Chapter 3: The Fight, Ellie and Baylor's POV

           “Ellie, I should tell you that Bronx and the boys called. They will be home soon,” Bradley whispered to me while Alpha Mason was getting ready to come into the ring. While that thought made me want to jump for joy, I couldn’t focus on it and went to channel all of my energy on what was about to happen. “Ellie, did you hear me?” probed Bradley, “You’re scaring me a bit here, short fry.” Now that got my attention. I hated it when he called me short fry. I knew I was short, the entire world could see this. Why was he…oh, wait, he was stopping me from getting too worked up over the challenge I was about to step into…duh, get your head right, Ellie.

             As I watched Alpha Mason joking with his friends, he looked over at me and started to peel off his shirt. When he saw I was looking, he managed one of his more creepier smiles (if that was possible) at me and paired it with a wink for good measure which made my blood start to boil. I guess he was expecting his little strip show to affect me somehow? I mean, he did have a nice body but not as good as the triplets...Goddess, please stop these thoughts, they are going to get me killed being distracted.

             I knew Alpha Mason probably already felt that no matter how much training I had gone through with Beta Bradley, as an Alpha, it would be near impossible for me to beat him. This was all a joke to him. I was just one big joke to him. And then I knew what he was doing. He was baiting me to get me off my game. In that moment, I was completely and utterly tuned into my foe. Instead of focusing on how he made me feel, I focused on how I would make him feel. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face and make it so his eyelids were so swollen, he couldn’t manage to wink at me again.

           Just then I heard my phone beep. Not just any normal beep but the tone that was used for my group chat with the triplets. My heart started to warm and for the first time in three years, I felt lighter somehow. I couldn’t let the thought of them contacting me or coming home distract me. I was on a mission and that mission included kicking some smug Alpha ass.

           “Okay, I know you’re both experienced but I want to make sure the ground rules are clear,” Bradley spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear.  “First, this goes without saying…there will be NO shifting, Alpha Mason. That includes no partial shifts in order to draw upon your wolf strength. This is strictly human against human,” disregarding Alpha Mason’s condescending chuckle, he continued, “Second, the first one to be knocked out or to tap out is the loser. Third, in this ring, I have ultimate authority to stop any fight…is that understood?”

           “Yes sir,” I responded loudly with Alpha Mason mocking Bradley with a, “Yes, Beta.”

           “Kick her ass, Mason!!” I heard one of the she-wolves say. Oh, that’s right, that’s Dina. One of my more vocal bullies. The “tea” from Cailee is she has her sights on being Luna. More power to her and her ass kissing ways. She could have Alpha Mason. Hopefully, I would be long gone with my new mate when they took over for the pack.

           As I approached the center of the fighting ring to touch knuckles with the Alpha, I watched his every move. Every mannerism could be an opening for me to strike, I just needed to see it fast enough to execute. As I touched my knuckles with him, I heard him say, “Here we are again, little mouse, let’s see if you’re worthy.” Keeping my face emotionless, I glanced towards Bradley’s way just to hear him yell, “Fight!”

          I honed all of my senses on my opponent, slowly circling him to see what I could glean off of his emotions or movements. Fast as lightning, Alpha Mason sent a quick right jab my way. Luckily, I was able to immediately duck out of its way, turning as fast as I could to strike him in the ribs with a solid left punch. Stupid Alpha, leaving his side vulnerable...

          With a grunt from the force behind my punch, he looked up in surprise while gasps could be heard all around the fighting ring. No one expected for the tiny female fighting him to make first contact. “Well done, little mouse…you surprised me. Maybe I should change your nickname to mighty mouse,” he goaded, once again trying to get me to lose my temper.

          “How about we stop all of this chit chat, Alpha, and get back to fighting. That is what you wanted, yes?” I replied back coolly.

