Page 84 of Game of Destiny

‘He’s a good Alpha. We usually get along.

He’s strong, but I think he will fight fair.

It will be an interesting match,’ Finlay told me.

I was about to tell him again how much I hated this game when his face grew dark.

I looked at what he was reading. I was to face one of the warriors of his old pack.

I felt myself going pale. I had been insisting the brutes from the Ocean shore pack wouldn’t be as dominant as everyone thought, but now I admitted to being royally screwed.

‘You will step out of the ring the second the signal goes off,’ Finlay told me.

‘I might win,’ I insisted. Mostly because I hated the thought of surrendering, not so much because I believed it.

‘Red, nothing is worth you taking that risk. We know they are not going to play fair,’ he told me.

‘They won’t win anything if they go after me. It’s not like they will take me out of commission for the rest of the games, this is the last one,’ I said. Finlay sighed and rubbed his eyes.

‘At this point, I’m guessing they are pissed enough not to care anymore. They just want to cause harm to us. You will give up the fight. This is not about you being strong or not. This is about you not getting hurt and me not losing my mind.’

‘I will give up as soon as I see it going south,’ I agreed.

‘Red.’

‘It’s the best I can do.’

‘Fine. I’m never letting you go to one of these things ever again. Just so you know,’ he told me. I raised an eyebrow.

‘As if you could stop me,’ I told him. He looked like a dark storm cloud until he suddenly smirked.

‘I’ll just make sure you will be pregnant with my pup. Pregnant wolves are not allowed,’ he told me. I could hear the smugness, as he had found a perfect solution in his mind. I blushed. We had never talked about pups and this was the moment he brought it up.

‘Idiot,’ I told him and pushed past him to head to my next match. I couldn’t help but to smile.

‘Are you sure about this?’ Matilda asked as she walked with me. She sounded worried, which was not like her.

‘No. I’m thinking this will be a short fight,’ I told her.

‘Don’t be stubborn. You know I love that side of you, but all in moderation.

’ I nodded as we reached the stage where I would be fighting.

As I made my way onto the platform, I looked at my opponent.

He looked even bigger up close. I felt like an ant.

Maybe I should listen to Finlay for once and just give up as soon as the match started.

My ribs still hurt from my last fight, and even if I knew they would heal and I would be as good as new after a night’s sleep.

I also knew that right now, my injury was limiting me.

The way he looked at me gave me a bad feeling in my gut.

He looked mad and the match hadn’t even started.

We took our starting poses and the starting signal sounded.

I moved backwards, away from my opponent.

I had about ten steps to the edge. This should be over soon.

I had taken two steps when he charged at me.

I tried to move to the side, avoiding him.

Too late I understood he wasn’t charging in order to attack me.

He was trying to keep me from reaching the edge of the circle.

He grabbed my wrist and swung me closer to the middle.

“You won’t get away, bitch. You will stay and let me play with you.

My Alpha told me I needed to mess you up good.

It will get his brother unhinged and ensure he doesn't move up in the game,” he whispered to me.

My insides turned to ice. I finally decided to give up and he wouldn’t let me?

I yanked my wrist out of the warrior's grip and moved away from him.

He circled around me in a way which had me in the middle of the fighting area.

As soon as I tried to move closer to the edge, he attacked me.

I managed to dodge most of his attacks, but even the ones that barely skimmed me had a real kick to them. This was becoming a real issue.

“He is intentionally keeping her in the middle,” I heard Matilda telling the official watching over the match.

“There is nothing in the rules saying he needs to let her step out of the match,” he answered her.

The match seemed to go on forever. I had managed to get a hit or two on him.

I took some pride from the fact he was limping slightly from me getting a good hit on his left knee.

At the same time I had to be honest with myself, I was losing and it would only get worse.

My energy was still high enough for me to block or avoid most of his attacks, but I was starting to fade.

As I moved around in the ring, I saw Finlay had joined Matilda and he looked like he was going to kill my opponent.

I needed to end this before I got so tired I made an easy target.

I knew he wouldn’t end the fight quickly.

At some point Finlay would step in, I knew it in my soul, he wouldn’t be able to stand to the side and watch the warrior pummel me into pulp.

