Chapter 38: Alpha
The training field was quiet except for the wind moving through the trees. Roan and Zariel stood across from each other on the hard-packed earth, the rest of the pack watching from the sidelines. Kiran sat in his chair, still pale and looking like he might be sick again at any moment, but his ears were perked forward with worry. Cass stood beside him, arms crossed tight over his chest. Khepri lingered a few steps behind them, shifting his weight uneasily.
Roan rolled his shoulders once, then reached over his back and unstrapped his training sword. He tossed it aside without ceremony. It landed in the dirt with a dull thud.
Zariel’s icy blue eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”
“It won’t do anything anyway,” Roan said calmly. “You said so yourself.”
Zariel’s jaw tightened. For a moment he looked like he might argue, but instead he dropped his own weapon. The wooden blade clattered against the ground between them.
They began to circle.
Kiran shifted in his chair. “This is a bad idea,” he muttered under his breath.
Cass didn’t take his eyes off the two wolves. “They’re both too stubborn to back down now.”
Khepri glanced between them. “Zariel’s been acting different since he got back from the Trials. I think he's gotten too much of an ego perhaps.”
“He has,” Kiran said quietly. His voice was hoarse from being sick, but there was real concern underneath it. “And Roan’s not gonna let that slide forever.”
The fight started without warning.
Zariel moved first, lunging forward with a powerful swing. Roan ducked under it and drove his shoulder into the bigger wolf’s ribs, using Zariel’s own momentum to throw him off balance. They grappled hard, muscles straining as they fought for control. Zariel was stronger, there was no denying that, but Roan was faster and more precise. He slipped out of Zariel’s grip and landed a solid strike to the white wolf’s side before dancing back out of reach.
Zariel growled low in his throat and came at him again. This time he managed to grab Roan around the waist and lift him clean off the ground. For a second it looked like he might slam him, but Roan twisted mid-air and drove an elbow into the side of Zariel’s head. They both went down hard, rolling across the dirt in a tangle of limbs.
“Roan’s holding his own,” Khepri muttered, sounding surprised.
“For now,” Cass said. His ears were pinned back. “But Zariel’s not fighting like he usually does. He’s not holding back.”
Kiran’s tail flicked anxiously. “This is gonna get ugly.”
It did.
Roan managed to get Zariel into an arm bar, twisting the bigger wolf’s arm behind his back and driving a knee into his spine to keep him down. Zariel snarled, but he didn’t tap. Instead he laughed; a rough, bitter sound.
“Go on then,” he growled. “Try to break it. See what happens.”
Roan hesitated for half a second, then applied more pressure. The arm bar was solid. Any normal wolf would have been in agony. But Zariel’s arm didn’t give. There was no pop of a dislocated joint, no crack of bone. His Iron Skin wasn’t just on the surface, it ran deeper than they’d realized.
Zariel used the moment of surprise to slam his free elbow backward into Roan’s ribs. The impact knocked the wind out of the Alpha. Before Roan could recovr, Zariel rolled and drove him hard into the ground. Roan hit with a heavy thud, the air leaving his lungs in a sharp rush.
Kiran sat up straighter in his chair. “Zariel... hey! Take it easy!”
Roan gasped for breath, one arm wrapped around his ribs. For a moment he stayed down, chest heaving. Then his golden eyes snapped up to Zariel, and something in his expression shifted.
“No,” Roan growled, pushing himself back to his feet. “Keep fighting.”
Zariel’s smirk returned. “You sure about that?”
Roan didn’t answer with words. Now that he was warmed up, he activated his own innate ability.
His muscles rippled and swelled as super strength flooded through him. The change was visible; his frame seemed to grow broader, veins standing out along his arms as raw power coursed through his body. When Zariel came at him again, Roan met him head-on and threw him. Zariel hit the ground hard enough to send dirt flying, rolling several feet before he could stop himself.
Khepri’s eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
Cass looked stunned. “The Alpha's innate power, ridiculous strength. I don't believe we've ever properly tested it's limit.”
