Page 78 of Game of Destiny

“Congratulations, four out of five members got through the lasers. Please join the rest of the pack for the remainder of the game,” the voice said.

I was happy to get out of the constant rain.

We were soaked as we got to the viewing room.

Matilda looked amused as she handed us a change of clothes she always had in case we shifted.

We stripped and got dry clothes on before taking our seats.

“Interesting tactics,” Matilda said. “This is turning out to be ‘how to kill yourself in a small room’ game,” she continued.

We watched the ten screens projecting the other teams, one was black.

The others showed different solutions to see the beams. Everything from fires to turning off all the lights in the room to using the sprinkler system.

Some just tried without seeing the beams. I moved a little closer to Finlay.

Even though I was a werewolf and ran hot, a little over an hour in cold water had chilled me. And Finlay was a nice space heater.

‘Are you cold?’ he asked.

‘A little,’ I confessed. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer.

“This will be interesting,” Hugo said. We looked at the screen he was watching and saw Finlay’s brother walk into the room with his gamma and two warriors.

They started to talk, there was no sound so we couldn’t hear what they were saying.

But they clearly didn’t agree on something.

One of them pulled a lighter and some cigarettes out of his pocket.

It was rare to see a werewolf who smoked.

It messed with your sense of smell. He lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke towards the beam.

The smoke revealed it. He left the pack of cigarettes and the lighter behind and started to move through the beams. His massive size was a disadvantage as he needed big gaps in the beams to get through and he wasn’t graceful.

It took longer than he expected and in the middle of the room, his cigarette went out.

‘What will they do now?’ I asked the others in a mindlink.

‘They need to get another to him,’ Jake said.

“That will risk breaking a beam,’ Sam said.

‘One of the others should make his way to him with extra cigarettes,’ Hugo said.

‘If he moves faster than the first, they could use the lit cigarette to light two more,’ Jake agreed. We all watched as the Gamma took the pack, put the lighter into it and threw it to his pack mate.

‘What the fuck?’ Finlay asked as the red light turned on, indicating a beam had been broken. The warrior in the middle of the room took the pack, threw it back and walked to the other side of the room.

‘They are one man short, they should be more careful,’ Ramses pointed out.

‘It almost looks like they have already given up on this game,’ I said. In the end, the Ocean shore pack walked out with one green light and three red ones.

‘He won’t be in a better mood after that disaster,’ Finlay mindlinked me.

‘Probably not,’ I agreed. ‘Do you think we should expect something?’

‘I think we are already alert enough as it is. I have been looking forward to this game since I founded the pack. Now I just want it to be over,’ he said. His words mirrored my own at the start of the day.

‘I felt the same way,’ I confessed and leaned a little more into his side.

‘You have changed your mind?’ he asked.

‘We are doing so well. It’s kind of fun to kick everyone’s ass,’ I told him. Finlay chuckled. Someone loudly cleared their throat close by. We all looked up and saw Alpha James standing at the end of the row of seats we were sitting in. He was staring daggers at Finlay.

“Alpha James, I hope the game went well,” Finlay said in a tone far more relaxed than he was. From the corner of my eye, I could see Elder standing up and making his way towards us.

“Do you think that is appropriate?” James asked, pretending Finlay hadn’t asked him a question. At first I was confused, then I saw him looking at Finlay’s hand resting on my shoulder.

“I do. Amie was cold after spending an hour being sprayed by cold water. Since we aren’t allowed to leave until all packs have finished the game, this is the best solution to warm her,” Finlay calmly said.

James was about to say something, it wouldn’t be something nice by the look in his eyes, but Elder had managed to arrive just in time.

“Thank you for looking after my little sister, Alpha Finlay. Really Amie, did you have to drown yourself?” my brother said in a joking manner.

“I did. How did you make the beams visible?” I asked.

“Easy, smoke,” he said, casually leaning his arm on James’ shoulder.

“Right. Better to suffocate than being cold,” I told him. We looked at each other and laughed.

“We need to get back to our pack, Becky has sandwiches ready. Take care, little sister,” Elder said.

“You too, big brother. Give Becky a hug from me.”

“Oh that is something I’m more than willing to do,” he told me, wiggled his eyebrows and turned to walk away.

“Gross,” I called after him and I heard him chuckle as he more or less towed his Alpha away.

“Nicely handled,” Matilda told me and gave me a cookie.

“Thank you,” I said and happily munched it down.

“What about me? I should get a cookie for not killing the Alpha,” Finlay whined. Sometimes I could swear he was five years old.

“Yes, you should. It was very nice of you,” Matilda agreed and gave him a cookie as well. When he wasn’t looking, she rolled her eyes at me, making me giggle.

‘What’s funny?’ Finlay asked in our mindlink.

‘Nothing,’ I told him. He looked down at me and smiled, but didn’t ask me for more details.