The Wolf Queen

Elise's breath was short as she narrowly avoided the scratching leg whistling in the air, bordering on her shoulder. Adrenaline pulled in her veins, each muscle of her body stretched to the extreme. Faced with her, the dominant male of the Rival Rivale pack, a cruel glow in her eyes. He never thought she would last so long.

She was not supposed to be there, not supposed to claim this place. An alpha woman? An affront to established order. And yet, she was still standing, defying tradition and the centuries of male domination.

His opponent jumped again, this time with a redoubled speed, hoping to gain speed. Elise anticipated her movement. His body reacts even before his mind formulates a specific plan. She crouched just low enough to dodge the impact, pivot her body and, with implacable precision, planted her elbow in her exhibited ribs. A cracking sounds.

The wolf scolded, stepped back, but she didn't give him a second of respite. With a dazzling leap, she reduced the distance and wrapped her arm around her neck, tightening with all her might.

The crowd around them roars. Cry of surprise, excitement, and anger mingled in the night air. The alphas observed. They were waiting to see if she would go to the end.

The man tried to struggle, but his movements became slower. His breath became a hoarse groan. Elise firmed her catch, ignoring the pain that radiated in her tired muscles. He was going to give in. He had no more way out.

Then, a sound broke the ambient chaos. A dry snap, a signal.

- That's enough.

The Grand Alpha's voice rose above the tumult. The tension in the air intensified. Elise slowly released her grip, removing a step back. His opponent collapsed on his knees, the minced breath, his gaze veiled by defeat.

The looks converged on the old Alpha, the one who guided the pack for decades. He scrutinized Elise, perhaps seeking to guess if she was worthy of the place she had just torn off.

- You won.

These three words were like an earthquake in the assembly. An oppressive silence fell on the gathered wolves. Some looked down, refusing to accept this truth. Others, more pragmatic, gauged the situation with new interest.

Elise did not look her eyes. Her heart was still beating at a frantic pace, but she didn't let anything showcase. She had just won a duel that no woman before she had dared to claim.

But victory did not mean acceptance.

A movement in the crowd drew its attention. A silhouette advanced, detached from the rest of the group. Roman.

He had not been one of those who watched him with contempt at the start of the fight. He had not made fun of when she had advanced on the duel field. Her eyes only fixed on her, attentive, piercing.

He always looked at her in this way.

- Impressive, he said in a calm voice.

It was not addressed to others. Not in the noisy assembly that struggled to accept what had just happened. He spoke to her, and alone.

Elise did not answer right away. She watched the Assembly. Some still waited for it to vacillate, that it is flexing under pressure.

She raised her chin and turned away, advancing towards the circle of the Alphas without hesitation. His posture said everything. She hadn't won and then back down.

The great Alpha did not flinch when she stopped in front of him.

- The pack saw, he said finally. None can deny your victory.

His gaze landed on the assembly. He was looking for disputes, a voice that would rise against his declaration.

No one spoke.

Not immediately, at least.

Then a voice emerged, harder, more sharp than the others.

- Victory is not everything.

Elise turned to the man who had just spoken. Another alpha, older, a notorious traditionalist. He met his massive arms on his chest, his eyes throwing lightning.

- Can a woman really govern a pack?

A whisper crossed the assembly. It was the question that many were asking, but that he dared to say out loud.

Elise did not need to think about her answer.

- If I am strong enough to defeat an alpha in combat, then I am strong enough to govern.

A silence settled. Then Romain, still back, sketched a fleeting smile.

- It looks like she answered your question, he breathed.

A laugh rose among a few wolves, but he was quickly suffocated by the intensity of the moment.

The great Alpha, after a long moment of reflection, made an affirmative gesture.

- Alright. You are the alpha, Elise.

Words were printed in the air as an irrevocable oath.

Elise let nothing appear, but a strange warmth fought in her chest. She did it.

But as the looks turned away, some people reluctantly accepted and others still whispered, a thought was imposed on her.

It was just the start.

The looks turned suddenly when the voice slammed in the air.

- It's not a real alpha.

The silence that followed was more sharp than any blade. Elise, motionless, felt the weight of looking at her as an additional test. She didn't turn her head immediately. She already knew the one who had dared.

Mathias.

One of the most influential alphas in the pack. A hot blood wolf, used to getting what he wanted. And what he wanted, at this precise moment was to see her fail.

He advanced in the circle, his heavy and assured approach, his burning eyes of an arrogant certainty.

- Do you really think we're going to follow you? You ?

A shudder waved the assembly. Some looked away. Others were waiting, suspended from the words that were going to follow.

Elise does not react immediately. She felt Roman back, observing, but did not intervene. It was not his fight.

She swivel slowly towards Mathias.

- Do you have something to say? Clearly say it.

A sneer rose from his throat.

- You may have won a duel, but that is not enough. We don't follow a female on the pretext that she knows how to fight.

The word was wanted. Cruel.

A deaf tension emanated wolves around them. Some people no longer dared to breathe.

Mathias shrugged, hateful in his insurance.

- It's not natural. A pack needs a real leader. No exception.

She didn't take her eyes off it.

- So you challenge me.

It was not a question.

A slow smile stretched on her lips.

- Are you afraid of proving that you could not?

