Chapter 6 - Friendship Games

Stella POV

“Mom, do I have to go?” I asked for the nth time, and for the nth time my mother answered “Yes, it is mandatory. You know that, Stella.” She scolded me and my father rolled his eyes at me. “Look, we know. We are the first ones wanting you to stay behind, but the king was clear about the rules of the games.” My dad said, annoyed. For the last month, I have been preparing for this. We were traveling to the Royal Pack for the tournament, but every time I thought about going there, I could only see Romeo in my head.

The Friendship Games were a tournament held every year to have a friendly competition among all the packs in the Realm. The tournament compelled every wolf to participate. The competition age was set from 18 to 25 years old. At 21 years old and the daughter of one of the most prominent Beta's in the Realm. I was expected to show up and participate.

Pete and Rose will be catching up with the rest of us. Also, I would be seeing Brad. So, I hoped not to embarrass myself that much. Werewolf society is all about power, dominance, and strength. They would praise the bullies and oppress the weak links. Since I turned 18, I have been the epitome of a weak link. Brad knew I was not a strong wolf, and didn't know how weak I was. I was special to him, I knew he liked me and I liked him, but also by society's standards, the only way to climb the hierarchy ladder was to be mated to a fitted candidate. So, being the most renowned Beta's daughter had to do with Brad being with me. That is also why I never wanted to mate with him before he proposed something concrete.

I took a deep breath, grabbed the duffle bag, placed it on my shoulder, and walked towards the car. The tournament was always held at the Royal Pack, that also meant seeing Paige. Since Romeo is the future Supreme Alpha, he will not be participating as a contestant in the games. That would be cheating. There is no way a regular wolf would get a chance against him. Instead, he would be a referee. We soon arrived at the Royal Pack, and were shown to our quarters. I will be staying at the Silvercrown quarters. In total, were about 50 packs in the realm, but the usual rivals were Silvercrown, BloodMoon, and CrescentMoon. They called it the Crown-Moon rivalry. Brad belonged to CrescentMoon, so I guess we would be on opposite sides.

All the trials focused on four main areas: Strength, Speed, Survival, and Strategy. The four dreadful S’s. I have good running speed in human form. Of course, I couldn't compete as a wolf, so I enrolled only in the human categories. I also have good killing and survival instincts, and I was as resourceful as my dad. The only thing working against me is that I have the strength of a soft plush bunny. Even though I worked out regularly, I didn't have stamina, and compared to any pup I was weaker than any un-shifted wolf. I was so embarrassing.

They let us pick a category and challenge, among the three challenges available. There was a 10K run in the woods for speed, fighting, and combat matches to prove strength, and a camping night with different challenges in the woods to prove survival. The last challenge was mandatory and had to be made in teams. It consisted of a war field, and we had to use all our abilities to conquer a mountain. That requires strategy and teamwork aside from strength, speed, and survival abilities. There is an optional challenge. You can sign on a only-human or a mixed category. For the mandatory challenge was mixed, meaning people could go in werewolf form against a human. The only restriction was that any attack was not aimed to kill,

My choices were very narrow, so I decided to sign up for the survival challenge in human form, and then participate in the mandatory Warfare Challenge. I only needed to hold on for one night and make it through without being the first one caught. For the warfare challenge, I was completely fucked, I was the leftover contestant, usually, or Pete and Rose were stuck with me.

They called the contestants for the Survival challenge forward. I noticed the challenge had few contestants, which narrowed my chances of not being the first to withdraw. They allowed us to bring whatever we could carry in a little bag about 10x10 cm in size. I took a knife with a fire starter, a Swiss pocket knife, a little flashlight, and two granola bars. I lined up and, to my surprise, Romeo was there, and his eyes widened. I guess he was not expecting to see me there. He cleared his throat and announced “For those who are new to the Friendship Games, in this challenge, you need to survive at least the whole night outside. No roof, no help. Within the woods, there are traps settled, and wild animals are roaming. If, by any chance, you feel like withdrawing, in your pocket you will find a green firelight that will help us locate you. Be safe and let the best survivor succeed. You will continue the challenge until the last one is standing,” he announced. Shit, it is not only one night this shit will last until there is one participant left.

