In Reach?

Mira’s POV

The next day I go to the training grounds with Aubrey. I’m on good terms with Mason now, and he told me to come watch the guys train today. I was definitely not going to let a chance like this pass by, -seeing a bunch of shirtless buff men wrestling it out.

Aubrey and I get to the training grounds to see just how packed it is. There are so many people here, and some in wolf form. It’s a huge open area in the woods, just covered in grass and surrounded with trees.

I see Mason running our way, as shirtless as ever, well………as shirtless as every man is here really. Seems like everybody is part of team ‘stretchy pant’ today.

“Hey, you guys are here already. Come on, I’ll show you around.” He’s serious, but he looks like he’s excited for something.

“Are there always this many people here? Last time I came by here, it wasn’t this busy.” I knew they said that they had a big pack, I’m just now beginning to question what big actually means to them.

“Actually no. Remember I told you the guys are coming to train today?” He looks at me with a smile.

“Yeah.”

“Well that always gets the pack hyped up. It’s not every day they see us going up against each other.”

“Oh really. So, you guys are going to fight against each other? I thought you were just training.”

“It’s part of the training.” He says it so proudly as he puffs out his chest. He must be very confident in himself. Then again, he is the head warrior. This is going to be an interesting day.

I hope he doesn’t think he can make me fight. He made me wear some work out clothes, - something about him not allowing flowery dresses on his training grounds. Psh.

“So here, we have the basic fighting grounds.” He points straight ahead of us as we follow him. “It’s all about hand to hand combat. Whereas next to this,” he walks us past the shirtless fighters, “we have the wolves. Here we teach them offence and defence in wolf form.”

I never knew wolves needed to train to fight. I thought it was just bite and claw your way out. But damn, their wolf forms are huge. And their fighting looks very violent.

“Try not to get too close. Never get between fighting wolves. Blood will be spilt.” Mason warns me as if he heard my thoughts.

He walks us further into the field, past the wolves and I hear some clanking noises, as I see a few people fighting with………….swords? I’m pretty sure this isn’t the medieval era anymore. What’s with the swords?

“And here we do weaponry defence.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Uhm. So, what’s up with the swords? I’m sure there are other weapons in the 21st century that you can train for.” I don’t want to burst his happy bubble, but I don’t think swords are a common form of weaponry today.

“Of course there are. But it’s not like we can outrun a bullet. And besides, you would be surprised by how many hunters still use swords. It’s quite sadistic, but it’s still a reality.” I’ve never seen this disgusted side of him before.

“Hunters?”

“Yeah, they’re people who practically train their whole lives to kill supernatural creatures.” Aubrey leans in as she helps me understand a bit more. “It’s apparently their way of evening the playing field.”

And the predator becomes the prey. The cruel justice of mother nature.

“And here,” as we reach the far end of the field, “we have the fighting platform.” He points to a huge, round, wooden, built stage, about a meter high, in front of us. “This is where we do one on one fights.” He gives a pearly white smile. Well, someone seems excited. “This is where we’ll be fighting today.”

I don’t even know why he’s making all the effort here with me. This is probably his way of trying to make it up to me. I don’t know if he even cares, but at least he’s a bit nicer now.

“So, is everyone going to be fighting today? Is it like a tournament or something?” This is a lot of people, and if it is a competition, this may just take the whole day.

“Oh no. These fellas fight almost on a regular during training.” He points with his thumb towards the crowds of people next to him. “Today it’s just going to be the head-members and anyone who wants to take us up of course. Not many warriors actually dare to challenge a head-member, so we usually just fight each other.”

We get distracted when we hear some loud laughter coming our way. When I turn my head to the side, my breath hitches at the sight. I see Liam in nothing but a loose short, with Noah and Theo walking on each side of him, just as shirtless. What is this? They look like they’re about to do a photoshoot for a firemen calendar.

Liam looks so much hotter now that I see the huge tribal tattoo completely covering his right upper arm and peck. I can make out the face of a wolf on the side of his shoulder. Damn.

