REGINA

23. Let's do this

"We are here." Marce pulled up the jeep in front of a large gate that spelled "THE CANNIBALS" in bold letters and golden designs. It looked vintage yet beautiful with the vines wrapping the gate bars into purple and white flowers. The gates opened wide for us to enter and there were two guards in all black outfit who held the gate for us. I was looking around, not liking the judgemental eyes of those guards who peered into my blue ones. They nodded at us and we drove into the pack land. It did feel strange as the houses looked empty and there wasn't a single soul around. We drove further and came to a halt when we saw a large board which said, "parking" in red letters. There were a few other cars and Limousines under a large garage area and Marce too parked the jeep in a secure area which had our pack's name on the wall.
I picked up my stuffs and so did Marce as we headed for the Pack hall. We were ready to meet Alpha Lucas, just then a women in her thirties wearing a black dress came up to us with a bright smile on her face.
"Hello your majesty! My name is Ella and I am a servent here. I'll be escorting you to your place for the stay." She had her pale hands placed one above the other politely and constantly smiled at us.
"Hello Ella. My name is Fiona. It's nice to meet you." I shook my hand with her which she accepted, though a bit hesitantly. She nodded her head to make us follow her and led us to a huge room inside the pack hall.
"This is your room for the stay. Sir, would you like to have another room for your stay?" She asked, her eyes scanning my boyfriend up and down almost imagining him all naked.
"No Ella I'll be fine here. We have a couch here right? I'll be fine there." He said pointing at the beige couch that layed at the corner of the room.
"Sure sir. You're majesty, do call me if you want something. The red bell on your bedside table is the one you need to press to get me up to your room. Have a nice stay. Your Majesty Alpha Lucas shall meet you at the dinning table for a quick lunch." With that she was off. I locked the door and starting pulling out my stuffs when I felt Marce's hard gaze on my back.
I turned around to watch him staring at me.
"What?" 
"Nothing."
"Then why are you staring at me? Is there something on me?" I asked but he ignored it as he walked briskly towards me and turned me around.
"What are you doing?"
Without another word he hugged me, his face buried into my neck and his huge arms caging me into that warm hug. He snuggled his face further into my neck which made my neck tickle.
I gulped, " what are you doing?"
"I wanted to hug you." He mumbled and I let him be, sighing I too wrapped my arms around his neck and patted his back soothingly. After a good five minutes he decided to let go off me and  we headed downstairs to meet a smirking Lucas in his shining black shirt and pants, his hair gelled to perfection. He smiled at us and started blabbering as soon as we stood before him.
" Hello miss Fiona. It-"
"Alpha Fiona. That's what you should call me, Alpha Lucas."
He stared at me for a sec and then began laughing and wiping his non existent tears.
"Oh darling. I am such a stupid. Okay I apologise, Alpha Fiona." He chuckled. I nodded at him, not showing much interest in his babbles.
"Okay, now let's head towards the dining hall, you'll meet all your opponents and Alphas there. It's a ritual you know, to have a good time with your opponents before you go down the arena. It's like a pre game bonding, ensuring fair play an-"
"We already know that, Alpha Lucas. We need to stop with you description and start with our work. We don't have time to waste." Marce said with authority. Although he was of a lower rank but he didn't hesitate to cut Lucas off. Lucas on the other hand cleared his throat and seemed quite embarrassed.
"See Alpha Fiona, I wouldn't have let this slide if he weren't your Gamma." He said, snarling the words out while adjusting his collars.
"Respect my officials. It isn't that hard." I said.
"He too should respect an Alpha."
"You don't look like one." With that his mouth hung low and he turned to me with an eyebrow raised.
"Excuse me?"
"It's truth. Besides, I heard you are younger than Marce so he can be informal to you if there aren't any officials around. And about me? Well he's my boyfriend so he can say whatever he wants." I said walking with them, my hands crossed around my chest, my head high.
"Whatever." I heard Lucas mumble under this breath. He then led us to a large dining hall with people filled up, both younger and older men sat on one side that seemed to be the Alpha positions and to their opposites sat their representatives, the ones whom I would be fighting. Among the crowd I saw a very familiar face who was busy chugging down the wine from her glass. Her head was hung low, her dark brown hair in a mess, I noticed the ring on her index finger that had the letter L on it and the small rose tattoo on her wrist. She seemed drunk and unbothered with the babbles of the old men and other warriors. After Alpha Lucas introduced me to the other Alphas we sat down to eat and she was seated right opposite to Alpha Lucas who sat beside me. Marce sat on me right side while Lucas sat on my left. I stared at her from my seat. She looks so different. We were served various dishes and every bite I took had me thinking why she was here.  After that lunch, everyone headed to their rooms and I found myself following her . She walked in her wobbly steps, her heels dangerously on the verge of breaking. I trotted my way towards her and slide into her room right before she closed the door.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, annoyance clear in my voice.
"Wha-" she turned to face me but went all mute when she saw who was standing there.
"Fiona?" She said, her voice a mere whisper. The effect of alcohol no longer kept her tipsy and she was wide awake.
"What is this? Laila?"
"This is not what you think." She said trying to keep her distance from me.
"Then what is it? Yo-you? What are you? I thought you were a human what the hell are you doing here then? Among  the warewolves? Care to explain?"
I huffed not believing that my best friend, my sister didn't tell me. There's no way she didn't know I was a warewolf.
She seemed hesitant and tried to avoid eye contact.
