Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna-Chapter 74: Second round_Part 1

In the resting room, Viola placed her hand against Nick’s arm and said, "It’s all thanks to you and Zoe for being my trainers. But we shouldn’t celebrate too soon, the trials aren’t over yet. We still have two more to go."

Nick waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a bothersome fly.

"Nah. I trust you’ll pass them, Vee. I wouldn’t have bet my last card on you if I didn’t sense great potential," he said confidently, already trusting her abilities after what he had witnessed her do in the arena. She was amazing. He had never seen any woman as captivating as she was, and though he had doubted her ability for a moment when they first met in the dining hall, he had known she possessed great potential the instant she spoke to Laila and endured her Alpha aura.

Nick found her complex and different, which was why he was all in when it came to supporting her, and betting on her. He thought this as he removed his hand from her shoulder and looked into her eyes, belatedly realizing she wasn’t wearing her glasses.

"Have your eyes been cured?" he asked in surprise, so much so that even Zoe peeked from behind him, only to notice that Viola truly wasn’t wearing her glasses.

"Did you take your glasses off?" Zoe asked, chiding herself internally for only just noticing.

Viola blinked, suddenly aware of the lenses that still felt a little uncomfortable in her eyes, strange, but tolerable. Because of the high-stakes tension of the trials, she had completely forgotten about them until Nick and Zoe pointed it out. She raised her hands to her eyes, then shook her head, resisting the urge to rub them as it felt slightly itchy.

"No. I’m wearing lenses," she told them, hoping they wouldn’t ask where she had gotten them.

Such things weren’t sold in the werewolf world; no shifter had problems with their vision. She didn’t know whether it was right to tell them that the Alpha had sent them for her, along with a few other things, like the cheat sheet, because she had no idea how to explain why he would do that when he clearly didn’t support her.

The man was acting bipolar, his unpredictable behavior constantly confusing her, and she didn’t think she wanted to dwell on him at this critical point in the competition. Relief washed over her when the two simply said—

"Oh, lenses. I’ve heard they work just as well as glasses. It’s good you thought of it and didn’t wear your glasses," Zoe remarked, completely unaware of how vision actually worked or how glasses were prescribed. They were never taught about such problems, so she assumed any lens sold would work just fine. Viola didn’t correct her.

"I’ll see you during the second resting time, mi amor," Nick said, glancing down at his wristwatch then at her face. "I need to get back to the computer room before they notice I’m missing. The next competition will start in five minutes."

He gently patted her head as he added, "Be careful out there, Vee. Don’t die, stay alive. If anything happens to you, I won’t be able to forgive myself."

He sounded serious for the first time in his life. Nick rarely sounded serious, but Viola had become one of the people he considered important, along with Zoe.

They were important to him now because they were the only ones who truly saw him.

His own mother didn’t care much about his existence, largely because he lacked the ambition of his older brother. Nick didn’t want the burden of ruling or carrying the pack’s weight on his shoulders. All he wanted was a free life spent in front of his systems, solving problems and chasing challenges that had nothing to do with becoming Alpha.

He and Zoe had been close since they were little children, and she had always been closer to him than even his own brother. There was a time when Nick went through darker days, depressing days filled with thoughts of ending everything. He had felt invisible within his own family, unseen by his own mother, no matter what he did. Nothing was ever good enough.

He had wanted it all to end.

But Zoe had saved him. She had stayed by his side when his own family failed him, standing in for the kind of family he should have had.

He had lived with her in her penthouse in the City of Silver while she worked at her fashion house and modeled. During those months, his mother never asked about him, not once. She never called. She never worried about his whereabouts.

Nick and Zoe had grown close like siblings, and their childish banter and constant arguing made him feel seen, if only a little. Now Viola had joined their small circle, and he had added her to the list of people he cared about. In the month he had known her, she had never neglected someone she cared for. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Even when training exhausted her, she still made time to join their group chat, talking and joking with them. Nick found himself liking her more than he should.

That was why he knew that even if she failed to pass all three trials, he would do everything in his power to make sure she wasn’t banished from Silver. He would give her a home there, even if it meant marrying her.

His mother wouldn’t care anyway. She wouldn’t mind him marrying a wolfless.

"I will be careful. Thanks, Nick," Viola assured him, and only then did he leave, with the promise of cheering for her from the computer room where he worked.

Once he was gone, Zoe turned to Viola and asked, "Are you ready for the second round?"

No, Viola answered silently in her mind.

Despite wanting to feel victorious and accomplished after the first round, Viola knew she might not be so lucky in the next one. It was a deadly round, the very reason she had brought her daggers and bow. The thought sent pins crawling through her stomach, increasing her dread of the second competition.

"Yes, I am," she lied.

Soon after, she drank some water and cleaned herself up before being escorted to the Silver Room to wait for her turn alongside Emilia.

Just like in the first round, they watched as Laila stepped into the arena for the second round on the screen.

The top of the arena was left open this time, and everyone would be watching it happen live. Though holographic screens still surrounded the grounds, the audience chose to watch it directly the moment they realized what this round was about. Eyes widened across the spectator stands as the challenge was presented to Laila. Even Viola, who already knew what it was, wasn’t prepared for it. Her throat went instantly dry, parched like a desert.

"Now this is where a stupid wolfless can’t use cheap tricks to find her way around," Emilia sneered, a smirk playing on her lips as she noticed Viola turning slightly pale at the sight on the screen.

Though Emilia herself felt nervous the moment she saw the challenge, fear tightening in her chest, she took comfort in the wolfless’s reaction.

Did she really think she could use people again, like in the first round, to pass this?

Emilia scoffed. That would be impossible here.

This round involved no civilians, only the participant and the black howlers in the arena. Creatures that would tear her to shreds and eat her alive.

Viola stared at the two mighty beasts on the screen, her heart dropping heavily into the pit of her stomach. In this round, the participants were required to face and defeat black howlers, or die in the arena.

Black howlers were a different breed of werewolves, far larger and more powerful than red howlers, who were a mixed breed of lycans and werewolves. Nick had once told her that a few participants had died trying to face a red howler in previous competitions. Black howlers were even worse than red howlers.

They were enormous, larger than a big bull. A single paw strike could crush a human into the ground. Viola watched as they were released from their cages, which slowly rose from the platform beneath them.

They had glowing red eyes and fur as black as ebony, with massive fangs and horns, yes, horns. They had black horns. These creatures were said to be cursed with immense strength and power, their appearance vastly different from that of regular wolves.

Once, black howlers had their own pack just like the normal werewolves. But that pack had been destroyed after they attempted to dominate the entire werewolf world. They slaughtered members of other packs brutally whenever those packs refused to bow to them.

Their violence forced the largest packs to unite and bring down both the black and red howlers. Instead of killing them all, the victors divided the surviving howlers among themselves, turning them into prisoners and using them as living weapons, armies forced to fight.

The black howlers were known to be filled with anger and fury. They had once ruled, and now they were enslaved. Any opportunity to kill a member of the packs that had defeated them was a chance to vent years of rage.

The Silver Pack had been among those who brought them down.

Releasing them for this round meant there would be no mercy. The participants would either kill, or be killed.

This trial existed to ensure that if the pack was ever attacked, the Luna would be capable of protecting herself, even against the strongest of wolves.

Viola stared at the screen as the two massive wolves stepped out of their cages and into the arena. The platform lowered slowly beneath them as they began advancing toward Laila, who had already shifted into her wolf form.