Filed To Story: Secret with Betas Daughter: Skylar Story Series
He hands mea clipboard that asks for basic information, like my name, contact info and pack affiliation.
At 10 all the competitors start to show up. I have no idea what the actual number is, but there are about a hundred people here of all ages. Once everyone is signed in, they divide us into groups. The high schoolers who are just here for exhibition purposes, those 20-30 and then anyone over 30. Since we age more slowly than humans do, our fighters continue until well into their seventies without issue. They don’t divide male and female though, which I appreciate. There are a fair amount of females here, but we are far outnumbered by the men.
“Now that you are all in your groups”
Warrior Nickloas calls out, “We will send you to your designated area. Once there we will pair you at random to spare one on one, two on one and wolf to human. Listen for instructions, the pace will go quickly. You will be ranked on many different aspects, but most of all your ability to not get submitted by your opponent. From there we will combine the groups, put you in order of rank and spar again, once that round is complete we will make our first round of cuts, then the gauntlet. Alright, let’s go.
A hand shoots up from the crowd over in the 20-30 year old group. “When will we break for meals during all of this?”
A high male voice asks and I have to fight an eye roll.
“You won’t, this is not a leisure training, you are about to fight for your life. If you are not prepared to do that, the gate to the spectators is that way.
Warrior Nickolas turns and walks away without another word or to see if Wimpy sticks around or not.
A low murmur comes over all the contestants. I figured as much, you don’t get breaks and days off as an Elite Warrior. This is what he meant by packs sending whoever and them not even being ready to train.
We all file to our respective designated areas. The crowd is loud and someone has clearly fired them up.
I chanced a look at the Alpha’s box which has low walls blocking them from the rest of the crowd. The Alpha, Luna, Alpha King and Luna Queen are sitting in the top row, with two soldiers sitting behind the ALpha King. The rest of our pack’s ranked members are sitting in the row in front of them along with, I assume, more warriors or ranked members of the Alpha King. In the very front row is my crew all clapping and cheering me on, and in Sam’s case obnoxiously loudly. I also notice Kaley found a way to sit right in front of where the twins are to make it appear that she is close to them, the only thing separating them is the three foot wall behind her. | just roll my eyes and tune everything out.
Each group has two Elite Warriors giving out instructions and pairing us off. My first opponent is a guy I have never seen before, but about Oliver’s size.
He smiles and says hi’ and tries to tell me his name. I just nod in response and move to my side of our fighting circle. I’m not here to make friends, just to see what I am actually capable of.
A horn blows from somewhere and everything becomes a blur. Arms are flying, legs kicking, bodies being thrown in every direction.
No one is screaming or shouting in pain, no true warrior would do that, but there are lots of grunts and groans and muffled sounds of discomfort. I have no idea how long I fight with my first opponent, who is big and very strong, but not fast enough to get any real hitson me, when the two warriors walk up, tap us on the shoulder and point us each in another direction. I have anew target and don’t hesitate.
This goes on for so long, fight, tap, change opponent, I have lost track of how many opponents I have had, but I do notice the field is becoming more and more open, like we are gaining space. I shove that thought to the back of my mind for now and will ask the guys later.
When I feel like I am going to pass out from exhaustion, dehydration, hunger or maybe all three at the same time, someone runs by me and tosses a bag and then disappears in the crowd before I even catch it. The two people I was fighting have disappeared too. 1 look around to make sure another person hasn’t been sent to attack me before I look down at the bag.
It contains a bright yellow shirt, food rations, a bottle of water and a first aid kit. Most of it makes sense, the shirt I’m not sure about though.
“Find your respective colors’ corner and follow the instructions while you refuel.”
Warrior Nickolas’voice booms over a bull horn.
I head to the corner of the arena that has a yellow flag. Three other people joined me. My first sparring partner who seems to have done well for himself, he doesn’t look like he sustained many injuries. A poor guy who looks like he has been a human punching bag for everyone stumbles over. He has acut across his right eyebrow that is bleeding into his eye, his nose is for sure broken and his lip is split and bleeding.
His whole face is going to be bruised soon, I hope his eyes don’t swell shut while we are trying to complete this course. The girl is one of the last opponents I had and she was giving me a run for my money. None of them look to be current students so maybe in the 20-30 group.
I start to wonder why I was put with a group of people actually competing for a training spot when Warrior Nickolas announces, “You have five minutes to strategize and tend to wounds, then the horn will blow. From then you will have 30 minutes to complete your task.
“What task?”
The girl asks as we all do the obvious and put on our team shirts.I dump my bag and so does my first fighter. Where I have a first aid kit he has rope.
“Check your bags, we all have different things and come here,”
I gestured to the injured guy, ” Let me reset your nose so it can at least start to heal.
The girl dumps her bag and a card falls out. The only thing on it is Capture The Flag.’ My eyes light up, yes!
“What’s got you looking so happy?”
First guy asks.
“It’s my favorite game. Looks like this is a team effort. You are the tallest, can you see where they may have hung the yellow flag?”
I ask while I am still tending to injured guy. “My name is Sky.
Injured guy looks at me, “I’m Jeff, how’d you learn to do this?
“You can flirt with her later, I see it, I’m Lillian, can he move yet?”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.