I couldn't believe it when I saw the sunrise outside my bedroom window. I'd been dreading this day as if it was an approaching apocalypse. It's Combat day.
Almost the whole neighborhood gathered at Mr. Andrews's house before we escort Jace to the battle venue. Jace would be escorted by Dan, Callan and Rick. If the event had been held somewhere farther, we might have begun travelling a week earlier, but Greenfield Park was just a twenty-minute drive from La Cove. This would be the first Combat I'd attend in D.C. The best thing about it was I could tag Adam along to his first Combat ever.
"I hope I don't end up too casual-looking," Adam said as he waited for me in my bedroom. Adam was lying on my bed, whistling some random tune to himself while I dried my hair from the shower.
I crouched by the dresser trying to find some clothes to wear. "We're going to a physical fighting competition where its participants are werewolves," I said. "We're not watching live football."
I knew he got the sarcasm—Adam was wearing an athletic jersey, a cap and a Spiderman glove toy.
"I was thinking of only wearing a tank top, short pants with a red headband," he responded.
"We're not going to WWE."
"Okay, if you're such a fashion expert, tell me what an appropriate outfit is," Adam groaned.
"No ... what you wear now is fine," I responded.
"Well ... that's relieving to hear," Adam said. "I thought you were going to tell me to go shirtless or something."
I jumped when Sunny came storming into the room. I glanced at her outfit; jet black sleeveless blouse, skinny jeans and stilettos. Wow, she looked hot. I noticed the way the colors of her irises stood out as she darkened her eyebrows. Damn, Sunny West had put makeup on her face—that was a rare occurrence.
"You look nice." Adam noticed, too.
Is Sunny blushing? "Thanks. Now, what's wrong with you, Jordan? I'm a girl and I take less time to prepare myself. Decently, even. Everyone else is waiting at Jace's place now."
I was still stunned by her hair. "Who was your hairdresser?"
"Who cares?" she responded.
"Your hair looks unusually nice," I said.
"Thanks. I'll take that as a compliment." She advanced toward my bed and pulled Adam to his feet. "I need to tell you something," I heard her whisper to Adam.
I watched as the two left the room, leaving me alone in my bedroom. With Adam knowing about the existence of werewolves, the two had gotten closer. Although their relationship wasn't a pleasant one, at least Sunny knew Adam wasn't a jerk. Back in our freshman year, Adam had asked Sunny out on a date and it turned out badly. Sunny had a theory that all guys who asked her out on a date were just some perverted douches who wanted to touch her boobs.
I put on a plain black T-shirt and wore a pair of knee-length baggy pants. Suddenly I realized I was breathing uneasily.
Jace. Hewas going to have to fight Theodore Henderson.
If I had been more careful, I knew Theo wouldn't have entered himself in the competition. He was pretty malicious especially after I found out what he did to Adam, so I was certain Theo was up to something. Stupid conspiracy theories were starting to run around my head about him, and I knew I had to stop.
I knew Jace had won Combat numerous times so I needn't worry. I was feeling anxious and I knew Theo wasn't the reason. The only reason for these feelings I could think of was that I was now Jace's mate. It was possible even with Theo out of the picture that these feelings would have come naturally.
I was standing in front of the bathroom door when two arms wrapped around me from behind, interrupting my thoughts. I flinched and cursed out of shock.
"Jace," I groaned. "You scared me."
His lips touched my ears. I inhaled his scent and closed my eyes. His touches still felt foreign to me, but I was not afraid of it like I used to.
"Are you okay?" he murmured in my ear. Tickling me with his warm breath and making me bask in the moment.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I said.
"No," he said. "Because . . . you're obviously worried about me."
I turned around and pressed my face to his shoulder blades. "How do you know everything, Jace?"
"I just happen to know," he said as he ducked down and touched his forehead to mine.
My pulse accelerated. Man, I had to learn how to keep my breathing normal every time I face Jace Andrews.
"Just be careful, man," I said, his nose touched mine. "Don't worry about me or anything else. Keep your head in the game, okay?"
He advanced forward to kiss me. I let his lips do their work and relaxed. I breathed out in his mouth, letting all the heaviness out of my chest. I felt his teeth on my lips when I pulled away.
