Seraphina’s POV
The silence that followed my challenge was deafening.
Nobody moved. Everyone just stared at like I’d grown a second head.
Then Jessica stepped forward.
"Fine." She rolled her shoulders. Cracked her neck. "I’ll go first."
A ripple went through the crowd. Excited. Nervous. Like sharks slling blood in the water.
Marcus opened his mouth to protest. I shot him a look that shut him up.
"Rules," I said, stepping to the center of the mat. "No shifting. No claws. Just hand-to-hand combat. First person to submit or get knocked down three tis loses."
Jessica’s smile was sharp. Confident. "Works for ."
She circled slowly. Testing. Looking for weaknesses.
I stayed loose. Relaxed. Let her think she had the advantage.
She moved fast. Faster than I expected. Her fist shot toward my face in a blur of motion.
I ducked. Felt the air whistle over my head.
She followed with a knee strike. Aid for my ribs.
I twisted sideways. Let it slide past. Grabbed her extended leg and yanked.
Her balance broke. She stumbled forward.
My elbow caught her shoulder blade. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to send her sprawling onto the mat.
"One," I said quietly.
The crowd erupted. Shouts. Gasps. Nobody had expected that.
Jessica scrambled up. Her face flushed. Angry now.
"Lucky shot," she muttered.
"Sure." I gestured for her to co again. "Let’s see."
She charged this ti. All aggression. No strategy.
Big mistake.
I sidestepped at the last second. Used her montum against her. My foot hooked behind her ankle.
She went down hard. Face-first into the mat.
"Two."
More noise from the crowd. Louder this ti. So people were actually cheering.
Jessica got up slower. Breathing hard. Her confidence cracking.
"You’re telegraphing every move," I said. Kept my voice calm. Educational. "Your shoulders drop before you punch. Your weight shifts before you kick. I can see everything coming a mile away."
Her jaw clenched. "One more ti."
"Okay."
This ti she tried to be more careful. Circled again. Feinted left. Then right.
I didn’t fall for it. Just watched her center of gravity. That’s where the truth was. Not in her hands or feet. In her core.
She finally committed. A straight punch aid at my sternum.
I caught her wrist mid-strike. Twisted. Used the leverage to spin her around and sweep her legs.
She hit the mat for the third ti.
"Three." I released her wrist and stepped back. "You’re strong. Fast. But you’re fighting angry. That makes you sloppy."
Jessica lay there for a mont. Staring up at the ceiling. Then she started laughing.
"Fuck." She sat up. Shook her head. "Okay. I get it now."
"Get what?"
"Why Marcus thinks you’re so good." She accepted my hand and let pull her up. "That wasn’t even close."
"It could’ve been." I ant it. "You’ve got good instincts. You just need to control them better."
She looked at with new respect in her eyes. "Can you teach that?"
"That’s literally my job now."
More laughter from the crowd. The tension had broken. People were actually smiling.
"Anyone else?" I turned to face them all. "Or are we good?"
A hand went up in the back. Young woman. Dark hair. Serious expression.
"I’ll try," she said.
"Na?"
"Riley." She stepped onto the mat. "Not Riley Blackwood. Different Riley. And I’m not trying to prove anything. I just want to learn."
I nodded. "Fair enough. Sa rules?"
"Actually..." She hesitated. "Can we make it harder? I want to see what you can really do."
"Harder how?"
"Let shift. You stay human. If you can still beat , then I’ll know you’re the real deal."
The crowd went silent again. That was a completely different challenge. Fighting a shifted wolf when I couldn’t shift myself?
"Sera, you don’t have to—" Marcus started.
"Done," I cut him off. Looked at Riley. "But sa rules otherwise. No claws. No biting. First to submit or three knockdowns."
Her eyes widened. "You’re serious?"
"Completely."
She backed up. Gave herself space. Then she shifted.
Her bones cracked and reford. Fur erupted across her skin. Within seconds, a massive brown wolf stood on the mat where Riley had been.
She was bigger than I expected. Easily two hundred pounds of muscle and teeth.
The wolf growled. Low and threatening.
I stayed loose. Calm. I’d fought shifted wolves before. In those underground rings where nobody played fair.
She lunged.
I dove sideways. Rolled. Ca up in a crouch.
Her jaws snapped where my head had been a second ago.
She spun. Faster than any human could move. Ca at again.
I waited. Let her get close. Then I grabbed her foreleg as it swiped toward .
Used her montum. Twisted my whole body. Threw her over my shoulder.
Two hundred pounds of wolf crashed into the mat with a sound like thunder.
"One."
She scrambled up imdiately. Shaking her head. Confused.
This ti she tried to circle. Get behind . Use her speed advantage.
I tracked her movent. Waited for the opening.
She committed. Jumped for my back.
I dropped flat. Let her sail over . Kicked out as she passed.
