Page 121 of Game of Destiny
‘Wait, no,’ I objected. Finlay gave me a look. ‘No, listen to me. I do not belong in group E. I should be in group C, I’m the Beta.’
‘Amie, leave this to us,’ Sam said.
‘I will kick all of your asses if you don’t stop patronising me. I’m not kidding. Medow will understand when I explain, as will Shelly. I have no issues making you all walk funny,’ I told them. They all looked towards Finlay. ‘Don’t look at him, he will be right there with you.’
‘Amie, you can get seriously hurt,’ he told me in our private mindlink.
‘I know. I’m still Beta and I refuse to be shoved aside.’
‘Amie in group D and Jake in group E,’ Finlay told us.
‘Sorry,’ I told Jake. He shrugged.
‘I’ll just do the best I can,’ he said. As the official came to collect our names for the different groups, he asked us to leave the stadium and follow the warriors to where the fights were to be held. I walked next to Finlay.
‘You have to be careful,’ I told him.
‘Me? Don’t worry, I’m strong and well trained,’ he said.
‘I know. But so are most of the Alphas here. This is the last game. After this, I can officially accept the rejection. Then we will go home and I refuse to think we have gone through all of this just for you to be injured,’ I told him.
‘I will do my best. I have a date tomorrow I’m looking forward to.’ We were led to an area of the woods where, in between the tall, straight tree trunks, a large number of fighting stages had been set up. It looked to be around fifty of them.
‘I don’t like this,’ Ramses said.
‘A lot can go wrong,’ Jake agreed.
‘Remember, if you think someone is going for your life or to seriously injure you, step out of the ring. We would rather take a low score than lose someone,’ Finlay told us. We all nodded. Five big screens had been set up, one for each group. It showed who was fighting who. I looked over the screens and could see none of us were fighting a member of the Ocean shore pack. At least not in the first round. That was a relief. I worried about Finlay going up against his brother, or James. I was happy knowing my brother would probably be in group B or C which meant I didn’t need to face him. There was one additional thing that was different from the other games. The support staff were free to move around the fighting stages, it meant the participants weren’t as isolated as before. Matilda walked up to our team and stood by my side. I smiled at her.
‘Matilda will be staying with you,’ Finlay told me.
‘Why am I getting an escort?’
‘Because we can’t stick together in the team and there are at least two packs I don’t trust at the moment. Just agree with me on this so I don’t need to worry,’ he told me.
‘I’m only agreeing to it because I don’t want you to be distracted.’
‘Thank you.’ It felt strange to split from the team as Matilda and I made our way to the fighting stage where I would face my first opponent.
‘I honestly have no idea what they were thinking, deciding this was a good final game. It’s as if they want to see wolves getting hurt,’ Matilda mindlinked me.
‘Yeah, I’m not too fond of it either,’ I agreed. To be honest, I was nervous. I knew I could handle myself in a fight, but I only had to use it once. I had insisted I could do this. I didn’t want to be bumped out in the first fight.
Each fighting stage had an official assigned to it. Their job was to make sure we followed the rules and to count down when we had our opponent in a hold. At least there were some security measures in place, I thought as I stepped onto the platform I had been assigned to for my first fight. On the other side another woman stepped up. She was assessing me like I did with her. My opponent looked trained and the way she looked at me showed intelligence. It wouldn’t be an easy win. The signal sounded, marking the start of the fight. We slowly circled each other, not looking away. Both ready to defend ourselves if necessary. She made the first move and charged at me. Keeping her centre of gravity low, bending her upper body as she came at me. I understood she was trying to push me out of the fighting circle. I stepped to the right and bent my left leg, pulling it slightly upward. My opponent did most of the work for me as her forward momento drove her face into my knee.
“Fuck,” she growled and tried to stem the nosebleed with her hand. I made the next attack, hoping she would be unfocused.She wasn’t and blocked my attack. Her nose stopped bleeding after a minute, but she looked feral with the blood-streaked face and top. We continued to circle each other, trying to find an opening, making attacks to test the other’s weak points. We were a good match as we seemed equal in strength and skill. It worried me as I didn’t want to spend too much time on this fight. It was the first of hopefully many. I couldn’t afford to waste my energy. My opponent attacked again, and I saw my opening. I sidestepped to the left, taking her off guard and as she tried to adjust her movement, I curled into a ball which had her torso move in over me. I rolled onto my back and her eyes grew bigger as she realised what I was about to do, but she had no way to stop me. When she was above me, I kicked out with my feet. I caught her in the stomach and sent her into a somersault. She landed on her back, on the ground outside of the circle. I smiled as I got to my feet. I was announced as the winner. I walked up to my opponent and reached out my hand.
“Good fight,” I said. She shook my hand.
“Yeah, nice move. I didn’t think someone would go down in order to win. I will remember it,” she told me.
‘Good work,’ Matilda mindlinked me when I walked over to her.
‘Thank you. How are the others doing?’ I asked. Before she could reply, Finlay and Sam came walking.
‘All of you have won your first rounds,’ Matilda told us. ‘Jake and Ramses are just starting theirs.’ We walked over to the boards. We all had a break before our second match as the first round matches were still ongoing.
‘I’ll head over and watch Jake,’ I told them. Me and Matilda headed over to where he was fighting and Finlay and Sam headed for Ramses. Jake was in better shape than I expected. His training had made a big difference and he won his fight without breaking a sweat.