"But I don't want you to be afraid," Jace said. "I want you to believe in me."
"Maybe it's natural," I told him. "It's all new—you can't blame me for feeling like this."
"I know," he said. "Hmm, well, you're coming with me, aren't you? To the venue, I mean."
"No," I told him. "Sunny will drive me, Stan, my mom, and the ladies—"
"Dan thinks it will be better if my mate stays beside me and give me some encouragement," he cut me off. Time stopped when he laughed; my heart skipped a beat when he smiled.
"I'm learning not to give a fuck about what Dan thinks, you know?" I whispered to him. "He just loves to exaggerate things."
Jace laughed in surprise. "It's okay. I'm not making you."
"Wow, now you're being charming," I said.
He chuckled again, warming my face with his minty breath. Then he caressed my face, leaning in closer to me until there was no distance between us anymore.
"If that's the case," he said as he slid his fingers through mine, "I have to go now."
"Okay. See you in the game."
I waited, but neither of us moved. We could only stare into each other's eyes in the awkward silence. It was like a staring game; one of us had to wait to see who would blink first to end the game. But neither of us did; our bodies frozen there, like time had stopped.
Jace moved forward only to kiss me again. He pressed his lips harder this time, squeezing and pouring more burning heat into me. He pulled away, panting hard, leaving me breathless.
"I'm going now," he said hesitantly again behind his heavy breaths.
"Okay."
I felt his grip tighten in my hand. I wanted him to walk away because I needed a private moment to myself to break down and think about how sexy his kisses were.
I cringed at his sudden movement setting us apart. The air felt cold now without his warmth. Our fingers were still attached, not wanting to let go.
"Bye," he said, loosening his grip around my hand. I knew he didn't want to let go, but he eventually released my hand back to the chilly atmosphere. My skin felt cold and lonely without his touch, and I could only look on as he exited the room and disappeared.
I listened as his footsteps faded away.
"Jace—" I called out. Wait, I want to come with you.
But it was too late, and I had a feeling that I was making a big mistake by not staying by his side.
* * * *
"Who's going for a ride with me?"
Adam raised his hand eagerly. He'd been drooling around Colby's superbike for quite some time now. The bike was pretty enough Dan ordered Colby to drive by his side so our team would look heroic as we arrived at Greenfield Park. Aside from the fact that we were escorting Jace Andrews, the rest of the werewolf community were also anticipating our presence because DC hosted the game this year, and our pack was one of the few official packs in the state.
"Cool, get on," Colby said, twisting the gas throttle. Adam went all jumpy like a little kid as he climbed at the back. There wasn't much space for a passenger, but miraculously Adam could sit there. Maybe it was due to one of Colby's spells.
Sunny would drive me, Stan, my mother and some of the neighbors to the game site with her van. My dad would carpool with Anthony and Bob to the Combat venue. The older women made sandwiches and some fried snacks for the whole pack; my mom had baked some mini muffins and had packaged them into little colorful boxes as little gifts for her friends from the other pack.
I climbed into the van's front seat. Once the ladies entered, noise and chatter broke the silence. Stanley entered after the ladies. Then, an argument broke out between Mom and him; my fingers went eagerly to find the radio button.
"Stanley, I prepared a nicer outfit for you," Mom started. "How can you attract girls with these indecent clothes?"
"These are better than the flannel you were trying to make me wear. I don't want to be mistaken with Dad!" Stan protested.
"Your dad's a handsome man!" Mom shot back.
Sunny pressed the gas peddle too hard causing the ladies behind me to shriek out of shock.
"Young lady," Eugena said, "make sure you follow the speed limit. Your dad didn't buy this van for nothing."
"Yes, ma'am." I could hear the grunt underneath Sunny's response. She continued down the road, following the rest of the cars in front of us. I tried to ignore my mother's quarrel with my brother and the women's whispers on me not being Jace's cheerleader.
"Now I can't deny how cute the boy is with your son, Sarah!"
"My daughter was very envious at first, but she eventually got over it!"
