Episode 10

When I came out of the hall, I finally got the chance to pay attention to my surroundings. Surprisingly I wasn’t being held as a captive anymore. The constructions had changed so much in the past few years. But there were way more people outside than I imagined and it was quite clear by their attires that they weren’t from this pack.

Even though no one was with me to put cuffs on my hands but there was a feeling of continuously being watched. Guessed I was a prisoner after all.

And so looking for Alex still made sense more than trying to free Edward by myself. Besides all the people and their hasty movements for preparing themselves for something seemed like some kind of festival. I wondered if there was any festival going on in the pack. They all seemed like members from the ally clans.

Alex had vanished without a trace. I never saw him after that morning's little argy bargy.

"I guess he's only good at appearing in exasperating moments," I thought.

"Hey, you girl! Keep that bottle away right know!," A man with a flabby stomach came out of a beer store angrily.

"How dare you to talk with the royalty like this? Do you wish to die?," a tall, well built, dark guy grabbed the collar of the flabby shop owner and almost choked him.

Suddenly the heated conversation caught my attention. I turned back to see a brunette with a very expensive bottle of beer in her hands. Her tanned skin was matching her curly hairs.

"Calm down, Ashton," the girl ordered the guy who was still trying to murder the owner of the shop.

I knew that shop since my childhood. Never was a fan of the owner though. Got smacked by him once for leaving hand prints on his precious beer bottles. He would always come to deliver beers for my music teacher when I was only 7 years old. One day out of curiosity I touched the bottles in his carts when he came to deliver and then when he came out and saw me touching his bottles, he literally smacked me. I never said that to my dad. He would turn into a steak if dad had known.

A loud glass breaking noise snapped me out of my thoughts.

"You wanted your beer? Take it," The brunette said.

I was shocked looking at the owner. Blood was coming out from the very recent cut made in his forehead. The girl just smacked his face with the bottle.

"No one ever dares to charge the Alpha Princess. Next time you do this and you will be sold as ham in the local food markets in human territory," the dark guy warned the flabby stomach again.

The girl walked passed me slowly with a careless attitude and the guy followed. She was one of the participants of the conclave. I guessed by her Alpha princess title. Such arrogance can only be worn by the rarest of the wolves.

I slowly went near the injured shop owner and sat beside him and tried to help him to get up. I knew he was a beta. His wound would heal within no time. Only because of my human body, I wasn’t able to heal my wounds by myself. And because I could feel physical pain better than the regular wolves, so I felt bad for the guy even though he had been an asshole to me before.

"Aren’t you Isabella? " he asked.

I looked at his face without replying. He remembered me. Suddenly he jerked off his hand. He pushed me away and said, "Go away! I don't need your help."

"He is still a savage" - I thought.

The whole day passed without anymore rough incidents. I tried to look for Edward. But there were eyes on me all day. So couldn’t even make it near the prison area. So finally I decided to wait for that evening's conclave.

In the evening a maid brought another gown for me to wear.

"Why are they even bothering?" I asked the maid just when she entered my room with the dress.

"My duty is only to inform you, Ma'am. You can't enter the arena in your regular clothes. Please, change," she said and left.

"A white gown again" I sighed and took the dress.

The arena was filled with wolves from different clans. Zen's father would always put peace before anything among the allies. Obviously Zen managed to continue that.

Suddenly I saw two guards bringing Edward in chains.

"Ed!" I screamed his name and tried to go to him but got blocked by Alex.

''Not so fast, mate," he smirked and said.

"You're always in the most inappropriate time," I replied.

"People are not here for a reunion, Isabella," Alex said. "Keep yourself in control and don't make unnecessary scenes."

I looked at the oracle and Zen wishing they would allow me to go near Edward. But they weren’t even looking at me. Alex kept grabbing my wrist so that I couldn't go anywhere.

A guard lit the fire. The conclave began. Everyone cheered. The brunette I saw earlier that day came through the crowd. Claire also came out. I saw another girl, she was pretty as well. All three of them were dressed like ancient Queens of some empires.

Zen got up from his throne. Everyone got silent. He spoke.

"Tonight's conclave holds a big meaning for all of us. Everyone of you has gathered here for one big reason. I never thought I would have to stand in this position with our allies. The both alpha princess are very precious to us. But I believed everyone here was aware of Claire's worth," he said while looking at the three participants of tonight's conclave. He paused for a bit. Everyone was listening to him peacefully. But it felt like the calm before a Typhoon.

He continued again,"It's really upsetting for us that after all these years, Claire is being challenged. But as we don't want any distrust, any griefs within our alliance, so Claire will accept the challenge. But no one dies tonight. The rules are different tonight. No one is allowed to injure their allies. In the end we are all together. We can't have any internal conflict. So the rules will be maintained extremely. Anyone tries to pull out any illegal move, gets expelled," he said.

"We don't accept that," Finally a guy spoke up. He seemed like an official from an ally clan. "The weak one dies, this is the rule. We follow that from the very beginning of our existence. Whether it is for a Luna or an Alpha," he said.

The whole arena suddenly growled out together supporting his statement.

"Calm down, people. Can't you all see that we are in a middle of a war? The war is not between us. It's with all the clans out there who are with the Sapphires. We have already lost so much. How can you think about sacrificing your most precious pawn for nothing?" Zen asked.

The brunette girl gave a sarcastic smirk after listening to this.

"As far as I'm concerned. Tonight, we are not losing anything," the guy said.

Claire gave a death glare to the brunette and said, "We shall see. I agree to the proposal. He is right. An overconfident loser unaware of their worth doesn’t deserve to live."

She smirked back and took the participation locket. The brunette took one as well. But the other girl was standing there indecisively.

Suddenly she spoke up, "I quit, let them fight. I am stepping down."

Her clan was shocked. People were asking her if she was okay. Seemed like her clan had a strong faith on her. But her officials praised her for the decision. They clearly didn’t want any harm to their princess.

"Coward," Claire said while she was leaving the fighting arena.

"No, you're wrong. I'm trying not to act imbecile," she said.

"Let the fight begin," the oracle declared.

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