After the first trial, Kai stood in front of the stage once again to await the next trial. The Elders were whispering to each other, so quiet that he could not overhear any of the conversion, but by the way that they would stop to look over at him every so often, Kai knew that they were talking about him. It wasn’t until Alexander stood and cleared his throat that they stopped.

“The first trial is complete,” he paused to look out over the pack before looking down at Kai and continuing, “you did a decent job.”

The Omega couldn’t help but smirk up at Alexander. A decent job was an understatement. He knew by the gasping audience and the chit chat between the Elders that he had made an impression.

“Your second trial will be hand-to-hand combat in your human form. Your opponent will be one of the best pack fighters. You have already met her.” Alexander said with a slightly smug look.

Kai then felt a presence next to him. He looked over to find Tasha now standing by him. She also had a smug look on her face, only hers was much more noticeable. She was going to take great pleasure in beating up the Omega and seemingly, Alexander was going to take some pleasure in watching. 

*Great, now I have to fight a person who basically hates me* Kai thought to himself as he nodded his head towards the warrior. Tasha was almost a foot taller than Kai. She was built like a fighter. This led to the smugness, as she thought that she would be able to easily take out the smaller opponent. They were underestimating Kai again.

“You will be able to choose your own weapons for this battle. The fight will end when one of you surrenders or the fight is called by me. Do you both understand?”

“Yes,” Kai and Tasha said in unison.

***

Kai and Tasha stood facing each other in the middle of the clearing. Tasha already had her weapon ready, which was a longer sword with a black hilt and a silver blade. She held it with both hands, her body almost coiled and ready to strike. Kai, taking his time, unsheathed his double golden blades and got into a more defensive stance. He first wanted to test the warrior, to observe her skills and look for weaknesses that he may be able to exploit later on in the fight.

Without much of a warning, Alexander bellowed for them to start and immediately Tasha lashed out, she was quick on her feet and took the Omega by surprise. Kai felt pain on the right side of his body, just above his hip and he knew instantly that he had been cut. Retreating a little, he tried to assess his next move but Tasha was on top of him again within seconds. Her blows were hard and quick, making Kai work hard to block each one. 

Blow after blow, block after block that match continued until Kai noticed that while strong and agile, whenever Tasha struck she left her legs wide open. Kai quickly side stepped as Tasha delivered another blow and quickly slashed at her leg with one of his blades, delivering a nasty gash. She let out a slight gasp of pain and the wound did exactly what Kai wanted it to do. It slowed her down. 

Backing off with a slight limp, Tasha went into a more defensive tactic and waited for Kai to strike again. Taking the opportunity, Kai slashed one blade, which was easily blocked, while taking the other blade and slashing right into the warriors side. Tasha again groaned out in pain, but took the opportunity to knock one of Kai’s blades out of his hands. The blade flew across the clearing, leaving Kai with a singular blade. 

Kai knew he had to do something quickly or else he would be overpowered by Tasha’s powerful strikes. As she took a swing, he blocked, twisting the sword around and quickly grabbing her wrist that was armed. He then twisted his body around so that his back faced Tasha and took her arm over his right shoulder. Using the warrior's momentum, he flipped her over his shoulder and onto the ground while simultaneously twisting her wrist forcing her to release her sword. Kai heard a small pop as Tasha’s wrist snapped out of place. 

She was stunned for a moment, allowing Kai to get in an extra kick to the wound he had already caused to her side. Before Kai could take a swing with his sword, Tasha regained composure and swung her body around, swiping the Omega off his feet and quickly getting on top of him delivering punch after punch as Kai tried to block with his free hand. Quickly, Kai took his blade and stabbed Tasha in the side, twisting the blade to try and cause more damage without actually hurting the warrior. This caused her to scream out in pain, grabbing Kai’s wrist and slamming it into the ground so hard that he had no choice but to release the blade.

Kai was now at a disadvantage. He was unarmed with a large warrior on top of him. He had to do something quickly or Tasha would end this match. Leaning forward, Kai laced his arm around the back of her neck with his forearm around the front and squeezed, restricting the warrior's airflow. He then quickly used all his weight, pulling back with her head still in the headlock and smashed her face into the ground. Tasha was stunned for a moment before retaliating by punching the smaller opponent in his wounded side over and over. Pain shot through Kai’s body, but he held on, tightening his grip on her neck and restricting her airflow even more while also wrapping his legs around her waist, squeezing his thighs to hopefully put the warrior to sleep quickly.

