“We can leave here this afternoon right after the Selection. Everything’s ready for takeoff and I’ll be bringing Ethan with me,” Konnor said.
“Good. Give me a call when you’re en route, so I can get everything ready on this end. ”
Lucas ended the transmission and the other two alphas headed for the arena. The arena was located inside a huge sporting complex near the center of the capital city, Zebulara. As they approached the area, they could already hear sounds of a large crowd of people in the viewing stands. Konnor and Larssen made their way inside to the judging stands to sit beside the other alpha judges, a few of whom were already in place. Konnor scanned the arena for a glimpse of Ethan, finally spotting him standing at the back of the group of pups, looking scared and nervous, his eyes on the big crowd in the arena.
The pups were already outfitted in protective gear, a loose fitting harness of sorts strapped around their chests and waists. It extended down past their groins and tied off on their thighs. Everything was oversized since once they shifted, they would bulk up considerably. Konnor signaled to one of the referees on the arena floor, an alpha he knew casually. The man moved over to the side of the stands and Konnor bent over to shout down to him. With
all the noise of the crowd, he felt fairly confident that the pups across the floor couldn’t hear him. “I’d like you to watch my pup closely when he gets in the ring. I’ve examined him carefully, and I’m almost positivehe’s an omega. If any of the others get too excited and overly aggressive with him, he could get badly hurt. I doubt he would make any attempt to defend himself. ”
The referee’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you sure? We haven’t had an omega come through in a long time. ”
“I’m almost positive. My brother concurs with my evaluation, and the Ruling Council has already been notified it’s a distinct possibility. ”
The other alpha nodded. “All right then. I’ll watch him, and if I think anything’s about to happen to him, I’ll pull him out. ” He turned to look at the group of young men. “Which one is he? ”
Konnor pointed at Ethan. “The blond in the back. ”
The referee turned his head a bit to regard him. “Nice. I wouldn’t mind bidding on that once he’s properly trained. ”
Konnor felt his hackles rise, but he forced his voice to remain calm, with only a slight growl tingeing his voice, even though inside him his wolf was raging at the other alpha, ready to tear out his throat. “If you pull him, bring him to me. ”
The referee went back to his post and Konnor was glad to see the games were beginning. The three Lycan pups who had been initially identified as alphas came out against the four betas first. As Larssen said the day before, alphas were always easiest to pick out. In their shifted form, they were usually the largest, most aggressively feral ones on the field.
None of the pups had weapons of any kind, using only their fierce claws and teeth against each other once they’d shifted. There was the usual posturing and a couple of fights broke out, but it didn’t take long for all three alphas to be confirmed. Mostly the combatants circled each other, growling and threatening, until the weaker pups lowered their heads and bared their throats in submission. Once this happened, the officials took the stronger Lycans from the ring and the ones left faced a new batch of opponents.
Next, the betas went up against the gammas, and Konnor leaned forward nervously. The gammas came out into the ring, and immediately shifted into their wolves. Right away, Ethan stuck out like a proverbial sore thumb. He was smaller than the other gammas and his coloration was completely different, but the most telling sign was his nearly complete lack of aggression. When any of the betas approached him, Konnor was instantly on the alert, ready to signal to the referee to step in, but it wasn’t necessary. Ethan’s wolf immediately sank lower than the beta, never quite dropping to his knees, but making his submission plain by offering his throat. Three of the betas satisfied themselves with biting his snout and then contemptuously turned their backs and walked away. One, slightly more aggressive beta wasn’t happy until he forced Ethan to his knees, but he didn’t make any attempt to follow it up with a further attack.
The betas were taken out of the ring, and it was then that Konnor noticed the two gammas left in the arena with Ethan. They were circling him, snarling fiercely, while Ethan tried to keep an eye on both of them and failed miserably. As they circled him, they bit at his flanks and one swiped a lethal claw at his head. Ethan was on his knees by this time between them. Konnor was on his feet and running down to the floor of the arena before he could stop himself, his fangs and claws dropping as he ran. Just before he completed his shift though, he saw that both alpha referees were on their way and would make it long before he did. One of the referees knelt beside Ethan, speaking to him urgently, while the other alpha sent the two gammas cowering out of the ring.
Forcing himself to calm down, he was aware of Larssen beside him, also partially shifted. Konnor knew that if he’d gone into the ring, he wouldn’t have been alone, not that he needed any help against the cowardly punks. Konnor made a mental note to see about arranging a garbage scow apprenticeship for both gammas. The referee stayed beside Ethan while he shifted back and then took his arm to lead him from the arena as Konnor watched, wanting badly to get his hands on the boy.
Larssen clapped a large hand on his shoulder. “He’s okay, little brother. They have him now. ”
The referee was bringing him out. Konnor watched as the big alpha leaned down to speak to Ethan and Ethan looked up at him in confusion. The referee waited while Ethan untied his protective harness and handed it over. The other pups who had gone behind the fences now were all staring at him and talking among themselves, and as he noticed, his cheeks turned pink. Naked, he followed the referee back across the ring. His cheeks turned an even brighter shade, and Konnor knew it cost him to expose his body in front of so many onlookers. It was killing Konnor too.
Konnor calledto the alpha he’d spoken to earlier, and he changed courses, signaling for Ethan to wait for him, and headed toward Konnor.
“I’ll take him. He can go with me now to get his bags. ”
“Have you received the appropriate permission from the council?” the referee asked.
“Of course,” Konnor snapped, impatient to get his hands back on his pup.
The alpha nodded and motioned for Ethan to join them. He came over quickly, glancing up once at Konnor before lowering his head again as if he couldn’t bear to meet Konnor’s gaze.
The referee showed Ethan the small door to enter the stands and then left as Ethan began to climb up the steps to reach Konnor. He came to stand on the step below Konnor, his head respectfully bowed. “Y-You wanted to see me, sir?”
Konnor took off his shirt and handed it to Ethan. “Here, Blondie, put this on. ”
Ethan’s head shot up. “Have I done something wrong, sir? The other alphawouldn’t tell me what was happening. Did my wolf not do well in the challenges? ”
Konnor shook his head impatiently. He longed to comfort the boy, but this was neither the time nor place to get into this. Instead, he made his voice firm as he told him, “Take the shirt, Ethan and cover yourself. ” The boy looked crestfallen, hurt, even bewildered, but he nodded obediently and quickly put on the shirt.
“Sir?” Ethan shifted his gaze up to search Konnor’s face. “Can you tell me what happened in the ring? OnceI shifted, I…”
Konnor remembered this was only the second time he’d shifted. Sometimes an inexperienced pup had problems remembering exactly what went on during the shifts, their minds overpowered by their beasts. He may not have realized he was almost mauled by the gammas.
He took Ethan’s bags from his hand and held onto them, afraid they were too heavy after what he’d been through, and surveyed the smaller figure. The shirt was long enough on Ethan to cover his genitals, coming to the top of his thighs. It would have to do until he could get him to the ship. The strong protective urges he was having were playing havoc with his nerves, and he longed to take his hand, but knew Ethan wouldn’t appreciate approached, glancing at the young man standing in front of Konnor.