All at once, the whistle was sounded and both contestants were spurred to action with heightened senses. Aryn was the first to administer a jab and a roundhouse kick that sent Rae reeling backwards into the ring ropes and not waiting for a moment he hastened towards the hunched over figure, spurred on by the all-consuming need to exact his revenge. Sensing his nearness, Rae slid on his knees to grapple Aryns' legs, forcefully, and with a grunt took the resistant Alpha down. Here, he straddled Aryns' form in a hold down to deliver a series of rabid strikes to his head.

"Take—this—as—a—preview—of—what—is—to—come," he growled, backing each word up with a blow. The impact to his knuckles caused an electric timbre that travelled up his arm and towards his spine to feed the unseen apparition, symbolic of the unleashing of his repressed ferality. "I'll make you pay," he grunted just as Aryn blocked off his strikes with an elbow and faster than he could register the Alphas' next move, Aryn wrapped his legs around Raes' torso and with quick movements held him in a triangle submission choke.

The crowd went wild at the turn of events with boisterous chants praising the virility of their Alpha filling the amphitheatre. A sanguine hued smirk lined Aryns' features as he tightened his hold on his squirmy opponent.

"You were saying?" he jeered with a wheeze as he coughed up a spit of blood. He couldn't deny the fact that the white-wolf threw mean punches. The dull throb at the base of his head as well as the cut on his lips was testament enough to this observation. He felt the agile pulse against his left thigh and sought to stifle its beat until his prey was but a gasping mess suffering from oxygen deprivation. It would be unwise to think that beating the white-wolf would be a walk in the park; however, what he did not expect was to be lifted up, swung around and slammed into the metal posts head on.

A sickening crunch of bone could be heard just as the collective gasp of a thousand surprised voices slowed the descent of snow crystals onto the earth surface. In that moment, time had ceased to exist as Aryn's hold on Rae loosened to allow the white-wolf an opening to roll over to the far side of the ring. All the while, dry heaving and gasping in an attempt to fill his clogged nostrils with frigid air.

Many a participant stood up on their feet to contemplate the oddity that was the gladiator and how he managed to be on the same par as an Alpha in the fighting ring. Kiba pulled on Yil's elbow just as Rae staggered to his feet and unsheathed his claws. "Are we really going to stand back and watch as a fellow pack member discards all that we stand for like a mangled chew toy that is out of use?" he questioned with a slight raise in his voice. "Aryn would never want to admit this but both you and I know that an outside wolf is no match for one of our kind," he reasoned trying to get a response out of the she-wolf who was now too stunned to speak.

It was just like in her dream, Yil thought. Only this time it was happening in real time under sub-zero conditions. One thing was clear, both wolves were out for blood but much more importantly, they wanted revenge. It was a craving mirrored in the dark eyes of the now existing ominous presence inhabiting the person she once knew. Its presence was all too familiar and devoid in the cold steel eyes of her mate who now clambered to his feet with his hand to a nose that was no doubt broken. Aryn was fuelled by sheer strength and malice but Rae was powered by much more.

This just wasn't about her.

"It's all my fault," She choked out, trying to quell down the lump in her throat and the tightness in her chest. "This was never the plan. I could just have agreed to the rejection. I should have listened to Zena then I would never have pushed him this far...," She rambled on, hyperventilating and running a hand through her hair in distress.

She hoped to the Sky Lordians that she didn't run mad from the feelings of guilt that whirled around her mind. However seeing, as she had never been discreet in expressing her intense hatred for them and their laws, one could only guess that they'd be ecstatic at the fast deterioration of her mental health.

Her just desert, they'd say.

If only her heart wasn't stubborn, if only her curiosity wasn't engulfing, if only she wasn't selfish and irresponsible.

"Princess," Strong but gentle hands anchored the thin line of sanity she had left and stopped the rough assault on her albicant locks. Her vision moved from the two wolves set for attack on either side of the ring to settle on the worried orbs of Kiba. "As much as I sympathise with your situation, now is not the time to blame yourself for what is happening," He convinced as Yils' eyes filled with tears. "Instead we have to think of a way to stop this from becoming much more dangerous than it already is," he stated, softly, just as Rae barrelled into Aryn, maniacally.

This time the Alpha was quick to recover from the collision and lash out with a fang bite to Rae's shoulder. The action dragged a ferocious growl from Raes' cold, blue lips and digging his claws into Aryns' back, he flung the crazed Alpha away from his body, a chunk some of his flesh departing with the latter.

