Last time on Blind Hope

Have you seen her fight?" Dorian hesitated. He had wanted to tell Horatio about the rogues she had mutilated, but had kept it to himself.

"I've... seen the results." He winced. "It wasn't pretty." Evelyn looked at her mate in surprise, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"But when we were planning this, she seemed to mild mannered."

"I assure, you" Dorian laughed, rubbing his hand down his face in remembrance of their morning. "She is anything but mild mannered."

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Hope wore the clothes Vivian laid out apprehensively. "This seems revealing."

"Oh, nonsense. I workout in clothes like these. Of course, Blake always seems to want to workout with me..." Hope's hands rested against her bare stomach.

"I don't want Dory made at me, and I certainly don't want to make him jealous." Hope tugged at her bra strap and stared uselessly at the mirror. She wore a black sports bra and black bike shorts that barely reached the knee. "I suppose they'll survive a shift." Vivian looked at Hope's eyes in the mirror and raised a brow.

"Your clothes always last a shift, talented prick." She cleared her throat. "Besides, this way, everyone can see how ripped you are. Check out that pack." Hope's hands clenched against her "pack," and she shook her head.

"No. I want to clear this with Dory first." Vivian huffed, grabbing a shirt and pulling it over her head.

"Fine. Wear this, but when you start fighting pull it off. Less material, less options to grab." Vivian pulled her hair into a carefully tight pony tail, determining to keep the curl for after the fight when she would re-dress for the ceremony. "Let's go find, Dorian. I bet he's still in the throne room."

True to Vivian's word, Dorian was alone in the throne room when she arrived with Hope. Horatio and Evelyn had already left to assist in establishing fighting grounds, rules, and spectator seats. "You can leave me." Hope whispered as soon as she caught Dorian's scent. "Go to Blake." Vivian disappeared without another word, and Hope followed Dorian's scent until she was in his arms. "Hello, darling."

"Hello, sweet." His voice was broken, but Hope steeled herself against it. "How are you?"

"I'll be fine. That lady raised good questions. But more importantly, if I take my shirt off to fight, will that be okay with you?" Dorian stared down at her in pure love and admiration, wondering how she could possible care about him in this situation. He would be lying if he said that he was comfortable with his mate taking her shirt off in the middle of everyone, but he also knew that wasn't an issue to be concerned with at the moment.

"You do what you have to do to win. Now," he kissed her forehead, "let's go fight." Dorian took her hand and led her out of the castle and to the training grounds. Horatio had mind-linked him the area the Alphas and Lunas were waiting. Dorian led her into the arena and was glared at by Iris. By him being there, he was defeating the point of the whole battle. Raising his voice for all to hear, Dorian knelt before Hope and gently said, "My sweet, you are in the arena where you are to fight William. I cannot help you from this point on. I cannot intervene in battle, and I cannot mind-link during your fight. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Dorian kissed her hands and left the field, glowering at William. Iris stepped to the center of the arena and cleared her throat to assure all the attention was on her and not the pouting King acting like a scolded puppy.

"This is to be a fair fight, and NOT to the death. Do the contestants have anything to say to each other?" William took a step forward and bowed,

"Your Highness, it is an honor to fight you."

"And it is an honor to fight you, Sir William." Hope nodded her head in his direction, and proceeded to causally take her shirt off. Dorian purred just looking at her. Every single muscle was well-defined, and it was evident that she was strong. A sniffle was heard, and Hope's eyes widened, spinning to the noise. "Bliss?" The little girl ran onto the field and tackled Hope's legs.

"Don't fight, Sissy!" She buried her face and sobbed uncontrollably. Hope rubbed her back soothingly.

"Vivian..." Hope's voice was pained as Vivian had to drag Bliss away from her. Her voice hardening to steel, Hope faced Iris and William, "You two should know that I will not be holding back, and don't you even dare, William. I may not have been trained with the pack, but I did train. Every. Single. Day. You have made my family cry, and to me, that is a grave offense. This will not take long." She was snarling and furious. Both Iris and William recoiled from the sheer force, and William froze. This was the woman who brutally took out ten rogues by herself.

Vivian smirked and nudged Blake. "I helped train her," she whispered. "I'm just taking credit before she completely destroys that guy." Blake shushed her, and the matched began.

"Square off!" Iris cried. Hope and William both raised their fists. Red was alert in Hope's mind, directing all her senses towards William, the noise of the stands and people drowning out of her mind. "FIGHT!"

Hope didn't wait for a single second before she propelled her body towards William with speed that left spectator's hair looking wind-blown. Dorian's eyes widened as William didn't even have a chance to react. She slammed, full force, into him and sent him flying backwards into a firm cinderblock wall. It cracked, leaving a fearsome dent the size of William's body. Hope skidded to a stop, waiting for William to react.

He fell from the wall, and landed on his knees and hands out of breath and throbbing all over. He winced just standing up and squared off once more. He would say she caught him off guard, but the fact was, she had simply been too fast for him.

He grit his teeth and launched an attack of his own. No matter what he did, Hope managed to block attack after attack. Still winded from being thrown into the wall, William eased up and backed down. He analyzed her for weakness or patterns, but she had simply deflected. Other than speed he couldn't combat, William knew nothing of her attack style.

"Shift." Iris commanded, thus entering the final stage of the fight. Wolves often determined who won and loss when the human side could not. William shifted, but Hope did not. She swallowed nervously, knowing Red was angered easily and would attack to kill if she felt threatened -regardless of the situation. "I said shift."

"No. I prefer human style." Hope kept her focus on William's new form. He seemed hesitant. "Fight me, William." Hope felt Red eager to meet William's wolf, and pushed her back a bit.

Last time you fought, I think we killed people.

I can control myself in controlled environments.

Anything can happen.

"You must shift!" Iris said, shocked. It was policy for safety reasons and was rarely turned down such as Hope was doing. "It's part of the rules." Hope growled at her, but shifted anyway. Red shook her fur and seemed to smirk.

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