Chapter 13: The Tournament of Power

​Steve let out a dry, nasty laugh. "Can’t pay? Figures. Well, lucky for you, the Grey Moon Pack has a mandatory quota to fill for the Tournament of Power coming in two weeks. If you want me to pardon this little disruption charge, you’ll sign your name onto the roster."

"A tournament?" I repeated, my tone even. "Sounds familiar."

Steve smirked, tapping his clipboard with his pen. "It’s the annual spectacle, mutt. First stage kicks off right here in the district to weed out the weak. The ones who survive move on to the inter-pack preliminaries, and the finalists get thrown into the main arena. Win, and you walk away with cash, status, and rare artifacts handed down directly from the High Council."

My mind instantly connected the dots to the half-loaded page on Brianna’s phone before the data ran out. The competition. The headline had mentioned rare power-boosting artifacts awarded as prizes.

I hadn’t been able to read the specifics, but hearing him confirm it sent a cold ripple of ambition through my chest. An arena built for violence, packed with cash and artifacts that could accelerate my growth. Count me in.

"No! Absolutely not!" Valerie cried out from the porch, her hands trembling violently. "Officer, please, have mercy! She doesn’t even have a wolf! She’ll be killed in the ring!"

"You lot are an absolute disgrace to this pack," Steve sneered, looking down at my mother with disgust. "The slots need to be filled, and I don’t care if I have to fill them with useless trash. She enters the preliminary trials, or she goes to the central holding cells today. Her choice."

​"I’ll go instead!" Jayden pleaded, stepping into Steve’s space, his voice raw. "Take me! Put my name on the roster!"

​"No, take me!" Jordan demanded, his jaw clenched as he grabbed his brother’s arm. "Just leave our sister out of this!"

​I looked at the two of them, their weak shoulders trembling as they tried to take a death sentence on my behalf.

​A tournament packed with aggressive wolves, public attention, and high-value artifacts as prizes...

My stage had never been any more grand.

​A faint, dangerous smile touched the corner of my lips. Steve thought he was handing me a death penalty. In reality, he was giving me a free pass to the exact arena I needed.

"Silence!" Steve barked, releasing a sharp surge of his Beta aura.

​The invisible wave hit the yard like a heavy blast of cold air. Jayden and Jordan staggered back, their knees buckling as their instincts forced them to cower. My father—who had barely made it back to his feet—collapsed back to his knees, trembling under the sheer pressure, while Valerie buried her face in her hands.

​I didn’t flinch. I didn’t even blink.

​An assassin’s mind does not bow to a pathetic dog’s growl. I stood tall in the middle of my shivering family, keeping my posture calm and my eyes fixed squarely on Steve’s face.

​Steve eyed me, his arrogant sneer wavering for a fraction of a second when he realized his pressure hadn’t forced me to my knees. A short, mocking laugh broke from his lips.

​"Well, look at that," Steve chuckled, shaking his head with a nasty smirk. "I can at least say she’s got more backbone than the lot of you put together. With this, she may scale through with only a broken limb at best."

​Jayden tried to force himself up, his breathing ragged under the lingering pressure of the aura. "Please... take us instead..."

​"Forget it," Steve snapped dismissively, tapping his clipboard with a pen. "The registration for the preliminary bracket is strictly for those under twenty. You two are well past that age range. You don’t qualify."

​He turned his gaze back to me, pen hovering over the document.

"So, little girl, what’s it going to be? You sign your name onto the Grey Moon Pack’s tournament roster to settle the assault charge, or I drag you down to the central holding cells right now?"

My family looked up at me with pale, terrified faces, silently pleading with me not to do it. To them, the ring was a slaughterhouse for a wolfless Omega.

To me, it was an arena full of unsuspecting prey, a fast track to cash, and an open door to power-boosting artifacts.

I glanced down at the official form clipped to his board. "I have just one question. Care to enlighten this ’foolish’ girl?"

Steve scoffed, rolling his shoulders as he sneered down at me. "Heh. Ask."

"Did you come down this street with this exact purpose from the start, given you already have the registration documents prepped on your board?"

Steve’s eyes narrowed slightly at my composure. "That’s a stupid question. Like I said, I have a mandatory quota to fill. I’m patrolling the sector to drag any under-twenty troublemaker onto the roster. What? Do you think you can criticize me for doing my job?"

"No, how would I dare?" I replied smoothly.

My voice was intended to sound polite, but the corners of my lips were already curling upward into a sharp, wicked grin. The contrast was so sudden—so unnervingly wrong on a frail Omega’s face—that Steve actually paused, an uncomfortable flicker of uncertainty crossing his dull grey eyes as he wondered what was going on in my head.

Before he could process the shift, I held out my hand.

"Hand me the pen. I’ll sign."

"No, Brianna!" Valerie sobbed, reaching out a shaking hand to grab the hem of my skirt. "Please, don’t do this!"

​My father buried his face in his hands, his shoulders heaving with helpless weeping, calling himself useless for not even being able to protect me, while Jayden and Jordan glared at Steve with pure venom.

​They thought I was sacrificing myself, throwing my life into a slaughterhouse just to shield them from a corrupt cop and a fifty-credit debt.

​They’re dead wrong.

​I reached out and snatched the pen from Steve’s hand, signing Brianna’s name onto the paper with swift, sharp strokes.

​I was far from a hero. I was an assassin—a ruthless, pragmatic survivor who did nothing without calculating the precise return on investment. I was selfish to my very core. All of this was just a stage built for my ascent.

​The preliminary trials were set for two weeks from now, right? Fourteen days.

​Fourteen days to push this weak body to its absolute limits. Fourteen days to wake Silas from his slumber within my soul. And when I stepped into that ring, I wouldn’t just survive—I would dismantle every arrogant, bloodthirsty wolf put in front of me.

​I handed the pen back to Steve, my expression cold and unreadable.

​Steve smirked, snatching the clipboard back and blowing on the fresh ink. "A smart girl after all. The Grey Moon Pack trials start in two weeks at the district arena. Don’t be late, mutt. If you forfeit, I’ll have a warrant out for your arrest before sunset."

​He turned on his heel and left.

​As the sound of his boots faded down the alley, a heavy, suffocating quiet fell over our wrecked front yard.

​Valerie immediately scrambled up from the porch, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into a desperate, trembling hug. "Oh, my poor baby... what have you done? What are we going to do?"

​"Brianna," Jayden said, his voice cracking as he stepped closer, his fists clenched tight. "We’ll figure something out. We’ll talk to the Elders, or... or I’ll take extra shifts to gather the credits and—"

​"There’s nothing to figure out," I interrupted smoothly, keeping my voice level as I gently disengaged from my mother’s grip.

​I looked at their terrified, sorrowful faces. They were weak, broke, and helpless, but they had stood in front of blades for me.

​I looked down at my pale, fragile hands, flexing my fingers into a tight fist.

​Two weeks.

​Two weeks to turn a lamb into a wolf once again. It may be impossible for others, but very possible for me.