"Jordan's a lucky boy! Jace is, too—I'm sure your son's a great guy for him! With him being a little cocky at certain times—"
Some generic-sounded pop song was on the radio and I turned the volume up.
"Where are you driving to?" I asked Sunny.
"The other pack," she responded. "We're gathering in the town with them. They will join our pack to shepherd Jace as well. Once everybody's there, we're going to proceed to the Park."
"What about Theo?" I asked.
"I don't know," Sunny muttered as we stopped at a red light. "It's not like we're abandoning him or anything. Jeff did try to find him this morning, and he was nowhere to be seen."
Theo disappearing could mean he wanted to surrender silently, which relieved the worries I had. But he could've left to have special training, which started my anxiety all over again. My heart raced as Sunny pressed the gas peddle harder. I stumbled forward. The ladies behind me were cursing; groaning at Sunny's brutal driving. She could only grin in amusement at that.
The sky was bright blue; fluffy-looking clouds floated high above me. It was a pretty and sunshiny day, an ironic environment to what I was feeling. In my head it was storming, Jace and Theo were in a bloody war, fighting to the death.
I brushed the thoughts away.
"There they are," Sunny murmured as she pulled off in the middle of the town, waiting for the rest of us to gather. Bigger motorbikes and cars were on both sides of us. Noises erupted into the air. Dan rolled his window down and slammed his hand on Terence Smith's shoulder. He was the Alpha of the other DC pack. The two had been great friends since I could remember. Shortly, pitch-black shiny metal blocked my view of Dan. Broom, broom—Colby twisted the throttle harder, motioning a show-off gesture to me.
Adam was in complete joy.
"Woo hoo!" he screamed over the noise. "This man used an illusion, Jordan! We were flying just now! It felt so fucking real!"
I laughed. Adam had never been this happy before. It was times like this that I felt that the idea of him knowing about us wasn't so bad. I guess he was quite lucky to have me as his best friend—other wolves might not have trusted any mortal enough to drag them into our world.
The ladies behind me murmured in amazement. Two gigantic werewolf packs were conquering the road. If there were any mortals watching, they would freak out for sure.
"Guess who the other pack's sending to the game?" I asked, winking at Sunny. She must've known.
She kept on murmuring the lyrics of the aired song. "Who?"
"How come you don't know? It's Brian Hughes," I told her.
"Brian who?" she asked.
"Brian Hughes! It's that guy you had a crush on during our freshman year! You made me ask him for his number, and we were thirteen years old!"
As the memory flashed in my head, I laughed so hard.
"Oh God!" she said over the noise. "Please don't remind me how stupid I was."
I couldn't stomach my laughter. It's funny how childhood memories could burn our cheeks so bad.
"Stay put, Sunny. The guy might be your mate."
I expected Sunny to laugh, but instead, she only stared at me, her face empty. Her mouth puckered like acid was lingering in her tongue. Have I said something wrong?
"What?"
"Jordan—"
The chaotic noise of the road rumbled. Colby gestured a sign and shouted something outside, and then we started to move in a big group. Sunny pressed the peddle hard, again, making the women behind me swear unintentionally. Now I really wished I was the one who had driven.
Greenfield Park was a leisure place for mortals whom loved to seek green scenery. There was a beautiful waterfall and lake; big trees grew green on the wide land, suitable for family picnics. However, not all the citizens loved these kinds of things since the city outside Bloomingdale had more entertaining venues. I guess that's why Greenfield Park was chosen for this immortal event.
Sunny proceeded behind the mass of vehicles in front of us, driving through a pathway that would lead us to a winding road up to a clearing where the game would be held at. I couldn't really see what was in front of me. The road became narrower as the van roamed farther into the woods.
Sunny crashed into a gigantic boulder, and I almost had a panic attack.
A wide road opened up in front of us, inclining up toward the clearing.
"Relax, Jordan," Sunny said. "It's a spell, an illusion to repel mortals away from the place."
Oh. I should've known. Since Combat was an important occasion for almost the entire lycanthropic community in the States, some wizard guards would be hired by the Royals. They would cast illusions, charms and spells to safe guard our presence from the mortal world. I wondered how Adam handled going through the boulder; he might've suffered a heart attack.
