Claimed

Chapter 9: Alike

Ben's POV:

My morning was more hectic than usual. Not only did we have Red and Darius's pack, we also had the refugees from the raid. I told Hunter to start training without me and I'd eventually catch up once I was done checking on all the visitors and leaving a report about our new patrol route on Kane and Tess's desk.

"Hey, you up to taking them for clothes this weekend?" Tess asked on my way out the door. "You and Hunter can get a group together to go with you. Might need to do it in waves over a few days since there's a few of them, but start with the ranked wolves because I'm hoping to get a trial going with Red's old pack as soon as possible."

"I can do that. Friday night?"

"Yeah, after training. And let me know how they train. I heard their fighting was intense and I'm wondering if spending so much time as wolves has something to do with it."

I nodded and went out the door, towards the gym. Walking in, almost no one was actually doing anything. They were all circled around one mat so closely, I couldn't see what they were all staring at.

Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to lead training, I linked Hunter. What's going on?

See for yourself, Hunter answered. I think I... Might actually be a little afraid of her. And slightly turned on. Don't judge me.

I made my way through the crowd and made it to the front just in time to see Connor thrown on his back and pinned down by Red.

"Yield," Connor said, his eyes wide.

Red got up and offered him a hand. He took it and she helped him up, nodding to him. He walked off the mat, rubbing his arm. Red looked unaffected except for being out of breath while she walked over to Ezra. He handed her a bottle of water and held up his fist, offering a smile. She rolled her eyes, bumped her fist against his, and covered the smile by drinking from the water.

How many people has she gone against? I asked Hunter.

Eight, Hunter answered. Of our best, in case you were wondering. The only top notch warriors she hasn't gone against are you, Dean, Mia, and Ness. Unfortunately, we won't get to see Ness take her on for a couple days still.

You? I asked.

Hunter cleared his throat and shifted his weight, crossing his arms. She kicked my ass.

I raised my eyebrows, glancing over at her again. She wiped sweat off her forehead, gave Ezara the bottle back, and then returned to the mat. Mia stepped on with her and Hunter nudged me. Mia's our best hope to not look like amateurs.

Over Dean? I asked doubtfully.

Red is fast as fuck. No one can keep up with her. Mia's the only one that might be able to match her speed, aside from Ness.

I blew out a breath and watched Mia and Red circle each other. Red struck first and shit. She was fast. I wasn't surprised Mia kept up, but I was surprised how many times Red managed to get a hit in that actually had Mia faltering. Mia was trained by Dean and there wasn't a better warrior in the pack than Dean.

They seemed pretty evenly matched until they didn't. Red had a smile of victory about six moves before she actually got Mia down on the floor and unable to get back up. Mia hated losing. She glared up at Red but sighed. "Yield."

Red got off her and did the same as she did with Connor, offering a hand to help her up. Mia accepted and they nodded to each other as Mia stepped off the mat. I wasn't surprised Dean went on next. He wasn't about to watch his sister go down and not do anything about it.