Aryn landed on the virginal bed of snow outside the ring, feet first, with his heels skidding on its lacy padding and raising a mist of chilly gases that obscured his whole body. Upon the settling of the mist, Aryns' wolf—Adolf—could be seen on all fours, growling with a mouth full of dripping blood which soiled the purity of the snow below. Angling his face upwards to the sky, he let out a haunting howl that was echoed by the spectators on either side of the colosseum.

The white-wolf had done quite a number on his human counterpart who's failing strength and injuries he tried to submerge as the kaleidoscopic patterns that obstructed his view of the opponent plagued his sight. Additionally, the deafening ringing in his head and the unhealed laceration on his right leg from the night before made standing upright even much more difficult.

However, as the prideful being that he was, it would be a cold day in hell when he'd roll over and let Rae win. Looking over to the object of his hatred, he made out the gory sight of exposed shoulder tendons and an ominous human figure who stared back at him, from all fours, with an equally threatening glare. The chants and chest thumps were getting louder by the minute and an invigorating sense of duty overwhelmed his being.

He'd agree that Rae was a tough one, a seasoned fighter, nevertheless he still had a duty to get rid of the white wolf and by all means, he'd do just that.

Content with just watching the fight commence for a while to deduce with his eyes what he had been contemplating with such zeal, Roy turned towards Yil and exhaled.

"There is a reason why fighting matches occur with such rarity...," he began, collecting his jumbled thoughts and trying to articulate them in a manner that made sense. "...the mate bond is a much stronger binding element than love is, as we all know. So, it'll be very absurd for a non-mated wolf to fight for the affections of a mated she-wolf. The affections would never be returned, anyway, and why would he even want to trade eventually finding his mate for one that is not his? It makes no sense..." he paused, peering back at Rae who mirrored the image of a love-crazed individual out for revenge and then to Yil who wore the garb of worry and the chains of guilt like burdensome ornaments. "... unless he is a lone wolf," he finished, peering closely at Yil to gauge her reaction.

The transitory expression of surprise that passed between both her and Kiba was all the confirmation he needed to authenticate his theory.

As suspected, his revelation was not going to serve as an eye-opening moment for them. They had known all along. Now it was even more ludicrous that Yil had gotten involved with a lone wolf, knowing just how disastrous such a relationship could turn out.

That is except she had believed she was a lone wolf as well, he thought.

Not waiting for their questions of how he was knowledgeable on the topics of lone wolves and whatnot, he continued, "And so for this reason as much as I wouldn't want to cross the Alpha or undermine his authority, I agree with Kiba to stop this before it gets any worse. Lone wolves have the ability to be volatile beings in situations like this and I can only imagine just how extraordinarily volatile a white-wolf would be," he stressed, scrutinizing Rae who had now shifted into wolf form.

To the untrained eye, his wolf—Xavier —appeared to be wine coloured. His regal coat had absorbed the blood resulting from the deep-seated gash by his shoulder. However, if one looked more closely one would just about make out the little tufts of white and gold fur cladding the majestic beast.

"What would you suggest we do?" Yil asked with urgency, realising more than ever that not only could the fight be a gateway to pandemonium. It could also serve as a threat to exposing their secret.

"In this situation only the object of affection of the sparring wolves can end the match by proclaiming with finality..." he enunciated, looking at an already conflicted Yil. "...whom she would mate with," he concluded, regurgitating off-head ancient writings he had once studied with enthusiasm.

"Simply put, Yil has to choose the winner," Kiba echoed and Roy nodded, affirmatively as Yil sighed at the heavy burden placed at her doorstop once again.

She could never seem to run away from making a decision between Rae and Aryn.

At that moment, Adolf and Xavier charged towards each other, furiously. With a ravenous lunge, concurrently performed by both parties, they battled it out mid-air—clawing and lashing out at each other. Upon reaching the slippery ground, Xavier rounded Adolf with speed and attacked his injured leg. It was a weak spot he had perceived in the slight, yet noticeable, limp the Alpha had in his sprint towards him. Adolf howled in pain and with a clawed paw smacked Xavier away from his injury.

Yils' breath hitched at the pain-filled howl and not thinking anything through, she made a move towards the wolves. At this rate, if she didn't interject the fight she was going to loose someone.

"Whoa there," Roy blocked Yils' path, hurriedly, with outstretched arms and legs. "We have to wait for the perfect opening and play our cards right," he advised, trying to placate the jittery she-wolf whose eyes were fixed on the action behind him.

"A proclamation of Alpha Aryn as the winner of your affections at a time when Rae has the upper hand will most definitely be perceived by the pack members as a pity vote," he continued, successfully capturing her attention. "Additionally, this would only infuriate Alpha Aryn to no end and undermine his ability to protect his Luna and be a worthy mate to sire future Alphas," he reasoned just as the chants of the audience grew louder, urging on their Alpha.

