SIXTY-EIGHT
**-Raki’s POV-**
I have to, I can’t let this go without a fight. I stand at the edge of the inner fighting-circle and I stare at the two men standing. They’re also silently staring back at me. They know I’m strong and I’ll be lying if I said I wasn’t all pepped up for this fight. It’s been a while ago, but I’m ready to fight again.
I hear Scott yelling those words, the fight has begun. I’m not a very patient wolf, so I decide to jump immediately, taking the lead in this fight. But as expected, the two men are on guard and easily dodged my attack. This goes on for a few minutes, when I realize it’s not going to work. I’m getting frustrated by the lack of action of the other two men. I start growling and I know they’re aware of my frustration. But because I’m not their Alpha, neither are they Alpha’s, I’m not able to contact them to ask what this is all about.
I stare at the crowd and my eyes easily find Indy’s. I set up a mindlink and quickly ask: *What is this shit? I want to fight, why aren’t they? Tell them to fight!*
But Indy isn’t answering and I have to focus on the fight again. I growl again in an attempt to make them move. But they aren’t, they’re just watching every move I make. Am I going to keep moving and attack, wasting all my energy by chasing those two men? No, I am not.
If I was able to smile, I just did. I’m standing still in the middle of the circle and put my butt on the ground. Staring back at those two men. You want the silent treatment? You can get one. I’m not going to move either…
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**Ryan’s POV-**
What the hell are they doing? Why are they not fighting back? I look to my right and watch Scott, he seems much more calm than I am. “Scott….” I whisper urgently. “....pssst. Scott!!”
He suddenly looks at me and I ask: “What are they doing? Aren’t we supposed to do something?”
Scott smiles. “Why? This is their fight. Sometimes you need to have some patience. It’s not all about strength, you know. You should know…”
I gnash my teeth. Of course I know. But I haven’t seen any fight like this. This can’t even be called a fight. Come on! Suddenly I see Raki watching us, well, I think he’s watching Indy. But within seconds he’s back to the fight and decides to sit down in the middle of the circle. “What the hell??” I say out loud. “It’s not some kind of tea party…” I then whisper, annoyed. I hear Indy chuckle, and I instantly feel better. That sound is like music to my ears. “What?” I ask her.
She looks up at me and takes my right hand, which is resting on her shoulder. “Easy, babe. I think Hunter and Rudi are not sure if and how they want to fight that big, black Alpha-wolf.”
I sigh, she’s probably right. I mean, I know for sure Rudi is not an Alpha-blooded wolf and we don’t know what Hunter is. I would be scared too, if I was them.
The crowd watched the three warriors in front of them, doing a staring contest. I try to find out, by studying their body language, how they’re feeling and I think Rudi and Hunter are up to something. They’ve looked at each other multiple times and are now suddenly moving, each to another side of Raki. Are they going to do what I think they’re going to do?
“No… Are they?” I whisper.
And if they’ve planned this all the way, Rudi and Hunter are jumping on Raki together. You would’ve expected that they’re shapeshifting on the way, but they’re not. Raki did see it coming though, but I bet he was not prepared for them working together. It’s pretty smart though, If you know you can’t beat something or somebody alone, always work together! I smile.
Raki is focusing on Hunter, though. Somewhere in the attack, I can see that Hunter gets a pretty strong hit from Raki. Like Hunter was not even trying to hit Raki. I’m confused. “Why?” I ask, more to myself than to anybody else. But Scott hears it and he replies: “Raki is now distracted, look.”
And I've not seen it, but because Hunter took the hit and full focus of Raki, Rudi was able to slam his body on Raki’s other side making Raki outbalanced. Rudi doesn’t hesitate and shifts to take a bite on Raki’s right front leg. Raki growls due to the sudden pain in his paw. Hunter immediately reacts and jumps above Raki. Raki tries to shake the human off his back, but it’s difficult when another wolf tries to keep you down with his teeth. Hunter keeps slamming his fists on Raki’s back and head and I can tell Raki has trouble taking those punches and his paw is now dangerously bleeding. But he is an Alpha, I bet he has gone through worse.
I was right. Raki lets out an enormous growl and bites Rudi in his scruff and throws him a few metres off the side. I hear the sound of bones breaking and a little howl of Rudi when he hits the ground hard. “Rudi!” I hear a shocked voice of Indy next to me. “It’s alright, baby. He’s a wolf. I bet it’s one of his paws, he tried to catch himself instead of rolling over the ground and taking the hit with his whole body.”
Rudi is indeed trying to stand up but limping with his right leg. I watch Hunter and Raki and I can see Hunter decided to jump off the back of Raki and refocus. Raki and Hunter are now standing in front of each other. Where Raki has definitely some damage, Hunter seems pretty fine. But we should not forget that Hunter has already fought before, Raki hasn’t. The changes are still equal.
“Raki, I really wished we could start fighting as humans first…” I hear Hunter's voice. He seems determined and I like that. “...But I’m ready to fight you nevertheless. Let’s show what you got, Alpha! I’m ready. Don’t make it too easy for me, will ya?”
I like this sassy tone of him and I’m pretty sure it’s affecting Raki. I mean, he’s the wolf of Khal. Khal was pretty stubborn and they’re Alpha’s. Aren’t all Alpha’s a bit stubborn? I’m sure Scott and I are sometimes.