They see us and make their way here. I can’t help but look at the way Liam’s ab muscles move as he walks. I didn’t even notice when they stopped in front of us, but Noah’s voice woke me up.

“You guys made it.” I look up and see that Liam definitely noticed me ogling him, as he gives me a sly smirk. I look away and at Noah, to try and distract myself from the blush I know is slowly building. I can’t blush now! I’m in the middle of a field filled with shirtless men. They might just end up labeling me as a perv here. Crap. Just smile and nod at whatever Noah said.

“Have you guys decided who to place your bets on yet?” Noah gives that mischievous smile of his again.

“Bet?” I look at Aubrey.

“Awh, come on Aubrey. You guys haven’t picked yet? I’m very hurt, I must say.” He fakes injury as he holds his hand over his heart.

“Oh come on Noah. It wouldn’t be fair if I always pick you, just because you’re my brother. I think I’m going to put my money on Mason today.”

“What?! Mason? Why him?”

“Well, from what I hear, he’s been training here almost every day. And knowing you, you may be a bit out of practice.”

All the guys chuckle at Noah’s shocked and offended expression.

“And who do you bet on Mira?” Noah turns the attention towards me.

“Huh? Well, I don’t know. It’s not like I really know you guys’ fighting skills.”

“Oh, but that’s not what I hear.”

We all turn our heads and see Liz and Aiden make their way to us as well.

“What do you mean Liz?” Aubrey is getting curious as Liz’s smirk, which is making me curious as well. What does she mean?

“From what I hear, she gave all you guys one hell of a fight when you tried to catch her. And I must say, one girl against all of you men, isn’t exactly fair. But she still made Noah cry.”

“What?!” Aubrey shrieks. “You made Noah cry?” She practically shouts and points to him.

“Will you keep it quiet. She didn’t make me cry. I had something in my eye.” Everybody starts to laugh now. Of course he would say that. “I’m serious, she threw water at me. I wasn’t crying it was just water.”

“I don’t know man. You were whining like a crying baby though.” Aiden pitches in.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Aubrey turns to me looking shocked. “You actually took up these guys, and survived, and made Noah cry?”

This isn’t something I really want to brag about. It’s not exactly a nice memory. That’s the day Liam tried to-. I look up and see him out of place with his laughing buddies around him, and he’s just down. He catches my gaze and I look away quickly.

“Well it wasn’t exactly everyone, Theo wasn’t there.” I point to the big guy.

“So any chance I’m going to see you fight today then?”

“What?” What is Liz up to? “No, trust me, I’m not a fighter.”

“Well that’s not what Aiden’s face said.” I look at Mason next to me.

Why are they pushing this? Is this why they brought me here? They want to see me fight? Or do they just want a chance to get back at me for that? Dammit. What did I get myself into.

“That was just basic self-defence. Every girl in my neighbourhood knows those tricks.”

“But your fighting style is pretty responsive, and daring. Something that some of my warriors don’t have, doesn’t matter how hard I try to train them.” Mason is really pushing this. And what is he talking about? It’s called survival instincts.

But before I can speak Aubrey rushes in again. “Damn Mira. You even got Mason all impressed. Now I really want to see too?”

“Yeah, come one Mira. Don’t make me be the only woman up there.” Liz just had to play on my feminist side.

“Trust me. I’m no fighter. Besides, I just caught them off guard that night, and I was in survival mode.” I raise my shoulders. “It’s not like I’ve ever gone up against werewolves anyways. It’s like you said Liz, it wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

“One day Mira, one day.” Why is Liz giving me that look?

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road. I hope you guys have at least tried to stay in shape.” Mason points to the lot of them. “Coz if you haven’t, I will fail you.” He reprimands them.

“Yeah yeah. Come on. Who is up first Mason?” Noah seems a bit too eager. I hope he’s not going to try and use this to prove himself. But something tells me he is the type.

He gets on the platform and gives a loud whistle, getting everybody’s attention.

“Up first, will be our Gamma, Theo and………….Noah our Beta.” I think Mason is trying to push Noah’s buttons.