The cars in front of us slowed down. I observed Dan drive up the hill. Sunny parked the van in between two black Ford Rangers. Mom, Stan and the ladies got out of the van, patting their costumes and fixing their looks in the reflection of the van window.
"Why don't we follow Dan? I don't see the Tent from here," I told Sunny.
"We're not competing in the Combat," my brother interrupted. "Jace has to be in the preparing area so Dan has to go."
I heard Adam screaming out of joy when Colby's motorbike rushed past us.
"That mortal friend of yours . . ." Stanley shook his head.
"God, I think we have to climb higher by foot," Sunny groaned. "And I'm in heels!"
"Stilettos," I corrected. "Well, what the hell were you thinking? We're going to a Combat, not a fashion show."
I knew she would smack my head for that.
I glared when Stanley laughed at me.
"Sometimes," she whispered, "you have to look tall. And I know I'm short, Jordan, if you dare mention it . . ."
Stanley ignored us and followed my mom and the rest of the women up the hill.
"Let's go."
Even though I wasn't the one in heels, my feet were already throbbing from the ten-minute walk.
The sight of the gigantic canopy emerged in the clearing, rising ten feet into the air. The white canvas was splattered with colors and mural paintings of fighting werewolves.
"The Tent," I whispered.
"Or The Portable Amphitheater," Stan interrupted me again.
The theme was red and white this year, like blood splashing on snow. The splatters of red paint on the canopy surface turned into blood—Jace's blood—in my head. Theo's fist went into Jace's mouth, breaking his jaw. Then Jace dropped to the ground and stopped breathing.
When I was a child, the thought of Jace dying might have amused me. Not now, not when I was in love with him.
* * * *
After what felt like almost an hour, we made it to the entrance. Coincidentally, the Royals from Atalea appeared, driving the crowd crazy. I groaned as a group of young girls shoved past me, trying to get a peek at the young princes. The gentlemen were eager to shake hands with the King and Queen; the women struggled to give them gifts.
We found decent seating, although I wished I could sit somewhere farther away from the battle ground. I was sitting between Adam and Jeff, and yet I was still worried of my apprehensiveness. Jeff kept assuring me everything would be fine.
"Whoa," Adam said as he looked around. "This place looks like Coliseum—only made of . . . uh, fabric? I should've brought my camera!"
"No, you shouldn't," Colby said, taking a seat in between Callan and Sunny. "If you had brought more mortal stuff, I don't think you could have gotten in."
"Oh," Adam said, letting out a sigh.
People filled the seats below and above us. Then I noticed the acquaintances I knew from the other DC pack, waving at me as they walked by.
This is not going to be a fun reunion.
"Hey bro, your mate's going to win again!" one commented.
"Heard the story, dude. Can't believe The Man is your mate! How do you feel?" another one commented
"You have a male mate? Oh God, me too!"
Everyone jerked their heads forward when The Royals started to take their seats, looking up to their elevated seats high up in the air along with the judges' in the midsection of the amphitheater. I heard some girls screaming out of awe when the princes settled in their velvet-cushioned chairs, glancing around the crowd.
"Who are they?" Adam whispered to me.
"They're the Royals," I said. "There are the King, the Queen, and their children. They came all the way from Atalea, the Kingdom of Immortals."
"Ata-what? Where the hell is that?" Adam said.
"It's somewhere hidden in England. It's a forbidden, sacred place," I explained.
"Have you been there?"
"Of course not, Adam," I told him. "You can't enter the place without reason."
"What reasons do you have to gain entry?" he asked.
"You can be recruited to be in the Institute," I told Adam, my voice rising over the noise of the crowd. "It's the Royal Academy of Lycanthropy. If chosen, recruits would receive a letter at the ages of thirteen or seventeen, depending on how many years you'll spend there. It's compulsory for all recruited male werewolves to attend, or else you'll be disgraced by the Royals, and you don't want that. You'll continue your education there, and graduate in your twentieth year. All Atalea post-grads are adored by the chicks, you know—they're usually buffer and tougher than us."
"That's awesome!" Adam said. "How do you get chosen?"