Zariel got back to his feet, shaking dirt from his fur. He looked surprised for the first time, but it quickly hardened into something colder. He rushed Roan again, trying to use his size and Iron Skin to overwhelm him. Roan met every strike, overpowering him with sheer strength. He grabbed Zariel by the arm and hurled him across the field like he weighed nothing.
Zariel hit the ground again, rolling to absorb the impact.
Then he did something none of them expected.
He kicked Roan square in the balls.
The Alpha doubled over with a choked sound. Kiran made a noise of pure outrage from his chair.
“That’s cheating!” the fox yelled, voice cracking. “Unfair play, Zariel!”
"Hey cool it, man!" Cass shouted. "That's two of my favorite things in the world right there! Don't hurt them!"
Zariel didn’t even look at him. He was already moving again, trying to press his advantage while Roan was stunned. But Roan recovered faster than he should have. He caught Zariel mid-strike, and this time when he grabbed him, there was no escape.
They went to the ground hard. Roan ended up on top, pinning Zariel beneath his greater weight and strength. Before Zariel could buck him off, Roan clamped one powerful hand over the white wolf’s muzzle and nose, cutting off his air completely.
Zariel’s eyes went wide.
He thrashed beneath Roan, powerful limbs trying to dislodge him, but the super strength made it impossible. His claws raked uselessly across Roan’s arms. His legs kicked. But no matter how hard he fought, he couldn’t get air.
Kiran’s voice cracked with panic. “Roan... stop! Let him up! He can’t breathe!”
Roan’s expression was cold, focused. He didn’t move. "Don't worry, Kiran!"
Zariel’s struggles grew weaker. His eyes started to roll back.
Only then did Roan release him.
Zariel sucked in a ragged, desperate breath, coughing as air flooded back into his lungs. He rolled onto his side, one paw clutching at his throat.
Cass stepped forward, voice quiet but firm. “Admit defeat.”
Zariel glared up at him, still gasping. For a long moment it looked like he might refuse out of sheer spite. Then his gaze flicked to Roan, who was still standing over him, muscles slowly returning to normal.
“…I yield,” Zariel ground out, the words tasting like ash.
Roan didn’t gloat. He simply stepped back and offered Zariel a hand up. Zariel ignored it and pushed himself to his feet on his own.
“You’re not as invincible as you think,” Roan said quietly. “You still need oxygen. Food. Water. Sleep. If the enemy ever figures out how to exploit any of that, all the Iron Skin in the world won’t save you.”
Zariel’s lip curled. Without another word, he shoved past Roan and stormed off the training field, disappearing into the trees.
The remaining pack stood in stunned silence.
Kiran was the first to speak, voice small. “That got… really bad.”
Cass looked shaken. “I’ve never seen them fight like that before.”
Khepri rubbed the back of his neck. “Zariel’s been different since the Trials. But that was…”
“Bad,” Kiran finished. He looked even sicker than before. “That was really bad.”
"No..." Roan countered. "It's not soo bad, trust me. Zariel can get over it, this is what had to happen. Zariel has always had pride and relies heavily on himself, thinking that most people just make things more difficult. He's got to learn that he needs pack, and one completion of the Temple isn't enough to make him invincible. The energy in the Temple, it plays on your deepest feelings, insecurities, emotions, and tries to amplify them against you. Zariel is still suffering the effects of that, he will just need time."
They gathered their things and headed back toward the pack house. Kiran leaned heavily on Cass the whole way, too weak to walk on his own. No one spoke much. The tension from the fight still hung over them like a cloud.
By the time night fell, Zariel still hadn’t returned.
Midnight came and went. The house was quiet. Kiran had finally fallen into a restless sleep in his room. Cass sat on the couch with Roan, both of them staring at the door like they expected Zariel to walk through it at any moment.
Khepri eventually joined them, carrying three mugs of tea. He set them down on the coffee table without a word.
Roan exhaled slowly, rubbing his face with both hands.
“He’ll come back,” Cass said quietly, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced.
Roan didn’t answer. He just stared at the door, golden eyes dark.
For the first time since Zariel had returned from the Temple, none of them were sure if that was true.
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