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Amabelle's POV

Dante had disappeared. According to Bonny-Lee, Jirri and Kamil, it was not uncommon for Dante to roam the kingdom and somehow manage to constantly evade pack members. How he accomplished this was a mystery to me.

A very frustrating one.

I was sitting in the garden, alone. The breeze caught the locks of my hair and blew it past my shoulders as I stared off into the distance.

"Where are you?" I murmured.

It had been a day since the Lunar Festival, and a day since I had last spoke to him. Despite how well the Festival had gone for everyone else, I couldn't find a bright side. There was a part of me that had still not let go of what Gavina had done to me. She had sabotaged my own special night, and for what?

"Are you going to sit here all day?"

I didn't turn around.

"Where would he have gone, Kamil?" I asked, glancing down at my yellow dress and fiddling with the fabric.

"If you want, I could go looking for you." His voice the touch of a flower, it was so soft.

My eyes met with his for a few moments. His were glazed, but understanding, despite him seeing the desperation in mine. Even if Kamil was doing this for the wrong reasons, it meant a lot that he would go looking for Dante.

"I would appreciate that more than you know, Kamil." I finally told him.

He nodded without emotion and walked away from me. With that, I was left alone once more in the butterfly garden. Sunshine warmed my back, but it was the only warmth I had. The rest of me was cold, in disappointment. However, I decided it was pointless of me to sit here in despair by myself.

As soon as I made it back inside the castle, I was trapped by a certain thorn in my side. Gavina stood beside the door with her arms across her chest like a spoiled child, and her vicious glare didn't even startle me.

"Can I help you?" I questioned, as politely as I could manage.

Her light blue, masked innocent eyes narrowed at me. "You can help me by staying away from Dante."

I blinked at her, the prickling fury building back up. "Well you've made that especially easy lately... locking me outside my own party... chasing Dante off."

She glared at me so deeply, so angrily, I could literally feel the rage coming off of her. "Don't pretend like you know Dante, like you have the slightest idea who he is. You can't just storm in here and think that you can have the person I cried with, the person I talked to for hours, the person I comforted when I myself needed comfort, the person I told everything to. The person I'm in love with."

I was taken back. I hadn't thought about it like that. Gavina had years with Dante, I had almost a month. And most times, Dante and I had bumped heads. Still, that didn't change the fact that Gavina was simply not his mate, and never would be.

"Gavina, Dante will never love you, and I'm sorry that it hurts you to hear that but-"

Slap.

My cheek stung so hard, tears blurred my vision. A blind madness began inside of me. This wretch just slapped me. She slapped me.

"Don't you ever say that to me again, or I swear to the goddess herself, I will end you!" Her voice was so raw and thick with emotion that it came out as a hoarse shout.

A deadly stillness cooled my veins. "I won't give you the chance."

She wasn't intimidated, but I held my ground.

"You never belonged here from the start. You're not one of us, you never will be." Gavina was too close to my face.

My wolf was growling.

I was seconds away from snapping.

"You're right, Gavina, I'm not like you. I'm not a psychotic bitch, and neither is the rest of this pack. Ever since I got here, you're the only one who's had a problem with me. But it ends now. You either back off, or I will make you back off." My voice was someone else's, a very dangerous monster's.

Gavina's chest rose and fell. "Let's settle this once and for all then."

The adrenaline in my veins was flowing like a waterfall. "I agree."

"No shifting. This is personal. It needs to be fist to fist." Gavina spit.

My fists clenched. "Absolutely."

"Then I challenge you to a fight." Her eyes were furious.

There wasn't a single second of hesitation. "I accept."

"Meet me in the arena in exactly one hour." She demanded.

Then she stalked off, leaving me boiling. Fury melted away the ice on my heart. No longer was I the small Amabelle that would let Gavina walk all over me. I was sick of her making me feel weak, and defenseless.

