The journey to the Neutral Zone takes two days. We travel with Raven and Kai, moving through forests and past packs without stopping. Sage drives a borrowed truck that she somehow obtained without explanation. The landscape changes as we get further from my home territory. The trees are different. The air smells different. Even the ground beneath us feels different.
When we finally arrive, the Neutral Zone is bigger than I expected. It's a large area of land that doesn't belong to any pack. The Alpha King's compound sits at the center of it, a massive stone structure that looks like a combination of a fortress and a palace.
Fighters from multiple packs are already arriving. I see other girls here, which surprises me at first. But Raven explains that more packs have started allowing their female fighters to compete over the past few years.
"The world is changing," she says. "Slowly, but it's changing."
We're given rooms in a dormitory that houses all the competitors. I'm assigned to a room with Sage, while Mira and Kira get their own room nearby. That first night, we can't sleep. Sage is running through different fighting scenarios in her head. I'm thinking about everything I've given up to be here.
"Tell me something," I say to Sage in the dark. "Before you came to my pack, was there a plan? Did you know you were going to meet me?"
"No," Sage says. "My plan was to come to your pack, gather information about your father, and find a way to expose him. Meeting you changed things. But not the way you think."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I mean that when I met you, I realized that this wasn't just about revenge," Sage says. "It was about something bigger. About changing the system that allowed your father to have power in the first place."
"But it started as revenge," I say.
"Yes," Sage admits. "But sometimes revenge and justice look the same from a distance. You have to get closer to tell the difference."
The trials begin the next morning. There are preliminary rounds that determine who gets to fight in the main competition. The fights are brutal and quick. I watch a girl from another pack break her opponent's arm without hesitation. I watch another girl use speed and agility to overpower someone who is clearly stronger.
The first preliminary round is at noon. I'm matched against a girl named Lena from the Westside Pack. She's fast and aggressive, and she comes at me immediately.
For the first minute, we're evenly matched. But then I remember what Raven taught me. I stop trying to match her speed and instead focus on predicting her movements. When she lunges, I sidestep and strike. When she tries to dodge, I'm already moving to follow her.
By the time the match ends, I've won. The crowd cheers, and I see Raven nodding from the stands.
Sage fights next, and she's incredible. Her opponent is strong, but Sage is stronger and smarter. She reads every move before her opponent makes it. She wins in less than three minutes.
Kira and Mira both win their preliminary rounds too.
In the stands, I notice various pack leaders watching. I see my brother Marcus sitting with my father. My father's face is hard, but I can see the shock in his eyes. He didn't expect me to win.
That night, Kai takes Sage out somewhere, and I'm alone with Kira and Mira.
"Do you think Sage can actually win this whole thing?" Mira asks.
"Yes," I say. "I think she can win everything."
"What about you?" Kira asks. "Do you think you can win?"
"I don't know," I say honestly. "I'm learning as I go. Sage has been training her whole life for this. I've been training for three months."
"You're better than people who have trained their whole lives," Mira says. "You have something they don't have. You have nothing left to lose."
The next day brings the quarter-finals. I'm matched against a girl named Sasha who is from the Northern Pack. She's bigger than me, stronger in raw power. But I'm faster.
The fight is intense. We trade blows, and I can feel the impact of each one. At one point, she gets me against the wall and pins my arm. I think I might lose. But then I shift my weight and use her own momentum against her. I break free and get behind her, and from there, I can control the match.
When I win, my hands are shaking. Not from fear, but from adrenaline and something else. Something like joy. The kind of joy that comes from pushing yourself to your absolute limit and succeeding.
Sage also wins her quarter-final. So do Kira and Mira. We're all advancing.
But the semi-finals are different. The competition gets harder. The fighters are stronger and smarter. And that's when I find out that something bigger is happening.
That night, Raven pulls me aside in the hallway of the dormitory.
"Your father is here," she says. "And he's talking to the other pack leaders. He's trying to convince them that you and Sage are a threat to the traditional pack structure."
"Is it working?" I ask.
"Some of them are listening," Raven says. "Some of them are scared. Some of them are curious about what the Alpha King will do."
"What will he do?" I ask.
"That depends on what you do in the semi-finals," Raven says. "If you and Sage show that female warriors are just as capable as male warriors, then the Alpha King will have to take a stand. He'll have to officially change the rules about female warriors in all packs."
I understand then that this isn't just about me or Sage. This is about the entire future of the pack system.
