Page 114 of Game of Destiny
“Avoid things that need me twirling like a ballerina,” Ramses said. We all laughed. I brushed water out of my face and looked at the beams. I started moving through them, knowing the others were watching me, trying to remember the path I was taking. Once or twice, I needed to stop to look at different options and ask the others how it looked from their angle. It felt like it took forever, but I landed on the marked area by the second door. A green light switched on.
“Next one!” I called. Finlay was next. He was an impressive Alpha, but he wasn’t built for this kind of thing. He needed to move even slower than me to make sure no part of his large, well built body interfered with the lasers. It was a treat to be able towatch his body as it twisted and flexed. The water which made our clothes cling to our bodies, didn’t help. A couple of times I had to call for him to stop before he would break the lasers. He made it to my end and a green light turned on.
‘Well done,’ I mind linked him as we focused on Jake.
‘I think we need one of these at home. It was interesting to watch you move through it. We should do it again in a more private setting,’ he told me.
‘I’m game as long as we both do it,’ I agreed. He looked at me. First with surprise and then with a grin. Jake made it through with no difficulty. His more lean build was an advantage here. Next it was Ramses’ turn. I worried about his shoulder and him putting too much weight on it. It was clear he hadn’t regained all his mobility in it.
Ramses had almost made it when he needed to put most of his weight on his right arm. I saw the shaking in his arms and then it collapsed under him, making him go through two lasers. The red light turned on. Ramses swore out loud and walked to our side. I placed my hand on his good shoulder. He looked at me and nodded, letting me know he was okay. That left Sam to go next.
“Just take it slow and easy,” Finlay called to him. Sam nodded and started making his way through. Like Finlay, his build caused him issues. But it was obvious he trained regularly and kept his muscles flexible. It took him a while and we all helped him as much as we could. He landed in a less than graceful manner at our feet and a green light came on.
“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 Gammatook 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.