My heel caught her ribs. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to send her sprawling.
"Two."
The crowd was going insane now. Shouting. Cheering. Nobody could believe what they were seeing.
The wolf snarled. Angry now. Pride wounded.
She charged straight at . Full speed. No strategy. Just raw aggression.
I stood my ground. Waited until the last possible second.
Then I sidestepped. Grabbed her scruff as she passed. Used her own montum to slam her into the mat.
"Three."
The wolf lay there. Panting. Defeated.
Slowly, she shifted back. Riley sat on the mat in human form. Sweaty. Exhausted. But smiling.
"Holy shit," she breathed. "You just... you actually..."
"You relied too much on speed," I said. Offered her my hand. "Wolves are faster than humans. But that doesn’t an faster always wins."
She took my hand. Let pull her up. "Can you teach how you did that?"
"That’s the plan."
More hands shot up in the crowd.
"I want to try!"
" too!"
"Show us more!"
I held up both hands. "Hold on. Two challengers are enough for today."
"But you barely broke a sweat!" Jessica protested.
"Which ans I’m doing sothing right." I walked to the edge of the mat. Gestured for everyone to gather closer. "Co here. All of you. Let explain what just happened."
They crowded around. Eager now. The skepticism had evaporated.
"Jessica," I pointed at her. "Your biggest problem is telegraphing. Every ti you were about to strike, your shoulders dropped. Your weight shifted. You were announcing your moves before you made them."
She nodded. Absorbing every word.
"In a real fight, that’ll get you killed. You need to learn to control those tells. Keep your movents small. Efficient. Don’t broadcast what you’re about to do."
I turned to Riley. "And you. You shifted and imdiately relied on your wolf’s speed and strength. But that made you predictable. You thought your wolf form gave you an automatic advantage."
"Didn’t it?" soone asked.
"Against most humans? Sure. But not against soone who knows how to fight wolves." I looked around at all of them. "Your wolf form is powerful. But it’s not invincible. And if you rely on it too much, you’ll develop bad habits that better fighters will exploit."
I demonstrated with slow movents. "When Jessica threw her punch, I saw it coming because she loaded up. See? Shoulder drops. Weight shifts. Then the punch cos. By the ti her fist moved, I’d already decided my counter."
Jessica tried to mimic the movent. "So I should keep my shoulders still?"
"Not just still. Neutral. Everything should flow from your center. No wasted motion. No preparation. Just action."
I showed them again. Slower this ti. Breaking down every elent.
"And Riley. When you charged the last ti, you ca straight on. No angle. No deception. You were counting on your speed to overwhelm ."
"Which didn’t work," Riley said ruefully.
"Because I didn’t try to match your speed. I just had to be in a different place when you got there." I walked through the movent. "You committed to a straight line. So I stepped off that line. Then I used your montum against you."
"That’s judo, right?" soone asked.
"Partially. Also so aikido. So wrestling. So stuff I learned in street fights." I shrugged. "Point is, technique beats power. Strategy beats strength. And control beats speed."
The crowd was silent now. Actually listening. Actually learning.
"Every single one of you has advantages I don’t have," I continued. "You can shift. You’re stronger. Faster. More durable. In a straight fight, any one of you should be able to beat ."
"But you just beat both of them," Jessica pointed out.
"Because I didn’t fight straight. I fought smart." I t each person’s eyes. "That’s what I’m going to teach you. Not how to be stronger. You’re already strong. I’m going to teach you how to be smarter. How to use your opponent’s strengths against them. How to win fights you shouldn’t be able to win."
I paused. Let that sink in.
"Being a female warrior in this pack ans you’re already at a disadvantage. The males are bigger. Stronger. They get more respect. More opportunities. More everything."
Nods around the circle. They knew exactly what I ant.
"So we’re not going to fight like them. We’re going to fight better. Smarter. More efficiently. We’re going to beco the warriors they don’t see coming until it’s too late."
The energy in the room had shifted completely. No more skepticism. No more doubt.
Just hunger. Determination. The desire to learn.
"So." I looked around at all of them. "Anyone still think a human can’t lead warriors?"
Silence.
Then Jessica spoke up. "No ma’am. I think you’re exactly who we need."
The others echoed their agreent. Voices overlapping. All of them sincere.
I felt sothing loosen in my chest. Sothing I didn’t know had been tight.
"Good." I nodded. "Then let’s get to work. We’ve got a lot to do and not much ti to do it."
Marcus appeared beside . His face split in that huge grin again.
"That," he said quietly, "was fucking incredible."
"It was necessary."
"It was more than that." He clapped my shoulder. "You just earned their respect in five minutes. Do you know how rare that is?"
I glanced over at Damien. He’d been standing against the wall the whole ti. Watching. His expression unreadable.
Our eyes t.
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