[COLE'S POV]
It was hard enough watching Charlie fight someone else, and now I'm expected to do it?
No. No fucking way.
"Never."
"What?" She asks.
"I'm not fighting you." I said as confidently as I could.
"Your not expected to." I let out a breath of relief. "I'll fight Connor." She reasons.
"What?" My beta and I question in union.
"Well if I can't fight the alpha, the beta is the next best thing, right?"
"Charlie, I can't fight you. I-I won't be able to." Connor sounds torn, obviously wanting to please his sister but not wanting to hurt her.
"Who's the third in command?" She asks, exasperated.
"That would be me." My new third in command, Mike's replacement, raises his hand. He's another one of my close friends, Rick.
"Fine, I'll fight Rick." She smiles at me.
"No you won't." I glare in Ricks direction. He had just found his mate, but I still don't want anyone that close to my mate.
"Cole, I need to fight someone!" She takes on a thoughtful expression. "Steven!"
"Yeah?" A voice answers warily.
Steven. Daniela's older brother, one of our best warriors.
"Get your hindquarters up here, so I can kick them."
"Such unfortunate choosing of words little cous'." Steven shakes his head.
"One stinking hour." My mate grumbles, before turning back to me. "Is this OK with you?"
"I suppose, as long as no one gets too hurt." I sigh in defeat knowing that she would keep going down the list, and probably cancel our date. I perk up slightly remembering that I would get her all to myself for a night.
"Good, and I can't quite promise the second part, I might mangle his face pretty bad."
"Enough of this pointless, petty, banter, let the battle begin!" Steven interjected, in a terrible posh accent.
"As you wish." They both got into fighting stances and began bouncing on the balls of their feet.
The ref blew his whistle and they were off, both charging at the same time.
Steven dived right in, going to punch her face, while she ducked and went for his feet.
I barely even notice Connor taking ahold of my arms, until Steven lands on the ground and swipes Charlie's feet out from under her as well, and I pull against him, desperate to help my mate.
The land on top of each other, a mass of punching and pulling hair.
What seems like an eternity later, Charlie wraps her legs around her cousins waist, twists slightly to the left and squeezes hard. This forces him to release her arms, giving her an open invitation to punch his face and torso.
I could tell that she went a little easy on him, and appreciated it. He was one of my best fighters and we would need him, come battle time.
He finally regained leverage, when he squeezes her calf and she pulls her leg back, clearly pained.
He swings at her stomach and hits her.
I growl at him, and try my hardest to get out of Connors, restraint. But my wolf is only half into it because he knows that our mate wouldn't want us to get in the way of her fight.
Charlie withdraws slightly, obviously in pain. She quickly makes up for it, as her eyes begin to blaze.
She lunges at him, as he does the same, but before they can collide, she juts her foot out, kicking him right in the gut. He bends over in pain, and she brings her elbow down onto his back.
Steven falls to the floor and Charlie moves to straddle him. She punches him nineteen times (I counted) before he finally gave in and showed submission.
The crowd that we had accumulated, roared with applause.
"Fine, you can train with the guys." I sigh and run a hand through my hair, before turning back to my pack. "We've wasted enough time, everyone get back to work." They all groan but go back to their appropriate places. I smile as Martha reenters the room, appearing fine, except for a bruise on her elbow. "Martha, take your troops and teach them all that they need to know."
She nods her head at me and takes the girls outside, to an obstacle course she has set up for them.
"As for you boys," Charlie glares at me, so I quickly add, "and girl, its time to run laps around the territory" I hear a collective groan and add. " twenty times, in wolf form."