Chapter 5

       Bella was shocked by Clarence's rudeness. Who did he think he was? The subs in the dressing room were clearly unhappy with her presence, and she felt like an unwanted center of attention. She sat down, feeling out of place, and Amber, the collared sub next to her, tried to reassure her that the obnoxious ones were just trying to run off the real competition. He also revealed that the House of Wolf was serious business around here and that the Alpha ran the entire club. 

   

         Bella groaned, admitting that she didn't know anything about the scene and that she wasn't even a sub. Amber told her it was more about energy than looks and that she had the energy, making her feel a little better.

     "At least you're honest." Bella smiled, holding out her hand. "I'm Bella."

         "Amber," she replied, shaking it. "And don't worry. People can say whatever they want, but you're not actually anyone's submissive until you decide to be." She tilted his head. "What's that on your hand?"

             Bella held her hand out for inspection. “Some stamp.”

    "That's weird," she muttered. "I've never seen that design before."

                "Yeah. It's been causing quite the stir."

        "Well, I've only seen a clubber marked with something other than the usual stamp once before," Amber explained. "It's nothing bad, if that's what you're thinking."

            "No?" Bella asked hopefully. "What does it mean, then?"

        "It means a Wolf marked you. Each one has his own seal, but it's usually a temporary tattoo or something. It's also usually reserved for their personal play partners. Looks like one of them has his eye on you."

      Bella pressed her hand against her thigh to cover it. Her heart skipped. "There was a big guy at the door, Darian. Is he one of the Wolves?"

        Amber's pretty blue eyes widened. "Oh, yeah. His waiting list at the club is a year long. He's really selective about who he'll take on as a sub.”

I

         Bella swallowed hard. "Would he have entered me in the competition?

    "It's definitely possible," said Amber. "He isn't exactly shy about taking what he wants, from what I've heard. But the winner doesn't go to any of the Wolves. He goes to the Alpha."

      Bella had too many questions and too little understanding of this world to know how to ask the right ones, the door opened and Clara's head popped in with her hand covering her eyes. "If you gentlemen and women are decent, we're ready for you to take your places on stage. Curtain call is in five minutes."

         She peeked through her fingers and scanned the room until her gaze landed on Bella. "I heard there was an issue with registration?"

       "No," Bella said with an apologetic smile. "Everything is fine now."

        "Ah, good," she said, pushing the door open. She tucked the clipboard under her arm and clapped her hands together. "Let's get a move on, people, chop chop."

        They filed out of the dressing room and were directed toward the onstage pedestals. Amber waved as one of the stage hands pulled her over to the other end of the stage. Bella had really hoped they would get to stick together, but it looked like she was on her own.

       Bella was placed on a pedestal beside one of the hecklers from the dressing room, but she wasn't as brazen without her ringleader. Everyone was primping and posing as Clara ran around the stage, calling for all the contestants to take their places.

        The flood lights above them turned on, blinding Bella. She almost fell off the pedestal. When the curtains went up, the crowd began to cheer raucously. She struggled to find Sandra in the sea of people, but all she could make out were vague human shapes.

       "Welcome, people, to the twelfth annual Alpha's Pet Contest!" It was a male voice Bella didn't recognize. It didn't sound like a Wolf, though. She was beginning to realize they all came out of a certain mould: Big, burly and blunt. This guy had too much showmanship to be one of them.

       "Thank you for that warm welcome for all our lovely pups. As you can see, this year's competition will be twice as fierce as ever. Now, I'm going to go over the rules for the newcomers. The first three elimination rounds will be decided by your applause, so make it count. Once we have our three finalists, the big dogs themselves will be deciding which pet on this stage is good enough to win our cash prize of ten thousand dollars, an exclusive photoshoot with Pretty Pup Magazine, and a highly coveted dungeon session with the Alpha himself."

        The crowd cheered, and so did the contestants. Bella managed a small, unenthusiastic clap. She tried to remind herself that this was for the experience—and perhaps just a little bit about getting to stick her middle finger up at Jeff—and summoned all the school spirit she could muster.