I had a plan, it was risky and I hated it, but it was the only one I had.

I charged the giant warrior and as I leaped at him, I shifted into my wolf.

My wolf knew her assignment and bared her teeth.

The warrior acted out of instinct to protect himself from what he perceived to be a full out attack on his life.

He aimed a skilful kick at me and I did nothing to avoid or block it.

I braced for the hit and felt his heel connect to my already bruised side.

I could hear the ribs breaking and feel the pain radiating through my body.

The hit halted my forward motion and instead sent me flying backwards.

My wolf curled into a tight ball for the impact and when I hit the mat, I continued rolling.

With a last thump, I rolled off the mat and down on the ground.

I heard the warrior cry out in frustration at letting me escape and Finlay and Matilda were calling my name. Finlay was kneeling beside me.

‘I’m okay,’ I mindlinked both of them. I remained on the ground, needing a moment for the pain to ease back and for me to catch my breath.

‘I’m going to kill him,’ Finlay told me. His hands were hovering over my side and head, barely skimming my fur, as if he was afraid to touch me.

‘Do it and I will kill you. I just took a hit to avoid that scenario. Don’t let it be for nothing,’ I said.

‘He is not going to do anything stupid. He is going to march to his next match and let me take care of you. I have a change of clothes and Hugo is heading over here to patch you up,’ Matilda decided.

‘She will be good as new when your match is over,’ she added to Finlay.

I looked at him and I could see the pain, worry, and anger in his eyes.

‘Use it all to win,’ I told him in our private link. He nodded and got up. Shortly after he left, Ramses and Hugo came walking. They hurried over to me and Hugo gently examined me.

‘You have a couple of broken ribs that should be stabilised until they heal. It’s best if we do it in your human form.

It will hurt to shift,’ he told me. I scoffed because everything hurt at the moment.

I regretted scoffing the moment a wave of new pain washed over me.

I sat up and shifted. Hugo hadn’t been kidding.

Shifting had not been painful since my first time, but now I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming as I took my human form.

Matilda helped me put on an oversized t-shirt and Ramses gently helped me to stand up. I saw his shoulder was patched up.

‘New or old injury?’ I asked him as we walked over to some tents set up for the healers to work in.

‘Old,’ he said, sounding less than happy. ‘It made me lose my match.’

‘That leaves Sam and Finlay.’

‘They will do us all proud,’ he told me as he helped me sit down on a chair and then pulled a screen across, leaving me and Hugo in some kind of privacy.

Hugo helped me off with the t-shirt and wrapped my ribs tightly.

At one point, I was convinced he was trying to kill me.

He took a look at my other injuries. Mostly bruises.

‘How long before I’m healed?’ I asked.

‘You are healthy and strong and haven’t taken too much of a beating in the games.

I would say your body will mostly be back to normal by tomorrow,’ Hugo told me as he helped me dress in the oversized t-shirt.

I didn’t want anything tight on my body at the moment, so it would do. I slipped my feet into slippers.

‘I am looking forward to tomorrow's formal dinner and especially the dancing part of it,’ I said.

‘You will be healed by then,’ he told me with a smile. Matilda and Ramses were waiting for us.

“Should we go and see what else is happening?” Ramses said out loud.

“Sure,” I agreed. We walked out of the tent and headed in amongst the fighting rings. We hadn’t walked far when I spotted Becky. I looked up at the ring and saw my brother fighting another male. I walked up to Becky and took her hand.

“Amie! Oh thank the goddess. I hate this. It’s his fifth fight and I feel like killing each one of his opponents,” she told me. I squeezed her hand, I would have given her a hug, but my body would likely break if she hugged me too tight.

“I'm out so I can stay and watch this one with you,” I offered and introduced her to Ramses and Matilda. Watching my brother fight was horrible. I understood what Becky had told me. Each blow against him had my gut clenching, each hit which connected with him had me wanting to claw at the other man. In the end, Elder managed to land a round kick at his opponent’s head which rendered him unconscious and Elder was proclaimed the winner.

Becky hurried over to him as he stepped off the platform.