Supernaturals

6. The challenge

SHAWN

Eve was a hopeless romantic. She was tougher than the devil, yet softer than anyone I knew. She was my missing half, I had no doubt about that.

When I was younger, in high school and college, I had gotten into some relationships. Two distinct times I had thought I was in love, in fact, no one could have told me otherwise. I thought I had met the one, the one person I would spend my entire life with. After my first heartbreak in senior year in high school, I remember crying because I felt I lost something irreplaceable.

How naive I was.

After three or four ‘routine' relationships, I met another girl whom I thought was meant for me. The one person I felt the universe went out of its way to make for me. Her name was Annalisa Campbell. For the seven months our relationship lasted, everyone on campus knew we were a couple. We were like the one couple that would stay together and then get some people saying things like, “Do they ever leave each other?”

Well, we did.

Our relationship ended quite abruptly. She got into contact with her father whom she wasn't very fond of. Her father offered to get her into a program that was almost impossible to get access to. Since the program would be essential to her career, she decided to accept the offer.

Neither of us believed in long distance relationships, so we decided it was best we went our separate ways. We cried, cried, cried. . .and cried. But after all our crying, our relationship was still over. We were no longer a couple and I didn't find moving easy at all.

After that second major break-up, I felt that was it for me. I told my friends that ‘this relationship sh*t wasn't for me". And then, three months before the apocalypse, Eve moved into the town I was living in.

I immediately knew she was a werewolf and before we could realise, we were spending so much time together.

Then we decided to go on a friendly date.

Well, it isn't fair to say we didn't keep to our ‘friendly' date as we had dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was a very special night. Especially since we f*cked right after the meal.

Ever since, we have been so strong as a couple. I wasn't scared to say she was the one for me because I knew she was. There was no doubt in me at all and I was pretty sure she felt the same way. She was a werewolf as I was, so I wasn't hiding anything from her.

It was sort of pretty that we started as innocent friends—even though I wanted to be inside her from the very first day we met.

“Have you ever thought about us getting married?” Eve asked, weaving her long hair to a pigtail.

“Hmm, let me see, Not really," She made a surprised face as I spoke, “only about two to three times a day.”

Eve laughed. “You always have a way with words.”

Then it struck me. Why the f*ck weren't we married? The world was so close to becoming an empty space, if there was ever a time where there was no time, now was the time. We loved each other so much, why not make it official?

Though ‘official' wasn't really a thing anymore. . .all thanks to the zombies.

I didn't even know what to say but I figured something would come to mind. Also, I didn't have a ring.

I stood from the bed. My legs were shaky and I had become nervous so quickly. Our bodies just knew how to f*ck us up.

“Eve, please stand.”

“Nah, I'm tired.” She complained.

“Please, my love, stand.”

She smirked humorously at me. “What's with the drama?”

As she stood, I went on one knee. “You don't know what you mean to me, you don't know how much you have changed my life, how much happiness you have given me. Just like almost every other person, I lost all I had to the apocalypse, most of my friends and the entirety of my family.” I brought her hands on mine. “I mean it more than anything when I say I love you, I really do.”

“I love you too." She said, tears rolling down her reddened cheeks.

You see? She could go from tough lady to a softie in seconds.

“Eve Bennett Hall, would you do me the greatest honour of becoming my wife?”

She began sobbing, not softly but profusely. She was crying as though someone had put wolfsbane in her meal.

She didn't say yes nor did she say no. But it was apparent that she was happy that I proposed. I could see the happiness behind the tears that won't leave her eyes. It was funny because I felt the honour was all mine. I wanted nothing more than to be her husband.

The idea of us getting married came randomly to my mind but it was a good one nonetheless. We had been living like a married couple for almost two years so. . .not much was going to change. Just that now I would call her my wife and she would be Eve Bennett Holland. It had a nice ring to it.

Eve's fixed smile soon faded into a frown. She suddenly had a worried expression on her face and I knew she was trying so damn hard not to tell me something.

“What is it, Eve? You know you can tell me anything.”

“Yeah, I do but I don't want to.”

“Why?”

She forced a smile. “Because for a short while, things have been going smoothly and we have been getting some sort of normalcy. Now, coupled with your proposal, I don't want anything to get in the way of our happiness.”

“I understand that but you know problems don't just go away because we don't want them in the way of our happiness, we have to go out of our way to solve them.” In a calmer time, I asked again, “what is the issue?”

She told me there was a rumour of mutiny. Her fear was that it was more than just a rumour. Certain people didn't want me in power, probably the older werewolves. They wanted the Superior—the ruler of the eleven packs—to be someone they could control.

“Are you sure of this?”

She nodded. “Haven't you noticed that Alex Cross does nothing else besides training, he trains for about eleven hours every single day. . .for the past three months.”

It began to make sense to me. “He wants to challenge me and take over.”

“Yes, he has also been under the wings of all the most powerful werewolves alive, they're all coaching him.

Oh, the alphas I triumphed over.

I laughed loudly. “They are all ridiculous, this isn't the time for such a thing.”

“I wouldn't take it so lightly if I were you, he is going to come all out on you.”

“Then I will go all out on him, let's see who's more of an alpha.”

Eve shrugged. “And if you're not? What if you get badly hurt? Or maimed? Or killed?”

I could see the genuine concern in her face, she was silently imploding with emotions just by thinking of different scenarios.

I pulled her to myself and crushed my lips on her, biting softly on her lower lip as hands went underneath her blue top. In whsipers, I said, “I will be fine, have faith in me.”

Just then, there was a loud bang on our room door. Mike, my right-hand man s***h best friend, told me that Alex was demanding to speak with me.

“Shawn, I think he wants to. . . .”

“. . .I know exactly what he wants but that means nothing because I will beat the living hell out of him.”

“Now that confidence is why I always support you.”

I gestured to him to let that topic slide. “I proposed to Eve.” I said, leading him out of the room.

Mike pulled me out of the room completely and into the hallway.

“You for real?” Mike inquired excitedly.

“Yeah.”

“How come you didn't tell me, we tell each other everything.”

“I won't say everything," I chuckled. “Don't feel bad, I didn't know either, it was a decision I made in a split second."

Going back in to dress up, I left the room and went to the field where I saw Alex Cross and a couple other people.

“Let's walk." I said to him as we gave the others some distance.

I didn't want to waste any time. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why am I doing what?” He asked, pretending not to understand what I meant.

“Stop acting dumb, you don't want people to know you are not actually acting.”

He frowned. “We don't have to talk about anything, if you refuse to fight me, you will cease to be the Superior immediately.”

“I know that.”

“Then you should know that once a month, according to the werewolf tradition, an alpha can be challenged by another alpha, since you are the apex alpha, the same applies to you in this case.”

“Stop stating tradition to me, I know it all just as you do. What I want to know is if this idea to fight me is really your idea?”

He nodded in affirmation.

“But is it originally your idea, or has someone planted these in your head?”

“I don't know what you want me to say but let me say this, I want to fight you and I will.”

“It's Saturday today, I will fight you in the presence of every werewolf on Monday.”

Alex walked away immediately. He had a date now, he had what he wanted. We were going to battle like animals just because it was ‘tradition’.

Underneath my breath I said, “it's your obituary, Alex.”