          “I definitely don’t want to just talk to you, little mouse…I want to do so much more to you,” he countered with a quick dive at me to take me down on the ground. As if it were happening in slow motion, I anticipated his attack and caught my arm around his neck putting him into a rear naked choke. Despite his crashing to the ground, he managed to push up with me still on his back, holding on for dear life while trying to literally squeeze the life out of him. “I like your legs around me little mouse, I wonder how they would feel wrapped around me while I fucked you standing up,” he said so quietly that only I could hear. Distracted by his taunts, he utilized my own position to catch me off guard and slam me off his back into the hard ground. My small frame hit the dirt with a loud bam, the breath being knocked out of me, feeling at least a few ribs cracking in the process. For a second, I couldn’t get my breath and started to see stars, sure the back of my head would have a major lump on it after this. Faster than I could think, the Alpha utilized his size versus mine to pin me on the ground beneath him.

           “Do you give up, little mouse?” he sneered with a look of excitement and some other disgusting emotion (was it lust?) in his eyes, running his nose up and down my neck, breathing in my scent. The feeling made my skin crawl and a force I didn’t know I had burst from my body.

           With a shout, “Never, Alpha!” I brought my knee straight up to hit him right in the groin, forcing him to loosen his hold on me. Rolling over him quickly, I grabbed for his arm that was flailing, throwing my body into an arm bar maneuver just like Bradley showed me. I knew Alpha Mason was stuck or at least I hoped he was. I had the move sunk so deep, there wasn’t much he could do to counter it. “Tap, Alpha! Tap! Or I’ll break it!” I yelled at him, wanting to be as far away from this man who looked at me with bad intentions. A roar like I’ve never heard fell from his lips and a part of me was shook by it to my core. His eyes started to flash from almost black to a blazing red and I knew he was planning to utilize his wolf strength to try to break free. But there was something else there in his eyes…something evil and every part of my mind and body wanted to be nowhere near it. The first bone in his arm cracked with a loud pop and I heard more gasps amongst the crowd. When applying this move, I forgot about the serious disadvantage I was in regarding our heights. Before I could move my hands up to block, the Alpha, with his red eyes on full display for everyone to see, brought his other arm around and caught me right on the side of the face, knocking me out cold. As the curtains started to close in my vision, all I could hear was Bradley shouting, “STOP!!” then everything went black.   

Meanwhile Back at the Knights League…Baylor’s POV

            Her fear was so palatable I could taste it, the uncomfortable buzzing of the “calling” making it difficult to concentrate what we were doing. Pearl had already informed the Elders and we were running as fast as we could to our car.

            “Don’t we know a witch who can just teleport us?” Benji asked.

            “No,” Bronx responded. A man of few words…that’s my brother. Straight to the point when on a mission.

            “Lockes! Where are you all going without me?!” Vince caught up to us asking. Vince was one of the Guardians Knights, but unlike us, he was a vampire. He had become one of our closest friends, a trusted confidant and knew all about Ellie.

            “Ellie is in trouble,” I quickly relayed “We are headed home at Pearl’s direction with the approval of the Elders.”

            “Wait, can I come with you? I’ve always wanted to meet this mate of yours. It would be an honor to meet her,” he asked quickly sensing our disinterest in a drawn out chit chat.

            “Vince, bro, no…this isn’t a social call. Our training is done here. We aren’t coming back, at least not without Ellie. The prophecy has sped up. We will be taking on the role as her Guardian Knights,” Bronx barked at him. I could feel Bronx’s anxiety through our triplet connection. All three of us were fighting to keep it together as we made last minute preparations to leave. Blaze, Bullet and Banshee had been snapping and growling insistently since the “calling” started.

            “Then take me with you,” he said as he dropped to one knee, shocking us by stopping in front of us. “I, Vincent Andrew Ricci, hereby swear my allegiance to the protection detail of the sole remaining white wolf, Ellie Grayson. I promise to protect her with my life for the rest of my days.”

            Bright light sprung out of his chest and slammed into all of ours, solidifying the bond he made as a Guardian Knight. We had always talked about this potential but never wanted to take Vince away from his kind. While we knew the threat that Ellie was pre-destined to face would affect all beings within the supernatural realm there were still sects within the species who felt this was just a “wolf issue.” Shaking off my initial shock, I was extremely grateful for his sacrifice as Vince was deadly.  We would be lucky to have him amongst our protection team to pave the way for our precious mate and the fate of the supernatural world. The power he just lended to our protection team flowed through our veins and I immediately knew the Moon Goddess herself approved of this addition; our energy renewing ten-fold as a result. If he hadn’t been accepted, it would have been made obvious in the most painful of ways, similar to the feeling of a broken mate bond.

