Fighting for My Alpha

1

"Nope, not listening. La La La '', popping in an earbud I try to disappear into one of my favorite songs. " 'Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games...'," I sing out, until, "Ouch". A hand to the back of my head interrupts my bad singing and makes my ear sting an earbud smacks the windshield. "What the..." Stopping myself just in the nick of time. Rubbing my ear, I reach for the bud before it disappeared down the vent. Before my parents can continue their speech, "How many times do we have to go over this?" My parents sigh as I continue to act like the unhappy teen I am. "I am to fight until beaten then go off to my happily ever after, lie lie lie lie lie." Another harsh sigh, dad's knuckles turn white as he grips the steering wheel. "Look on the bright side, this is the last time we will be put through this."

"You know the council has gathered all the top-ranked males and females for this last fight of the year." Mom is trying to break something to me easily, but I'm so pissed it's not getting through.

"Yea, I read the letter. I don't get why they can't let it be. I fought in all my regionals and followed all their stupid rules. I'm just so pissed that they can pull this out of their ass", I am so pissed that no one is up in arms about how the council has manipulated and broken their rules. "Hell, by their own rules I am unbeatable."

"Language!!" Mom snaps at me trying to distract my twin siblings, the baby doesn't care but the twins will latch on to the most inappropriate things and scream it out at random.

"Sorry, rules and pull aren't that bad." Mom and dad grin as the twins take the bait and begin using rules and pull as if they are the world's worst curse words. "When was the last time they did this?" I ask returning to the original subject.

No one answers me, not even dad, who as the Alpha of the second-largest pack on the continent, should have an answer. The council has every Alpha under their thumb, what they say goes. Originally they were set up to assist packs in settling disputes and to help arrange mate meets. But some time or other it morphed into an all-powerful organization that controls how we mate and how our packs are run. No more mate meets, ball or regional get together, nope now we fight in the coliseum. Each female is ranked by her parent's rank + her fighting ability + any gifts she has this score falls within a range of 1-20. The males are born to a rank and can only rise in rank by challenging those above them. So a female born to an Alpha pair who is a good fighter and has the gift of strategy and planning will get a higher score of 19/20 (me) than a female born to a gamma pair who is an ok fighter and has a gift of cooking score of 11/20. The only reason I didn't get that last point was I am missing a certain appendage. This ranking is done when females turn 16, at 17 we enter the coliseum and fight the males in the packs designated to that conclave. When a female is defeated, that male claims her by marking, biting, her at the apex of the neck and shoulder in front of the assembled crowd. If she wins she just moves on to the next fight. Three conclaves are attended per year for a maxim of three years. If a female is unbeaten by the end of the last conclave of the third year she is considered unbeatable and allowed to remain in her pack and is allowed to choose her mate. So I had hoped I can do it too until we got the letter.

"How much longer", the bellow from the third row knocks me out of my head.

"Let me guess", I turn in the seat to see my brother wiggling like crazy. "Someone needs to scratch his butt."

Mom shoots me a look but I poke my tongue out at her, as my brother starts yelling he's not a butt scratcher. I'm tired of worrying about what the council has planned. If these are going to be the last days I spend with my family, then I want my siblings to remember me as someone who is funny and who loved them without limits. After 20 minutes of bad singing and worse jokes we arrived at the coliseum grounds, dozens of males meandered about waiting to check out the latest arrivals.