Before Tasha could lose consciousness, Kai heard Alexander’s voice.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

Immediately, Kai released Tasha from his grip and she rolled off him gasping for air. Kai, still lying on his back, looked over and noticed that her face was covered in blood. What surprised him was that once she caught her breath she looked over at him and started chuckling.

“Damn, for such a small bean you sure are tough.” Tash said through her laughter. “I haven’t worked that hard in ages and I thought I almost had you there at the end.”

Kai couldn’t help but laugh a little as well. It seemed like his performance had impressed the warrior and all of the resentment that she had towards him melted away. 

“To be fair, you almost did have me there at the end.” 

“Kai! Kai are you alright?” Kai sat up and looked towards the voice that was calling him to see Kyle running over to him.

“I’m fine.” Kai responded as the Beta reached out to help him up to his feet. The Omega immediately walked over to Tasha, extending a hand. Still slightly chuckling, Tasha sat up and took his hand and he helped her to her feet. Still hanging on, Tasha gave Kai’s hand a tight shake.

“Good fight little one!”

“It was, maybe we can do it again sometime.”

Tasha smiled and nodded before observing the Omega more closely. Her smile immediately disappeared when she noticed that the cut on his side was still bleeding but before she could say anything, Kai went and retrieved his blades and then walked back towards Kyle. He leaned into the Beta and they started walking away.

“I need a break.” Kai whispered so that only Kyle could hear.

“Yeah, I can see that. We can quickly go back to the pack house for a few minutes. Wait here while I go talk to Alexander.”

Kai waited for a few minutes for Kyle to return. He knew that this would look weird to the Elder’s. Wolves had increased healing abilities. In fact, Tasha was pretty much all healed up and ready to go. Kai on the other hand had lost some of his healing abilities when he went rogue. A weird side effect that occurred during the process that brought him back to “normal”. He needed to quickly stitch the cut on his side if he wanted to stop bleeding and continue with the trials.

Kyle returned to his side after a few minutes, allowing the Omega to lean on him once again. The Beta started leading them towards the path that led back to the pack house.

“Alex gave us about thirty minutes before we have to be back so we have to make this quick,” Kyle stated. 

Kai was grateful to have family, like Kyle. Ever since the Beta marked him they had some sort of subconscious connection that linked them together and whenever Kai was seriously hurt during missions, it wouldn’t take Kyle that long to find the Omega and nurse him back to health.

They walked the path back to the pack house in silence and once there, Kyle led them to his apartment suit on the third floor. He had moved there once he had bonded with Mandy and officially became the Beta of the pack. Kyle walked Kai over to a chair in the dining room and sat him down. 

“The usual?” Kyle asked, walking into the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit.

“Yeah, I just need to stitch this cut up and wrap it.” Kai responded, unzipping his body suit and taking off the top half. He let out a groan of pain as the fabric brushed against the cut and the bruises that now covered his arms and torso. 

Kyle returned, setting the kit on the table. He could barely look at Kai’s now half naked body. It made him too upset as the Omega was covered in scars from previous missions. The scars just reminded him that his cousin’s body was fragile and it made him resent the person that did this to him. If only Alexander would have used his brain that night, his cousin might have gone down a different path. Maybe Kai would have had a normal life instead of this atrocious life of an assassin. Before Kyle let his emotions get the better of him he walked away and sat on the couch in his living room, facing away from his cousin. 

Kai on the other hand ignored his cousin's behavior and went to work patching up the cut on his side. Tasha had cut him pretty deep. Rummaging in the first aid kit, he took out a needle and some surgical thread, quickly sewing the wound shut before tying off and cutting the remaining thread. He then grabbed a roll of gauze and wrapped it tightly.

“Do you have any pain medicine?” Kai asked.

“Yeah, it should be in the kit.”

Looking around the kit, Kai found some medicinal roots and quickly ingested them.

“Okay, I am done,” Kai stated, pulling the top of his body suit back on before getting up and walking over towards Kyle who was still sitting on the couch, staring off into the unknown.

“Are you sure about this Kai? Tasha is tough, but Alexander is the Alpha. You could get seriously hurt.”

Kai took Kyle’s chin into his hand and lifted it up so that the Beta was looking him in the eyes.

“You know I have dealt with worse. Tasha just nicked me a little. It’s not a big deal. Plus, you know Alexander won’t hurt me.” 

Kyle sighed before standing up and wrapping the Omega in a tight hug. “Fine.”