Alpha Kael

~Jada

I’m not sure how I’m going to win this.

Zara stands in front of me, his grin confident already. She has trained most of her life as a Silent, which translates to I have no chance. Everyone cheers around, some throwing bets around, obviously in Zara’s favour. If I could turn back now, despite the deal we have, I would, but there is no way the crowd will have it.

“So, do you accept?” she questions, cracking her knuckles. I don’t pay attention to her intimidation tactics. I know this is going to hurt, and she doesn’t need to prove that to me. “Tell me you accept.”

“Yes, I do,” I say quickly. She knows I don’t have much of a choice, even as excitement flickers in her eyes.

I’m dead.

Glancing around me, I take one last look around me for some help. The crowd surges, so I don’t see Axel, who I know is around here. If he wanted to get me out of this, he would have stepped in already. Especially as a senior Silent. He is clearly leaving me to suffer ask revenge for turning him down.

All of a sudden, right as I turn back around to focus on Zara, I receive a jarring punch straight to the face.

She hits me directly on the nose and under the eye. The force pushes me back a few steps as I reach up to cradle my face. That hurt. A lot. It was a cheap shot, but something tells me these Silent’s don’t go by any rules.

I barely had time to get my bearings before she hit me again.

This time, it was on the left side of my jaw. It was another jarring hit that knocked me back, but I recovered much faster. My entire face screams with pain, however, I try not to concentrate on it. I need to get a few punches in if I stand a chance of getting through this. I can’t surrender yet.

Zara backs of a little, drinking in the shouts and cheers in her honour. I wipe under my nose, pulling my hand back to see it drenched in blood. That’s not good at all. I need to act fast.

I go to approach her, expecting her to go for another strike to the face. I’m ready to dodge or duck if I need to.

Instead, she lurches out and kicks me in the stomach.

All the air rushes out of my lungs as I topple over onto the grass. I clutch my stomach, gasping for breath as everyone around us continues to cheer. She thinks this is her victory. She is assuming I’m going to beg for her to stop. I can feel her press the heel of her boot against my stomach, pinning me down.

Anger builds up within me. I can’t lose this deal. Who knows how many more of these I will be thrown into if I don’t win this right now.

I grab her ankle tightly, pulling her foot off me. Her balance becomes uneven until she falls down beside me on the grass. I can hear the gasp everyone takes, not expecting my retaliation. Before she has a chance to get up, I climb on top of her, straddling her hips. I barely note her widened eyes before I punch her straight in the nose as hard as I can.

I punch her twice more before she pushes me off her, sending back onto the grass. I scramble up desperately.

And then someone jumps in between us.

It’s Ace, stopping us from attacking each other anymore. “Stop it. This has gone too far.”

Glancing over at Zara, I see her face is coated in blood too. I definitely got my share in, and it feels strangely good. After all the torment these Silent’s have put me through, I finally feel as though I’ve gotten back at them.

“Why don’t you leave Jada alone, all of you, and she will do whatever it is you wanted her to. And I won’t go to Kael with the news of this fight,” Ace says firmly, looking between myself and Zara. A few people shout in protest, but most break away from the circle, losing interest now that the fight isn’t going on.

Zara spits a wad of blood onto the grass. I wince. I wonder how much damage I’ve done to her. I wonder how much damage she has done to me. I feel numb now.

“Whatever,” Zara mutters. “She isn’t even worth our time anyway. Make sure she does her end of the deal.”

Everyone disperses and walks away.

Ace shakes his head at Zara’s back. I wipe at my face again, pulling back both dry and fresh blood. Yuck, I hope no one else has to see me like this. It doesn’t feel like she broke anything, so I should recover soon. I’ll just have to avoid Kael if possible so he doesn’t ask questions about what happened.

“You don’t have to do it,” Ace tells me, referring to the kiss I’m meant to give Kael in the middle of the night while he is sleeping. Zara knows how to get me in the deepest of trouble. It’s probably to get me out of here.

“Yeah I do,” I mutter, pulling my hair out of my face. Ace grabs my arm, leading me back inside. “If I don’t, they aren’t going to leave me alone.”

“How would you even prove that?” Ace question.

Sighing deeply, I shrug. “I don’t know. I’ll kiss him and he will probably punish me. That’s how I figure they want proof.”

Ace chuckles. I let him escort me part of the way back to my room before I tell him to head back. It’s gotten dark, and I don’t want him to know that I’m sharing a sleeping area with Kael. Who knows who he would tell. Maybe he wouldn’t tell anyone considering he was kind enough to save me from that fight, but regardless, I can’t trust anyone here.

I slip into the suite quietly as possible, hoping Kael will stick to his room and not come out and see the condition of my face. There seems to be no action, the light turned off as I stalk across the room to my own.

My plan seems to be going well when I hear a door click open. A pool of light comes into the room, but not enough to hit me. I quickly duck into the shadows.

“Jada, is that you?”

Of course he notices me. “Yeah it is. Everything okay?”

I’m praying he doesn’t turn the light on. If he sees the wounds on my face he’s going to know there was a fight and both Zara and I will get in trouble. And if Zara gets in trouble, there is no way the rest of the Silent’s are going to give me an easy time. And Ace won’t be able to protect me from anything.

“I’m okay. Are you?” he asks. I can hear him moving across the room. I’m hoping it isn’t toward me or a light switch.

“Everything is good. I’m just tired, think I’ll head to bed. Goodnight,” I say quickly.

Before he can question me any further, I slink into my room and close the door behind him. Regardless of whether my face was beaten or not, I don’t want to look him in the face knowing I’m going to have to sneak into his room to kiss him without him knowing. At least I hope he won’t know.

I wait until I know for sure he will be sleeping before I sneak out of my room. Everything is dark and still when I emerge.

It takes me a lot of convincing myself to go into Kael’s room. What I’m doing is not acceptable and I have a feeling that if I get caught I might never see the light of day again. Especially not after I’ve gained his trust so much.

His room is dark as I creep in. The only sound I can hear is his soft breathing.

It leads me right to his bed.

I can’t see anything, but my footsteps are light. I don’t stop shuffling until I feel the edge of his bed against my knees. Using the sound of his breathing, I try locate him as close as possible. A small amount of light streams in as the door cracks open a little. Just enough for me to see what I’m doing. How convenient. Now I can’t turn back.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, before I lean down and kiss him on the lips.

There was a lot to consider in that moment. What I’m going to do if he wakes up. Why his lips are so soft… But that wasn’t what bothered me the most.

I pull myself away from him immediately. I rush out the room, not even bothering to close the door behind me. I run into my room and clamber onto my bed, touching my lips in disbelief.

I found my mate.