Everybody started scattering around. When I walked to start moving away, Romeo grabbed my arms, looking into my eyes. “Are you crazy? This is the most dangerous challenge. There is no control over the wild animals in the forest. Why did you choose this!” He said, concern and fear written in his eyes.

I pulled my arm, “Why do you care?” I spat out with sarcasm and walked away.

I kept chanting in my head, I can do this, I am not this weak, I am not this weak, I can do this, you need to find a good hiding place. Over and over, I didn't have werewolf vision, so I pulled out the little flashlight to be able to see where I was going. I found a tree, climbed it, and decided to stay put. I figured out that at the heights I would be able to see the green lights of other contestants and hopefully not be the first one to withdraw. I took a deep breath and waited. Soon I saw a green light. My plan is working. I am not going to be the first one to go down. Unfortunately, I soon fell asleep. I tried my best to stay awake, but to no avail, my eyes closed. I didn't realize that I was falling from my spot until I heard and felt the dry thump of my body on the ground.

“Ouch!” I said, rubbing my back. When I opened my eyes, I saw multiple faces looking at me. “Well, now it is raining hot chicks in this forest.” A guy said and I shuddered at his words. Everyone laughed. I saw the faces of all the people surrounding me, and then I saw Brad. When my eyes met him, he closed his eyes and looked at me with embarrassment. Brad suddenly said, “Hey Tony, leave it, she is Silvercrown´s problem.” The coldness in his voice broke my heart in two. “Maybe, but under the rules, it doesn't say we can't have fun with the chicks,” Tony said, his eyes lustfully roaming my sore body. Brad shrugged his shoulders and turned around. A lone tear left my eyes.

“So, darling, What's your name?” Tony came close to my face, fanning his nasty breath over my face, and caressing my cheek. I shivered in disgust, and turned my face away from him. I had the knife in my pocket to defend myself. I slowly moved my hand towards it, but Tony caught it. “Tsk, tsk, tsk beautiful, no funny business. We are going to survive out of our body's warmth, so it is going to be fun.” He said and I felt disgusted. He grabbed my face and pulled me in to force a kiss on my lips when a loud growl sounded in the distance. Romeo suddenly was holding Tony by his neck, Tony baring his neck in submission. Half of the werewolves present, mostly male, had their necks bared at Romeo's power. Everyone shivered, but me. Romeo's wrath and power display did nothing to me. Maybe the lack of a wolf had something to do with it.

“Everyone, scatter around.” He commanded. Suddenly, two guards were behind Tony. “Take him, you are disqualified.” Romeo commanded, but Tony protested “Alpha, I didn't do anything against the rules. Why am I disqualified?” Tony challenged. “Because as the future Alpha of Crescent Moon, you should have known better,” Romeo coldly said. His eyes commanded power and rage, but suddenly he turned around and looked at me, his gaze softened instantly. “Stella, are you alright?” He asked and I nodded. “Yeah, a bit sore and disgusted, but no harm done,” I said and he laughed. “Honestly you are something else.” He said and gave me his hand to help me stand from the ground, his eyes widened, and then he shook his head. “Let me take you to the doctor.” He said, and then I protested “What about the challenge?” He stopped and looked at me “The games are over for you, you are injured.” He said, and I noticed that I could stand up, only because he was holding me up.

On our way to the doctor, everything that had happened sank into me. Brad, my future chosen mate, walked away from me in a challenging situation. He decided to abandon me. By the time we arrived at the paramedics, I couldn't stop crying. “Stella, talk to me. Why are you crying? You know that you ended up in the top 10 contestants. You did great. I know the way you finished was not the most glamorous, but there is no need to cry about it. There are worse ways to leave that challenge.” Romeo said, bringing me back to reality. “Mhh?” I was confused, I didn't hear a single word he said. “Yeah, I guess. I expected too much out of it.” I vaguely answered, my eyes filled with tears. Of course, I was talking about Brad.

