Chapter 7: The First Challenge

Samiya’s POV

Leaving the alpha’s chambers was not as tricky as I initially thought it would be. By the time I had woken up, his side of the bed was empty.

Standing up from the alpha’s bed, I rushed to pick up my robe and thanked the moon goddess that the little fabric hadn’t gotten torn in the process of my little escapade with the alpha. I also made sure to pick up my little wooden flute as well.

It was clearly still dark outside, and while the fact that the alpha had rushed out so early did have me thinking a lot longer than I should have, I brushed all thoughts aside and stepped out of his room. Now that stage one of my plan had been completed, I focused my mind on the contest that I still had to participate in.

There were only a few guards who stood by the hallways seeing as it was still nighttime and as I walked past them, I caught the majority of them staring at me. They could smell the Alpha’s scent on me. It could be the only reason why they looked at me with curious eyes. The thought alone brought a smile to my face and a warm feeling to my heart.

I had a good feeling that I was pretty much close to winning this contest already.

Slipping inside my room, I locked the door behind me and began to go through my things to find a gown beautiful enough to walk in for the first official day of the contest.

“Maybe you were right,” I heard Scarlet say, interrupting my search.

I rolled my eyes, knowing perfectly what she was trying to say. “That Alpha Zain would make a much better mate for us, both?! Of course, I was right! Did you see the size of that thing!” I mindlinked her, laughing.

“I did. Trust me, I did. But it’s not just the size of his manhood, Miya. It’s his wolf too. He wanted us. I could see he wanted us.” I could feel Scarlet’s energy bubbling inside of me, and honestly, it warmed my heart. I had never seen her this excited about anything ever since Meidran rejected us.

“Of course he did. I played one of his dead mother’s favorite songs. Haven’t you heard the saying that men are more attracted to women who remind them of their mothers? I told you that I could handle things perfectly.”

A small scoff resounded in my head and I stopped for a moment. “Wait… weren’t you the one repeatedly saying that you trusted me?”

“I only said that because I knew that I had no choice.”

“Scarlet,” I called out in a warning tone.

“Just don’t ruin this for us,” was the last thing I heard from her before she went completely silent.

With a small laugh, I continued sorting through my clothes until I found the perfect red dress.

After arranging my dress along with some jewelry, perfume, and the perfect purse on my bed, I stepped into the shower and washed myself. Careful enough to not overpower the alpha’s scent but mindful enough to take all the grime off of my body.

Once that was done and the first signs of dawn began to peek through my window, I got dressed. For my jewelry, I opted for gold, and for my hair, I chose to let it down. Today, I wanted my dress to speak for me before I even got a chance to open my mouth. Like most of my other dresses, this dress had a dangerously deep vee-line that showed a good amount of my bosom while the rest of the dress flowed freely to the floor giving a mermaid illusion.

What I happened to love the most about this dress was the fact that it left my neck exposed just for everyone to see how much Alpha Zain appreciated my neck last night.

Stepping out of my room, I saw a few other women heading toward the room where Meidran addressed us yesterday. Like the guards from earlier, most of the women I passed stared at me with a slight hint of confusion. My guess was that they could either smell Alpha Zain’s scent on me, or they could see the love bruises on my neck, or maybe it was both. Either way, it didn’t matter much.

We all had to wait for about ten minutes for Meidran to show up.

The moment my eyes caught sight of his silver blond hair, the first image that came to my mind was the one of the bimbo from yesterday and how he mindlessly fucked her. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to feel anything, yet I couldn’t stop the rage from boiling through my veins.

As though my emotions were loud enough to call out to the man, Meidran turned to face me and our eyes locked. For those few moments, it felt as though it was just us in the room and there was no one else.

But the feeling did eventually fade when he began to approach me.

My first instinct was to run or avoid him somehow, but my feet remained glued to the ground. The man needed to see just how much I had grown to despise him. The man needed to see that I wasn’t the same helpless omega I was when we were kids or the weak whore he left in the market square two years ago.

So, I squared my shoulders and stood up straight.

A few feet away from me, Meidran paused. His nose twitched, and his nostrils visibly flared up.

He could smell it.

The expression on his face morphed from a mild shock to that of fear as his legs took flight, and he walked towards me even faster. Standing in front of me, he took my hand, shoving me close to him. His eyes searched mine and his brows furrowed. “Zain? Seriously? You spend one night here, and you choose to spend it in the alpha’s bed?” he spat.

Wrenching my hand free from Meidran’s grasp, I felt my anger take a new dimension. “You have no right to approach me or speak to me whatsoever! Last I remember, you ridiculed me for opening my legs, for just anyone, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise to you,” I fired back, making sure that my voice was low so no one else could easily hear us.

My outburst seemed to annoy Meidran even more because his eyes narrowed further and just when I felt he was seconds from boiling over, a loud voice put an end to our quarrel.

“Meidran, are these all the women that would be competing this year?”

I knew that voice. It was the same voice that could bring just anyone in the Etrana pack to their knees, and it was also the same voice that echoed in my ears as I reached orgasm after orgasm last night. Alpha Zain.

Meidran took a step away from me and spun so quickly that one would even wonder if he had ever been standing a hair’s breadth away from me only seconds ago. “Yes, Zain. These are all the women that applied to compete for the position of your chosen mate this year,” he informed him, stretching his hands.

Alpha Zain nodded and took only one step forward before his nose crinkled. He raised his head further into the air before he began scanning each face in the room. When his eyes landed on me, my heart stopped beating for a split second before I was able to regulate it again.

His eyes remained on me and looked at him with as much intrigue as he did me. Scarlet tried to will me to bow my head or at least avert my eyes, but I refused her with all the strength I had in me. I wasn’t going to back down. Not when I had come this far.

“I hear that you have come to win my heart, yet some of you couldn’t wait to compete and just had to get your action elsewhere, so it seems.” His words bounced off of the walls as he dragged his words lazily like he had been forced to come here.

For a fraction of a moment, I thought that he was referring to me and my heartbeats picked up in their rhythm once again, but when his head finally turned to another contestant, I let out a small breath.

“You slept with my Beta,” Alpha Zain said, pointing at the brunette I had caught fucking Meidran last night. Her lips formed an ‘O’ and her eyes widened as though she was being falsely accused.

Didn’t the fool remember that we werewolves could easily trace scents, especially the Alpha?

Before the woman had a chance to defend herself, Alpha Zain continued. “Congratulations! You have officially failed the first challenge. Guards get her out of my sight.”

Two of the Alpha’s men stepped forward, ready to escort the brunette away from the castle. Just as we were all registering what had just happened, the alpha’s voice clouded my senses once more.

“Redhead, step out. We need to talk.”