“I didn’t at first either.” He said, but didn’t elaborate. Onin chimes in my head.
Y”ou said you love her you idiot.” He says and my heart stops for a minute. Do I? Do I love her? I don’t even know much about her. Only that she makes me feel things I have never felt before, even with my first mate. I feel like a pup when I am around her. I know that I don’t want to lose her and it is not just about the contract. I couldn’t imagine anybody else sitting beside me at dinner or in my office or anywhere for that matter. After that last thought I inhale deeply as the realization hits me. I am in love with her. Sh*t.
LeeAca’s POV
As we reach the field I turn to Lucas. “If I tell you to do something you do it. No questions asked.” I order and he nods his head.
“I will.” He says and leaves me to enter the field alone. I look around to see thousands of wolves. The arena is completely full. I see large TV screens displaying me close up. I spot my family and pack towards the bottom row. At least they got a good seat. I chuckle to myself. I see a council member go up to a platform that holds Alarick, Markus, and Garret.
“Ladies and Gentlemen the moment you have all gathered here for, has arrived. The last Luna challenges happened 1074 years ago. This challenge is for our future Queen to prove she is strong enough to stand beside our King and protect our packs.” He says and everybody cheers. I roll my eyes and try to relax. Fen is riled up and it isn’t helping.
“For our first challenge we have the King’s chosen, Gamma Leeaca Caterina Petrovich, from the Green River Pack. Being challenged by Alpha Bella Rose Woods from the Whispering trees pack.” He says and cheers start to erupt from all over. I see a petite blond girl, maybe 18 enter the arena. I focus on her emotions to get a good read and can feel her desire to leave. She doesn’t want this. She walks up to me and smiles sadly.
“You can take back the challenge.” I say to her and she looks up to me, surprised by my statement.
“No, I can’t.” She says softly and looks towards the crowd.
“You don’t want to be here. You don’t want this. I can feel it. You are being pressured by somebody to do it.” I say and her eyes fill with tears and she nods her head to confirm my statement. “If you leave I will make sure you are safe. One way or another.” I say and she looks up at me then back to the crowd. I can feel her uneasiness.
“Promise?” She asks and I feel her fear and worry.
“I promise. If something happens to me, you can trust Lucas. He will find you and help you.” I say nodding over to Lucas who is standing on the sideline. By now everyone is quite waiting for something to happen. I hear her take a deep breath.
“I, Alpha Bella Rose Woods, rescind my challenge for Queen Luna.” She says and I hear gasps from around the stadium. She walks fast off the field and finds a seat on the side where the people who rescind their challenge can wait. I look towards Lucas who is looking at me confused.
“No matter what happens make sure she is safe.” I mindlink Lucas. I see him nod his head that he understands and I hear the council member continue.
“Alpha Bella Rose Woods has rescinded her challenge. The next challenger is Beta Becky Ann Smith from the Red Rose pack.” He says and I see a hulk of a woman enter the area next. I focus on her emotions and feel determination and jealousy towards me. Now the challenge starts.
Once the she hulk reaches me I hear a whistle blow indicating that the fight should start. She lunges for me and I dodge her easily. She may be strong, but she isn’t fast. I decided that I would end it quickly. I am not going to put on a show for the sake of others. That would only torture the one who is killed. When she lunges for me again I dodge her and spin around, jumping on her back and putting her in choke hold. I squeeze till she stops bucking, trying to get me off and twist her head till I hear her neck break. I let go of her and she fell to the ground. I back away so that the guards can come take her away. I hear a woman scream from the crowd, it must be her mother.
One after another they bring out challengers. Most try hand to hand combat, some turn to their wolf. SO far I have been able to beat them, still coming out victorious with minor scratches. As I move along in the challenge more and more are rescinding their challenge for the title. There have been 3 others who, like Bella, were being forced to compete by their packs or families. Two of which have rescinded their challenge, the other kept it intact.
“How many is that so far?” I mindlink Lucas.
“17.” He answers back. “I believe that you have 2 left, depending on if anybody else wishes to challenge you.” He says. I just sigh and look down. My body is drenched from blood. Mine mixes with just about everybody else.
“The next challenger is Alpha Valentina Ramira Gomez.” The council member states and I see a woman walk out with complete hate in her eyes. I don’t even have to try and feel her emotions to understand that this is serious for her, personal. She wants this more than anything. She is confident when she walks, almost like she knows she will win. When she walks up the whistle blows and she raises her hands.
I start to feel a tug on my necklace. My eyes widen in surprise. She can control metals and she knows what she is doing. The other challengers were not adept with their gifts so they opted to fight hand to hand or in wolf form. This Valentina knows how to control her gift well. Before I can understand what is happening, I am lifted off the ground by my necklace. She is putting on a show. She could suffocate me in the blink of an eye, but she wants people to know that she is powerful. I glance at Lucas and he is struggling to stay still. I turn my gaze to the platform that holds Garret, Markus, and Alarick and I take a deep breath. What little I could anyway. My hands are around my necklace trying to give it as much room as possible so it doesn’t cut my throat. It starts digging into my hands and I know what I must do in order to live. I look up to the platform again and mindlink Garret and Markus.
“Hold him back.” Is all I say. Then I conjure up a knife and cut my necklace, and drop to the ground. I take the same knife and throw it at Valentina successfully hitting her in the shoulder making her drop to her knees. I run up to her and take the same knife and slit her throat, spraying my face with blood in the process. I step away and use my sleeve to wipe the blood from my eyes and mouth. There is a slight silence from the crowd, I look over the TV and see that it says it was a legal play.
