Chapter 64: Big reveal
The moment the game starts, the huge brown wolf doesn’t wait. He lunges, his teeth aiming straight for Adrian’s throat.
Adrian shifts at the last possible second, feeling sharp teeth graze the fur along his neck instead of sinking into his flesh.
That was a close one...
Everyone is on edge, shouting commands like they’re the ones in the ring.
"Move!"
"Don’t let him pin you down!"
The grey wolf gives him no time to recover before he lunges again, bloodlust pumping through his veins.
His shoulder crashes into Adrian’s ribs, sending another pang of pain through his battered body. Adrian retaliates by trying to claw across the muzzle, but the wolf barely flinches.
The wolf is too strong. There’s something off about him.
Almost like he uses--Adrian doesn’t want to accuse anyone wrongly--but almost like he used black magic to make his wolf stronger than usual.
Adrian pants, blood dripping from his shoulder onto the arena floor. Every muscle in his body aches, and his vision is already turning blurry.
Still, he stands despite the pain, adrenaline pumping through his veins.
Across the bleachers, Nyra grips the railing until her fingers ache. She tries to reach him again through the bond, but it’s completely blocked.
Goddess, please...
"Get up..." She barely realizes she’s whispering until Julian squeezes her arm. She ignores him. "You promised."
Down in the ring, the grey wolf circles him, almost leisurely now, smirking confidently like he’s already won.
"Stop staring!" One of the students from the Silver Fangs side shouts. "Finish him!"
The Moon-Crest students boo in response, the training ring noise with back and forth murmurs. And for a moment, it seems like the other fighters have completely disappeared, leaving only the two massive wolves in the middle of the ring.
The tension between them is palpable from every inch of the training hall.
Adrian closes his eyes, calling forth every last ounce of strength. He is battered, bleeding, and already exhausted from the previous fights-- he almost thinks about just giving up.
But then, a strange warmth spreads through his body. Not the familiar surge of adrenaline when he fights, but something completely different.
It doesn’t feel like his usual Alpha instincts at all.
It begins beneath the small black mark near his waist, then races through every vein down to his paws.
What the fuck is happening?
He almost starts panicking until he remembers his father’s words; "Be careful. Now that you know what you really are, your true abilities may start to show."
*Is this what my father meant?* He thinks to himself, opening his eyes. And when he does, everything feels entirely different.
The noise of the arena has completely faded, and everything around him feels unnaturally slow.
The grey wolf is still flying toward him, but now he looks like he’s doing it in slow motion, and Adrian can predict his move before he even strikes.
He slips beneath the wolf’s outstretched claws, sliding under him, then slams his shoulder into the other fighter’s chest, sending him stumbling backward.
The grey wolf’s eyes widen when he stumbles back. He didn’t even see Adrian move.
No one did.
"What the-"
Before the words leave his mouth, he is thrown halfway across the arena, smashed through one side of the fencing before bouncing back onto the sand.
Adrian stares at his own paws, shocked at how much force came out of them, to shove a wolf of that size shouldn’t have been that easy.
The realization only makes the grey and brown wolf angrier. He staggers upright, red eyes blazing with fury as he charges again.
This time, Adrian doesn’t pause to think, he just lets his mind and body lead him. The next thing he knows, the wolf is across the arena again, his jaw slack and bleeding.
The wolf tries again.
But he ends up across the hall before he can even land a hit. Again. And again. And again.
Blood stains his grey fur from the several injuries covering his body, but he still keeps charging at Adrian and getting thrown across the ring everytime. What’s even more infuriating is that Adrian hasn’t broken a sweat since.
Finally, finally, the blood loss finally forces the grey to fall onto his side, grovelling on the sand in pain.
"One!" The huge wolf growls, trying to rise.
"Two!" His hind paws buckle.
"Three!" The Silver Fang students begin screaming his name, urging him to get up.
"Four...Five!"
The whistle shrieks as the scoreboard updates.
Silver Fangs: 3 fighters left. (7 down)
Moon-Crest: 4 fighters left. (6 down)
"Moon-Crest Wins!"
Apparently, the other players had managed to hold their own against the remaining fighters while Adrian battled the wolf.
The Moon-Crest side jumps with happiness, black-and-red banners filling the air. Students screaming Adrian’s and the other fighters’ names, hailing them on.
Nyra feels tears spill down her cheeks before she even realizes she’s crying. He did it. He actually did it--he won like he promised.
Moon-Crest would advances to the regional competition now.
---
An hour later, the locker room is unusually quiet as most of the fighters have already left to celebrate despite their injuries.
As werewolves, most of the earlier eliminated fighters have already started healing. Only a few are left tending to their wounds.
Adrian sits on a wooden bench wearing only his athletic shorts, a white towel hanging around his neck. His cheek has been stitched, and fresh bandages are wrapped around his ribs and shoulder.
He looks calm again, Adrian in all his glory. But his mind is anything but-- it keeps replaying the fight, and the power that came from his own paws was completely crazy.
How was that even possible? What more could he do?
And even more concerning...what if someone in that ring had noticed?
Adrian is still pretended to be engrossed in cleaning the smaller cuts on his body when the door to the locker room opens.
Several players look up, expecting Moon-Crest fighters to come in, only to be met with unfamiliar faces.
One of them is a grey-eyed young man who looks eerily similar to Ronan. His nose and body are heavily bandaged, and bruises cover half his face.
The grey wolf fighter.
"Hey, you can’t be here!" John says, stepping forward to intercept him. "Leave!"
The boy doesn’t even glance at him. His angry eyes remain pinned directly on Adrian.
"You cheated!"
Adrian doesn’t look up. "I think you should stop projecting," he mutters monotonously. "I won fair and square."
The younger wolf laughs bitterly. "There’s no way you didn’t cheat! No Alpha moves like that."
John folds his arms, already annoyed and tired. "The match is over, so go cry somewhere else. Everyone already knows how strong Adrian is in combat. He doesn’t need to cheat to win."
The boy scoffs. "Yeah, right. But I beat his ass the first few minutes. What changed, hmm?"
That finally gets Adrian to stand.
Towering over the werewolf, he studies him carefully, wondering how such a small boy could transform into that massive wolf. He knows the young guy used black magic or atleast something. He just can’t prove it.
Unless he is also not a regular wolf.
"You came here to talk big?" Adrian cracks his shoulder. "Want a rematch. Want to get your ass beaten again?" Adrian is already prepared to fight round two, but is shocked when the younger wolf shakes his head, despite the taunt.
"No." He grins wide in a way that unsettles Adrian, "I came here to tell you something."
The friend that came behind him frowns suspiciously, grabbing his arm. "Rylan, don’t."
So that’s his name.
Rylan rips his hand away, ignoring his friend completely. "You keep walking around acting like you’re some perfect future Alpha." He looks up defiantly, until they’re eye to eye. "So confident. So busy playing happy family." For some suspicious reason, the boy seems excited now.
"Maybe you think you’ve won this time. But... if you think shit’s done because my brother is in jail and you won the match today..." Adrian’s eyes narrow as he continues, "Then you’re the most fucking stupid person I know."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
Rylan’s grin grows brighter, tilting his head like he’s about to deliver the best news.
"You don’t even know, do you? That you’ve been playing dad for another man’s child all this time?"