            “Nice to have you, bro,” Benji said with a small smile. “Now let’s go, we don’t have time for you to pack your stuff, you’ll just have to borrow our clothes,” he said with a chuckle.

            “Yeah, good to have…” I started when a searing pain in my brain toppled me to the ground. Looking around, I was somewhat happy to see I wasn’t the only one affected but that happiness turned to horror when I realized what it meant. “…Ellie is hurt!!! We need to go!” I grunted out as I willed myself to rise through the pain, running straight for the black SUV waiting to take us home.

Meanwhile Back at the Red Moon Pack…Ellie’s POV

            Voices started to float into my unconsciousness slowly, along with the most killer headache I have ever had in my entire life.

            “What did you think you were doing, Alpha Mason? You clearly used your wolf to overpower Ellie, even the blindest of people could see your red eyes!” Bradley growled as I felt someone holding me tighter to their body. Oh Goddess, please tell me it isn’t Alpha Mason…why does it feel like my head just took a hit from a mack truck?! Then I felt a large hand on the side of my face, “Wake up, half pint, c’mon I need you to open your eyes, Ellie,” Bradley whispered to me. As I started to open my eyes but was met with a shocking scened…teary emerald eyes staring into my own. “There you are,” he choked out with emotion, “I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up or not,” he continued.

            As he helped me up, I couldn’t stop myself from finding the two Alphas standing off to the side, still sensing danger being near. Alpha Max was staring at his son with disgust and Alpha Mason couldn’t seem to look me in the eyes. It all came back to me in a rush; Alpha Mason cheated. I had actually beaten the Alpha! Sure, it was on a technicality but still! I beat him! From the looks of it, he didn’t get out of the fight unscathed either, with his arm bent awkwardly from the broken bone that would need to be set quickly to heal correctly since wolves healed a lot faster than humans. A part of me felt bad about that, the other part of me was reminded of how he was willing to unleash Hades, his wolf, on me without a thought.

            “Little mouse, I’m sorry, I’m not sure what came over me,” Alpha Mason quietly said while starting to come closer to me.

            “Don’t you dare touch her,” Bradley growled, wrapping both of his arms around me as he continued to help me up.

            “I plan to take her as my Luna, Beta Bradley, know your place!” Alpha Mason raised his voice.

            As I slowly turned to Bradley, my eyes wide as saucers from Alpha Mason’s comment, I spouted, “Excuse me??? Are you saying I’m your fated? Or are you saying I’m your chosen?” my questions came out like rapid fire again. The feeling of nausea in my stomach started again but now I wasn’t sure if it was from my dislike of Alpha Mason or if I had a concussion from the blow to my temple.

            “Ellie hasn’t shifted yet and therefore doesn’t know WHO her fated mate OR mates is,” Bradley stated while my brain was still trying to catch up to Alpha Mason’s words along with the use of word “mates” from Bradley. What the heck is going on? Is this some weird dream and I’m still knocked out on the ground?

            “Ellie!!!! Ellie! Oh, my dear girl! Are you okay?” I saw Bella running to me with Cailee trailing not far behind. Both of them were crying and I wasn’t sure what do to with my feelings of seeing them in this state. Why were they crying about what happened? Before I could catch my bearings further, I was engulfed in two massive bear hugs by my adopted mom and best friend.

            “Mason, I think it’s best if we discuss this at another time,” Alpha Max spoke, continuing “I don’t know what you were trying to prove with this stunt but you and I will be having words.”

            “No, Father, I wanted to make my intentions known now. I have chosen Ellie to be my Luna, my chosen mate. No one will change my mind,” he said as he started to bring his hand up to touch the side of my face he had slugged, sending me into oblivion. Gasps of shock were heard amongst Alpha Mason’s friends, the loudest coming from Dina as she watched her dream start to flush down the drain. I saw her turn on her heal in a huff and walk away like a mad woman. Yay me, another person who doesn’t like me. Around me, growls sounded in warning for Alpha Mason to keep his distance; Bradley and Bella took a defensive stance in front while Cailee continued to hold me up with her arm wrapped around my back under my arms for support.