Indeed, Raki growls annoyed and jumps towards Hunter. Hunter dodges the attack easily and kicks Raki in his stomach on the way. “I told you, I’m ready.” Hunter smiles. I’m surprised, Hunter dodged that very fast. He’s faster than I thought, I mean: Raki is an Alpha wolf and has incredible speed. How is Hunter able to dodge all his attacks?
“Baby, Hunter has survived on his own for years. He knows how to hunt, be agile and fast. It’s his second nature..” Indy says softly, as if she was reading my mind.
After some dodging, Raki has only scratched Hunter while Hunter was able to do some serious damage to Raki. Suddenly Hunter shapeshifts in his wolf and with an almost even loud growl, he jumps at Raki. Raki sees it coming though and jumps at the same speed to Hunter. They clash somewhere in the air and I hear an incredible loud bang, where their bodies hit each other.
Both wolves have a firm grip on each other, not ready to let go. I’m almost thinking it’s one of those fights where it’s waiting for one to give up or black out. But it’s not, I almost forgot the wounded Rudi. But he’s not ready to give up yet and decides to join the fight. With all his strength, he bites Raki on his lower back and Raki is surprised by the sudden pain in his back and let’s go of Hunter to slam Rudi off his back. I know it must’ve been extremely painful for Rudi to take that slam on his head, you can tell it on the way he’s lying as still as possible.
Now Raki knows Rudi is no threat anymore, he tries to focus on Hunter again. But Hunter was able to get a better grip on Raki and is now completely covering Raki’s body. His fangs are on his neck while the long claws of Hunter are deeply inside Raki’s sides. Raki is not ready to give up, though. He’s trying incredibly hard to get some freedom and tries to release some of Hunter’s grip. But Hunter’s very determined and knows that if he gives in only a little bit, he’s doomed. Raki’s eyes are spitting fire, knowing it’s all of nothing right now. But the longer it takes, the less energy is radiating from Raki’s body.
“It’s over. Raki, please. I can’t lose you too.” I hear Indy whispering, so soft that if she wasn’t my mate I wouldn't have been able to hear those words. Surprised, I stare down to the fragile body on the chair next to me. I can feel the tension and pain in her body. “Indy?” I squat and look her in the eye. I can see her wolf is trying to dominate her body, Indy’s eyes are constantly changing colours. I almost forgot how hard this must be for Indy and her wolf, to watch this fight. They must be able to feel some of Raki’s pain too. “Damn it. Scott! Make them stop!” I say to Scott.
Scott is also looking worried, but his answer is clear: “I can’t Ryan. You know that.”
My eyes go from Indy to Raki and I’m getting even more nervous by the second. “Indy, please. Try to calm down Buwan. You know Raki isn’t going to die. He has you, he’s not ready to die. He will submit soon. Indy…?”
But it’s like talking to deaf ears. But even I was not prepared for the next explosion.
**“STOP!”**
Indy’s now on two feet, her hands in the air and yelling that word with all her energy. It’s like I’ve been hit by a wave of air and I’m out of breath. I can see that this simple word is affecting everyone in this circle, even Hunter and Raki.
Hunter lets go of Raki immediately and Raki falls on the ground, unconscious. Indy is walking slowly towards the black wolf on the ground and the moment her feet touch the wolf, we can see some of her energy is transferring. “Rise, my Alpha. Thanks for this fight, but it’s not time to go yet.” She says, her voice strangely calm and almost unrecognisable.
I watch this strange scene, still dumbfounded by the effect of Indy’s voice. Soon, Raki rises and stands on his four feet again. He shakes his fur and makes a little bow towards Indy and Hunter. “As the Royal daughter and soon to be Luna of the Yunit-pack, I declare Hunter the winner of this fight and thereby the new Alpha of The Sentinel Pack.”
Indy’s standing next to Hunter and holds her hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “Every member of the Sentinel Pack should act like good packmembers and accept the new Alpha. Every pack member that disagrees, is able to leave the packgrounds before the sun rises and live like rogues. Alpha Hunter, take good care of your people.”
The crowd is cheering, and seemingly happy with the outcome. Indy walks back to us and she smiles. “Wow, Indy - you, you were amazing! How did you do that?” I kiss her forehead and Scott’s taking her in for a big hug.
“I don’t know, I just knew I needed to. Hunter would’ve killed him, I’m pretty sure of that. I could not let that happen.” She simply says. I can’t blame her, I would’ve done the same if I could.
Suddenly, the crowd became silent and I refocused on the circle. I see two wolves, two black wolves. One slightly bigger than the other with brown eyes: Raki. Hunter’s wolf is more lean and has the blue eyes of his human, but still an impressive wolf. I bet he has even Alpha-blood in his body. The two black wolves are standing in front of each other, I bet they’re mindlinking! Suddenly Raki is taking a step forward and pushes his forehead against Hunter’s: he’s giving his blessing!
After that little gesture, Raki is walking towards the few people of his old pack and does the same to all of them: he pushes his forehead against their bodies. Some bent down and let the big wolf touch their head, some stood still and ‘caught’ the signature with their hands. Raki then walks towards Indy and lays his big head on her lap. Indy smiles and pets his head softly. She quickly puts a kiss on his head before she lets him go.
Raki lets out a big howl and some are shapeshifting to be able to end the howl together with him. And as quick as Raki entered the scene, that quick he left and disappeared in the dark again.
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Author's note: *Thanks for reading and your patience, y'all! An extra long chapter this time, you deserved it!*
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