Cursing the Moon Goddess

Chapter Thirty

Cole POV

Just as the commotion around me starts to moderate, an oddly familiar wolf walks up to me. I think I've seen them before, but I'm not sure from where. Then her familiar scent hits me. Strawberries.

The wolf is Kara. She's probably amongst the bigger wolves of her pack. She would be considered a big wolf in my pack too. Her eyes meet mine and I feel a strange warmness in them. I can almost hear her link me, probably congratulating me.

"She's beautiful" I hear my wolf say.

And he's not lying. She is a majestic wolf. Even in the dark, her blonde fur shines under the lamps. And I can tell she is very toned and fit.

She stays a bit far away, not daring to come closer. Probably not wanting to ignite the rumors of a bond between us, fueled by Elena.

Then I hear Jace link me again, and it's hard to pay attention to him.

"Time to duel brother! I'm eager to know just how strong you became!" he says.

"Never use your full-strength son. Especially with a war knocking at our door." I hear my father advise me.

"I'm ready." Thomas links me as well.

My first duel as Alpha is traditionally to announce my Beta. So Thomas knew he would fight me first. He has to use all his strength so that I can see what he's made of. I always knew he held back when we trained together, and now, with his Beta announcement, he's even stronger than before. Maybe even on Jace's level. Jace has Alpha blood, just like me. So that's pretty impressive.

Nonetheless, it was not difficult to beat him. I'm loving every second of being an Alpha and the strength it comes with.

After facing Thomas, I fought Jace, and as I expected, he's just a little stronger than Tom, but I defeated him easier, considering I know his fighting style better than Tom's. I then face Luke, Mark, Liam and other wolves, I'm getting pretty tired. I mean, even Anne gave it a go at fighting me, but I am unbeatable.

Just as I thought I would finally shift to my human and eat something, Kara came up and I was in shock that she did. Not thinking straightly, she was able to make the first strike, and the soft electricity that comes with her touch makes me lose my focus a bit. She is fast and flexible. She manages to evade my strikes, and I'm tired of chasing. So I decide to make a quick and decisive blow to her feet. She falls back, but manages to jump right back up at an almost impossible speed. Again, taking advantage of my shock, she leaps and takes her chance to strike me. I lose my balance and fall to my back. I'm not as quick as her to get back up, so I lose sight of her when I'm on my feet, as I turn to look for her, she mimics my move to knock me off my feet and I fall again. This time I laugh in exhaustion and decide to stay on the ground.

I hear howls all around me and when I get up, everyone is surrounding her, cheering her.

"She got you good!" Jace laughs through the link.

"The best strategy all night" Thomas links.

"Why did you let her win, and not me?" Elena links.

I laugh at all their remarks and link an omega to bring me a tunic. I'm starving.

Cat hands me a tunic, and several other tunics to others around me and I shift on the spot. I think it's great we all know better than to look around when we shift back to our human forms.

- Didn't think you'd let Kara win. – Liam comes up to me at the buffet. He also has his plate half full.

- I was too hungry to keep fighting. – I shrug it off.