The Challenge

Even if everyone else had already forgotten, it would be impossible for me to forget. That fateful day Mother and I and little Stacy tagged along with Dad to the palace where he was invited for an Alpha meeting. We lost Stacy that day, the sweet little charming girl. 

I knew who did it, in fact I watched it happen and it was still so vivid in my head. But no matter how loud, how desperate I screamed and pointed at him, the culprit, they called me a liar and a delusional little child. Why? He was the crown prince and cannot be touched. 

Now he has become King. I swore revenge. It’s blood or blood. The only way to get closer to the King without suspicion is to take part in the King’s game, win and become his shadow and so I have trained all day and all night to be strong enough to take on that position by his side and from that very position, torture awaits him. I will torment him until he runs mad and dies from the inside before i finally kill him physically and then, I would escape like nothing happened just like he did with Stacy’s death.

…..

“Gabi!! You can do it!”

“Go get her sweetheart!”

“I believe in you!”

I looked outside the ring where I could see my family cheering me on. Wrapping the gauze tight around my hand and lowering my knees in a pose for attack , I snarled at my opponent and she bared her canines back at me before Sam blew the whistle. None of us wasted a single moment going for each other’s throat. 

Tearing, slashing, hitting. Blood spewed everywhere, growls sounded and skins were torn apart.

I won yet another match and while everyone celebrated and threw a party, I wasn’t interested. So I excused myself, finding my way to a quiet place where I could be alone with my thoughts.

I took in a deep breath, hearing the rush of water beneath me, the calm waves that came and went every minute. 

But this moment of calmness could only last for a while.

“Gabi?” I didn’t need to open my eyes to know who that voice belonged to. My brother Aiden and my mentor whom I loved to call the God of war. He taught me everything I knew today.

“Aiden?” I whispered, opening my eyes to meet his forced smile as he handed me a bunch of flowers. I could immediately tell something was not right.

“Congratulations. You won another match. At this rate, you might really become the King’s shadow.”

Not ‘might’. I must. And nothing is going to stop me.

“Thank you.” I said, frowning when I noticed the sour look on his face.

“Is there something wrong?”

Aiden nodded and I could feel my pulse quickening. “You need to make a big decision tonight. Dad and the other Alpha’s are waiting for you in Dad’s office.”

I knew something grave had to have happened if Aiden of all people was talking like this so I didn’t waste any time, dropping the flowers in his hand as I headed straight to Dad’s office and Aiden followed behind me.

I knocked twice before I pushed the door open to meet all the old faces in the room. I nodded to them in greeting and they smiled back as I took a seat opposite Dad and Aiden took the one next to me.

“What’s going on?” Everyone knew I didn’t like to waste time beating around the bush.

The air around was strange that even my wolf Isla had to comment on it. 

“Is there something wrong, Dad?” I asked, seeing how he was hesitating to speak.

And after a long time, he announced “Someone

stepped forward to challenge you” Dad announced “She’s also going to be taking part in the King’s game”

My eyes gleamed with excitement hearing this news and I took a sigh, licking my lips as I tried to hide it.

“It’s good news isn’t it? Why does everyone look so down?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking who challenged you?” Aiden glanced at me.

Does it matter? It’s not like I was going to reject whoever it was but then I still asked. “Who is it?”

Dad took in a deep sigh, sitting up properly “A beast Gabriella. A malicious beast. I’m afraid this is a part of their plan to eliminate you from the King’s game.”

A beast? I still don’t know who it is. We all know that becoming the King’s shadow wasn’t something that would be so simple. There would be politicians who would want their own people next to the King and so they would do everything to eliminate people who actually have the real capabilities and many of them must’ve heard about me by now. Who wouldn’t want to sit on such an incredulous power? 

“Gabi?” Aiden called and I looked at him. His face was really grim as if he knew we were about to lose one of us. “Don’t you know who that means?”

“Who?” I bet I seemed really dumb as I asked this question everyone else already knew.

“Lorelei” he whispered and I froze immediately. All the confidence I had previously all went down the drain. My eyes widened, goosebumps spread down my arms quickly and my heart picked up speed as I gulped a mouthful of saliva.

“W-who was it again?” I asked just in case my ears failed me the first time but it turned out I heard correctly.

“It’s Lorelei, Gabriella” Dad repeated.

My fist clenched tightly. Lorelei has never shown interest in taking part in the King’s game so I was never worried about her until now— this completely changes everything.

Only one more game before we reach the finals but now, I might die in that woman’s hands before I even advanced further.

“She won’t be accepting this challenge” Aiden told Dad as if that was a given. None of them supported the idea to go against that woman. The goddess of death.

She was called that because whoever stood in front of her always ends up losing their lives. No one ever wanted to cross paths with her. She was ruthless in every game she played, merciless against her enemies, stronger than even most of the male warriors and… she had never lost a game.

Game. This is what we call our matches here.

“Say you won’t do it.” My wolf tested, as if somehow she could manage to convince me. I bet she was happy knowing that I was in a dilemma. She was all about fun and seeing me suffer brought her the greatest joy. A weird relationship we had but that was just how we got along.

I tapped my hand slowly on Dad’s table as I settled deep in my thoughts. I have come too far to give up halfway. Everyone knew this and that was why they were a bit afraid of my decision today.

“I accept the challenge!” I announced, shocking everyone but most especially, my Wolf.

“Are you crazy?” She yelled. “You will be heading straight to your death!” 

“Our death.” I reminded her.

Murmurs filled the room.

“Gabriella, you need to think about this again” Dad started “You cannot take on a person-”

I stood from my seat, unwilling to hear the rest of his words “I am not changing my mind, Dad. Imagine if I manage to take Lorelei down? The glory it would bring me…” I started to imagine the scene of me taking her down. The thought filled me with so much joy.

“In your dreams right?” Aiden scoffed, quickly bringing me back from my fantasies. “I actually thought you would make a wiser decision.” Then he glanced at Dad “She won’t be accepting this challenge” he announced to Dad, held my hand and started to drag me out.

“Let go of me. What’s wrong with you?!” I took my hands away from his and glared as he closed the door to Dad’s office.

We were now standing outside.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

“Of course I do” I answered “Do you think I didn’t think this through before accepting the challenge?”

“You thought it through?” Aiden gave a mocking laugh at me. It was the first time I was seeing him reacting this way “You answered in less than two minutes and you thought it through? You expect me to believe that shit?!”

Okay. He never used a curse word before and this definitely was scaring me.

“A lot goes on in two minutes, Aiden” I stared at him and sighed “You know I never like to waste my time”

“Which has caused you to always be impulsive”

“And that impulsiveness brought me this far” I pointed.

“That’s what you believe” he said “Your strength brought you this far and nothing else”

I sighed and placed my hands on his shoulder, making my voice as gentle as possible “You’ve been the best brother to me and I know how much you worry but trust me on this one. I will never die in her hands. I will defeat her. This is my promise to you so just trust me because nothing you do would change my mind”

Because I have a goal I must fulfill.

A long silence followed while I waited for his approval that never came.

He peeled my hands off him, his jaws clenching tightly as he stared at me “I will never agree to this, Gabriella”

Then he left.

I never saw him in the few days that followed which made me sad.

He should’ve supported me like always. He should've said he believed in me. Why was this one different?