In The Beginning, Chapter 128

Daniel POV

It had been two days since Hermes attacked, and they sent the first scout. Two more scouts had been spotted, watching the house, but other than that, nothing, the men were going crazy, I was going crazy! Charlie had kicked us all out after breakfast, told me to start acting normal so they didn’t think they were walking into a trap, but I could tell she was just sick of having us all snapping at each other. It didn’t help that we hadn’t been alone in all that time either, walking up to realise your mate’s aunt is sat by your bed watching you kills the mood quick. And since she has practically moved in until after the attack goddess willing, or the three of us will have to have an uncomfortable conversation about boundaries, we hadn’t spent any time alone. The only battle I had won with her, was getting her to stay in the bedroom while we showered, after she zapped herself into my shower, while we were using it. She assumed from the large sizes they were communal, like ancient Greece or something, or that’s what Charlie said to calm me down after she chased her out. I had tried banning her from the bedroom too, but every morning, I wake up, and there she is. Today she lulled me into a false sense of security, letting me and Charlie get ourselves worked up before she popped out. I’m convinced she is just trying to give me blue balls on purpose, maybe it’s an experiment or something, but it was getting old, fast. Lander and Kasa convinced me to do some light training with the men, everyone had a short fuse as the anticipation of an attack, and the fear something would go wrong multiplied into paranoia, accusations and petty fighting increasing among the men the longer we waited.
“Daniel, I love you, so please don’t mistake what I say next, but get out! I don’t care if you three whip them out and measure, beat yourselves stupid, or some other insane male competition, but go. Yesterday you snapped at Kasa for standing too close to me, and this morning you nearly took of Lander’s hand when he handed me the butter. The reports from the barracks have all been about petty squabbles, so go, the lot of you. But so help me, if he comes back too injured to fight, I will be furious!” She barked at Kasa and Lander, after having to mediate an argument over the rooms they had been given they all had developed a kind of sibling relationship. “If you are going to act like children, I will treat you like children!” She had yelled before dragging them away by their ears when they foolishly complained to her about them. Lander had actually uttered the phrase “he started it” as Alpha pride and decades old spats resurfaced under the tight quarters. I had called the scouts back in favour of Theia’s less conspicuous spies, leaving only the snipers in place, after inspecting the foxhole at the south of the meadow, they concluded the wisest option was to set up a camp immediately, allowing fresh snow to hide them in the meantime. Which meant almost every Eta was cooped up at the barracks, while the Zetas were sharing their homes with their counterparts from the other packs, some more successfully than others. We came up with the plan to basically let the men fight it out, but with precautions, and no serious injuries that would prevent them fighting later. With almost a thousand men, the barracks were too small, so they were going to run to the high school to warm them up. We had linked the Zetas as we drove, so by the time I pulled up outside the gym, the first of the warriors were crossing the field, pouring out of the trees like a never-ending plague. I stomped up to the door, unlocking the chains that secured the building. Inside was the basketball court, and while it was a risk to expose our numbers, at least inside we could hide our skills. Kasa held one of the doors open for the men, while I held the other. Lander had gone inside, and flipped the lights on, and the switch to unfold the bleachers, he stood in the middle of the court ready to direct traffic quickly.

