"Alright everyone. First challenger, please step forward."

"He's good, but he doesn't have the strength or speed to beat dad. That's Jace Strong. "Marie said staring at the tall, lanky wolf who approached first. He had to be over 6 ft with a slim frame, and a blotch of ginger hair on his head. They both bowed.

"Do you wish to fight in this form of wolf?" Kenneth asked.

"Wolf," he said cockily.

Alaric quickly shifted, his pants tearing as he did so seemlessly. Everyone stood still in shock. A lot of wolves had trouble shifting so quickly or painlessly, so it came as a surprise to them all. Jace stiffened, before scratching the back of his head, uncomfortably sizing up the sight of the wolf standing in front of him.

"um,um..." he hesitated second guessing himself. Kenneth immediately stepped forward infuriated, and backhanded him harshly sending him flying. Everyone gasped in shock, as he crashed on the floor a few feet away. He gritted his teeth, before turning turning ith a pointed finger at the 5 remaining challengers. 

"If you are scared or hesitate, I will kill you myself. This is not a joke. If you do not have the resilienced to fight our current beta, how will you be able to fight a possible future enemy who may be stronger? I will give you one more chance. Do any of you wish to back out of the challenge?"

The wolves nervously looked amongst themselves, before looking back at the large red and grey wolf. Two of the five wolves bowed out, scared to fight the unbothered beta. There appearance of him alone scared them as he was riddled with patches of missing fur, and battle scars. Each scar was a sign of a wolf who had experienced countless battles and survived them all. Had killed already. Amber irises looked at them with a penetrated gaze, excited of the prospect of fighting.

Marie nodded, as she watched Danny respectfully bow out. Of the 5 wolves, she was maybe top 3 if defeating her father, but she needed more training. Her fathers wolf was a seasoned fighter, and he would have unltimately have defeated her.

Kenneth nodded, shifting his head for the next challenger to approach.

Tsk. "He's an ass, but he is actually a pretty good fighter," Marie said watching as Gene Hallow approached. He was a fair skinned muscle head with short, spiky dark hair. He took off his shirt and pants, shifting a lot slower than the beta growling aggressively. His wolf was a black and white fur mix, slightly smaller than my father. 

Kennth raised his arm between the two, before swiftly bringing it down. "Begin!"

Gene crouched preparing to attack, but before he could move Alaric was already pouncing on him. Fangs and nails beared as he landed raking his nails down the wolves side. The wolf threw his head back whining loudly in surprise.  Alarics wolf, Brute, took advantage of this as he viciously sank his teeth into the younger wolves throat, whipping his head side to side. The struggling wolf wolf attempted to escape the death grip, desperation making his movements panicky.

"Do you wish to submit?" Alpha Kenneth asked, a bit anxiously. While he was okay with the to the death rule, he was only swayed at the possibility Alaric would be the one in danger. He was older, and thought a younger wolf would have better stamina and strength than the beta. What he hadn't counted on was the fighting skill and obvious battle strategy knowledge Alaric's wolf had accrued over the years. 

Genes wolf whined, obviously ready submit but the sharp snap as Brute bit his wind pipe silenced the crowd.

"YES!" Jin cheered his husband on, undisturbed by the death of the younger wolf. Other surrounding wolves started clapping and cheering, some whistling at the impressive, instant win. Brute respectively stepped back as the dead wolves family approached to retrieve their son's body. The wail of the mother as she dropped down to hold her son's dead body in grief, immediately silence the crowd.

Alaric turned to look Kenneth in his eye, letting out a low mourninghowl in respect to the death of his challenger.  It was a sign of respect to the family, and a sign of disrespect to the alpha. He knew the purpose of the 'to the death' clause of this challenge. He would kill every single challenger if it meant living to see his family another day. 

A promise he kept to the next wolf. Dan Stoll was the next challenger, a black and grey wolf who was a lot more of an experienced fighter than the former wolf.

He immediately started moving instead of standing still, staying light on his feet as he growled and snapped at Brute. Brute saw past the strategy of him to stay on the offense though, and chose a front on attack. This caused for the wolf to turn his body, giving him enough momentum to avoid being striked, turning his head to snap the scruff of the betas neck and shake, raking his claws along his sides as he did sp. 

