Battle of The Mating Rights

I turned over in my sleep, annoyed that it was morning already. Atto had left for an important meeting with all-male elders in our pack. As I got out of bed, hanging on the closet door was an entirely new outfit chosen by Atto, I went to have a quick shower and got dressed for the day. Pulling my black Levi’s skinny jeans up over my red lace panties, I laced the white tiger-buckled belt through the loops and pulled to secure it. I walked out of the bedroom after changing to meet with Calypso and Midnight for our day ahead. On the way down the stairs, I turned a blind corner, bumping into Add and Phoenix, who I stared blankly at, and walked past after snapping out of my frozen state.

“Ororo!” Add called after me, but I ignored him. As I got down to the last floor, I met up with Calypso and Midnight. I heard a few sneers from pack members who didn’t like the idea of me being their luna, some, followers of Zaria, and others, generally disapproved of me as the new luna of the pack as I was ‘too weak' in their eyes. I shook my head as I exited through the back door to get to the garage quicker. As we rounded the corner, Zaria bursts through the door, a sneer on her face and hatred and disgust in her eyes.

“Ororo Marvel, I challenge you to a battle of the mating rights.” she yelled, her minions behind her, whispering about how I would lose terribly because she had ‘royal blood’ in her veins. I looked at her and sighed, rolling my eyes I obliged, nodding my head a simple ‘yes'.

“Atto, honey, Zaria has just challenged me to a Battle of Mating Rights.” I mind-linked him, “I accepted.”

“What!? Why would you do that!? We are already marked and mated! And you can’t fight!” I sighed, lowering my head and shaking it.

“I know that, but she clearly doesn’t understand.” I replied, ignoring his comment about me not being able to fight. Walking up into the middle of the backyard where our sparring ring was located, I entered,  stretching my hands out, I relaxed them, and bringing them down to my side, I envisioned myself in my designed combat uniform, as Silver/Serya had taught me. When I reopened my eyes, I was wearing a woodland camo no sleeve polyester dress with the mark of Luna Diana, our Mother Moon Goddess and Queen of the Wolves, and her brother. At the transformation, there were a series of ‘oohs' and ‘ahs’ and at the notice of the crescent mark, there was loud chatter. Atto came out of his office, the council elders behind him all looking on.

“You are aware of what you are giving up if you lose, right?” Zaria sneered at me, her mocking tone, irritating to my ears. I nodded and she continued, “If I win, I get to have Atto and the luna position, rejecting Atto as your mate and hailing me as the true luna of the pack, if not you get him and the pack, I’ll be at your service and I’ll leave you alone.” I looked at her, she seemed desperate and I decided to restrain Ivory, Serya, and Silver, allowing them to only watch and observe. The bell rung indicating the beginning of the battle, she rushed into me and I simply sidestepped. As I watched her, she seemed to move in slow motion. She came again, this time, running in with a punch, I dodged, stooping low and stepping to the side, she fell to the floor but had a quick reaction in getting up. She came again, with another punch, but this time, I decided to counter it with a punch of my own,  colliding with her fists; but she was on the damaged end of the stick. I stepped up to her, sending non-threatening jabs with each step. As I back her into a corner, I stopped at a two-foot distance I saw the smoke leaving her skin, jumping back unto the tree behind me just as she shifted. She was a golden brown wolf with grey patches of fur, as I observed her, she bounded up to the tree, jaws snapping, jumping at me while I smiled, watching her try to get to me while I simply hung from the tree. I changed my position, to hang by my feet with arms dangling just to annoy and tantalize her. As she landed again, for the fifth time, I waited for the next time she jumped, and as she was going down, I let go, free-falling, changing my position at the last second, landing on her head in a Superman pose, cartwheeling to the other end of the ring as she got up, dazed and slightly confused as to why I would come down when I wasn’t or ‘couldn’t’ shift. Growling, she bounded up to me, relaxing my muscles, I positioned myself to jump over her, switching at the last moment, confusing her with an uppercut, racking her brain, just enough to rack her brain and not knock her out, but just enough to confuse her senses. As she shook her head, I took in a deep breath through clamped teeth and using Serya’s power, I opened my mouth and released a screech so strong, even Black Canary would be impressed. Zaria fell at my feet,  and I pinned her down. She thrashed about and growled as I held her in a headlock and in return I growled back louder, vibrating the floor and surrounding forest, forcing her into submission. When I got up from off of her, the pack remained quiet for some time. As I exited the ring and my clothes faded back into my original outfit, a few claps could be heard before it formed into full applause, with yelling, whistling, and screams of how good the fight was. As I walked back to Calypso and Midnight, Atto jumps from his office balcony and up to me.

“How?” he asked

“I’m a purebred.” I said and everyone froze.

“Did she just talk?” Phoenix asked.