            One by one, they introduced the contestants by name and little else. No get-to-know-you trivia or essay questions. This wasn't Miss America and no one was pretending otherwise. Bella was in the second-to-last row and was more than grateful for the lack of formality when the announcer merely stated her name without any questions or gimmicks.

        Bella turned around on the pedestal like the others had done, though with less flair. She was beginning to regret her decision once stage fright had set in. She could see the audience a little clearer now and finally found Sandra in the crowd. He looked worried, so she flashed a smile to show him that she was okay and not angry anymore. When she got off the stage, she'd have to make it up to her for jumping to conclusions.

        Sandra returned the smile with a relieved one of her own. It comforted Bella enough to abort any burgeoning plans of diving off the pedestal and running off the stage. However, she had gotten there might not have been her choice, but she was determined to regain control by finishing on her terms.

        The announcer moved on, and the crowd applauded for the few contestants behind Bella. It was only then that she noticed the applause meter located slightly offstage. She hadn't seen one of those since the last cheesy 90s game show she’d watched. Were they even scientifically accurate? Or maybe the whole thing was rigged.

         Well, that was a comforting thought. That way there was no way she'd win and have to follow through on her half-cocked plan to give the Alpha a piece of her mind.

         "Alright," the announcer began a few moments later. "I think it's obvious, but we've compared scores on our applause meter, and the stage-two competitors are Joyce, Sansa, Amber,Douglas, Avery, and Bella!"

      Bella nearly fell off the pedestal in shock. Stage two?

     “Stage two will begin now," the announcer said. "If your name wasn't called, please carefully make your way off your pedestal and return to the audience."

        Chaos reigned for the next two minutes. Some contestants were crying, others were cursing, but one way or another, the stagehands got them offstage. Bella's head was spinning as she processed what was going on. The announcer was already reiterating the rules for round two as she began to realize that she had made it into the final nine. A visit from an applause meter technician was seriously in order.

      She wasn’t even sure she wanted to know what kind of degree landed you that job.

   "Round two begins!" The announcer wandered over to Amber. 

  

        Fortunately for Bella, Amber was guaranteed to win. She was easily the most beautiful one out of all of them, and that seemed to be what everyone preferred in a sub, whether she would admit there was a type or not. She was a sweetheart, too. Her personality showed through even though she hadn't said a word onstage.

    Bella, on the other hand, probably looked like the nervous wreck she was. The applause for Amber was predictably uproarious. The response to the others paled in comparison to the point where she imagined it would be difficult to even tell who else deserved to be in the final three. Then the announcer made his way over to her.

            To her shock and horror, the applause meter registered her level of applause as equal to Amber's. She couldn’t believe that winning was now an actual possibility, and the crowd needed the attention of an emergency ophthalmologist, stat, whether the meter was broken or not.

      "And there you have it," said the announcer. "I don't think it's any big surprise that Amber and Bella will be moving on as our finalists, and Casey S. will be joining them. We'll be taking a short intermission, so head to the bar, grab a drink and prepare to watch our judges vote on your new Alpha's Pet!"

      The curtains began to close, hopefully before Sandra could see the petrified look on Bella's face. The Wolves were choosing? She started to think she'd mentioned something about that in the car, but she hadn't paid much attention.

       Darian was one of the Wolves. The Wolf, from the way Amber told it. If he was the one who'd entered her in this competition and he was judging, maybe she really would win. For whatever reason, he seemed to have set his eyes on her.

         Bella's bravery vanished as she realized that there was no way she could actually approach the Alpha about what had happened, but she wasn't about to take the prize, either. He was one of the most important people in Ivers, from the sound of things, and she had enough rich and powerful enemies to contend with. He was probably just the West Coast version of Mr. Alderdice, Jeff's father. What was she thinking?

        Her head throbbed, and she began to sway. The more she struggled to keep her balance, the worse it got. It was a hell of a time for an episode, but thinking of Jeff always seemed to trigger one. The closest stagehand was still helping Amber off her pedestal. Bella was going down, and there was nothing to stop her.

      "Whoa, there!"

         Suddenly, a pair of huge hands wrapped around her waist. Before she could steady herself, she was lifted off the pedestal completely and placed on the ground with a surprising amount of care.

    She looked up in shock at the sight of her rescuer. It was Darian.