CHAPTER 9: ALPHA VERSUS BETA-II

Xayden’s POV

1 minute and 28 seconds. That was the new record the Beta posted.

That slippery Beta- literally and figuratively. Argh. That monkey dance in the mud was to get himself slick with sweat and mud and withdraw our attention from the centre of the arena where he had thrown a hook high in the sky as he majestically raised his arms in an impressive, perfect circle.

'It was not a monkey dance,' Onyx indignantly butted in.

I rolled my eyes and ignored the sappy wolf.

The moment I had signalled to flag the start of the second round, the heavy hook fell suddenly from the sky and latched in the centre of the arena with the hook's double fangs digging deep in the ground.

Swinging himself into momentum using the force of the explosive wind over the waterfall, he tore off the branch from the tree itself and threw himself along with the branch towards the hook that caught him in a clean sweep using my own heavy silver chains ! The branch broke his fall before shielding him from the gun shots !!

I didn't know if I should be happy or frustrated. Nox was proving himself better than any other leader the pack had ever had.

I clenched my teeth as I heard the silence of the crowd break into thunderous uproar and applause.

"Your son is remarkable. I will have to give it to you, Canning," Dad appreciatively said as he gave a standing ovation along with the other wolves, " ... you did well with your kid."

I clenched my teeth when I noticed truly how popular Nox was amongst the pack members.

In just a matter of weeks, he had managed to charm everyone to the point that they could throw their lives away to save his.

Nox's father gave my dad a small smile but I knew that the man was bursting with as much pride as the wolves, irrespective of gender, lusting after the bare-chested Beta.

“I was fortunate to have you as my Beta, Canning, but I must hand it to Xayden that he is luckier to get Nox as his Beta,” Dad commented.

Alright. Now, this just got personal.

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Nox's POV

I was going to faint.

The sexy, half-naked man in front of me could make me swoon on good days, and on a day like this when I was working on an empty stomach, with only alcohol from last night pumping in my system, I was ready to drop on the ground and curl myself to death-like sleep. I was beat.

Fvcking sexy beast, Xayden Adler stood in front of me in the arena in the third round with my blood all over his knuckles.

Even through the cloudy haze of my swollen eyes, I couldn’t tear my gaze from the tattoo that circled around the left side of the Alpha’s waist in intricate, d*ck-arousing designs and dip under the wicked band of his low-hanging shorts, curling towards the forbidden nether regions.

Call it a gut feeling, but I knew that it was a sensuous tattoo meant for only a pair of eyes belonging to someone very special.

A pang of jealousy suddenly hit me out of nowhere. I couldn’t help but bitterly think how many people had got the privilege of seeing it while I fought back my Alpha mate in front of me.

A drop of sweat curled around his left pec and traversed along the ridges of his eight-pack abs. I wanted to be on him like the sweat running down his chest.

However, I knew that love was not in the cards for everyone, including me. I wasn’t fortunate enough to love, or be loved by my mate.

“Eyes up here, pup.” Xayden taunted as he ducked under my swinging arm and leg, and glided behind me to hit the base of my skull with his elbow. However, I elbowed him in the gut first and narrowly escaped his scathing attack. With busted lips, broken ribs and a cracked skeletal system at various joints, I was barely surviving by the thread. My X-ray was going to be banging with disfigured and broken bone-deep nudes if the alpha let me live. “See something you like ?” He added, his cockiness reflecting all over his face and spreading hatred in my lust-driven heart.

“More like dislike. Hate. Abhor,” I shrugged and Xayden resorted to violence instead of verbal communication. Guess the Alpha’s ego couldn’t take the synonyms in a positive stride.

“You’re the same geeky piece of gay sh*t that you were six years back,” Xayden growled as he swung his leg towards my face and turned his fists into punching machines. “I should’ve rejected you the very first day, but killing you would work too.”

Pivoting back on one foot, I sidestepped as much as my body could take my weight and cleanly evaded his offense before kicking his perfect and tight butt with the back of my heel.

“Not if I send your homophobic prickly ass to rot in hell first.” I breathed out as Xayden took the fall towards my direction.

Unfortunately for me, he took me along with him to eat the dust off the ground and we rolled towards the boundary of the arena, wrestling, punching, kicking and biting each other. Alright, the biting part was solely my responsibility, but in my defence, the man was strangling my neck.

“Fvcking shit !” Xayden hissed after I sunk my teeth in the soft skin of his arms and he roughly pushed me away.

Ah ! Air, finally, my lungs screamed.

“Muaaah,” I gave him an air kiss and the crowd collectively chuckled as I added, “Liked my love bite ?”

“Allow me to return the favour,” Xayden growled.

“No, thank you. I would rather shift and finish you.” 

"No shifting allowed," Xayden smirked.

"Why ? Are you afraid that Onyx will fall for Bolt’s charms and lose ?" I taunted.

"Who is Bolt ?"

My jaw dropped. I looked at him in shock.

He wasn’t serious, was he ?

I squinted my eyes while my wolf whimpered at his mate, not recognizing his name.

'H-he doesn't know me,' Bolt whispered.

'I am sure Onyx does. He is just saying to get at us,' I tried to assure the heartbroken wolf.

Bolt was the complete opposite of me. It felt like I was the feral one out of the two of us. Unlike other wolves and their human counterparts, we made an unusual pair.

Where I was bold, audacious and confident, giving in to all my inner desires, my wolf was the stark opposite. He was soft, tender-hearted and the calmer one of the two of us.

Before Bolt had a complete meltdown, I decided to take matters in my hands and swung my leg toward Xayden.

As predicted, he ducked and I threw a punch at his face.

However, he outsmarted me and blocked my punch with his elbow, and locked my leg on his shoulder and between the crook of his arm.

I felt vulnerable in this kinky position but I still growled out.

"You don't even know the name of your ma- Ah !"

Xayden punched my nose twice. The force reflected the same, ginormous amount of hatred as he had shown in the club 3 weeks back.

My head went flying back while the bone of my leg made a loud cracking sound as Xayden twisted it and let me go.

"He is NOT !" Xayden lashed out. The vehemence startled me. That stung. More than the bleeding nose and broken leg. Really hard, especially my sensitive wolf.

Clearly, Onyx had enlightened him on Bolt's identity and Xayden didn’t want me to reveal our relationship to the public.

Mad with fury, Xayden suddenly flew up and came down to deliver the final deadly blow. I gathered all the strength that I could and jumped from my ass somehow.

Xayden landed a second before me and I quickly wrapped my legs around his torso, before latching my lips to his.

Shocked, Xayden didn't move from the edge of the boundary for a hot moment there. He stood absolutely still, letting me soften his lips under mine.

The next second, he was returning in kind amidst a stunned audience. Sparks ignited everywhere as our lips meshed. I tightened my legs’ hold around his built waist before fracturing the Alpha’s mind with my kisses.

Pressing my hands on his chest and my knees on his precious ballsy jewels, I pushed him away with as much strength as I could.

Xayden went crashing down with kicked nuts on the red, forbidden side of the boundary rope while I landed on my ass within the arena's perimeter. The blaring horn resounded in the jam-packed arena to announce the disqualification of the Alpha and the end of the challenge.

Score: Nox three, Xayden zero.

Checkmate, mate.

Exhausted and badly bruised, my fatigue-ridden body couldn't bear consciousness for a second longer. Hence, I let my eyes close as I lay on the ground and surrendered myself to the darkest of dark blackness of deep sleep.

"ALERT THE DOCTORS TO PREPARE FOR EMERGENCY ! NOW !!"