The whole party was there to watch. The circle drawn in the ground was ten feet wide. Another circle added another five feet beyond that. Five feet for her stumbles.
Dressed in her exercise clothes she walked into the circles without fear. No way would she let five minute take the chance of one day meeting her real mate. And never would she be the mate of Alpha Scott.
He hadn't changed and was still in his party clothes. With narrow eyes he looked her up and down while he began untying his tie and removing his jacket.
The Alpha looked up from the rules. "Alpha Scott, you cannot step outside the ten foot mark or you are instantly disqualified. Yvonne, you need to try your best to stay in the ten foot mark, but are allowed stumbles and falls outside of it. But not outside the fifteen foot one. You must be able to say a clear 'no' at the end of the five minutes. There are no holds barred in this match. Your brothers cannot interfere. You've chosen this." He looked sad, "Do you both understand?"
"Yes." she smiled at him.
"Alpha Scott?"
"Yes, let's get this over already."
She squared up to him. He grinned at her. "This isn't the way I thought to start out life as a mated male. However, it's exhilarating." With that he swung his fist straight at her face. But her brother and Phoenix had taught her well. Seeing him shift his weight, she dodged it. He had a tell in every movement he did and she continued to dodge.
His smile started to disappear and his eyes began to darken. Slowly her brother's advice began to be less and less useful and the advice given by Phoenix was what saved her more and more.
When the four minute mark was announced, she saw the change Phoenix had warned her might happen. His Alpha wolf, feeling deeply disrespected, had taken over. Now was the time to go submissive. She let out a soft whine and dropped her head, showing her neck. The crowd gasped. 'They really needed to learn how to breathe properly', she thought as she backed up slowly to his advance. Her head being down meant she could see the line. And she stopped right on it.
Her lip still bleeding from a blow she couldn't completely dodge earlier, she waited until he was close enough, then letting out another soft whine, licked the blood away slowly. She could hear his breath catch and he stepped even closer, reaching out to touch it. She flung both arms around his waist and jerked her knee up, hitting hard, feeling his moan of pain and the instinctual tightening of his body to protect himself. She straightened her knees and felt his feet leave the ground. And with that, she flung herself sideways and backwards, taking him out of the ten foot circle while staying in her fifteen foot one. Landing hard, she rolled away and jumped back into the middle of the ring, panting.
The crowd had gone completely silent. Soon an echoing whoop was heard by all. Yvonne smiled and looked at the clock. Ten seconds to go. Alpha Scott shot to his feet murder in his eyes. Only to be blocked by her living wall.
"You can't interfere. Move," he growled.
André shook his head with a smirk. "Look down. She didn't even have to last five minutes. She won instead."
She watched Alpha Scott look down where he was standing on the wrong side of the line as the timer rung. Five minutes. His head shot up.
"No." she said pointing at him like she was scolding a dog.