They didn't care if he suffered scars that would last him an eternity and neither did Aryn. As long as he won the fight, such scars would be a celebration of his prowess.

"As a future Alpha to a pack of your own, I'm sure you can understand just how important it is to not be perceived by one's pack as a weakling," he retracted his outstretched arms and righted himself.

"And what if that perfect opening never comes?" Yil whispered the rhetorical question as she watched as Xavier circled Adolf, who tried but failed to stand upright on one good limb. His usually dark eyes had turned even darker and now harboured depths of boundless depravity. Likewise, gloomy-looking clouds had now lined the hazy sky making the atmospheric pressure drop down even more.

The earlier ominous presence she had sensed now stared her square in the face. He was power drunk.

"You said so yourself, a lone white-wolf is especially volatile in situations like this," she started, making up her mind to bring an end to the fight. "Moreover, at this point all I care about is their survival," she finished and before anyone could change her mind, she moved past Roy and away from under the gladiator arch with Kiba hot on her heels.

On her way towards the wolves, she swiped the thick robes dangling over the curved arm of the distracted referee as well as the microphone held loosely in his hand.

"STOP!!," she boomed, catching the whole amphitheatre by surprise. Xavier stopped dead in his tracks from clamping down hard on Adolfs' jugular vein and the latter looked towards her in confusion.

Content that she had caught everyone's attention, she inhaled a shaky breath and walked towards Xavier and Adolf, cautiously. Here, she draped the robes, gently, on their wounded backs and hoped that they would heed her silent plea for them to shift back to human form. The adrenaline rush in their system hadn't settled down yet and she knew it would be a hard decision to make.

Aryn was the first to shift and as expected he did not take kindly to her interference. "Yil," he warned with a low growl.

"I call quits on this fighting match," she stated, unfazed by his brimming anger, and earning a procession of incredulous gasps from the audience.

Instantaneously, Rae shifted back to human form as well and not waiting for his input of resistance, she continued, confidently. "I don't need anyone fighting for my hand in matehood...," she said with finality to the listening ears of everyone in the colosseum. "...and I certainly don't want anyone getting hurt on my behalf," she reinforced. "I've seen just about enough to make my decision and according to the rules governing a fighting match, I am not in the wrong when I make that claim," she looked towards Roy to chip in and after a quick mental holographic play through of the many ways in which Alpha Aryn might deal with him, he gulped down hard and spoke up.

"I can attest to that," he backed up, emerging from the gladiator arch just as the spectators erupted in a gradual crescendo of confused murmurs, passing between them.

He was as good as dead meat. Because if the murderous glare Alpha Aryn directed his way was not indication enough of this fact then his clenched fists did the trick.

Aryn tried as hard as he could to not give into the rage that threatened to burst out of the seams of his robe.

Did she really have that little faith in him? Why would she dare to undermine his authority in front of all his pack members? Did she see him as a wimp who could never beat the dimwit she loved so much?

"Yil I won't say it again. Stay out of this," he rumbled, gnashing his teeth so hard they hurt.

"I choose you as my mate," she announced, quieting the buzzing murmurs and facing a stunned Aryn. "That's how it should be, that's how it should've been and that's how it'll be from this day forward," she proclaimed, before putting the microphone away from her lips and letting it fall to the snow. "I'm sorry I never gave you a chance, Aryn. I'm sorry I hurt you and...," she trailed off as Rae halted her speech towards the Alpha and spun her towards himself.

"What the hell are you saying, Yil?" he roared, pained by her decision and alerting Aryn who moved closer to assume a defensive position by her side. "I'd have won fair and square if you hadn't interrupted," he protested, searching her face for possible answers as to why she was doing this and ignoring the protective figure next to her.

Did she really have that little faith in him? Or did she harbour feelings for her so-called murderer of a mate? What was the kiss for then? Was she really going to betray his love in front of all these people?

All these questions he tried to communicate down the mind-link which was now blocked.

"No, Rae because of your advancements in power and strength you can never win fairly. You would only have killed him and I can't have that," Yil argued, internally dying at the emotional torment she knew she was no doubt inflicting on him. She could sense him desperately trying to communicate through the mind-link which she had blocked beforehand. It was an extreme move, however, as much as it broke her heart she had to firstly, save him from doing what he would later regret and, secondly, she had to let go of him. The Sky Lordians had made it very clear that she could never have her cake and eat it.