My feet took off, leading me back to my room. Rage fueled me, an unmistakable amount of shaking arrogance in my gut. I was sure I could rip Gavina apart. Not that it was my plan to, but I definitely wanted to teach her that she couldn't push me around anymore.

In my room I began searching desperately for some clothes I could wear to this fight. Dresses were tossed from their places as I looked. All that was in the closet were gowns and more gowns. Irritated, I growled a little, knowing there was no way I could fight Gavina in a frilly mess of glitter and material.

"Whoa, what happened to your room?"

I whipped around, noticing that Bonny-Lee had taken the liberty of walking right into my quarters. She appeared concerned, her eyes soft and conflicted.

"I need something to wear to a fight, do you have anything like that?" I questioned, a little roughly.

She blinked several times before her eyes remained wide open. "Uh, not in my room. Xavier probably has something in the armory, why?"

I brushed past Bonny-Lee, not replying. She chased after me, stopping in front so I couldn't get around. I sighed.

"Amabelle, seriously, tell me."

Her face was tight with both fear and determination. I knew the moment I told her she would try to convince me not to fight Gavina. Maybe she'd put an end to it in general, I didn't know. But I figured that Bonny-Lee of all people should know what I was about to do.

"I'm fighting Gavina in a shiftless match at the arena in an hour's time. I'm not going to stop no matter what you try to tell me, Gavina has pushed me to the edge." I explained, and continued walking.

Where would Xavier be?

And where was the armory?

"Are you insane?!" Bonny-Lee was speed walking beside me to keep up.

Ignoring her response I stopped someone in the hallway as I was walking. He looked me up and down in alarm. I probably looked insane, considering what Bonny-Lee had just asked me. My heartbeat was going a million times a second, and the wild expression on my face didn't help either.

"Where's the armory?" I demanded.

His green innocent eyes were wide. "Uh... It—it's d-down the hall, to the left and through there past the dining hall and the ballroom. Very close to the arena and training building."

"Thank you." I simply answered and kept going.

"Amabelle, there are things about our pack that you don't understand quite yet... our blood, our DNA... we aren't the average werewolf." Bonny-Lee I'm sure was speaking logically to me, but right now I didn't give a damn about logic.

All I wanted was to destroy Gavina.

Still not answering her, I kept going. Faster, even. My skin was on fire and my eyes were almost black in fury. There was so much hate, so much uncontrollable passion in me that I needed to release.

"I'm not saying you don't have a chance against her, but you definitely haven't fully developed your abilities, or your strengths as one of us yet, and I'm afraid of what Gavina will do to you in that arena. I've not known her for mercy or—"

I halted. "Maybe you don't understand Bonny-Lee, I'm not asking for mercy, and if I were you, I'd be more worried for Gavina than me. Because you will have to piece that bitch back together when I'm done with her."

She swallowed, attempted to argue back, but I kept going. My blood pounded, thundering in my ears. The more I waited, the longer the anger built. I was done being bullied by her, done being humiliated. Dante wasn't hers to keep and she knew it.

Finally, I got to the armory a few minutes later with Bonny-Lee still trailing behind me. A tall, lean and very muscular man was organizing a series of weapons in the left part of the large room. There were two sides, one for weaponry and the other for armor and battle attire.

"Are you Xavier?" I asked, his head glancing up at me.

He had sharp ice blue eyes, and a strong nose that created a constant intense look on his face. Just like everyone else here, he was attractive and built like superhuman warrior.

"I am. You're Amabelle, right?" He asked without emotion.

"Yes." I replied quickly.

He put his hands on his hips, with a perplexed look on his face. An eyebrow raised as Bonny-Lee followed me inside the armory.

"How can I be of service?" He said, still not taking his eyes off me.

"I need something to wear to a fight." I responded, already examining what he had to offer on the armor side.

"And may I ask why?" His voice was still across the room.

Ooo. Now this black suit would be perfect...

"Because I'm fighting Gavina today in the arena." I said nonchalantly.

