Page 19 of He Claimed Her Heart

It was our last week before the tournament, we were tweaking our plans and making sure we had everything covered, including our alternates. Alpha Bennett and dad were happy with the results of the training. Everything was coming together. We were starting to pack when flowers and packages began to arrive for me from different Alphas. They wanted to get a jump start on introducing themselves to me. I ignored their ‘gifts’ and continued to pack to set out to Grand Forks for the tournament. I must admit, these Alphas had good taste. I was looking at the four rather large bouquets of flowers which were beautiful. Then, I guess the chocolates or whatever. I didn’t open the gifts. Tom acted like a kid in a candy store. He opened the gifts—one gift was a new cell phone with the Alphas phone number already programmed in. It was Alpha Martin, cocky bastard.

We left for the tournament, excitement and nerves floating in the air. We knew what was on the line for us. We knew we could do this. But we were still a little scared and nervous. When we arrived at Grand Forks, Alpha Bennet went to register us all for the tournament. He came back with our entrance numbers and our rooming accommodations. We all left to get settled in before the big welcome dinner tonight. Tomorrow the tournament begins at 9 AM. The brackets will be posted tonight after midnight. No more entries will be allowed after midnight.

We all met back up around 5 PM for dinnerand our pep talk from the Alpha. I reminded our group not to go anywhere, but to stay close together. We didn’t need anyone getting lost or hurt unnecessarily by accident. We all agreed that we would stay in our rooms unless we were competing or cheering the others on. We would work as a unit—One competes and the rest supports. No one would act as an individual. My dad hovered around watching everything with a watchful eye. He knew what was at stake. He said he would stay and watch for the brackets to be posted. Then, he would take a picture and send it to us. That way, we could get our sleep and we would still know who we would be fighting when we wake up. Good idea. Thanks dad.

The first day of competition is here. We all looked at the brackets. Carlton drew the worst bracket. He was going up against Draco from Crescent Moon who won the tournament last year. Marcus was going up against Milton from Wildwood. Devlin was going up again Xavier from Westwood. And Javier was going up against Zion from Red River. The girls were going up against: Melanie was against Katrina from Bloodmoon. Bonnie was against Clarissa from Wildwood. Zaria was against White River. And I was against Tatianna from Westwood.

As it turned out, two brackets took place at the same time. That was a change in the rules from last year. So, we made a change on the fly. We would split the team into pairs. We would make sure to make notes on fighting styles of our opponents for future reference. Carlton and Melanie was up first. We huddled up and reminded each other that we trained for this. We got this.

They both went out confident with their heads held high. Melanie won her bracket with ease. Carlton on the other hand, had a hard time. Draco was known for his underhanded cheating ways. Carlton was obviously aware of this because he tried one of our new moves on him and that proved to be the game changer. Carlton won his bracket. Everyone was shocked. Draco cried foul, but everyone including the officiating said it was a clean fight.

Next came Marcus and Bonnie. When they entered their arenas, I heard whispers of how Clarissa was a vicious fighter. I hoped that wasn’t true. Marcus would have his hands full with his opponent as well. Wildwood had the reputation of being tough and aggressive. Marcus lost his fight, but it was close. Bonnie fought hard. She almost lost but pulled it out in the end.

Andso, it went. Devlin, Javier, Zaria, and I won our matches easily. We would advance to the next round which would be tomorrow. Marcus was the only one who would have to sit it out and watch. We all ate dinner in my room tonight. We didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves. We were already being talked about since we only lost one fighter. It was practically unheard of. Rumors were starting to fly around about this and that. We decided to let the Alpha deal with that. We all stayed together. We all slept together in the same room. We didn’t trust anyone, so we all stayed together. Dad came to check on us and told us that the Alpha was proud of us.

The next day came.We found our brackets and went to our locations. Once again, two fights would take place at the same time. However, since the field had been drastically narrowed, Round 3 would take place this afternoon for whoever won this morning. Every pack had at least one fighter left in the tournament. We were the only one with seven fighters left. All eyes were on us.

Devlin and Bonnie were up first today. Bonnie was fighting Raine from Bloodmoon. Raine was the reigning champion from last year. I reminded Bonnie of her skill and that she could do this. Don’t listen to the hype. Devlin was fighting Mixon from Blue Moon. He was runner up last year, which meant he could handle himself. Both matches started and I stayed with Bonnie to encourage her. I watched as Bonnie was caught off guard as Raine lunged at her. Raine hit Bonnie with a right, left combination. But Bonnie, was prepared for that. She countered that move with a hit to the midsection that doubled her over and then swept her off her feet. The fight continued with hit after hit. Bonnie didn’t give up an inch. When Raine thought she had her, Bonnie would just fight back. Raine, shifted into her wolf to attack Bonnie. Bonnie anticipating this, shifted at the same time and caught her on the right flank. Then, she spun around and kicked her in the jaw with her hind legs. This disoriented Raine enough that Bonnie was able to wrap her jaws around her neck to make her surrender. Bonnie won. They both shifted back and were given robes to put on. Raine looked at Bonnie with a look of incredulity. She shook her head and limped away.

