Alpha Mates (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 35.

*****

I lifted my hand to meet Richard's halfway and we gave each other a firm handshake.

"Good luck," he said.

Before heading out to the clearing, I had declined breakfast from Karabo's mom – I don't like eating before I fight – and then received an hour-long call from Ben to listen to him whine about not joining me on this 'trip' so he could see Paige again. It was crazy that he even had that much to say without actually saying anything, the call was draining and I felt sorry for how whipped Ben seemed... Was I like that too? Nah. Though, I wanted to get the fight over with so Karabo and I could meet at whichever pack and never be this far apart again.

"You better not disappoint, Richard," I replied.

He laughed as we stepped back slightly and I furrowed my brows feeling strange. I looked at my hand while snapping my fingers trying to create a flame but chuckled to myself when nothing happened. So he found a witch and they were making this a spell-free fight. I almost felt proud he thought to take that precaution, especially because witches in this part of the world were hard to find. They hid from everyone because they feared being taken advantage of.

"Begin." I glanced over at Jayden's mother as she spoke.

Most of the pack wouldn't get to see the fight, did not even know about it but she was their Luna, after all. The elders from earlier were also watching a distance away from me and Richard.

I dodged Richard's swift tackle and turned as he stumbled past me to kick him in his back. He fell onto his knees but was barely on the ground for a second before getting back up. Still, I heard snickers from some of the people watching us.

"You have to do better than that," I muttered.

"Just making sure you're focused, Alpha," he replied straightening up.

I watched him as he turned to me. It would be just like training with Ashton, wouldn't it? Except more brutal, hopefully.

I decided to try and get the fight over with as quickly as I could and launched at him with full force, he didn't seem to expect a strong attack so soon into the fight and went down easily. I heard him gasp as he landed on his back with me on top of him but didn't give him time to breathe before I began throwing punches into either side of his face.

Needing to be assured that he was strong enough to handle the responsibility we were trying to give to him, I did not plan on going easy on him and was putting all my strength and speed into the punches, he could not seem to keep up or get me off of him. I found that to be quite a problem, I had gotten the upper hand on him so easily.

I jumped back as my eyes suddenly stung with pain when a bright light flashed into them. Immediately after I had moved from Richard, I felt his foot slam into my stomach. As the force sent me falling back, I grabbed his ankle, my eyes still shut and threw him aside with as much force as I could while I fell onto my back. I heard him smash into something across the clearing and rubbed my eyes as I climbed back onto my feet but even after I opened them, I couldn't see clearly. Around me, behind a white cloud masking most of my vision, all I could see was the silhouette of the top of the forest trees against the sky. I couldn't make out any details, could not see where the elders were seated, couldn't even see my hands right in front of my face.

Did he use magic? They didn't have magic. Did someone else? The fight was only supposed to be the two of us. No. I knew he was much too proud to cheat. So how...? What did he do to my eyes?

It didn't really matter. I had practically lost my sight. I almost laughed at myself.

That's what you get for running straight into a fight like that, Eli.