entered my bedroom.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why are you in here?" I questioned.

She looked equally confused as me. "You said pick any room" she reminded me.

I slowly nodded my head. "Yeah. But why'd you pick my room?" I inquired. She looked panicked as she shook her head, telling me that she didn't know which room was mine. "My stuff is here. And it smells like me" I pointed out.

She sniffed, looked around, and shrugged. "I didn't really pay attention when I came in. I was too busy watching you potentially putting yourself in danger" she scolded me.

I laughed and lightly pinched her cheeks. "Aw. Were you worried about me?" I teased.

Valerie actually nodded her head, which shocked me. "Come on. There's a first aid kit in the bathroom" she grabbed my hand and began dragging me to the bathroom. "Sit" she pointed at the toilet. I sat and mocked a dog's woof. "Take off your pants"

Her eyes widened once the words left her mouth. She was wary. I could tell that she thought I would react differently since I knew her secret. But I just smirked. "At least take me out to dinner first" I joked.

Valerie rolled her eyes, a smile slipping onto her face. "I saw Lawrence pierce your thigh" she reminded me. I shrugged, taking off my pants to leave me sitting on the toilet with only my boxers on. Valerie began wiping away the blood before bandaging the lacerations. "Face the mirror" she instructed.

I turned around and watched as she cringed upon seeing my back. I locked eyes with her in the mirror. "That bad?" I questioned. Her eyes widened before she told me to brace myself. "Why?"

There was discomfort in my back, but it didn't hurt too bad. Valerie stared at me in the mirror as she held up a stick about a foot long. "It was angled down into your back" she informed me, throwing the stick into the sink.

"There's a trash" I reminded her. She sighed dramatically before grabbing the stick and putting it into the garbage. "Are you done?" I asked once she bandaged my back.

She nodded. "It's just really deep purple" she informed me.

I shrugged, not really caring. I've had worse. I got up and pushed her down onto the toilet. "Shirt" I said simply. She rolled her eyes at my rude instruction, but still took off her shirt. I began examining her back. The cuts looked really gross.

I grabbed a wet towel and began cleaning up her back. "Who's battle wounds are worse?" she asked, making conversation.

Smiling at her in the mirror, I threw the towel into the hamper. "Yours. Mine don't hurt. And don't lie to me. I know you were forcing yourself not to flinch" I stated. She frowned and turned around on the toilet so she was facing me. "How are your hands?" I asked.

She held them up for me to see. "Healed" she said. I nodded, cleaning up the medical kit. "I'll go find another room to sleep in" Valerie chuckled.

I shook my head. "Just sleep in my room. There's no beds in the other rooms" I offered. "I'll sleep on the floor next door" I stated before she could ask.

I pulled some blankets out from my boxes and began walking to the door. However, Valerie stopped me. "Sleep in here. It is your room after all" she stated.

Shrugging, I slowly started laying the blankets out on the floor. Valerie did the same thing, taking the blankets from my bed. "What are you doing?" I questioned.

She didn't look at me as she continued making a bed on the floor. "If you're sleeping on the floor, then I am too. I'm not gonna steal your bed. And I know you're not gonna force me to sleep on your bed because I'm crippled" she said, already sliding into the blankets on the floor.

I rolled my eyes and turned off the light. "Hey, Zeke" Valerie said quietly as I walked back to my floorbed. I hummed in response. "Can I borrow a shirt? Mine is kinda bloody and-" I chucked at shirt at her face, stopping her from talking. "Thanks" she muttered sarcastically. I got into my floorbed, laughing at her. "Goodnight, jerk" she said, making me laugh even more.

"Night, Sassy Pants"

__________

"Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family"

-Jax Teller

People say that you can count on your family, referring to your relatives, no matter what. But for some of us. That isn't true. For some of us, the only people we count on are ourselves and our friends. Maybe not even our friends.

But I want you guys to know that I'll be loyal to each and every one of you. I'll be here if you need to talk or just rant. My phone is glued to me 24/7. I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Just know that I'm always an option if you need someone.

Kayyyzzz Byeeeezzz

~A.J.