As soon as Romeo left me to be examined by the paramedics. Brad, came rushing towards me, “What the hell Stella?” Did you choose to hide to win a challenge? That is disgusting, also you had our future Alpha disqualified. I knew there was some catch with you, you are weak, and you are a pathetic excuse of a she-wolf. I have never even seen you shift.” He spat his venom in my face and with that, Brad walked away from me, he walked away from my life forever.

“Miss…” The paramedic called me. “You have a sprained ankle and a twisted wrist. We have to take you to the doctor's office to get that fixed quickly,” he said, and I nodded. I knew it wouldn't be healed on time to face the mandatory challenge. I am fucked.

After the first two days of individual challenges, the Royal Pack organized a bonfire, you know, to keep the amicable environment among the packs. I was sitting with Rose and Pete. Pete was livid with Brad and Rose was cuddling with her mate, Nathan. I was sitting there with my feet in a white bandage when Tony came towards me. “So, you are Beta Sebastian Hope's daughter? Aren't you supposed to be good like your father? You are a disgrace, no wonder why your father is ashamed of you. Pity you have a nice ass. Maybe later you will decide to become a whore or a mistress,” Tony said with fury and venom in his words. Immediately, he took his cold beer, and poured it on top of my head, showering me with the cold, yellow liquid. Pete stood up. Nathan followed suit. Pete yelled, “Fuck off Tony, being the next Alpha doesn't give you the right to treat her like that.”. Tony scoffed and everyone who witnessed the ordeal, laughed at my drenched figure, everyone, Brad included.

Romeo´s POV

I saw Stella withdraw from the bonfire. Tony again picked on her, he even showered her with a cold beer, mocking her and humiliating her in front of everyone. Soon my mind went back to the day of the challenge when he tried to kiss her and if I hadn't been looking carefully after her in the CCTV system, he would have even raped her.

I thought he would have listened. I lectured him in private, but I guess he is a knucklehead and a slow learner. “Hey, Tony!” I called him from a distance. He turned around and rolled his eyes at me, which annoyed the hell out of Max and me. I confidently walked towards him, closing the distance. I knew that as Future Supreme Alpha. I had the power to submit another Alpha, but I would rather not do it, because it would look bad on my family.

I wrapped my arm around him in a friendly gesture. “I have seen you taunting and teasing Stella. You already know I didn't like how you treated her at the survival challenge.” I said, and he spat “Well, she is a delicious, weak link. Let me have my fun. After all, you are mated to her sister.” He said and I saw red. I pulled his face, so I was speaking right into his ear. “Look, you will not go close to her, you will not talk, think, or look at her. You will never lay one of your filthy paws at her. Is that clear?” I said in my commanding voice. He was of an inferior rank, so he looked at me with fear and submitted to my command. I patted his shoulder, giving a friendly smile to the audience. “See ya Tony,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear.

I took a deep breath and Max in my head said “Good job human, I am proud of you.” I smiled at my wolf and kept walking towards my room. I have no idea, but when I touched her, I felt a faint tingle in my hand, and her strawberries and cheesecake scent was more prominent. I might be hallucinating, but I am more drawn to her now than a month ago. She is a beautiful complication. Nevertheless, I have mated her sister. I am waiting to mark her, but soon Paige will be my Luna.

I am torn. Paige has been a model girlfriend, and she fits many of the prophecy characteristics. Although I didn't like some things I saw at their home, as soon as we returned from Silvercrown, she was back to be the model girlfriend. She wanted to move in with me, but because we were arranging our mating ceremony. Maybe, we should wait until then.

I have been feeling less and less attracted to her, since I met Stella. Max is a little puppy around Stella. He does not identify her as our mate, but for some strange reason, he is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. I do like Stella and feel attracted to her in a completely different way. Stella is funny, is smart, she has a sense of humor, a little blunt when she is drawing limits, and is sexy as fuck. When I saw her stepping off of the bus, I felt my dick twitch. Unfortunately, it is now too late to turn around. I can't embarrass and humiliate Paige. The Luna and Mating ceremony is in place two months from now.