The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 306: The Bet

Chapter 306: The Bet

ZINA

"Grand Theta, what’s your bet?" The nauseating voice of Theta Bryle IceSavage of the IceSavage Pack carried on to her, jolting Zina from her thoughts where she had successfully buried herself in.

"What?" She stuttered, having not been following the conversation of the three women and one woman.

Four pairs of eyes stared back at her, and Zina realized belatedly that on their table, coins, money notes and other valuables were scattered on their table.

Bryle Brestom smirked, "I understand that you might be hesitant to bet, but still, it’s rather unbecoming if you pretend to not know what we are speaking of."

"I truly do not know what you’re speaking of," Zina deadpanned, hardly in the mood to debate with the Theta. Also seated by their side were the Priestesses and High Priestesses of the Temple.

It would seem that Zina had landed herself in the middle of a gathering of gossipy women. She was already regretting her decision to leave Daemon’s side.

One glance at his table just at their front and center showed Marcus whispering something to him. Almost immediately, the DireWolf Beta darted off.

"We are taking bets, Theta." Theta Aurora of the BloodMoon pack drawled. "Bets on who among the contestants will become Beta and Delta."

Zina frowned. She had thought betting would be an affair that the Thetas would see as something that was rather above them. There was never a point that High Ranked werewolves didn’t try to distinguish themselves from the affairs that comments dabbled in.

"Why just bet on the two posts?" Zina asked instead. If she were to spark up a debate on why they were betting in the first place, Bryle wouldn’t let her off.

"Specialization has its charm, grand Theta." Bryle drawled, "Now who amongst these fine men catches your eyes? Seeing that your position will soon change to a much bigger one, I am sure you’ve some creative ideas for your future husband."

Zina faced Bryle squarely. It was so like the woman to attend any affair with her tongue drawn against her like a sword. "Fine men? I see a woman there, Theta IceSavage. It’s unbecoming of a fellow woman to belittle another woman."

Bryle chuckled, casting a condescending glare at the arena just where Fionna stood.

"Why should I bother with a flower when there are diamonds to choose from," Bryle tsked, admiring her fingers instead like Zina’s thoughts were incorrigibly offensive to her.

Zina scoffed out loud, fixing the woman a haughty stare.

"Fine, since you ask I shall play along." She declared while all eyes turned to her. Dramatically she tugged off the clear white MoonStone necklace that she wore as a necklace while some of the priestesses and high priestesses ’oohed’ and ’ahhed’ at the gesture.

That was her most expensive accessory minus the diamond necklace that Daemon had gotten her. A fact she knew well of, of course, but that hardly deterred.

"I shall be betting my white moonstones then."

Aurora’s eyes shone with glee as she gathered the MoonStones together with other valuables, "who are you betting on, Theta?" She asked.

"Yaren NorthSteed as Beta," Zina declared audaciously, noting from the tallied names that most of the women had voted for one Basil NorthClaw as Beta.

Who was that by the way? The surname was certainly familiar; it belonged to one of the Houses that previously held onto the Beta Position.

"The Theta certainly holds Lord Yaren in high regards," Bryle said while smacking her lips, "and what of the position of Beta? Who are you betting on? I would advise that you take a close look at the contestants before you make a decision as horrible as that which you made just now."

Zina didn’t look at the contestants for once. "And for the position of Delta, I am betting on the Red Hand Fionna."

Bryle cackled while Aurora eagerly noted Zina’s bet. She on the other hand noted that most people betted on Yaren to become Delta. She didn’t believe that the foolishness of that decision was without a foundation which was why she decided to take a close look at the contestants as Bryle had kept on suggesting.

She picked up one of the binoculars and did just that. A closer look showed that Yaren was a bit... out of shape? The area around his eyes showed dark circles enough to illustrate a full moon, and his eyes were bloody red.

Fionna didn’t look too good either, if anything she looked way worse. However, on locating Basil NorthClaw from the description of the man she gleaned from her companions, she found that the golden haired cocky looking bastard didn’t look anything like Yaren or Fionna for that matter. If anything, Zina would have seriously doubted if the man truly went through the tests as his fellow contestants.

His eyes were clear, and his stance firm. She almost suspected foul play. She didn’t believe that anything that could have worn Yaren out to that point wouldn’t have worn the so-called Basil NorthClaw out either.

"Are you seeing it now that you’ve made poor decisions?" Bryle drawled. "Thank you for raising the stakes though."

"You’re so confident in this NorthClaw man, aren’t you?" Zina snipped back in a haughty voice. Despite how weary Yaren and Fionna seemed, it was hardly enough to make her regret her decision.

She was sure that Yaren would still come up at the top. For the sake of Daemon, he just had to, he had no other choice.

So she leaned back into her chair while a loud voice boomed into a makeshift voice projector.

"Are you ready to witness the changing of history?!!!"

"YES!!!" The crowd boomed back in response.

"ARE YOU READY TO WITNESS THE REBIRTH OF THE ARCTIC NORTH!!!"

"YES!!!!"

"In that case, I declare that the combat will OFFICIALLY BEGIN!!!"

Zina took one last fleeting glance at the thirty something contestants that were left in the arena. Little did she and every other person present know that in their bets, they had totally overlooked a true game changer.

The unknown pawn wolf piece who was vying for a promotion on the board.