She advanced a step. He did not go back.

- Fix your conditions.

The excitement climbed in the air.

Mathias enjoyed the moment, convinced that he had already won.

- A fight. A real one. Not a demonstration. If you win, I will submit. If I win ... you will leave.

A thrill traveled the pack.

It was a disguised conviction.

Elise does not even blink her eyes.

- All right.

Mathias did not expect her to accept so quickly. A moment of hesitation stretched on his face before he mask him under a carnivorous smile.

- Here and now.

The silence that fell was so dense that one could have heard one heart beat at the other end of the circle.

The wolves moved away, forming an improvised arena.

Mathias withdrew his t-shirt with a dry gesture, exposing a torso marked by old scars. An accomplished warrior. A brute force. He stretched, for himself, as a predator before the attack.

Elise did not move.

She had nothing to prove.

When Mathias loaded, it was a flash. A brutal movement, without finesse, intended to crush it under its strength.

She was waiting for him.

At the last moment, she pivoted, letting him hit the void. Her own momentum unbalanced him, and she struck. A precise, lightning, straight blow in its flank.

He groaned, more surprised than waiting.

- I hope that's not all you have, he sneered, straightening up.

She did not answer.

Mathias rushed again, this time feigned. A rapid movement, intended to attract him to his left ... before leaping to the right.

An obvious trap.

Elise did not bit the hook.

She cashed the side, absorbing the impact without flinching, then replied with a relentless strike under her jaw.

His head rocked back.

A cry echoed in the assembly.

Mathias took a step, shaking his head, his cracked insurance.

She, impassive, did not move a centimeter.

Her heart was beating quickly, but she didn't show him.

Mathias felt it. He rumbled, furious, and this time, he transformed.

Its Lupine shape springs into a tearing of skin and muscles. A massive beast, with a dark coat, with dripping fangs of rage.

He wanted to end it.

She didn't wait.

She changed into a fraction of a second, her body stretching into an agile and powerful wolf.

Mathias jumps, all claws outside.

She didn't dodge her.

She grabbed him in full flight.

The shock was violent, shaking the ground.

The spectators put their breath back.

He tried to bite her, but she turned him back, rolling with him before nailing him to the ground.

His fangs closed on his throat.

Immobilizing it.

Her breath was irregular under her.

He was at his mercy.

A suspended moment.

Then she let go. Straightened up. Transformed.

She did not look away.

- You are defeated.

Mathias did not move.

The whole pack was waiting for her verdict.

Slowly, he straightened up. Humiliated. Defeated.

And folded the knee.

A thrill covered the assembly.

The others followed him.

One by one.

They had just recognized their alpha.

The dry crack of a dislocated bone sounds, followed by a muffled groan. Elise released her grip, straightened up with a mastered gesture and stepped down.

Mathias, always on the ground, fought to find his breath. His gaze was burning with a contained anger, but he didn't move. He knew. They all knew.

The pack was holding her breath.

Then, slowly, he lowered his head. A constrained, but irrefutable submission.

One by one, the other wolves followed his gesture. Some out of respect. Others out of necessity.

Elise let nothing appear. Not a smile, not a sigh of relief. Nothing that could betray the tension that still twisted its muscles.

She was their alpha.

A noise in the crowd turned his attention.

Someone did not kneel.

He didn't protest either.

He was watching it.

A man, leaning against a tree withdrawn, his arms crossed, an indecipherable expression on the face.

Her gaze detailed her without animosity, without the slightest contempt. A strange curiosity, almost calculated.

She had never seen it before.

But he already knew her.

She felt him in the way in which his eyes followed each of his movements, as if he sought to understand something that still escaped him.

He was not part of his pack.

And yet, he was there, a silent witness of this moment when she had just imposed her place.

A shiver, light but impossible to ignore, slipped along his spine.

The whispers resumed around her. The discussions came alive, the tensions barely released. Mathias got up, but he didn't try to meet his gaze.

- Impressive.

The voice came from man.

A calm tone, posed. An observation rather than a compliment.

She stared at him.

- Who are you?

A smile touched on the corner of her lips.

- Roman.

No title. No announcement of his rank or his pack. Just a name.

- You are not from here.

He did not deny.

- No.

The wolves around them are taught, their instincts tense towards this stranger whom they had not seen arriving.

Romain did not move, did not try to win. He just seemed to wait for something.

- What are you doing here?

He leaned his head slightly, as if the question herself amused him.

- I wanted to see with my own eyes the famous alpha that everyone is talking about.

She doesn't cillage.

- So what?

Silence stretched between them.

Then he slightly haussed his shoulders.

- I still observe.

A slight sneer rose in the assembly. Some wolves exchanged looks. The audacity was rare against Elise, especially after what she had just proved.

But he didn't say that to provoke it.

He simply stated a truth.

And strangely, that intrigued him more.

She gauged him a second more before looking away.

- If you're there for a fight, you're wrong.

- Who said I wanted to fight?

This time, he smiled frankly.

He didn't look like any of the alphas she knew. He was not looking for domination or confrontation.

Which made him all the more enigmatic.

The wolves around them began to move, some resuming their discussions in a low voice. The duel was over, but Romain's presence raised new questions.

Elise knew it.

It was not their last meeting.