“I told them you grabbed the weapon before you came onto the field.” Lucas’s voice rings in my head. The guards come to grab her body quickly. Before her body is even touched the council member starts speaking.
“The next challenger is Alpha Alyssa Zoe Prise.” He says and a woman walks out. I have seen her before. She is one of the women that would sleep with Alarick. She never said or did anything to me, but the feeling of animosity, jealousy, and arrogance always surrounded her.
“She resembles a lot to the council member announcing.” Fen says in my head. I glance to the TV screen that is pointed on the council member and I see that they both have the same beach blond hair and grey eyes. They also share the same nose. When I turn my attention back to her, the whistle screams and she runs to me, successfully landing a blow to my face. I hear a roar coming form the platform and I know Alarick finally realized I am his mate. I am distracted again and she lands another blow to my face, breaking my nose. Fen pushes her way forward and I know our eyes are glowing green. This startles the she wolf and we successfully land a blow to her chin, sending her forward. We land on top of her ready to strike again when we are blown off by a gust of wind. She must be gifted with air. Once she knows that we are pinned by the components of the air and cannot move she gets up and moves towards us with a viscous smile on her face. Fen and I stare at her and conjure up a dagger, but cannot move our hand to throw it, or do anything with it. The woman has the nerve to laugh at us as we struggle against her gifts. When she gets close enough to strike, she pulls out a dagger and stabs me in the stomach. She wants to ensure I am tortured before I die. I am hit with a burning sensation that then spreads through my whole body like fire. The dagger is silver and it is coated with wolfsbane. I suck in a deep breath before I am released from the components of the air and dropped. The dagger still inside my stomach. She turns around and looks to the crowd. Thinking that I am already dead, or close to it. But what she doesn’t know is that from all of my years of torture Fan and I have developed a larger resilience to wolfsbane and silver. When she turns around I muster up the strength and conjure up a dagger of my own and stab her neck. I pull it out and blood spray everywhere. I stand there breathing heavily and take a step back from the body. I can’t see everything that is happening around me. Everything is fading in and out.
“If they take me to the hospital, make sure to leave the knife in. It is hitting my lung. They need to stitch my lung. Transfuse my blood and let me bleed at the same time. And if they don’t, you need to run.” I mindlink Lucas. After I hear the okay from him I let my body take over and pass out.
Alarick’s POV
So far, everything is alright. LeeAca is doing really well. I can’t help but be anxious the whole time though. There is no way she will make it through unscathed. I do give her credit though, she defeated one of my head warriors.
I can’t believe that they gave the announcer position to the elder Bingly. That smug b*stard. I look over to see that Garret is calm, while Markus is on the edge of his seat.
“The next challenger is Alpha Valentina Ramira Gomez.” I suck in my breath as the woman walks out. I already know she has excelled in her gifts. Even if she wasn’t, she is one of the best fighters. As soon as the whistle squeals I see that LeeAca looks panicked. I can’t help but hold my breath. Next I see that she is hanging by her necklace. I don’t understand the significance of her necklace. It is pretty and I never see her without it, but why wear it during the challenge. Stupid woman. Onin growls in my head and won’t stop pacing. All of a sudden I see a dagger appear and her necklace falls to the ground. After it hits the ground I smell the most intoxicating scent I have ever smelt. Gardenias mixed with tropical forest rain, but also somehow sweet. Confused, I look around. I see Garret looking at me and Markus looking at him. I can’t focus on that now, I need to figure out what the hell is going on. After looking around for a minute and Onin jumping in my head like a pup, I hear another whistle squeal. I look towards the arena and Onin lets out a loud growl that makes people flinch. I am frozen in my seat. She is my mate. LeeAca is my second chance mate! How did I not know? Did she know? All these questions are swirling in my head, when I see she is suspended in the air frozen. I focus in on her and see that her eyes are glowing green. Her wolf is out. Wait. Green eyes? That isn’t normal. Then I see a dagger appear out of nowhere. How did she do that? It all clicks. She is the shadow. My anger bubbles, but so does my worry as she can’t move. I see Alyssa move closer to LeeAca and pull out a larger dagger and stab LeeAca in the stomach. Onin wants out, he grabs for control and because of all of the things going on in my head I let him have it. He stands up, but before he can make his way towards the arena there are two sets of hands holding us back. He struggles in the grip, but then falls to his knees when he sees LeeAca’s body on the ground. We haven’t felt the bond snap, but she looks dead. Alyssa is turning around and celebrating her victory, when LeeAca stands up and a dagger magically appears. She jumps toward Alyssa and stabs her in her throat, spraying blood all over. Alyssa’s eyes go wide before she falls to the ground dead. There is a collection of grasps and whispers from the crowd as LeeAca stands there holding the dagger, with the one she was stabbed with still in her stomach. After 30 seconds she falls to the ground. Onin lets out a loud sorrowful howl in my head. She is dying. Everybody is unmoving, not knowing what to do with the new information of her being the shadow.
“Take her to the hospital now!” I yell through mindlink at the guards in charge of removing the bodies. I see them quickly grab her and take off. I look over at the Elder Bingly and walk up to him. He is crying for his granddaughter.
“The challenges are over.” I say before I walk off the podium followed by Markus and Garret. As I make my way down the stairs, I see that they are replaying the last fight, zeroing in on LeeAca’s glowing green eyes. I look around the crowd and see that one by one they are all taking a knee in sign of respect and loyalty to her. I am irritated, but also proud. I feel something spread through me, extremely warm, and know it is LeeAca. I rush towards the hospital and when I get there I see the red head from the other night. Lucas I think his name is. He and my mate seemed pretty chummy last night. I growl at the thought.
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