resilient

You must be kidding me.

I laughed.

"Mate?" I asked.

Such ridicule.

He tried to hold me but I avoided it by blocking his hand.

The contact sent him the sparks.

But he soon realized the color of my eyes.

"You're a rogue?" He tried to hide his confused face.

"Exactly. I am a rogue." Saying it with confidence, trying to prove that I can't be his mate.

It's impossible.

"Get away from her Derek. She might just attack you for no reason." The woman said and tried pulling the man away from me.

He pushed it away and continued to look at me.

I tilted my head.

"Go back back from where you cam from." Grayson interrupted.

"Come with us." The man named Derek said trying to pull me to his people.

I removed my arm from his grip and let go of it.

"I have my own pack to lead and I'm not your mate." I stared at him emotionless while his eyes were full of curiosity.

"Leave, or I'll bring my own people here just drag you out of our land." I threatened.

"I won't leave now that I've found you." He refused to listen.

This guy.

"Do a Duel with the woman, Luna. She seems like the Luna of the pack." Soyer suggested while looking at the woman in her 30s.

A Duel was a fight 1 on 1 if both sides haven't agreed.

Whoever lost would follow and agree to the decision of the winner.

I thought about what I had to do.

I didn't want to fight anyone today but they won't leave.

"Let's do a Duel." I said to them.

"I can't hurt you." Derek said.

"Who said you'll fight me? I want to fight your Luna." I looked at the woman.

She smirked.

"We should just leave son. Let's not get our hands dirty interacting with rogues." She said, not forgetting to discriminate against us.

"Or maybe you're just scared? I mean everybody knows the strength of the rogues."

They wanted to leave in peace as I wanted earlier, but after what she said, I wanted her to regret every word she spitted out.

"I'm scared of no one honey." She said to bring her face right in front of mine.

"Probably. You just look weak." Saying that she wanted to prove a point.

So do I.

The people around us made space for the fight we were about to show.

We circled each other, her eyes looking fiery.

I slowly made my way towards her and she tried to kick me but I avoided and while her foot was in the air I grabbed it and threw it up, making her fall on her back.

She quickly got to her feet and tried to punch me but I avoided it and tried to punch her but she avoided it too.

What she couldn't avoid was the kick I did.

I kicked her head to the left and she bumped against a tree, blood flowing from the other side of the head.

She tackled me, grabbing me from my torso but she couldn't make me fall.

I grabbed her form and pushed her with my body to a nearby tree.

I grabbed her hair and let it glide on the rough surface of the tree.

While her back faced me, she tried to kick my shin but I already sensed her movements and I avoided it.

I hooked her foot with my ankle and brought it upwards, making her face fall on the ground first.

The snow wasn't that thick and I heard a crack when she fell.

I tried to grab her hair when Derek held me and pulled me away from her mother.

"Stop." His eyes were full of anger.

"Surrender?" I asked her, while she was lying face first.

No one heard her say it and the woman couldn't move from the pain.

"She's barely moving."

"She can talk. Unless she says it, we're not stopping."

He got angrier.

I moved away from him but he was still holding my wrist, making me unable to get away from him.

I forcefully removed it, his nails scratching my wrist.

I walked my way towards the woman lying on the ground.

"Surrender?" I asked again.

I could hear her breath but she wasn't responding.

I went in to reach her hair when Derek spoke.

"I'll fight in her place." He said.

She could just say surrender and he wouldn't have to fight me.

"I'll bring you with me even if it hurts you." He said, determination in his words.

"You would be saving your face if you just leave, we already know who lost." I smirked.

"I thought we had to utter 'surrender'?"

My smirk disappeared and I got serious.

He removed his jacket and I got ready.

I tied my black hair so that it wouldn't distract me.

I walked towards him first and tried to land my first punch as a distraction but wanted to target his shoulders.

While I tried to punch him, I kicked his shoulders.

He tried to defend the punch but when I dislocated his shoulder, his hand grabbed his shoulder, taking the punch as well.

I look at him as he tried to put it back to place but it was hurting him.

When he tried to punch me with his other hand, I used both of my arms to bring it down, weighing him down.

He grabbed one of my arms and tried to throw me against a tree.

I saw what he was trying to do so I went behind him, holding his head, locking it with my arms.

He was running out of breath and tried to roll back to make me fall.

I went in front of him this time and grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed his head against a tree.

Blood started showing on his right temple but he was still conscious.

I saw his unhurt arm punch me in the abdomen and I twisted that hand and punched the elbow to dislocate his arm.

He growled when I heard a crack and backed away from me.

I wasn't going to give him time and pushed him with both of my feet on his chest.

I caught myself before I fell and he stumbled backward and tried to regain his balance but I punched his left cheek and grabbed his neck.

"Surrender?" I asked, tightening my grip.

"Ne-" He was caught off when a man suddenly came into view and spoke.

"Let go of his neck." His deep voice made me turn my head in the direction of his voice.

It was a man that was in his early 40s.

"We surrender, okay? You made my Luna pass out and you're about to do the same to my son." He said and walked where his Luna lay and tried to stop the blood from flowing.

I heard Derek silently laughing, his breath making it audible.

"We'll leave your territory." The man agreed with my choice.

I let go of Derek's neck slowly and waited for him to move but he can't.

Or maybe he didn't want to.

"Let's go Derek." His members were already leaving but he wasn't moving from where he was.

"I'm not leaving." He looked at me.

"Do you want to die here? This place is full of rogues." A girl said, the last sentence was said for any of my members not to hear but we still heard her mumble.

"I'm not leaving her here." He didn't break his eye contact and I planned to do the same.

"Are you defying your Alpha?" The man who came in between the fight used his Alpha voice.

His jaw hardened, trying not to look defeated.

I raised my brows if he was going to rebel against his Alpha.

Eventually, he left trying to look behind him to look at me once in a while until they disappeared.

"That was so intense." One of the workers saw the fight.

I look at him and that was the sign to stop looking and focus on his job.

"I thought rogues can't have mates? Are we wrong?" Grayson asked.

"He's wrong." I said.

It looked like I was winning and that they were getting attacked more but I also received some kicks from the woman.

I could already feel a bruise forming on my lower left abdomen, but I knew it would be gone in a few hours.

"Let's head back."

When we arrived at the house I dismissed Soyer and he went to his house.

The bruise that was forming earlier was already gone and I called Grayson.

"Tomorrow, we'll do the marking of our members. Make sure the members are up early. 7 in the morning."

Grayson nodded and told him to rest.

He headed to his room after greeting Katy.

"Why do I smell another scent from you? A man?" She asked, confused.

"I had two Duels, the Luna and a man." I tried to explain.

"What?! Why? I thought they just wanted to meet you?"

"The man said I was his mate." I laughed, shaking my head.

"Really?" She asked.

I nodded.

"But he's mistaken. I didn't even feel the sparks or something when we touched."

"You touched him?" She asked, wanting to know.

I shook my head.

"He touched me."

She made a face I couldn't understand.

"Are you jealous?" I smirked.

"Yeah, I am." She said seriously.

I laughed and soon she smiled and shook her head.