"I'm really, really, extremely sorry for all the hurt and sorrow I have caused you. I'm sorry for stringing you along, for being selfish and for breaking your heart again and again when you have been nothing but wonderful to me..." Her throat closed up at the sight of a stray tear that escaped his eye. "...but I choose my mate this time," she added, watching as he grasped his chest in disbelief with one palm and reached for her hand with the other.

Synchronously, the smothering pain in her chest signified that she had just uttered the words of rejection and suppressing its sting with steely will, she spoke again.

"And I intend to stick with my decision," she enunciated, slowly, as she drew her hand away from his reach and held onto Aryn's own. Raes' palm fell to his side as he sought out her hands, in a trance like state, to where they lay.

Aryn looked towards their intertwined hands as well and for the life of him could not figure out the reason behind Yils' complete change of heart. He had never been one to fall in love, however, thinking back to the devastating effect that his mother's death had on his father, he knew love wasn't a feeling one could ward off easily.

His educated guess was that she was trying to deflect the situation and save Rae from breaking their clan codes. Did this then mean she was taking him for a fool?

Whatever the reason was, he'd play along with the whole charade. She had publicly declared that she was his and whether her heart belonged to him or not did not matter, anymore. He was done with being weak and vulnerable. He was done being the plaything of the Sky Lordians. He was done trying to revive his cold heart. He was done being the love-sick puppy he had sworn he'd never become.

Tighten his hold on her hands, he signalled for a microphone and when he had received it, faced his pack members. "In that case, I present to you all the packs Luna to be,"

The crowd went wild with excitement as they contemplated the Alphas' words. They would finally have a Luna after the decades without one. Finally, the pack would be complete.

Raes' eyes twitched with anger and his whole being shook with fury. He couldn't believe that after she had refused to be rejected and kissed him like her life depended on it, she does a 180 and rejects him instead. His heart squeezed again at the fresh memory and this time he crumbled to the ground, knee deep into the snow. Hearing a rush of feet drawing closer to where he was crouched, he dared to hope that it was Yil running back to comfort him and tell him that it was all a bad dream. However, looking up with a hopeful expression, he is met with the worried eyes of Kiba in his now disillusioned reality.

"At this rate, Rae, you are going to die before your time," Kiba fussed, pressing a gauze to his wounded shoulders to stop the bleeding.

"And for whom did I want to die for all this time?" he whispered, supressing his tears and tracking down Yil with his gaze. She was still next to that monster, holding his hands and smiling sweetly at every she-wolf who rushed over to envelop her in welcoming hugs. "Everything I ever did was for her. I loved and cherished her more than anyone else. She was my whole world, nevertheless, I was willing to let her go by way of rejection and as such travelled into a world I greatly detested," he continued with venom. "To add even more salt to injury, she gave me false hope when I had reconciled myself with moving on and in the end she chose a murderer over me, an outside wolf..." He paused, looking to Kiba who stopped his work on cleaning up his wounds to stare at the unfamiliar yet familiar face of his pack member.

"...Aryn freaking Belasco," Rae swore, rising up as his irises turned pitch dark. "The bastard lycan whose forefathers were the initiators of the massacre and enslavement of thousand of white-wolves," he roared just as a series of thunder bolts hit the icy ground. One was particularly aimed at the object of his anger.

Miraculously, the shards of ice ricocheted off the earths' surface to only create a deep crack that forcefully separated Aryn from Yil. Screams of horror could be heard from the pack members as they tried to escape the continuous assault of thunder bolts.

Kiba moved to block Raes' view of Aryn and shook his shoulders, roughly. "Snap out of it," he commanded thereby neutralising the thunder bolts. "You can't be so sure of what you claim and as a lone wolf myself I can assure you that we aren't really created to wander around without mates. Instead...," he tried to explain but was cut-off by Raes' still question.

"You've known me since I was a tot, Kiba. Would I ever lie?"

Kibas' hold on Rae slackened to allow the wolf passage as he ruminated over what he had just learned. Aryn forefathers were the initiators of the pain his forefathers had suffered. It was bad enough that he had a general dislike for all outside wolves with the exception of a few but to be housed by and mated to the descendant of those who kick-started the alienation of white-wolves was just despicable.

He stared ahead to Yil who had heard the whole conversation. Her eyes were pleading, silently, with him to remain calm. He started to feel queasy and nauseous from the continuous doses of hard truth pills he had been ingesting these past few days. However, out of all these revelations, this one hurt even more because she had hidden the truth from him. His leg muscles resigned under his weight and down he went into the snow, kneeling and watching the chaos around him in a daze.