“What?! You can’t make me go up against him. He’s a mountain.” Theo doesn’t look bothered nor impressed either by Noah’s comment.

“What? You were the one that wanted to get the show on the road. Now get.” Mason gives him a hard smack on his back.

The moment the two of them get on stage, more people start surrounding the platform.

“Okay, you know the rules. First one to get their opponent to tap out or to fall off the platform wins.” Mason shouts loud enough for the crowd to hear. “Oh, and no biting or hair pulling.”

Noah and Theo get ready in their fighting stances and wait.

The two of them go at it throwing punches, but it seems like Noah is having difficulty getting Theo to move from his spot. Not that he looks very interested in this fight.

Noah dodges Theo’s next punch and upper cuts him in the face. Finally, he got Theo from his spot, and he too looks happy about it.

Theo is big and he looks very strong, but his punches seem slower than Noah’s. But then again, Theo looks like he just needs to get one move in to knock Noah out cold. This is a tough one.

But Theo looks pissed now. He charges at Noah, grabs him by the waist and body slams him. You can hear the “oooo’s” from the crowd the moment his back hits the floor.

Theo pulls Noah’s numb body up from the ground, by the neck. I guess Theo isn’t as sweet and innocent as I pegged him to be.

Noah is practically dangling in his hold as he’s trying to get Theos hand off his throat. Theo is walking him to the edge of the platform.

Just as they’re at the edge though, Noah suddenly kicks Theo’s leg, causing him to lose balance.

He pulls Theo’s hand off, spins his arm around and against his back. Before Theo can even properly regain his balance, Noah kicks his other leg in from behind and pushes him off the platform as he falls again. It all happened so fast. And Noah won!

The crowd cheers as Noah stands on the platform all triumphant as he raises his arms in the air like Rocky who just won the championship.

Mason get up again and shouts.

“Next we have our Delta, Liz. But she wishes to choose her opponent, and it will be one of my warriors.” The crowd starts mumbling. “Whoever she chooses, know that you represent us as warriors. So make us proud. Or you will all be back here at the training grounds tomorrow morning at five.” He’s really good at this reprimanding thing. Even the crowd is groaning like school children who just got more homework.

Liz gets on the stage and starts to stare at people in the crowd. I think she’s trying to find someone who seems intimidated by her.

“You! Challenge me.” She points into the crowd on the other end, I can’t see who it can be.

A man walks through the crowd and jumps onto the platform. He doesn’t look too big, but he’s not too small either. I don’t know if his advantage is in strength or speed.

They both stand on either side and crouch their knees, ready to charge.

She clearly doesn’t waste any time as she already runs towards him. He throws a punch as she charges at him. But she blocks the punch and she knees him in the gut, with all that force she gathered from running. Damn. He’s arched over on the floor gasping for air. She stands back though, giving him time to catch his breath. I guess she wants this fight to last longer.

He stands up slowly with steady breaths. He takes a fighting stance, waiting for her to charge again. I can see the small smile she has on the side of her face.

But she waits as well.

Then they both suddenly charge at one another. I just see punches being thrown at each other, but both of them are blocking them successfully. Liz tries to sweep kick one of his legs, but he moves it out of the way as he takes a step back.

Liz lands a punch on his cheek, causing him to take a few steps backwards, and closer to the edge. She comes in for another punch to the face, but he blocks it and gives her a forceful upper cut to the stomach as he steps forward.

He grabs her around the waist and throws her to the ground. He gets on top of her and pulls his arm back to give her a punch to the face. But he misses. Instead, she catches his arm and wraps her legs around his neck. She uses her body weight to pull him to the ground and on his back. She swings her legs that they’re both on top of him and around his arm, which she still didn’t leg go of. She pulls on his arm and he screams with pain.

But he manages to rolls them around and wiggles out of her hold. He looks pissed now. He comes charging at her, full force, throwing punch after punch. With every block she however, takes a step closer to the edge behind her.