"No one knows how the choosing system works," I said. "The Royals make us believe that the chosen ones are selected by destiny."
"That sounds like bullshit," Adam said. I laughed, because deep inside, I agreed.
Behind me, Sunny was rambling on about the young princes to Jeff. She was one of their fans, feeling gratified and cocky that she had memorized the details about the princes.
" . . . that cute tan guy, that's Ryan Steven Alfonso. He's mated to some chick . . . well, that one, that's the King's eleventh child, Tyler Gareth . . . that's the twelfth, sixteen, our age . . . Malcolm Steven . . . I mean, Jeffrey, you can turn gay by just looking at that shiny golden hair and those glowing blue eyes!"
Adam groaned, and I didn't know why he did. "So, the King and Queen are werewolves too? And don't they have any daughters?"
"Yes, they are werewolves," I answered. "And they do have daughters. The current King and Queen have twelve children—the other nine won't be attending the game because they must have so much to do in the palace. Those three princes; Ryan, Tyler and Malcolm, are still young so they have to follow their parents around. Don't ask me why, I don't know."
I didn't know much about immortal monarchy—no one really does, anyway. There's no way for you to learn it properly unless you're recruited to be in the Institute. According to Dan, who'd attended the school since he was thirteen, said that the monarchy system of the Royals wasn't so complicated.
From what I knew from Dan, The King would always be one of the descendants of the Alfonso line since they were the ones who civilized werewolves and immortals. After any man from the bloodline reaches a certain age and has mated, they will be the next ones in line for the throne.
The event continued as one of the commentators, Richard Williams, started with his boring speeches. He introduced the competitors, and when it was announced that our pack had sent two competitors, my cheeks burned with embarrassment. Everyone gasped in shock. Farther down from where I sat was Dan, who struggled to answer the shooting questions from the rest of the audiences.
"And after the honorable King Eduardo Alfonso hit the gong, the Combat will commence! Will the beloved, famous three times winner from La Cove holds the trophy again?" Richard said through the microphone.
The amphitheater boomed with cheers and hollers. Above me, Jace's loyal followers screamed and shrieked their throats out. I wondered how Marcus and his friends would react—they used to be as devoted to Jace like everyone else, but now their good friend Theo was up in the game too. I wondered which guy they rooted for now.
Maybe I was drowning in my thoughts so much that I hadn't realized King Eduardo had hit the gong, a symbolic mark that the game would commence. Only the sound of extremely loud cheering woke me up from my forlornness. Relax, I told myself. He's good at this, Jordan. He's going to be fine.
"Here we go, Sam," Richard spoke from his elevated counter, his voice filled with wild excitement. "The event will start with Victor Holmes, from East California pack, and Caleb Dennings, from Cheyenne pack battling for the first round . . . "
There were two locked doorways at the ends of the overstretched battle ground. The steel rods of the doors opened simultaneously; Victor appeared on the west side while Caleb appeared on the east—their muscular human exterior glistened under the scorching sun.
"Here we go with the shirtless scene again," Adam murmured.
The two combatants walked toward the center. They started at a brisk walk and increased gradually to a jog, forming a rapid run. By the time they made it to the center, they were already in their wolf form, having shifted full speed.
Richard counted down from ten. Victor and Caleb paced backwards to take position.
"Three . . . two . . . one!"
I observed as Caleb lunged at Victor, his teeth attempting to rip at any part of his opponent's body. Victor struggled to keep his balance in check, steadying his four feet on the ground.
Beside me, Adam flinched, his hands covering half of his eyes.
Victor raged against his opponent in a fierce, rapid jump. His quick movement sent Caleb flying high in the air. Caleb landed on the ground twenty feet away from his opponent. Victor didn't linger, he started on a run and lunged toward Caleb, his fangs ripping out his opponent's neck. Blood splattered on the yellowish-white sand, and I almost closed my eyes like Adam did. Richard's commentary went fast and inaudible now.
I watched as energy faded away from Caleb's wolf form; I could tell by the way his eyes drooped.
Bing. The tiny sound of the bell rang, and Victor Holmes was officially the winner of the opening round.
The crowd cheered energetically, only because it was the start of the show.