Yil perceived the betrayal and disappointment wafting off Kiba and couldn't bare to hold his gaze any longer. She looked towards Rae who was now engulfed within a haze of glittering, whirling snowflakes and could now understand the motivation behind his actions.

A whole lot of things that'll leave you wanting to bash Aryns' face in, he had snarled in response to why he would risk breaking their clan codes.

He was aware of the history of Black Moon Pack and she had just tipped him over the brinks of a power drunkenness that she herself had narrowly missed falling into, just a day ago, when she had learnt about the truth.

Rae, please snap out of it, she pleaded down the mind-link but just as she had done to him, he blocked the link and continued to walk, unbothered, towards Aryn.

At that moment, she noticed that the once whirling snowflakes around Rae had now transformed into a hovering swarm of icicles. Noting that he had nowhere to hide from the deranged white-wolfs' attack, Aryn braced himself for impact with raised arms. All at once, the icicles hurtled towards him as Yil leaped over the crack between them and glided over to him with a hand to the snow. In so doing, the action caused a timely snowdrift that formed a protection against the deadly spikes.

"He is currently lost in a power drunkenness and won't stop until you're dead," Yil rushed out, fighting to keep the barrier sturdy against the pelt of icicles that grew vicious by the second. "I need you to get everyone to safety and leave me to handle him," she reasoned with a strain in her voice.

The excruciating pain in her abdomen was starting to grow steadily the more she exerted her powers and she soon found herself gasping for breath and her hold on the barrier faltering. Aryn's warm embrace was the first thing she sensed before she heard the sudden whoosh of air as they both rolled away from the opening in the snowdrift. Rae had assumed control over her barrier and as such had destroyed it from the middle.

It was very disconcerting how she had not noticed the change in power and even much more disturbing how weak she felt.

"Are you okay?" Aryn asked, shaking the she-wolf who fought the urge to give into the insentience that dragged her eyes back into her skull and relaxed her muscles. Had he not pulled her away when he had then he couldn't have guaranteed that she would be alive right now. He looked back to the giant icicle lodged within the spectator seats and then to the huge gap within the snowdrift.

If Rae was willing to hurt Yil who he had sworn to love wholeheartedly then he could only imagine what plans the white-wolf had for him and the pack who had wronged his ancestors.

"I feel so weak Aryn but I need to stop Rae first," Yil wheezed, placing a hand to her abdomen in agony as she struggled to rise, determinedly.

"We both know you are in no shape to do that," he helped her up, hurriedly and was about to place her hand around his neck when a howling wind flung him into one of the arena's stone column.

"Rae, please stop all this. Please," he heard Yil screech as he slid down the column, slowly. His blood giving the cemented structure a vibrant crimson hue.

The clouds where now rotating in dark swirls and the atmosphere had darkened considerably. For the first time since the start of the whole commotion, Aryn noticed that the arena was quiet save for the rumbling of thunder. His pack members stared back at him with dazed, black-eyed expressions. The hypnosis was otherworldly and compelling as he found himself staring into the boundless depths of the revenant that stalked towards him.

"You will pay," Rae breathed in a disjointed, guttural tone. The crackling static illusion of the ravine haired seductress appeared next to him and with lips to his ears and a finger to the blood vial around her neck, she whispered: "Eliminate him and then everyone else who has caused you pain,"

Regardless of the fact that he found her to be a threat, he agreed with her prompt and smiled maniacally. "You'll all pay but you first," he repeated, walking towards his first target.

Although Yil could not see the apparition next to Rae, she could sense the ominous presence embodied in his aura and his control over the unresponsive bodies of the pack members, Kiba inclusive. He was past all stages of reasoning and for the life of her, she did not know how to stop him. The tempest and torrential rain dragged her out of her musing and looking up to the grey sky, she deduced that he was summoning another thunder strike. Only this time it would be even much more destructive. It was a wonder how Rae had gotten so powerful and out of his elemental range.

The light of the thunder rumble reflected off the crystal bracelet on her wrist and looking at it, she was hit with the realisation of how she could put an end to Raes' power drunkenness. With much determination, she pushed past the pack members and in the moment that the lightning left the sky, she assumed control over all the earthly elements and slowed time. One swift manoeuvre was all it took to remove the bracelet from her wrist and fasten it onto Rae.

The acute headache that hit her took all the breath within her, however, she was well aware that a little waver to the control she had on time meant that not only Aryn would die, some of his pack members would perish as well. Suppressing the ache on her psyche, she encapsulated the arena in a forcefield with a pained roar. This deflected the streak of lighting and giving into the dizzy spell that incapacitated her, she fell headfirst into the snow.  
-
-
-

Please do not forget to vote. Thanks☘︎