Tears of Blood ✔

XVIII - Tryouts

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "You don't know?"

I blinked at him, "Would I be asking if I did?"

"The Games are a yearly get together of sorts. It' a competition between us, The Fae and the Sirens. We usually have a coven of witches come as mediators and judges. Obviously, the fae and sirens are our main allies, and witches refuse to conform to either side so we bring them in to keep the peace. They may not be our allies, but they certainly have no problem in helping us if needed." Vance began to explain excitedly. "Basically, we'll choose one representative from our pack after a series of tryouts, then we'll head to the Desert Sun Pack, where the games are being held this year, for a final tryouts between every pack representative. The winner will then go up against two other competitors, one Fae, one Siren, obviously. The winner gets a trophy, bragging rights, and about $10,000 for their pack, court or choir respectively."

Suddenly, memories came rolling back to me. We had used the games to attack some packs with less defence since so many people were in attendance. But never once did we get near the actual event. I had heard that it was similar to the Human's olympics, but I had never been allowed to actually watch the broadcast. 

Xander rolled his eyes, "It's embarrassing really, we came third last year, where was the wolf from, the Whitefang pack? Everything was going so well, apart from the fact that he couldn't seem to take his eyes of the Fae representative's arse."

I snorted, "Wow."

"Anyway, it's a huge deal. It'll be more competitive than ever since so many wolves are desperate to restore our name after last year's performance. My bet's on Parker Enoch, he told me specifically that he was trying out and everything, I haven't seen him leave the training centre, and he was the first person to submit his forms and application. The kid's dedicated, and I think he's got it." Vance said, rubbing his hands together. 

"Why don't you guys try out? I'm sure you would be a much better candidate." I asked, brows furrowed.

"Well-"

"Oh I wish," Vance interrupted. "I was about seven and I started training in secret for the games because I wanted to surprise my parents. I got all my forms together and went to hand them to Xander's dad since I didn't want my dad to know just quite yet. You can hand your forms into basically any leader, but it usually goes to the Beta. Anyway, Rob sat me down and turns out, there are a bunch of rules that I had ticked off but hadn't actually read. To be a representative, you can't be a leader. Just like, in terms of favouritism and all that, it's a bad look."

We were almost back to our bedrooms. As an off comment, I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if I tried out."

Xander stopped walking, "Would you want to?"

I shrugged, "I mean it sounds fun. I certainly think that I would enjoy it. But I wouldn't be allowed to,"

Xander held up his finger, "Well, if you were Luna, then no. But, by being my mate, you're automatically part of the pack, but, we haven't mated. We haven't done anything, you haven't been marked so technically, you're not a Luna. There's nothing in the rules about a mate, only a leader. Theoretically, If you wanted to, you could."

Vance's eyes were flashing, "You definitely could, little miss loophole."

"Are you serious Xander?" I asked seriously, "Don't fuck around with me,"

He cracked a grin, taking over his entire face. "We'll fill out the forms into the morning."

----------------------------------------------------

I stood in the middle of the field, slowly pulling my arm across my chest, feeling the burn in my muscles. Apparently, this was a very public thing, and while the tryouts didn't start for another fifteen minutes, you could already feel the anticipation building in the air. I stood in a long line of other competitors, all seemingly doing the same thing as me. Slowly warming up and analysing their competition.