"My daughter is here and I've explained everything to her so shall we begin?" Carol says with confidence as she walks towards where we're sitting.
"Alpha..." The daughter greets with a slight bow towards us and I give her a curt nod in return. Her countenance is also as cold as her mother's was when she first arrived. I'm glad Carol didn't bother to properly introduce her to us because of Eric. I don't want any situation that would make him strike up a conversation with Drew's daughter.
"Let's begin then." I tell Carol before turning in the direction Ella is sitting with Ivar.
"Ella let's start," I called to her. She stands up and gives her mate a quick kiss on the lips before walking to us.
"General." She says with a nod when she arrives
"She's ready to duel are you?" I ask her.
"I was born ready, Alpha..." She replies before asking... "Is it going to be a no-rule fight?"
"No, it's not. It's going to be a hand-to-hand combat. You're not allowed to fight with your wolves nor are you allowed to use any form of weapon. Do you understand?" I asked looking from one face to the other and they both answered
"Sure..."
"Yes, Alpha..."
Ella removes the wedding and engagement band from her finger and hands it over to Ivar. She puts her hair in a band before moving to the center of the field to wait for her opponent who is also handing the things she had on her to her daughter.
And so the fight begin. While Ella circles her to quickly note her stance. I laugh wryly when I sees Carol get into a kung-fu stance.
"Kungfu?..." Eric says in disbelief. "Where did she think she was, the gym hall?" He ask, his face furrows in all seriousness
"Whose side are you on?" I ask, since it seems he isn't satisfied with Carol's style of fighting.
"Ella of course. I'm just wondering– I mean one would think as a Zeta, she would know better than to use kung fu in this kind of fight.
Eric is right. Karate, judo, and taekwondo don't always work in all situations, especially if your opponent is someone who does know how to fight. Someone who is strong and aggressive like Ella.
Her karate is good though." I commends as we watch how she keeps throwing punches at Ella who can't do anything but block the blows that are raining down on her.
"Yeah... Ella just needs to get one heavy blow in though. I mean Look at her, she's all open for Ella's punch.
It's as if Ella is listening in on our conversation. It seems she got tired of just defending herself and not giving the chance to get any punch through. She moves with unbelievable speed when she firmly grabs and immobilizes Carol's right fist that was coming toward her face. Right then, she delivers her first punch in the fight which turns out to be a deadly one to Carol's left temple knocking her out instantly.
As Carol is falling to the ground, Ella immediately follows and wants to continue hitting her when I immediately stop her...
"That's enough Ella, stop! She's out! This is not the UFC, stop!" I say as we all move quickly towards them.
"Yes Alpha," Ella replies, her huge grin back on her face.
"Her karate is very good but she was just throwing punches blindly. None of her punches hit me, I blocked them all..." She's saying when Ivar interrupts her
"Yeah, you did well but she kept you so busy you were only able to deliver a punch after three minutes of her continuously throwing punches in your direction." It's obvious Ivar isn't satisfied with how long it took his mate to completely knock her opponent out.
"A punch that obviously knocked her out cold, duhh!" Ella replies, glowering at Ivar.
"That's enough, you both! We'll talk about this later." I interrupt, bending to examine the unconscious Carol but her daughter arrives at her side at that moment, pushing my hand away as she squats and cradles her mother's head on her lap.
"Mom! Mom, are you okay? Mom, wake up!..." She has tears in her eyes as she calls for her mother a couple more times.
She angrily swipes the tears she has in her eyes away with the back of her hand to furiously look up at Ella...
"It's not a fight to death so why do you have to hit her so hard, you beast!" She screams
"Well, I'm sorry! What was I supposed to hit her with when she agreed to have a duel with me, a pillow?" Ella ask sarcastically
Victoria gently but speedily places her mother's head back on the ground before springing to her feet with her fist tightly balled by her sides.
"Okay bitch! You wanna try dueling with someone your age!''
"Yeah, bring it on bitch! I guess I'm gonna have to knock you unconscious the same way I did your mother!"
The two women bares their canines at each other and was about to charge toward each other when Eric stops them
"That's enough from both of you! Have some respect for your Alpha!" His words instantly stop them in their tracks.
"If you want a piece of each other then pick a date. Right now, you both will shut up and be respectful!" He snaps
"I'm sorry about that Alpha, Beta." Ella bows apologetically while Carol's daughter continues to glare at her.
"I'll send my doctor to come check on her– that's if you allow him," I added the last part because of how she pushed my hand away, preventing me from touching her earlier.
"When she wakes up, tell her I'll be waiting for her at the conference hall," I finally say and turn to leave.
As we walk back, Eric removes his phone from his pocket to call Anders, the doctor we brought with us to the pack.
"Anders will be with her soon..." He says as he lowers the phone from his ear and I nod
Barely fifteen minutes after we arrived back at the conference hall. Carol and her daughter joined us.
"My daughter said you wanted to see me. Why? I lost the fight..." She said as soon as she walked into the hall
"You made a mistake. A grave mistake that could have cost you your life. In my experience as a fighter and a warrior, I can tell you that martial art gives you a false sense of security to the extent you will begin to overestimate your abilities..."
"I didn't overestimate..." She was saying but I held my hand up for her to stop talking
"Speed, aggression, power, and, above all, surprise, those are the things that count in a fight. Some people carry a huge amount of anger around with them and have often been in countless street fights before. When you face such people in a fight you don't rely only on your skill in martial arts..."
I continue to lecture her till I suddenly remember she's not a member of my team
"Okay, enough of the unsolicited advice. You are in and..."
Her mouth falls open with surprise
"Wait. What?– But you said– I mean, I didn't win the fight and..."
"You can fight. That will do for now." I interrupts her mid-sentence
"Okay, do you want me to swear my allegiance to you right now..." She seems eager and attempts to kneel but I stop her.
"That won't be necessary for now..."
"Oh... Why?" She asks
"Swearing your allegiance to me when you're Evelyn's friend and also believe I killed your mate is hypocritical, don't you think?..." I reply with a raised brow
"I don't know if you're Evelyn's spy or if you're here to avenge the alleged murder of your mate and frankly I don't give a shit. The thing is if you think you can enter my camp and spy on me or better still kill me, then go ahead. Give it your best shot. I'm not gonna tell you to have a rethink. The same way I won't have a rethink before ripping your heart out of your chest while it's still beating."