"Whoa, that was fucking intense," Adam said. "Would the other guy die?"
"No."
The fight proceeded for an hour. My calculations found that a round would take about five to fifteen minutes. There were almost hundreds of pack present and the event would last until sundown. A Combat would fit about forty to fifty battle rounds, depending on how quick the fights were.
By the third round, the roars from the fighting ground became deafening, some of the contenders howled so painfully I couldn't stomach watching the game anymore. The splashes of blood on the white fine sand increased and I felt nauseous.
"I'm going to buy some drinks," I said as I stood up, but then Jace's name was announced.
Oh God.
He was contending against Brian Hughes, or Sunny's crush when she was thirteen years old. We were surprised that Brian had beaten Victor in the previous round; judging by the size of his wolf form, it was easy to underestimate him.
The crowd screamed as Jace appeared in one of the doorways. He was the star of the show—I remembered how calculated and smart his movements were when Hunter Bass lost to him a few years ago. Jace's stealth was a combination of his intelligence and his surreal muscular complexion.
Jace threw a smile towards the audience as he walked out of the doorway. I couldn't imagine seeing him wounded or bleeding, but I knew that was inevitable in competitions like this.
No, I don't even want to see a sliver of scratch on you, Jace.
Jace shape-shifted and Brian headed towards him too fast. He tried to reach and claw Jace's tail, a strategy he used on Victor, but his movement was flawed. In the blink of an eye, Jace captured Brian and threw him upwards. The crowd gasped as Brian's wolf form flew high in the air. I flinched as he landed on the end of the battle ground; the impact was so explosive the earth shook.
Cheers boomed in the air; The Royals stood in admiration. Jace advanced slowly toward his opponent; Brian looked like nothing but a corpse now. Then I watched as he transformed slowly back to his human form, gesturing a quick surrender.
Bing. Jace won—bam, just like that. He threw Brian off and he conquered the round.
I remained seated as Jace wiped out all his opponents. He made the game proceed at a faster pace. He encountered wolves of all size, and none of them were a problem for him.
Then Jace encountered Wallace Barnaby, a guy from a Montana pack. They looked like they were bleeding to death. Damn, Wallace was good—Jace lost lots of his defense against him. He had wounds all over his fur; the wet red marks on his body shone under the bright noon light.
My heart stopped and I stood up.
"Jordan," Jeff said, tugging my arm, "calm down. It's okay."
I breathed in and forced myself to sit down.
Jace's four feet moved a few steps backwards and he lunged himself toward Wallace. Wallace had strong defenses, resulting in the two of them dropping down to the ground. It was getting sick for my sight now—Adam had no words left to say. The audience huffed in anxiety, but it was no match to what I was feeling.
The judges waited before they could ring the bell—one of the fighters had to surrender or else the game wouldn't end.
C'mon Jace, just back down! You're hurt. Please don't do this to me.
Wallace shifted slowly back to his human form, and the bell rang.
"Jace is up against the next round! Wallace is disqualified . . ." Richard announced.
Four people stormed into the fighting site, bringing two stretchers. Wallace was in his human form while Jace still hadn't shifted. They will cure him soon, I said to myself. He'll be fine.
"That—was—sick!" Adam said. At first, I could only identify excitement in his eyes, but then his expression shifted, signaling to me how nauseous he was. "How come there are no deaths in a game like this?"
"Immortals don't die easily," Jeff explained. "For werewolves, only silver metal through our heart or brain can kill us. Although we're bleeding so badly, it's still hard to die."
"But that doesn't mean all those shit don't hurt, right?" Adam asked.
Adam was right; Jace was still in big pain no matter what. My chest hurt. My mind was telling me to stop watching this game, to stand up and go outside and find fresh air. There might be more vicious attackers than Wallace after this. What if I couldn't take it all by myself?
Then all of a sudden Sunny reached out to touch my shoulder from behind.
"Jordan . . . look."
She pointed somewhere far to our left, to a man trying to hide in his long gray coat. His eyes were pretty and malevolent. In his left hand was a metallic stick—a wand, longer and shinier than what Colby had. His face was pale and glossy, and I felt sicker as my thought confirmed who this guy might me.
