Avenging The Triplet Alphas
Chapter 45

Loki's POV

Congratulations on accepting the challenge. For the first of your many challenges, you three would have to draw lots and whoever it falls on would be required to engage in a duel with several wolves from my pack, or if you decide not to, any one of you can decide to take on the challenge by himself.

The tasks begin when the sun sets.

If you succeed, you progress to the next round but if you don't, you will either proceed with the survivors until one of you becomes successful or both end up suffering the same fate as the first. If you disagree with this, you will have no other option than to leave this state and never return.

Signed, Arielle.

"She's going all out on us, isn't she?" Jonathan cracked a dry laugh as he plopped down onto the couch. "She has her mind set on revenge and she wouldn't either of us dying if it gets her what she wants."

I neatly folded the piece of paper and placed it back in the envelope.

"We never saw this coming from a mile away," I began. "She has us in the palm of her hands and all she wants to do more than anything else is crush us."

"We underestimated her, Loki." Elijah gnashed his teeth and I could share in his regret but there wasn't time for any of that right now.

"While that has proven to be true, it's of no use crying over spilled milk." I began. "What's done is done. We came here misinformed from the start or you could say he didn't want to believe what the report had said about Arielle's transformation and it was going to bite us in the rear."

"We're going to accept the challenge," Jonathan cut in, fixing his eyes on me. I instinctively knew what it meant and if he thought I was going to let it happen, he was in for a rude awakening.

"We didn't come this far to quit," Elijah affirmed. "So how are we going to settle this? Do we cast lots or do we vote?"

"We don't need to do any of that. When the sun sets, I will stand as our representative." I stated. "That's all there is to that."

"You don't get to make decisions without informing the rest of us," Jonathan argued. "If there's anyone who's supposed to go out there and fight, it should be me."

"I accepted Arielle's challenge, I have to take responsibility for this first challenge.""

"We wouldn't be here if I didn't force us into trying to bring Arielle back home." Jonathan began.

He wasn't going to let this slide easily much to my frustration. He wasn't ready for this, I could see it in his eyes. Letting him do this would be the same as sending him to an early death and I couldn't let that happen.

"We shouldn't be arguing over things like this," Elijah interceded, trying to act like a mediator. "This would not be the only challenge she would come up with. You all know the contents of the letter she sent, there would be more to come, enough for all of us to partake in this crazy idea of hers."

I visibly relaxed as Elijah's words seemed to have a calming effect on Jonathan who sagged his shoulders with a sigh, tearing his eyes away from mine.

"You're going to do this, aren't you?" Jonathan asked me, his eyes fixed on the brass door.

"Yes, Jonathan. I have to and I want to." Conviction filled my voice giving me renewed strength.

If Arielle thought one of us would lose our lives today, she would realize that she didn't set her pieces properly.

"You're not going to die out there," Jonathan said again. If I didn't know any better, it sounded like a threat. A threat ordering me to come back home alive.

"I have no plans of doing that either," I assured him.

Elijah slapped his hand across my back. "You're a crazy person but there's no one else I would rather place my life in other than you."

I nodded, feeling grateful for their support.

Jonathan suddenly turned to face me.

"When the darkness comes and death comes to claim our soul, what do we say to the god of death?"

"Not today."

***

I made my way back into the mansion as the sun set in the sky, accompanied by Jonathan, Elijah, and a handful of my strongest pack warriors. I had spent the hours in between reading the letter and now mentally preparing myself for whatever Arielle would bring my way. The chances of surviving this were slim but I was willing to give it a shot.

The car pulled up to the front and we made our way outside, neither of us had said a word for the past several hours and understandably so, each man was preoccupied with his thoughts.

As he had in the morning, Klaus was waiting out in front of the mansion to welcome us.

"Welcome back," Klaus began, wearing that fake smile I hated so much. "Alpha Ethan and his fiancée, Arielle are waiting for you to join them so the ceremony can begin."

If I wasn't plagued with other things, I would've had so much delight in wiping that smile off his face.

"Where's this thing going to happen?" I asked. I want to get this over and done immediately."

Klaus nodded. "If you mind, please," He gestured towards North of where we stood.

I turned towards the direction to see an open field, stretching far and wide. It was the perfect place to engage in a battle.

"Lead the way," I answered, falling in line as my entourage joined me and we all proceeded towards the field.

As we got closer to the center of the field, I saw Ethan and Arielle seated on an elevated platform with several guards scattered around the field. They numbered a little over thirty and I wouldn't put it past Arielle to make me fight them all. "You came," Arielle said as we came to a stop in front of the platform.

Surely she didn't think we were going to chicken out of this, did she?

"We weren't going to miss this for the whole world." I smiled at her, briefly glancing at Ethan who merely stared at me with a stoic expression on his face.

"Who did you three decide to be your representative?"

"You're looking at him. So how many of these guys do I have to kill before we progress to the next stage?" I asked in a bored tone.

Arielle pointed to a bowl. "You decide your fate, whatever number you pull out from the bowl is what you get to go up against in a battle to the death."

I nodded and did as explained, pulling out a number from the bowl.

"Ten," I answered, revealing the number to her.

Ten was a lot of wolves to deal with depending on their rankings but I still backed myself despite the odds stacked against me.

"Very well then," Arielle nodded. "Ten wolves it is in a battle to the death.

I cracked my knuckles and waited for the first of them to arrive.

"You may begin."

No, sooner than she said those words, a huge man walked towards me. I was impressed by his physique, he was a mountain of a man who would prove difficult to kill but I've never backed down from a challenge and I won't start now. I shifted into my wolf and waited as the man broke out in a run in my direction, shifting into his wolf as he neared me.

I assessed the wolf as he bared down on me. Wolves like him relied heavily on their sheer size and strength above anything else.

A rookie's mistake when matching up against me.

I easily ducked the first s***h of his paw, moving to the right and I did the same thing as he lashed out at me again.

I was done studying him. He was big, fast, and strong but that was pretty much all he had to offer.

He had zero tactical awareness and he cared less about defense.

There was no use stalling, I had to converse my energy for better opponents.

I waited for him to lash out at me again before I expertly swatted his paw down, leaving his side exposed as I lunged for this exposed throat, sinking my canine into it, relishing the metallic taste of blood as it hit my mouth.

The man tried to break free but my grip was strong and I had in a rather awkward position. I held on till I felt him weaken from the swinging and swatting before I forcefully pulled away, ripping open an artery.

I moved back a couple of steps, my eyes fixed on the man who wore a look of defeat but he wasn't ready to give up. It was a fight to the death, so I had no other choice but to kill him for good.

The man broke out into a run once again and this time, I didn't wait for him to come close, I met him midway, dodging his attack once and sinking my teeth into his bleeding neck, ripping his head off.