            “I’ll be seeing you soon, little mouse,” Alpha Mason said with longing and regret in his voice. From the outside looking in, it would have come off as touching had he not just knocked me out cold by cheating when he was about to lose. But for me? His words only increased the sick feeling in my stomach and I turned to throw up…right on Alpha Mason’s shoes. Oh Goddess, he really is going to kill me now…

            Once again, I felt weak and started to fall, only to feel the strong arms of my adopted dad swooping me up, running to get me help, yelling for me to stay awake. But I couldn’t. My eyes felt so heavy and all I wanted to do was sleep. The last thought I had before I finally succumbed to the darkness was I wished the triplets were here. They always made everything better.

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           I woke up the next morning in my own bed. Everything hurt. Even my hair hurt. Man, I really wish I had my wolf, I would be healed by now. I started to get up slowly to make sure I had my bearings but stopped when I heard Bradley’s voice right outside my door.

           “Boys, she is okay.” The triplets! I forgot they were coming home! Why were they coming home early??

          “She took a nasty hit to the temple from that coward Mason…I know you’re upset. Stop, you need to have more faith in her and in me too to know her limits.” Ugh, did Alpha Mason really say he has chosen me as his Luna or was my battered brain making that up??

          “Yes, she was winning before Hades started to emerge.” Heck yes, I was…recognize, trips! Your Ellie isn’t as weak as she once was when you left. Wait, why did that sound so good to call myself theirs? I must still be dealing with the after effects of the concussion.

           “Boys, stop, one at a time. I can’t concentrate enough to answer your questions when you all are talking at the same time.” Better you than me, Beta, I’m having trouble concentrating on putting one foot in front of another.

            “Yes, she has a concussion and some cracked ribs but she has been resting and will make a full recovery.” My body doesn’t feel that way but I’ll take his word for it.

             “Yes, it could have been worse and we should be grateful but we have a greater issue…” Bradley’s voice trailed off as he got closer to the door and started to open it to come in. I quickly went to sit back down on the bed to act like I hadn’t been listening in on the one-sided conversation or that my vision wasn’t currently spinning from my quick movements. Upon seeing me awake, Bradley continued, “…Boys, let me call you back or better yet, let’s wait to talk until you get here, Ellie just woke up and she must be feeling better because she thought she could pull a fast one on me by listening to my conversation with you all. Yes, I will tell her to check her phone. Try not to bug her too much though, yeah? She’s still healing. Love you guys too, see you soon,” Bradley finished his call with a scolding look in my direction. What? Don’t look at me that way, you’re talking about me to my trip…I mean the triplets. I will not apologize for this. 

           “How are you feeling? You had us worried for a bit there,” Bradley said while mindlinking someone I assumed to be Bella since I heard her running down the hall, appearing at my door.

            “Um, I guess fine?” I lamely stated. “What happened when I passed out? When are the triplets going to be here? Why are they coming home early? Are they okay??”

            “Ellie…slow down. Everything is okay. They asked me to tell you to check your phone. They have been so worried,” Bradley chastised me.

             Huffing out my breath like a scolded child, I crossed my arms and responded, “Fine.” With a smirk on both of their faces, Bradley and Bella sat on the bed and pulled me into a hug.

            “You know we, along with the triplets, will never let anything happen to you, right?” Bella said while she stroked my hair. I could feel the emotion in her words and I shook my head in acknowledgement not knowing how to respond. I never knew how to respond when they showed me love and affection. The only people I wasn’t incredibly awkward with were the triplets but if I were being honest, this felt good too.

           “We will talk more when the boys arrive. For now, we want you to rest. I’ll bring soup up for you to have and there’s some meds on the bed side table for you. Please let us know if you feel weird or anything out of the ordinary and we will get our family doctor here quickly,” Bella relayed. Hugging them both tighter for a second in a way of saying thanks, I grabbed my phone and laid back down in bed after taking the medication she gestured to and opened my phone, excited to finally get to speak to the triplets.