But she looks just as pissed now. As she’s trying to block his onslaught of punches, she sweep kicks one of his legs. She gives him a straight punch to the face as he falls forward. He stopped with the punches as he’s trying to catch his balance. But she suddenly gives a spin back kick, with her foot hitting his face so hard, his entire body swings to the left and off the stage. She won. And dammn.

The crowd is quiet as they’re staring at the man on the ground, who is apparently out cold. After a few seconds, they go wild as they cheer for Liz. She just gives a proud smirk as she leaves the platform.

“Okay, okay. Settle down.” Mason tries to get the crowd’s attention again. “I’m glad to see you all so hyped up at this. I hope you’ll have this spirit when I see you all here tomorrow at five.” Now the crowd is quiet.

“Up next we have our Alpha, Liam and he will be going up against me, your head warrior.” Now the crowd is murmuring.

I lean towards Aiden and ask, “Hey, aren’t you going to be fighting.”

He chuckles like I just made a joke. “Oh no. I’m just here in case they dislocate anything.”

I just nod. “So what’s with the weird reaction of the crowd. Is this gonna be a big fight or what?” I point toward Liam and Mason on the platform.

“You literally have no idea do you? Mason is the head warrior. Apparently, no one can fight as good as he can. But Liam is the strongest in the pack. No one has ever beaten him before. But the only one who has gotten close enough to beating him, was Mason. We haven’t seen the two of them against each other since their last fight, and that was almost a year ago. So this is quite a biggy for us.”

“Oh wow.”

We look ahead and see Mason and Liam already in fighting stances. Mason is smiling again. Was this what he was so excited for? Even Liam is smiling.

Mason charges at Liam and throws a punch to the face, but Liam steps aside and throws a punch of his own. These two are dodging each other’s punches like its child’s play. But then Mason jumps up, and comes down onto Liam with his knee hitting Liam’s chest.

Liam takes a few steps back from the impact and catches Mason’s punch coming in. Liam pulls his arm in as he punches Mason straight in the face. As Liam throws another punch, Mason sidesteps it and elbows Liam’s outstretched arm in the joint, and gives him a back-fist punch to the face.

Mason goes in for another punch, but it barely reaches him as Liam kicks him straight in the stomach. He’s clutching his stomach as Liam is charging him again. Mason manages to block his punch and step back to avoid Liam’s sweep kick. He gets a punch in on Liam’s face and gives a swinging kick to Liam’s ribs. It hits its mark, but Liam caught his leg, and now he’s standing on only the other.

Still holding his leg, Liam uses his other arm to grab Mason by the waist and lift him up. He body slams Mason to the floor. On instant impact, Mason rolls away and gets up. Liam charges full force and Mason just stands and waits.

Just as Liam goes in for the punch, Mason quickly slips under to the back of Liam, getting ready to throw a punch of his own. But Liam is already spinning around with his arm still ready to give its punch. Liam’s punch hits its mark with all the force originally intended.

As Liam goes for another punch, so does Mason though. And they both end up catching each other’s fists in mid-air. It’s looking like a power struggle of fists in the air. Mason however, leans back pulling Liam down with him, and rolling him over his head as he uses his leg to push Liam’s body weight. He’s trying to throw him off the platform. But Liam somehow managed to stop himself from rolling off.

Mason charges kicking and punching, and he lands a few. But Liam takes a step back as he pulls his arm back. He punches Mason in the stomach full force. While he’s trying to catch his breath, Liam throws another punch to his face and he stumbles like he’s disorientated. Liam gives a swinging kick to his ribs and it practically throws Mason off of the platform. Liam won.

The crowd goes crazy, but Liam doesn't seem bothered by it. He jumps off and gives Mason a hand, chuckling. The fight seemed serious, but they’re laughing it off now.

This is nothing compared to the street fights I’ve seen in the city. It’s amazing. And now I know, to never try anything against any of them. I’m sure I won’t be able to catch them off guard twice.

“Dammit!” I hear Aubrey complain next to me. “I had my money on Mason.” I can’t help but laugh at Noah’s annoyed face behind her.