After a lot of pushing, shoving, and short tempers, we got everyone seated, explained the rules, and to start things off, the three Alphas would fight. The mood immediately improved, Ben and Kai had no issues with anyone, so they were in charge of arranging the fights, and several of the Zetas were acting as bookies to keep all bets fair. One of the rules was human forms only, the buzz of anticipation grew as we removed our coats, shirts and shoes, most of the men had seen one of us fight, but not all. We stepped onto the mats laid out for the fighting area, about twenty feet square, warming up our muscles, as we waited for Ben to whistle, and the match to begin. A split second after we heard the whistle, Lander attacked, his style had always been aggressive, brutal and quick, putting you on the back foot, if you didn’t know him. I avoided the fist he threw to my jaw, and slammed my elbow down onto his shoulder, between that and his momentum, he lost his balance and fell face first into the mat. Before I could attack again, I was put on the defensive by Kasa aiming a well-timed kick to my lower back, I grunted as I twisted, taking his other leg out before the one that struck me had lowered. Lander hit me from behind, we went sprawling across the mat, as he tried to get an arm around my neck to choke me out. I landed a few hits to his solar plexus, loosening his hold on me, allowing me to roll away from him, turn and attack him head on. He had barely got to his feet when I swung, his arms blocked my fist, as Kasa took out one of my knees, kicking the back of it hard enough to send it to the floor. I had to spin around on my knees to avoid his fist connecting with my head. When it missed, he adjusted to an uppercut, catching Lander unaware, as it struck his jaw. I slammed my weight into Kasa as I got to my feet, driving him backwards and knocking the air from his lungs. I swung an elbow into Lander’s face as he tried to steady himself, punching the same arm forward, I caught Kasa in the sternum, he stumbled backward, his face growing red as he struggled to inhale. I kicked Lander in the chest as he struggled to see, my elbow had broken his nose, his eyes already swelling, and blood, snot and tears were pouring down his face. He went down hard, so I turned my attention to Kasa, he was taking painful shallow breaths, but as soon as I turned his way, he brought up his hands, like a boxer, his preferred style. In a real match, he would be ruthless, striking hard and fast to your most vulnerable areas, before dancing away from any attack you threw his way. Our rules left him at a disadvantage, I once saw him avoid an opponent for ten minutes, waiting for the opening, when it appeared, he punched his rivals throat so hard it damaged his trachea, and the man had to be rushed to surgery, Kasa was seventeen. People who saw Lander’s fight, questioned if he was really a Lycan, or if he had some ancient bear-shifter DNA, those that saw Kasa wondered if the stories about the Native America’s abilities to shift into any animal might not be silly superstitions. Some said he could strike like a snake, others compared his agility to that of a jungle cat, but there had been a number of others over the years. I raised my own fists, and an eyebrow, before I jabbed at his ribs, hoping to create an opening. He caught me with a left hook, hitting me in the temple as I blocked it too late, veering his fist away from my jaw, but not far enough to miss. Without missing a beat, he struck my stomach, ribs, then face, sending me reeling backwards. Lander, who had left the mat to wipe his face with a towel, possibly still angry by the rogue uppercut, barrelled into Kasa, taking him off of his feet, as they grappled on the mat. I wiped the blood and sweat from my face with a chuckle, as they both fought for dominance, and a hold the other couldn’t break, until the scene became so comical I physically couldn’t stop laughing. Ben declared our match a tie, which we all accepted, in much better spirits, as we took our seats among the men, we all had bloodied noses, varying degrees of swollen and/or black eyes, two split lips, and all three of us had bruised ribs. The men grumbled when there was no winner, but it was soon forgotten when Ben called the next match. We had a couple of group matches, some were between members of the same pack, a few who had already buried the hatchet, so it was more sparring and friendlier, and a few mismatched opponents. One in particular was extremely entertaining, an Eta from Kasa’s pack, accused an older Zeta from Lander's pack of using his size to intimidate the younger and smaller warriors. The Betas and Deltas stayed close to the edge of the mats, ready to jump in if needed, when the Eta, a good six inches shorter, and at least fifty pounds lighter, stepped up to his opponent. I felt the Alphas’ posture stiffen beside me as the smaller man refused to be dissuaded, and they took to the mats, the men around us became almost frenzied as they fought to place their bets before the match started. I gave Ben the nod, and he blew the whistle. The bigger man charged, his fist reared back, I wanted to step in and call it off as I realised with his weight, strength, and speed behind it, he might kill the smaller man, who didn’t move. With a move I will replay in my head over and over, the smaller man turned, a second before the giant reached him, grabbed the arm as it was brought forward to punch him, flipping the larger man painfully into the mat. Before the larger man had chance to defend himself, the small Eta had drop kicked him in the chest, pinned the Zeta to the mat, using his knees to keep his arms at his sides, and punched him repeatedly in his face, while sitting on his chest. When he was finally dragged off of the larger man, the Zeta had rolled over, gagging and coughing, spitting out blood, barely conscious. While his opponent stalked back and forth on the hard wood floor of the gym, a line of men blocking him from re-joining the fight. Eventually Kasa calmed the small man down with Ethan turned up to check out the injured man.
“Does the Luna know you are hosting... what is this? Like a fight club? In the school gym?” He asked as he examined the man. I saw him checking out my swollen eye, the hit Kasa landed on my temple had dazed me a little, and was still bruised, the rest of my wounds had healed already.
“It was her idea, she couldn’t stand being in the house with us all snapping at each other, and then men needed to vent some of their aggression. Rabid dogs have no place in war.” I replied, his eyes shot over my shoulder to the still pacing Eta.
“Well if this war doesn’t happen soon, that’s all you’re going to have to work with.” He muttered, looking around as he retrieved a syringe from his bag. I followed his eyes, some of the men in the crowd who hadn’t fought, were still frothing at the mouth for action, while those that had fought, were mostly quietly talking to their opponents. Only a few still with injuries were chomping at the bit for the fight to be called or continued, by the way they were calling to the fighters, they knew them personally, and there were far more on the smaller man’s side than the larger.
“ENOUGH!” I bellowed, silencing the large room. “One of your brothers is injured, another, may have cost us a warrior when we cannot afford to be without every single one of you! That is why we have banded together. Our enemy is strong, they can teleport, they can kill you with one bite, you will have to reply on your brothers, and they on you, to watch each others backs!” The men retook their seats, some of them reining in their animosity, many had it bubbling just below the surface though, and that was the problem.