Chapter 20

LUIS:

‘Fifty-six…’ and I go up for the next push up with sweat trickling down my arms. “Fifty-seven…” I mutter as I go down, coming up soon after. And then, ‘Fifty-eight…’

The distraction from having a lot on my mind was making me get weary faster than I normally would while exercising. This was the third round of my hundred-a-go push-ups, and on a regular day, it would take until the fourth round before I get this weary. But I cannot seem to handle much of the pressure again.

“Sixty-one..” I grit my teeth while calling out the newest number and then going in accordance with it. If I get through this round then it would be a miracle for me. Why can’t I just get these stupid thoughts out of my mind?

And then my senses suddenly start to tingle but it does not stop me from what I am doing. The tingle wasn’t a call for danger. It was just an alert about a familiar presence around me.

“Can I help you with anything, Beta Leonard?” I have to say after waiting for about five seconds and not hearing anything from the person that has just intruded upon my routine.

I was prepared to end mid-routine but then I hear the visitor say, “Don’t stop. Finish what you’re doing,”

I was obliged to do as told so I continue. Every next push-up felt like torture. Much worse than the previous ones. Now that it was obvious that I was being watched, it would be appropriate if I simply finish up with my routine.

Eventually, I get to a hundred. And with every strength in me, I try not to collapse to the ground as I lift my body. The throb that ran through my arms the moment I do so was enough to tell me how much I have been on in minutes. Minutes that I have no idea how long has been for.

Standing for a while was the only means I could take to relax. I go for the towel on the ground to wipe my face and probably other parts after.

“I see you’ve been working hard,” Beta Leonard says, igniting a conversation in the process as I face him accurately. He is clothed in the pack’s symbolic robe which has the glow of the moon encrypted on it.

“Yes, I have,” I reply confidently, nodding alongside my statement.

“Now that I see that, you will have to tell me how you were able to hold your ground against an alpha that has never lost a bout to even better fighters than you,”

Was I expecting to be asked such a question? No. The situation that resulted in the question has become a thing of the past already so never would I expect for it to be brought back this way.

But I would have to tread carefully in the way I respond. The beta doesn’t look like he is truly interested in what I have to tell him about the way I stalemated a bout with one of the best.

“I have no idea. Maybe she’s not as good as everyone thought her to be,” I say my mind but I know I shouldn’t have put it that way.

“You will not speak of her that way,” the beta cautions me. “We are talking about the most skillful female fighter in all of the territories as well as one of the very best in it. You saying she might not be as good as thought is a complete disrespect to her and I will not be having any of it,”

I only said my mind. There was no other option for me to think of after his supposed inquiry so it was by choice that I let him know what I thought about the whole thing.

“My apologies,” I quickly say. “I was only sharing my opinion on this matter.”

“You think you’re that good because you evened the fight? Tell me, have you ever beaten Kelvin in a bout? Have you?”

“Kelvin and I have never sparred against each other so I cannot say who would win in a fight between us. But with his display against the Alpha of the Blood Crescent pack, then I do not think he’s a match for me,”

“The way you say it sounds so confident that I wish to know what is going on in that head of yours but we will save all of that for later,” he then spins with his hands behind him. “However, you will have to tell me what is going on here,”

I try to decipher what he means by that. I do not see anything special around here that would make me affirm that there’s truly anything going on around this place. Or am I so distracted not to even notice it?

“What is going on here?” I throw that question at him so he could at least answer what he brought up.

“Are you now asking me what I intend to ask you?”

“No, beta. I’m asking because I have no idea why you made mention of that.”

He has this frown etched on his face from questioning me about my supposedly rude behavior. Not that there was anything rude about what I did because it was ky right I said my mind in a way.

“There’s nothing much other than to know why you and the alpha kept on exchanging looks like there was something between you two. Is something going on that I do not know of?”

Oh geez. The question that I would have to most dread at the time being was being asked. Seems the beta has been the most observant here or he has other intentions going through him. He probably likes Alpha Soma.

Thought Alpha Soma said we would find a way through this. We have not even begun anything and I already have a slight problem on my hands. I’m sure I would get by this.

“Nothing at all, Beta Leonard. I don’t think anything can bring us together,”

“With how impressed she was after the spar between you two, I would say otherwise. Nevertheless you need to be mindful of what you do around here. You have drawn unnecessary attention to yourself already and I hope you know the consequences of that,”

I nod, already tired of the conversation. I was tired myself from the push-ups and then he thought it would be cool to talk to me about things that I do not want to talk about.

Perhaps I should have intentionally lost the bout. If I had done that, I wouldn’t have gotten the beta’s focus on me. But it would not have stopped Alpha Soma from being into me because that was already predestined.

“I know about the consequences,” I wipe my face with the towel again because I was starting to sweat once more. I was more than consummated with the heat by now. “And I only did what I had to do that very day to prove myself. But it won’t get in the way of my job, that, I know,”

“Your call,” and then he starts to walk closer to me until there was hardly any distance between us. One couldn’t even tell the height difference between the two of us. “One last thing,” he starts to say in a sort of whisper, “don’t let me find out about anything going on between you and Alpha Soma. Know your place,”

I try not to sigh from hearing what he just told me. A threat. How much I hate to be threatened, especially for something I wanted nothing to do with initially.

“You heard what I said, didn’t you?” Beta Leonard’s voice gets into my hearing, snapping me back to reality after falling into a slight runoff.

“I did. And you don’t need to worry about anything because there will be nothing between us.”

“Good.”

He instantly walks away from the scene after that and I can only watch him leave without revealing any emotion. I was pissed as hell and everything but there was no way I was going to talk back to the beta due to his position.

I get where all this is coming from. The threat and the new attention bestowed upon me. He wants the Alpha for himself — who knows? For selfish reasons maybe.

The way Alpha Soma continually stared at me after the bout and the mere fact that she had singled me out was enough reason to believe I have something to do with her. That should be the biggest reason the beta feels insecure about having her and so sees me as a competition after what happened that day between the Alpha and me.

I am no competition because I will not be having anything to do with her. Nothing at all. I already told her I would not be able to handle the pressure and this was enough clue that I wouldn’t.