Chapter 108

Zenovia

Matteo walked out of the room and I fidgeted with my fingers as I heard him greet the crowd.

I did not know all of the people inside the room and it was not the time to bond over either. I was feeling

nervous and second guessing if it had been the right decision to show up here when I could have been

sleeping in my bed.

“Thunder?” I tried to speak to my wolf. At times like these, it was good to have her to talk to.

“You did the right thing” She replied, making my racing heart calm down a little. “Sorry to drag you here

when we trained so hard in the morning” I offered but I felt her stifle a yawn.

“No worries. I never see people around us. It’s usually just the grumpy King and his minions and as

Matt said, it is going to be a friendly spar. So we will be fine.” I felt relieved to hear her words which

gave me some encouragement.

The next moment, the door to the common room was thrown open and we all walked outside.

The crowd erupted in cheers as we all made our way to the arena. There were referees stationed on all

four sides on a small podium elevated above the boundary of the arena for them to clearly see

everything.

We went inside the huge arena and I looked up. The seats were filled to the brim and people were

cheering and clapping. That made me feel both nervous and excited.

Matteo made us all walk in a line to enter the sandy arena and the first twenty-five were put in one

group, Team A while the rest in another, Team B.

I belonged to the first group.

“OK, you might want to remove your shoes and socks. We start on the count of three”

We did as asked and stood facing each other in a large group face-off. My heart was pouding and I felt

the heartbeat drowning all the noise around me. “Your task is simple for this round. Simply push the

other team members to the ground. Once your back touches the ground, you are disqualified. The

team with the most members who did not fall down by the end will be the winner.”

I looked ahead at the opposite group. I barely got a chance to look at half of them when the referee

announced,

“Three…two…one…go!!”

And then chaos ensued. Everybody just ran at each other and people began

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pulling and pushing at others.

Some were so startled that a few fell down when the opposing team came running at them and

smacked their bodies into them.

Luckily, I had been standing a few feet away from them so narrowly avoided falling down. Our team

had already lost three members.

“Out”

The referee bellowed and the three members stepped out of the arena with a disgruntled look. Our

opposing team felt motivated by their headstart win and they began forming groups of two or three to

repeat the technique and just push our team down.

Our team was too scattered and shaken by the loss and soon we lost two more. “Shit” I muttered and

that was when the group of three noticed me.

Their gazes quickly looked away, making me fume in anger.

They dismissed me as a threat quite easily. “Oi” I shouted and ran into them as they formed a human

chain and went after three more members of my group. “What are you looking at? Fight back!” I yelled

at those three young boys of my group who nodded furiously and raised their hands to hurl a punch.

But they separated in the process and were easily pushed down. At this rate, we would lose pretty

soon. So I crouched on all fours and snaked on the ground, crawling on all fours while making my way

through the opposing team that was too busy trying to pull others down to keep an eye around their

own feet.

“What the-”

I elbowed the trio in the back of their knees and they all went down easily. I did not wait to see their

reaction and quickly went toward the other group that was utilizing a similar tactic.

The referee announced, “Seven all. The match will resume after two more minutes. Time out”

I got up from the crouched position and looked around to see the opposing team glaring at me.

Particularly a group of girls. Where had I seen them again?

I ignored their gazes and walked back to our group, Team A, most of whom were surprised that we had

managed to even the score.

“Were you the one who took everybody down?” A young girl asked while drinking water from a bottle.

“Yes. The rules didn’t state I could not crawl on all fours” I grinned and she grinned back.

“Smart move”

Others nodded in appreciation too and for the first time, I felt I was a part of something, not an outcast.

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“Now how do we tackle the rest of Team B?” One of the boys asked and I answered.

“They will be careful now. I suggest we form a human chain and hold our hands tightly. Use shared

strength to punch or kick at the incoming attacks. But if we lose balance, then we let go of the hold,

push the other party down, and rejoin our hands.”

“Hmm,” The girl from earlier replied, “But are you sure it will work?”

I shook my head, “I haven’t fought in large groups either. But it is all about teamwork. We stand strong

as a team and we should be fine.”

The referee blew the whistle and we were back in the game. I was doubtful if my team would listen to

me but they did and we all formed a big human chain and ran towards the other group, making four or

five of the other team fall down. “Great!! Keep up the formation!!” I yelled from the other end of the

human chain as a group of five more opponents ran toward us.

“Circle up, now!!” I thought on the spot and we circled the five opponents, leaving the remaining

outside.

We simply had to lessen the radius of our human circle to take them out. A few kicks and punches

later, they were down. They did put up a fight and some of our team members got injured, and two fell

down, but we still managed to do it.

Now we had an upper hand. My eyes flicked to the huge timer that reflected the time left.

“Just fifteen seconds left”

I said but the group of five from before of team B simply ran at me and began hitting and punching me

viciously.

“Ow” I tried to fight back but one of the girls grabbed my hair and the other drove a punch straight into

my abdomen.

The rest of my team was fighting the others so they took a moment to notice and rush to my aid but

thankfully the referee blew the whistle signalling the end of the match.

“End of time. Team A wins this match’

The girl holding my hair let go of my ponytail angrily, shoving it brutally in my face while the other glared

at me.

“This is not over”

I wanted to shout back at them but the match was already over. I would get time to worry about them

later. Why had they attacked me out of nowhere?

‘Maybe they were just bitter about their loss,’ I figured and dismissed their thoughts.

All of my team members came running towards me and asked if I was okay. It felt nice to have found a

supporting team that listened to me.

For the first time, I felt like I belonged somewhere. My team members patted my back and began

asking more about where I was from and what pack I belonged to. Most thought I was a daughter of an

alpha or a beta.

So they were surprised to hear that I belonged to the Skalbeck pack.

“What? YOU are the girl that the Lycan King took under his wing?”

I let out a sigh. I was so much more than just some girl that the Lycan King took pity on. Would I ever

get rid of that identity?

Thunder answered the question, “You will. We both just have to work a bit harder than others.”

Her words comforted me a little and I got ready for the next round.