"Don't listen to her, she's crazy—" Was Bonny-Lee's voice in the background.

"Wait, a formal fight? She challenged you—"

"Yes," I told them, glancing back at their frightened expressions.

"Bonny-Lee you know that means we can't interfere—"

"Well we can't just let her be killed!"

"You know that's how our pack rituals work, we aren't supposed—"

I finally completely turned around and glowered at the both of them. "Look, I'm going to fight Gavina, and there's nothing either of you can do about it."

Bonny-Lee looked horrified and Xavier was masking his emotions very well.

"Now, I'm going to have to borrow this suit, Xavier. I'll bring it back to you after the fight," I stated calmly, and took it from the wall.

In a nearby changing room I locked myself in and began putting on the suit. It fit like a glove. The white undershirt was difficult to lace up, but I finally got it. I got the pants on pretty easily. The boots with them were tall and sturdy, keeping me balanced. All and all the suit fit pretty good, even though it clearly was meant to be worn underneath amor.

Bonny-Lee met me by the arena with Jirr once I was ready. Xavier with with them too, a strange look on his face. "

"Gavina invited the whole pack," Jirri said solemnly.

She wanted a show.

Saying nothing, I went inside. The arena was loud with noise of debate. They seemed to get elevated once I walked in. In the center of the arena waited Gavina. Without further interruption, I met her there.

She was wearing similar clothing to me,  almost better. It fit her in all the right places, which was almost irritating, even if it was irrelevant to what was about to happen.

Xavier stood in between us, his eyes dancing to both of us before settling on me.

"Gavina has challenged Amabelle in a formal match. Her demand is that Amabelle should leave this pack if she is to lose." Xavier announced to the whole pack.

The crowd to my delight, booed. This displeased Gavina something awful, her features growing more dark in anger.

"Amabelle, do you accept these demands, and will you accept this challenge?" Xavier asked me ritualistically.

The pack was silent in anticipation. The fury from earlier had still not dissolved. In fact, now it festered. It burned every part of me, waiting to be let out of its cage. Despite the risk of having to leave this pack, I was determined to beat Gavina in this match.

"Yes." I answered, the crowd cheering, some shouting my name.

"Then I herby declare this match..."

He paused, stepping away. I got into position, my resting "I will kill you the second I'm told" position. Gavina winked at me, her teeth flashing me a bizarre grin.

Oh, how I will knock those pretty white teeth in.

"To begin!"

And I let go.

I ran to her, dodging a punch right as I got to her. Within moments my fist connected with her jaw. I had hit her so hard she had fallen over. Stepping back I gave her a second to recover.

A sickeningly sweet smile came to my lips, hearing her a utter a small groan, and eventually get back up.

Not wasting another minute, I sent a powerful kick to her mid section. Part of me wanted to laugh at her as she gasped for air. I punched her again, as hard as could and she again fell.

The crowd around me was going wild. I couldn't feel my body. I was gliding on the adrenaline pumping through me.

"Not so tough now, are you?" I antagonized her watching her pathetically get back up and grin at me once more, this time through blood.

This time she came at me, but I was ready. I danced around her punches, landing more and more to her. She got back up every time however. Then something occurred to me. I was using all my energy on her in these first attacks. And she was hardly using any. Yet she kept getting back up because she had plenty of endurance.

And horrifyingly enough, I realized I was getting tired. Gavina was getting stronger, rather than weaker...

In a moment of weakness, I missed a dodge, which was a reward of pain to my side as Gavina's fist finally hit me. I groaned, but kept going. My anger became fleeting, the satisfaction of seeing Gavina unconcious now not so much what I wanted.

Because I was using all this energy, this rage, my head began to clear. The full force of what I was doing suddenly became real.

And then the world capsized on me.

A blow came out of nowhere and hit me right in my temple. An explosion of agony waved over me. I fell to the ground, my vision swimming though an abrupt dizziness.

She hit me hard.

