Chapter 191
~ NYSSA
The recruits filed out, decked in fighting pants and loose shirts. They stood tall, most sporting grins while a few kept their expressions neutral.
The crowd went wild at the sight of them. People cheered so loudly that the floor beneath my feet shook and my heart hammered inside of my chest.
"Is it always this loud?" I asked Rowan, unable to hide my amusement.
"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "You’ll get used to it, I promise."
After each recruit was introduced, each person received a color wristband—red or blue. The people with red moved to a sitting area to the left while the blue team moved the opposite way.
"What’s happening now?" I asked Rowan, watching with rapt attention.
"Now they spar," he explained. "They key is to avoid being pinned before the time runs out. It’s set for five minutes." He gestured to an hour glass right in front of us. "If you survive, you become a guard."
That seemed to simple.
If they were friends, they could always agree to just go easy on each other so that both of them could win. "Is that the only rule?"
Rowan’s lips curved. "No. You win points for each hit you land and higher points mean better placements."
Two recruits stepped up into the middle of the arena. They turned to us, bowing low.
I sat there stunned, unsure of what to do when Rowan gave a curt nod of acknowledgment. The recruits turned to each other then, nodding respectfully. Jeremiah leaned over and turned the hourglass over.
A loud whistle cut through the air and the recruits were suddenly on each other in a flurry of teeth and claws. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head as I watched them fight. It was nothing like the sparring I witnessed back at my pack.
Sparring was supposed to be playful, gentle even, but this... this was a proper fight.
"They’ll kill each other," I hissed to Rowan.
I must not have been as quiet as I initially thought because soft laughter to my right drew my attention. Aria threw a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
"Have you never seen lycans fight before, Nyssa?" she asked, voice dripping with amusement. "If they wanted to kill each other, you would know."
Beside me, Rowan hummed in agreement. "They will be fine, you have nothing to worry about."
I winced with each punch and kick, but I could not pull my eyes away.
The scene was electrifying, the movements were like a dance, and the more I watched, the more mesmerized I got.
The five minutes ended in a flash and the same whistle from earlier blew.
They froze immediately, their chest rising and falling drastically as they fought to catch their breaths. They were covered in sweat and bruises but surprisingly, not one of them was gravelly hurt.
The rest of the day went by like that.
It was group after group of fighting and sure enough, most of them were able to hold their own. Of everyone we watched, only two people lost and the disappointment in the air was so thick that it almost swallowed me whole.
The last group of recruits stepped up and I could not help but push up to the edge of my seat.
The blue recruit was small, with a skinny build and dark hair that was tied into a low bun. They wore a gaiter over their mouth, hiding their identity from view.
The red recruit on the other hand was a burly man with hair on his arms and a scowl on his face. His entire demeanor was intimidating to say the least and I could not see a world in which the blue recruit got out of this unscathed.
"Is this even fair?" I asked Rowan.
"They are paired together based on their stats in training. These two were the highest."
My eyes widened in surprise. "Are you serious?"
He hummed, his head bobbing without taking his eyes off them. "The little one is apparently very fast and very smart. They have never lost a sparring match."
That was insane and slightly unbelievable but as soon as the whistle sounded, I understood why.
They moved with the speed of light, dodging blow after blow and maneuvering too fast for the burly man to catch on. I sat at the edge of my seat, fingers biting into the armrests as I leaned forward, eager to see it till the end.
The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow as blow after blow was thrown.
Then, as if in slow motion, I saw the grave miscalculation.
My hand flew to my mouth as the red recruit reached for the back of his opponents scarf and tugged hard. The blue recruit went down.
The entire arena gasped and I heard a thousand hearts hammer in sync as we waited for his back to hit the ground.
Mere inches away from failure, his flipped over, hands colliding with the hard ground and pushing himself back to his feet.
Mind blowing cheers erupted.
"The red recruit cheated!" I snapped turning to Rowan.
My mate merely smiled. "There are no rules, little wolf."
The whistle cut through the air, sharp and final.
The entire crowd was on their feet, cheering and screaming. I could not help but rise as well, clapping as loud as I could.
I did not for one think that watching people fight would be so interesting and yet, here I was.
"What the fuck?" Aria asked, voice cold.
I followed her line of sight and found the last set of recruits still standing in the middle of the arena.
The blue recruit bowed and pulled off their gaiter. The first thing I noticed was plump pink lips and a soft button nose.
"She’s a girl," I whispered.
She grinned, eyes alight with mischief. She turned to her opponent and I saw her mouth move but I could not make out the words. Whatever she said must have infuriated him because his cheeks burned red, his eyes flashing with rage.
"I’ll be damned," Aria murmured, unable to stop her smirk.
We were so focused on the revelation that we did not notice the red recruit move, not until he was right behind her, and not until it was too late.
The sound of a knife drawing cut through the noise of the crowd, and as the smell of blood filled the air, the entire arena erupted.