"See I can explain but you need to trust me. Everything I did for you,my love, the care I took when I was around you was all true. I was never fake please know that. Yeah I have a lot to explain but what I felt for you was never an act. Please." She pleaded with her eyes and I let my anger subside, slowly I approached her and took her trembling hands in mine.
"I trust you Laila. I am just not able to understand why you are here. Please I need to know what is going on."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before revealing her story in front of me.
"Fiona, it's truth. I am a warewolf. Actually Lucas in my elder brother." She laughed sadly as if mocking her relationship with Lucas.
"What?"
"Yes. I don't like living here, fighting and enjoying things cause I am an Alpha. I wanted to live a normal life. My mum, Mylie isn't actually my mum. She's my caretaker that my father had send with me as he loved me a lot. He used to take care of all my wishes so he didn't stop me when I decided to go live like a proper human. There I met you. Actually it was my father who asked me to take you down but I saw how vulnerable and how loney you were. You seemed lost and afraid, not able to realise what kind of power you held in yourself. I was never the kind to kill people but I would have done that only for my father but  thinking of you, I felt  you needed love and a family. So I decided to live near you. My love for you was never a fraud. I loved you more than I loved my dad. You are precious to me. But when I saw Marce that day, I realised that you need to go live your life. You were meant to be an Alpha, a leader and for that I had to let you go. But I didn't expect you to be here. I was called by Lucas the other day saying that there's a crowning ceremony of some Alpha and I need to volunteer for the fight. He emotionally blackmailed me that my father wanted me to come to all the fights. It doesn't matter if I fight or not. It's a ritual and we need to show the gratitude towards the new Alpha. I came just for my father's sake."
"But you know right? That your father's dead?" I asked, a bit harshly.
"Yes. Lucas killed him for the throne. I came here cause I thought that maybe someone out there will kill Lucas today. I came here to see his downfall." She said, sighing deeply.
"This doesn't explain as to why you kept calling me asking where I was. You already knew it. Why pretend that you didn't know."
"Other than Marce and your pack's name, I know nothing. I didn't know where you lived. I didn't know if you were okay. My love and concern were real. Trust me. I never pretended to love you. My love was genuine and I didn't even know that I would meet you here. Why are you here? As far as I know this fight and tournament is for the packs who cannot decide who will be their Alpha but I know you are your parents' only child, that ultimately makes you the Alpha. Shouldn't your father have been with you. You are a guest right?"
She asked with concern. Her eyes turned big and tears threatened to fall from them.
"Well your brother and other Alphas do not want me, a female to be an Alpha. They think I am incapable so they organised this fight for me to win and proclaim my position. I trained for this fight. It's my test."
"What the actual heck? Has they all gone mad? Seriously they are sick. Mentally sick. Listen Fiona, you don't have to fight to show your power and position. You deserve your position. What the actual heck is going on!"
" I don't know. All I know is that I'll give them a good lesson. They'll learn not to disrespect a girl again." I said with determination but Laila was shaking her head.
"No! No! You don't understand. This isn't easy. You'll face some really dreaded warriors there who know nothing good. They'll kill you." She hugged me tightly, crying. She was shaking and kept on saying "no!"
I patted her back and told her that I would be fine.
"Trust me I have trained everyday for this. Now don't break my confidence. I know I'll do good." I smiled at her but she kept her horrified expression on.
"Listen listen. If anything happens and you seem to loose the game, just raise two fingers on the air. I'll come to your rescue. I am not that strong but trust me I have other tricks to save you. You can't back off at this moment so make sure you save yourself from those dreaded people. Understood?" She told, her hands on top of mine. Her eyes watery and body shaking.
I smiled at her and nodded. "I will."
For the next few minutes we sat in her room and exactly at four in the evening we were called for the tournament.
Let's do this.  I thought to myself as I stood from the couch and made my way out. Marce joined me with my duffle bag. We were again escorted by Emma who took us out into a place that looked like a stadium.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, watching the audience with awe. The entire arena was crowded and before I could comprehend my position, I heard my name being called along side my opponent, Mike.
LET'S BEGIN. with a loud thump, I saw a large muscular bull like man walk into the arena before me. He licked his lips and looked around the arena, ignoring me as if I didn't exist. He then turned to me, observing me for a second and then laughing at me he addressed the people around.
"You want me to fight this chick? Oh man! She's tiny. Look at her! I think it's a joke being done here with me. Okay that's funny, bring the real fighter." He said laughing again,all amused by the looks I was delivering towards him. I stood my position and yelled at him.

"Hey you! Why don't you just try me out? Are you scared of me? Let's see if it's a joke for you or not. Bring it on." I stood there with my fists up.

He chuckled and then ran towards me with a bit of laziness in his body. I waited for him to come near and when he did, he tried to punch me on my face but my reflexes worked like lightning and BOOM! I laid a punch on his lower jaw which made a loud cracking noise,making the arena go cold. He was too shocked to act that he fell down due to the impact. Watching him fall down I quickly turned my body and kicked him hard on his sides and before he could do anything I laid a punched his groin area and with that he was off.
I rolled my wrists as I stood up, dusting my pants up and smiled towards Marce who looked at me proudly.
It has began now.