Into the Arena

Chapter 4

Chapter 4


Snarls and growls filled the air as the males circled each other, preparing to battle for ranks in the pack. It seemed so out of order, they needed a leader. Naturally, the alpha position should be decided first. I was surprised a male hadn't declared his place as leader yet. There would be no other way to establish a ruler.

A russet brown wolf nipped at the heels of a light grey wolf, and the grey wolf lunged onto his attacker with a fit of growls. Another pair of wolfs attacked and soon there was a free-for-all between the fighting males. Blood was being spilled amongst all the chaos, and nobody was getting anywhere in establishing ranks.

Suddenly, there was a growl louder and more menacing than the others that permitted the air, and most of the male wolfs stopped fighting and lifted their heads searching for the one who made the sound. I also turned my head away from the battle, sensing more of a threat from the loud wolf rather than the whole pack of males below me.

Standing on the fallen log formerly used as a pedestal by the redhead woman was a large black wolf. His size exceeded the size of any of the other wolfs here, and to me he even seemed to be bigger than my fathers wolf was. Size told a lot about the strength of the wolf, and this wolf's size was impressive.

He started to shift into his human form and I ducked my head, shielding my eyes from view. I wasn't interested in seeing this future alpha naked, I wanted to keep what little modestly I had. But shielding my eyes didn't help guard me from hearing his voice.

"Fighting each other like this will do nothing in deciding ranks," his voice boomed, " you all know we must decide Alpha before we can proceed."

His voice was deep and strong, and it boomed through the forest. None of the wolves faltered, and some nodded their head in agreement.

"I will lead you. I am Alpha. Anyone who believes differently may challenge me , but to challenge me will be to forfeit your life."

None of the wolves stepped forward. I don't blame them, none by the looks of it could take down the Alpha who I assumed looked impressive standing on the log.

"Good. Now, who of you believe yourselves loyal and strong enough to be my Beta?"

I heard the shuffling of many feet, and the grunts of some of the wolves.

"Then you shall fight, and I will decide. Begin."

Snarls once again filled the air and I forced myself to keep my head down, not wanting to catch an accidental glance of the Alpha while watching the fight happening.

Instead I tried to separate myself from the situation. To curl myself hard around my backpack so it's forest green color would be mistake for leaves and not it's true form. To lay as still as possible so I looked like the snow on the branches.

I tried to feel a connection to any of the wolves below me, see if I could feel my potential mate down there. So that if anything went wrong, I would have a general direction to run in to find protecting arms.

I did feel the need to go to the East, but I just assumed that was the pull to the gates of the Arena. The pull to escape, the real truth of it was that I wouldn't find any male down below who was my mate. And I would die if I got caught.

My prettyish looks wouldn't do anything to help me. I was pretty, but not a heartthrob. And from looking at all those girls entering the Arena there were plenty of heartthrobs for the men to pick from. I bet the redhead will turn out to be the Luna. Her red wolf would look fierce next to the large black one. Fire and ash, it would be a perfect match.

My own white wolf would look good only alone. Which is how I planned to stay once I escaped this damn hell hole. I peaches open one of my eyes and looked to the East, ignoring the spectacle going down on the ground.

The nearest tree to me was a large leap away, in my wolf form I could do it, but not silently enough that I wouldn't catch attention. There was a tree closer to me to the West but that would be heading in the opposite direction I needed to go.

My best bet at this point would be to wait until the males finished fighting and moved on. I contemplated getting sleep, since I had gotten none the night before. I was wary since the males were RIGHT under me, but my wolf made me feel calm. They hadn't noticed me until now, and I wouldn't be seen if I just took a short nap.

I closed my eyes and drifted off. I wouldn't be getting any sleep for the rest of the week, might as well stock up while I can.

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This is really short. Whatever. Two updates in the span of a few days though? That's pretty good for me, you got to admit. The next chapter will be longer, I'm going to g work on the next chapter of The Mating Tournament now