Brute yelped in pain, using the momentum to lean forward, and tilt his head to the side to bite the back paw and attempt to yank the wolf away. The wolves jaws tightened on the back of his neck, but his grip slackened as Alaric continued to gnaw on his leg with his sharp teeth. The release was enough for him to quickly rear his head back and shake the younger wolf off before slamming his head into the other wolves. He rudely aggressively draged his nails across the Wolves face, his nails puncturing one of the wolves eye. 

The crowd erupted again, the next set of wheeping parent's stepping forward to retrieve their son's body.

Brute was slowly becoming blood thirsty, as he began pacing back and forth ready for the next challenger.

"PLEASE! Don't do this!" the Marissa's mother shouted in fear, as her husband pulled her back.

"Mother!" she said strongly, no sense of fear in her eyes as she stepped forward already stripped. "Do not insult me. If this is the day I do, I will do so going down the way of a true warrior."

The crowd cheered on encouragingly, as Marie turned around and clenched her fist.

Travis turned to look at her, narrowing his eyes. "Do you think she is able to beat dad?"

Marie closed her eyes, as she slowly shook her head. Tears trickled down her eyes. Merrisa is probably top two of the challengers, but Brute hasn't even broken a sweat. If dad was more worn out she would have had a chance, but at the rate he's defeating them she's gonna-"

Travis hugged his sister in understanding. Whoever this Marissa person was, was obviously someone important to his sister. Whether it was romantic or not he was unsure of, but even his senses could pick up on her sadness. It was a very sour, foul smell.

"The next fight will begin. I will repeat this is to death or submition," he felt the need to reiterate.

Marissa shifted, a beautiful creme and white coated wolf stood. She was beautiful. 

The crowed awed in admiration, while her mother cried in obvious distress.

Brute continued to pace, as she approached to stand in front of him.

Kenneth raised his arms again, bringing it down swiftly. "Begin!"

Marie stalked side to side, matching the pace of the wolf. Brute stopped and stared at her, a murderous glint in his eyes. One moment he was there, and the next he was already semi-run, smashing into the side of her. She yelped, but turned mid-attack and bit into the back of his neck as she savagely fought the wolf.

She turned her body, as she strongly bit the scruff jerking her head band and forth in a need to bring the large wolf down. Everytime Brute attempted to swipe her foot or bite it, she immediately danced out of the way never loosening her grip. She raked her nails down his face and sides, as the bigger wolf fought to get the smaller wolf off his back.

It was obvious she was using strategy against strength, as she continued to dodge the beta's assaults. Allowing herself to use his momentum to attack without having to burn her stamina by using her full body strength. This continued on for a few minutes, before Brute found his opening. 

He immediately dropped his body weight, taking the young wolf by surprise. Before Marissa could react, Brute shook away from her hold and immediately turned his face to look her dead into the eyes of the younger wolf. 

This was the only chance Brute, not Alaric, allowed the wolf to submit. 

Marissa picked up on this, but chose to continue fighting.

Brute respected her decision, but it was over before it began.

Brute savagely snapped his large jaws on the younger wolves face, her yelp of surprise pain causing her family to cry in agony. She landed on her back, body attempting to roll to protect her neck, but Brute reared back and snapped his jaws on her exposed throat, shaking his head savagely.

The whining off the wolf slowly silenced, as her body slowly stopped moving. 

Stunned silence.

"NOOO..." Marissa's mother wailed as she watched the life slowly leave her daughters eyes.

Brute softly licked the wolves neck, a sign of respect as he bowed and softly layed next do the dead body. The wolf had fought smartly, and the older wolf respected it. If she had trained a few more years, she may have been a even stronger beta than he was. This was the only wolf he chose to truly acknowledge as a warrior that night.

Marie broke down, landing on her knees as she cried for her mentor. Marissa had been her trainer when she had decided to do Beta training, and they had grown close over the last 3 years. She would go to her whenever she was struggling with something, and Marissa had always been willing to help her; even if it was in her personal time. She had became something like an older sister to her over the few years they knew eachother. 

Kenneth gritted his fist in anger. This wasn't how he planned this night would go. Some of his most promising wolves were now dead, and no one had yet defeated Alaric. He glared at the beta, as Brute released a low howl in mourning for the young wolf.

The crowd responded, saddened by the lost of the wolves for the night.