"It's Parker Sebastian!" I said to Sunny. "Why's he here?"
"I don't know! He's creepy—and hot, too—"
Richard's voice interrupted Sunny's, and panic started to creep back up on me.
"And now, according to the lifesaving med team, we can proceed in today's event!"
The audience cheered again, although now they sounded less enthusiastic. I wished Jace had declared his surrender when he was being mended by the medical team, but that was impossible. I knew Jace and his ego; if he got wounded again I didn't think I could continue watching.
"And now, for the moment that we're all waiting for, we will precede with the big oddity in this year's game—"
Fuck.
"Two contenders from the same pack, fighting for the big honor, ladies and gentlemen, from La Cove, I present you, Jace Andrews against Theodore Henderson!"
Almost the whole amphitheater stood on their feet. This whole thing sounded impossible—two contenders from the same pack fighting with each other were against the odds. The audience continued shouting either out of joy or anxiety, and I sat here trying to eradicate the dark thoughts playing in my head. He'll be safe, he'll be safe, he'll be safe—
Jace appeared out of the west door. His face was empty as he observed Theo standing on the other side. They walked, while shifting, towards the center and waited for the countdown.
Then the wait was over, but neither moved.
Silence.
Jace dove at Theo with his formulated movement, but the opponent still hadn't budged. Theo's wolf form stood there like a stone, still and solid.
At the speed of light, Theo ducked and rolled a few feet backwards before he started at a run, jumped high in the air and landed directly on top of Jace's back.
Jace crashed to the ground.
My thoughts jumbled up, wondering how Theo could be so light, flying high in the air like a soaring feather.
There was a painful roar from the battle ground. Jace paced a few steps backwards and started running toward Theo. Again, Theo's four feet remained still on the ground. He twisted sideways and lunged to Jace, his teeth buried deep in Jace's neck. A loud howl echoed in the amphitheater. The audiences gasped, the commentators couldn't say a word.
This can't be happening.
Jace lay on his back on the sandy floor when Theo jumped on top of him, his fangs ripping Jace's throat. He didn't stop, not giving Jace chance to breathe.
This fight was irrational; it was performed under rage rather than competitiveness. I wanted it to stop.
Jace tried to walk backwards but that's when I saw Theo clawing at his back. He bit Jace's neck and ripped off his flesh, his mouth sprayed out splatters of Jace's blood into the air.
The gasps and shouts went wilder, and the world started to spin around me.
"What the fuck, get back up—Jace, he's bigger he should—" Adam muttered.
My sight blurred out, and I could feel as a heavy ache formed right in the center of my chest. Jace was dying, and I was dying, because Jace was a part of my life. He owned the other missing portion of my soul inside him, and both of them were dying down there, facing a bloodbath coming out of a deep hatred from Theo.
I couldn't do this anymore, so I stood on my feet, attempting a move when something flashed before my eyes.
Jace flew high up in the air and crashed to the ground.
The ground shook so hard like the earth was tearing into two. Theo stood a several feet away on the other side—his body was barely hurt, there were no spot of blood on his fur, except for his snout and mouth. He stood there, static and calm. In my head, he was smiling, enjoying this moment to the fullest.
Jace remained sprawled on the ground; his fur was covered in thick blood. He had to back down now. I waited for any part of him to turn into skin again, but nothing happened. He stayed there, lying on the sand with his eyes closed.
He's dead.
I looked away, wiping the tears forming in my eyelids with my sleeves. I could feel myself collapsing when I saw a movement, peculiar enough to catch my attention.
Parker Sebastian swung out his wand, his mouth moved in a gibberish way, as if he was chanting a charm.
Bing.
"Jace Andrews was down in this round! I can't believe it—" Sam commented through the microphone.
Wait, Jace hasn't shape-shifted into his human body yet, has he? He still hasn't surrendered.
My eyes searched for my mate. He was now in his human form, blood covering his face, fresh cuts crisscrossing all over his torso. Theo walked back into the east door. A group of med team put Jace on a stretcher. Then my mate was missing, and I started to panic again.
This time, I stood up and ran, shoving past the crowd beneath me. My mate needed me.