I moaned loudly, starting to get back up. However that's when a boot struck my jaw. Whiteness flooded my vision, a warm metal taste filling my mouth. I rolled over, groaning.

"Do you give up?" Gavina taunted me.

Even though my anger was depleting, it was still there, and still raw. I climbed to my feet, and spit blood out as I did.

"Never."

She swung again, this time I dodged and landed a few onto her. Once to her face, again to her side. They definitely weren't that hard of hits as before, but they were still hits.

She stumbled back a little, smirking. "You're a strong, I'll give you that. But you won't last much longer, and you know that."

I wasn't done yet.

Without responding I swung at her again landing a hit on the base of her throat. She gasped, falling backwards trying to catch her breath. There was a new kind of venom in her eyes after that. A vicious killer gleam.

Gavina roared in fury, and tackled me to the ground. Deafening cheers and boos filled my ears. The sounds combined with my already blurred vision were enough to distract me as Gavina punched relentlessly at my face. A few times I felt the the sting of her nails against my face.

An awful desperate pain filled my insides, my head echoing with every snap. My vision went in and out as she swung, blood flowing freely out my nose and lips.

I was surprised I was still conscious.

The worst part was knowing that this is exactly what Gavina wanted. If I survived this fight I would be banished. And then I again be lost at who I was.

I thought I had finally figured that out. And now I would have to start all over again.

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks now, the punches slowly becoming numb. I could barely make out Gavina's face now, my sight fading quickly.

Then suddenly silence.

I couldn't hear the pack members anymore. At first I thought that I had finally died. That the darkness I was seeing was my end. But I realized my eyes were simply closed.

So I opened them.

The punches had stopped. Gavina wasn't on top of me anymore. I sat up, sensing something was wrong.

Even though my head was throbbing, and my vision was still blurry, I could see Dante.

Wait.

Dante?

What shocked me more was that Dante was holding Gavina at least a half a foot off the ground by her throat. She was sputtering, gasping, clawing at his hands. Her face was as white as snow, an almost purplish color under her eyes.

"No," I rasped, but Dante didn't hear me.

I stood up, the world spinning as I did so. A wave of nausea hit me, making me clutch at my stomach. The blood in my mouth had dried, leaving a sickening taste. My ears seemed to be ringing as I weakly dragged myself to Dante.

He couldn't kill her, he'd never forgive himself.

"Dante," I said, louder, and clearer this time.

He still didn't seem to register me, his fist only growing tighter around her neck. Gavina's eyes were full of a fear I had never seen before. She really believed in that moment that he was going to kill her.

And he would have, had I not placed my hand on his arm.

Dante's wild, rage filled eyes suddenly found mine, a heartbroken gleam smothering the fury. I didn't know what kind of damage had been done to my face, but I knew it wasn't pretty. His face said it all as a single tear fell down his cheek.

Gavina dropped to the ground with a loud thud, relief filling me. Overcome with exhaustion, my legs gave out. Luckily my body didn't hit the ground anymore. I felt myself lifted into the strong arms I could only assume were Dante's. All my anger from earlier was gone, completely diminished.

I smiled a little, resting my head against his chest. Dante sighed, his breath touching my hair. "I'm so sorry, oh god I'm sorry Amabelle."

I laughed like something he said was funny. We met eyes for a few fleeting moments. "Dante, I wish I could have danced with you."

And then things got so blurry, I had to shut my eyes. It wouldn't be long before the weight of the fight pulled me into unconsciousness.

"Don't go," was the last thing I heard Dante say before the darkness pulled me under...

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Author's Note

HELLOOOOO!

That was such a fun chapter to write, not gonna lie. Haha, I'm evil.

Don't worry! Everything will work out.....

The next chapter will surely still be a doozy though ahaha. Like always.

Anyways, please comment, vote and add to your library... only if you want to. It would be make me so happy though. Hehe. Love you guys, thanks for reading!

❤️