Chapter 27 David and Goliath
Jolie POV
Mara moves with all power and rage directed at me. Her first strike would've taken my head off if I hadn't ducked.
The cage rattles as her fist slams into the chain-link where my face was a second ago.
"Stand still!" Mara snarls and comes at me again.
I don't stand still. I move, keeping my distance, letting her chase me around the cage. The pack's shouts blur together into noise.
Knox's voice cuts through. "Use your speed!"
Mara swings wide, trying to corner me. I drop low and roll under her arm, coming up behind her.
"Stop running, you coward!" She spins, her face red with frustration.
But I'm not running. I'm thinking. Watching. Learning her patterns.
She favors her right side. Overextends on her power strikes. Gets sloppy when she's angry.
And she's getting angry.
"This is pathetic." Mara charges again, faster this time.
I sidestep at the last second. She crashes into the cage wall, the whole structure shaking from impact.
"Fight me!" She whirls around, breathing hard. "Or are you too weak even for that?"
The insult should sting. A week ago, it would have destroyed me. But now I hear it for what it is—desperation. She expected this to be over already. Expected me to fold.
"I am fighting." I keep my voice steady. "You're just losing."
Her eyes flash gold, her wolf is rising to the surface.
She launches herself at me with a flurry of strikes. I block what I can, take hits I can't avoid. Pain explodes across my ribs, my shoulder. But I don't go down.
Can't go down.
I slip inside her reach like Ryder taught me. Get close where her size doesn't matter. Drive my elbow into her solar plexus.
Mara gasps, stumbling back.
"You're not supposed to know how to do that." She coughs, her hand pressed to her stomach.
"Surprise." I move in again before she recovers.
We grapple, a tangle of limbs and sweat. She tries to use her weight to pin me, but I'm smaller and more flexible. I twist out of her hold and rake my nails across her face.
She roars and throws me off as I hit the ground hard, my vision sparking.
"That's it!" Mara looms over me. "Stay down where you belong!"
Her boot comes down toward my head. I roll aside and sweep her standing leg.
She crashes down beside me with a satisfying thud.
We both scramble to our feet. She's bleeding from the scratches on her face. I'm pretty sure one of my ribs is cracked. We circle each other like we started, but everything's different now.
She knows I can hurt her. I know I can survive her.
"This was supposed to be easy." Mara spits blood. "You were supposed to be weak."
"Maybe I was." I watch her footwork, waiting for the opening. "Maybe I'm not anymore."
She snarls and charges again. This time I'm ready.
I drop low and drive my shoulder into her knee—the one she's been favoring all night. Something pops as she screams and her leg buckles.
But she doesn't go down. Just shifts her weight and comes at me harder, fighting through the pain.
"I'll kill you!" Her hands find my throat. "I'll rip you apart!"
Darkness edges my vision as she squeezes. The pack's shouts become distant. Ryder's roar of fury cuts through everything, but he can't help me that’s pack law.
I have to save myself.
I slam my palm up into Mara's nose. Bone crunches as blood pours down her face. Her grip loosens just enough.
I twist free and stagger back, gasping for air.
Mara wipes blood from her eyes, swaying. "You broken-nosed bitch."
"You should yield." My voice comes out raspy. "This is over."
"Never." She launches herself at me one more time with everything she has left.
I see it in slow motion as I move at the last possible second.
Mara slams face-first into the chain-link with the full force of her charge. The impact echoes across the compound. She drops like a stone and doesn't move.
Silence falls over the pack.
I stand there, breathing hard, staring at her crumpled form. Waiting for her to get up. To keep fighting.
She doesn't.
"Doc!" Ryder's voice breaks the quiet. "Check her!"
Doc enters the cage and kneels beside Mara. His hands move efficiently, checking her pulse, her breathing.
"She's alive." He looks up at me. "Unconscious, but alive."
The pack erupts. Some cheer. Some look stunned. Luna's jumping up and down, screaming my name.
But I can't move. I can’t even process what just happened.
I won. I actually won.
The cage door opens. Ryder's there, pulling me into his arms. "You did it. Jesus Christ, you did it."
I'm shaking. "Is she okay? Did I hurt her too badly?"
"She'll heal." He cups my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. "You protected yourself. That's what matters."
"I could've killed her." The words tumble out. "If she'd hit the wall wrong"
"But she didn't." Ryder's grip tightens. "You won fair. You followed pack law. You did everything right."
Knox appears beside us, grinning wide. "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. You dropped her like a sack of rocks!"
"Language!" Luna punches his arm but she's smiling too. "But yeah, that was amazing."
Pack members crowd around, wanting to touch me, congratulate me, acknowledge what I did. Their acceptance should feel good.
But all I can see is Mara's body hitting that wall. All I can hear is the crunch.
My chest feels tight, like I can't get enough oxygen. Someone's talking to me but the words don't make sense. The lights are too bright and everything sounds too loud. My hands won't stop shaking and there's blood under my fingernails—hers or mine, I don't know. I proved I wasn't weak. I proved I could fight. But standing here with everyone celebrating, all I feel is hollow sickness.
"I need" I pull away from Ryder. "I need air."
I stumble out of the cage, past the celebrating pack, toward the darkness beyond the lights. My hands are shaking.