Devlin lost his match, but by a narrow margin.The other matches were less dramatic. Carlton and Melanie both lost, while Javier, Zaria, and I won our matches. We had two hours before Round 3 would begin. We still had four fighters in the mix. Some packs had no fighters left. I felt encouraged.

We all gathered in my room for lunch. The ones who were still in the fight, were silent as we listened to the others explain how our opponents fought. We needed the information if we were to be victorious. After Round 3, there was one more round before the championship round.

It was time for us to go and meet our opponents. I wasn’t nervous per se, but I wanted to make our Alpha proud. Dad saw us approaching the arena and he stopped us. “Good luck out there. No matter what, Alpha Bennett is extremely proud of all of you.”

“Thanks dad,” I beamed asI hugged him. My fellow participants all had broad smiles on their faces at his praise.

“Come on, we need to go,” I announced. “See you later, dad,” I said over my shoulder as we continued to walk to the arena.

My fight was first.Nellie from Rock Springs proved to be a formidable opponent. She was tough, and resourceful. She used some of the same techniques I used. Hmm. We were evenly matched at first. Then, I pulled my ace out. I reverted back to what dad taught me a long time ago. When she lunged towards me faking to the left, I flattened myself and kicked up at her mid-section. I then shifted into my wolf. She followed suit. Our wolves were closely matched as well. As we circled each other, I noticed that she was a little lighter on her right side. I attacked the right side. I butted her stomach and then went for the shoulder. This caught her off guard. I think she expected me to go for the throat, not the shoulder. She was caught off balance, which placed her in the perfect position for me to go for the throat, which I did. I won.

Bonnie was next to fight, her fight didn’t last as long as mine did, but she won. Javier and Zaria both lost.As we walked back to the conference center, people stopped and stared at us. Again, we did everything as a unit. Even though they lost their brackets, we still remained together, and we encouraged each other.

We came across Betas Edward and Angela. “Hey Bree,you fought well out there. Are you alright?” Edward inquired as he looked at my cuts and scrapes.

“Yes, I’m alright. I’ll be fine in a couple of hours.How are you doing?” I wondered as I saw them carrying medical supplies.

“We’re fine. We were just patching up some of our fighters.Are you going to be at dinner tonight?” Angela inquired as she looked at all of us.

“No, we’ll eat in the room like we did last night. We have too many eyes on us right now,” I explained.

“That sounds like a good idea. So, you’ll come to the final dance and celebration though?” Angela asked sheepishly.

“Yes ma’am. We are all looking forward to it,” I answered as I bowed to her.

“You don’t have to bow to us. Not to us.You’re family dear,” She explained as she gave me a bear hug. Edward gave me a hug after she let go.

“We’ll see you tomorrow then. Good night, Bree,” Edwardhollered as he and Angela started off towards the arena area.

“Good night,” I hollered back.

The brackets hadn’t been postedfor the semi-finals before we went to bed. Dad was sure Bonnie, and I were going to have to fight each other to get to the finals. I was hoping we didn’t have to. The thought of it made me sick to my stomach. We knew this might happen that we might end up fighting each other. It was always a possibility. I didn’t sleep very well knowing that I might have to fight my friend.

Thefollowing day came, and we ate a light breakfast. When it came time for us to head out to find out who we were going to fight, my phone pinged. I looked at it. We did not have to fight each other. We would have to fight each other if we won our brackets. The females would fight first followed by the males. Then the Championship matches would take place at 1 PM.

We made our way out of the dorms and into thefighting areas. As we walked, people moved out of our way. Again, we walked as a unit. We made a statement here at the tournament by how we handled ourselves and by the way we fought. Upon entering the arenas, we split off. My fight was to the left and Bonnies was to the right. Half came with me, and the other half went with her. It was a sight to behold. The symmetry was poetry in motion.

I settled in and began to stretch. I began to size up my opponent. Where have I seen her before. I couldn’t quite place her. I knew her. Then, it hit me. It was from one of the videos we watched. She was a professional fighter. I immediately started thinking back to what I saw on the video and how she explained her technique. I didn’t say anything to my pack members, nor did I mind link them. I kept my mind on what I needed to do. I mentally ran through what I needed to do.

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