The semi-finals are held two days later. I'm matched against a boy from the Eastern Pack named Rodan. He's big and brutal, and he clearly doesn't think I'm a real threat. That's my advantage.
The moment the fight starts, he comes at me with full force. He's trying to end it quickly. But I'm not there to fight his fight. I'm there to fight my fight.
I weave through his attacks, letting his own power exhaust him. When he finally slows down, I'm fresh. I move fast and strike hard. The match is over in five minutes.
The crowd goes silent for a moment, and then people start cheering. A girl just beat a boy in a serious combat match. That's not supposed to happen in the traditional pack hierarchy.
Sage also wins her semi-final. The other semi-final is between Kira and another girl from the Southern Pack. Kira loses, which surprises everyone. After the match, Kira tells us that her opponent used a move that was technically legal but also brutal, and Kira wasn't prepared for it.
So the finals will be three fights. Sage versus a male fighter named Derrick. Me versus a male fighter named Victor. And the girl from the Southern Pack versus whoever wins between Sage and me.
The night before the finals, Sage is quiet. She's sitting alone on the balcony of the dormitory, looking out at the Neutral Zone.
"Are you nervous?" I ask, sitting down beside her.
"No," Sage says. "I'm angry."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because when I win tomorrow, people are going to credit it to luck or to being a woman who got lucky," Sage says. "They won't credit it to the fact that I'm skilled and strong and smarter than anyone I face. They'll find a way to minimize it."
"Not everyone will," I say.
"Enough of them will," Sage says. She looks at me. "And that's okay. We're not doing this for their approval. We're doing this because we deserve the right to try."
The finals are held in a massive arena. Hundreds of people are in the stands. Pack leaders from every territory. Warriors and fighters. People who have traveled from all over to see this.
I also notice the Alpha King. He's sitting in a special area with guards around him. I've never seen him before in person. He's tall and commanding, and even sitting down, he seems to take up all the space around him.
Sage fights first. Her opponent, Derrick, is a monster of a man. He's the defending champion. He's won three consecutive years.
When the match starts, he moves like he's not even trying. Like this is routine. But Sage is fast. She hits him with combinations that would take down a normal fighter. He barely seems bothered.
For the first three minutes, it looks like Derrick is going to dominate. But then Sage changes strategy. She stops trying to overpower him and instead focuses on accuracy. She hits weak points. She goes for joints and pressure points. She fights smarter, not harder.
The match goes for almost ten minutes. It's close. It's brutal. And then Sage manages to get Derrick into a hold that he can't break out of. He yields.
The crowd erupts. People are shouting. Some are cheering. Some are angry. But Sage has won.
Then it's my turn. Victor is a solid fighter from the Central Pack. He's good, but he's not Derrick-level. Still, he's bigger than me and stronger.
When the match starts, I'm nervous. This is the semi-final stage. This is real.
But the moment we start fighting, the nervousness goes away. I'm just present. Just reacting and moving and striking.
Victor tries to use his size against me, and I use it against him instead. I make him tired. I make him sloppy. And when he slows down, I strike.
The match ends with me pinning him. He yields after three minutes.
I've made it to the final round. The girl from the Southern Pack, whose name is Vera, watches from the stands with an expression that's hard to read.
That night, there's a celebration in the dormitory. But Sage and I don't celebrate. We're both tired, and we both know that tomorrow is when it really matters.
Tomorrow, we might have to fight each other.
Before we go to sleep, I ask Sage something that's been on my mind.
"If you win, will you become an Elite Warrior?" I ask.
"Yes," Sage says. "The offer is automatic for the winners."
"Will you go work for the Alpha King?" I ask.
"I don't know," Sage says. "I haven't thought that far ahead."
"Kai asked you to stay, didn't he?" I say.
"Yes," Sage says. "And I told him I would think about it."
The next morning, the finals begin. It's not Sage and me fighting each other. It's Sage versus Vera first, and me versus whoever loses.
The match between Sage and Vera is incredible. Vera is strong and skilled, but Sage is a force of nature. She dominates the match, and Vera yields after eight minutes.
So I face Vera next. She's exhausted from fighting Sage, and I'm fresh. I beat her in four minutes.
Which means the real final is Sage versus me.
We stand in the arena facing each other, and for a moment, I don't see my friend. I see a warrior who is every bit as fierce and strong as I am.
"I'm sorry," Sage says quietly.
"Don't be," I say. "Let's just fight."