The Arena Wars Read online

  Chapter Five

  In the morning, I called Quinten and asked him what he wanted to do for the day. I’d just dropped Ilene off at school, but she had a half-day, and would be getting out just after noon. I was going to wait around town, instead of driving home and then coming back later.

  The four of us had to attend the dinner party later that night, but it didn’t start until almost seven. Until then, Quinten and I were free to do whatever we wanted.

  And to be honest, I desperately needed someone to talk to. Someone that wasn’t my dad.

  Ray was a caring, wonderful, understanding man, but he was still my father, and I couldn’t bring myself to talk to him about my thoughts. How did you tell your dad that you’d been considering searching for a mate to take? That would have been a horribly awkward conversation to have, for the both of us.

  Would it be any easier talking to Quinten? He was my best friend, but he was also a guy. Plus, he was a human, and might not understand the whole soul mate discussion.

  Quinten was ready to go when I arrived at his place, and he slid into the passenger seat without so much as a hello.

  “Quinten?”

  “My grandma’s gone.”

  I’d almost forgotten that she was moving today. “Are you ok?”

  “I miss her already.”

  “Quinten–”

  “I mean, I know that she wasn’t entirely there, but she was still someone that I could talk to, about anything.”

  “You can talk to me about anything,” I reminded him. “In fact, I was kind of hoping that you might feel that way, because there’s something I want to discuss with you.”

  He frowned. “Yeah? What is it?”

  “Well, lately I’ve been considering something. Something that I’ve never really thought about before. Ray told me last night that he thinks Roger Mason is interested in having me as his second mate, and it got me thinking. I’m plenty old enough to have a mate of my own, and if I did, Roger wouldn’t have a claim to me.”

  “So, you’re actually interested in having a mate?” He asked, his voice breaking.

  I glanced over at him as I reached a red light. His tan cheeks were red; I’m sure mine were too. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t think it would be so bad. I’d like to be with someone, someday. I’m just not sure how to go about it. I mean, I don’t know a whole lot of people aside from Ray, Ilene, you, and my cousin Jax.”

  He nodded. “Well, you can’t date Ray, Ilene, or Jax, so that limits it even more,” he said with a weak chuckle.

  I frowned. They were family. He was my best friend, why didn’t he count himself out?

  “Well, I just meant that, you know, they’re family and stuff,” he said, turning his face away from me.

  “Right.”

  We rode in silence for a little bit, but I finally had to speak again.

  “Quinten?”

  He sighed. “Yeah?”

  “Why do you think Roger’s interested in me? He doesn’t even know me.”

  “I’m not really sure,” he admitted. “But you’re funny, smart, beautiful, not to mention sarcastic, which I happen to adore. You’re a very loveable person, Alanna.”

  “What makes you think I’m beautiful? I was like six years old the last time you saw me.”

  “I just know,” he said in a matter-of-fact way.

  “You’re joking, right?”

  “No,” he said seriously. “I don’t know how I know that you’re beautiful, I just do. I feel it.”

  He sounded embarrassed, so I didn’t press him. But, I was confused. How did you feel that someone was beautiful? It’s not like he had a sixth sense for appraising beauty, did he?

  The silence between us stretched out. It was unusually uncomfortable.

  “Anyways, Roger might know you.”

  “Quinten, I think I would remember a man like him,” I said, shuddering. “I don’t know him. I’m sure of it.”

  “Just because you don’t know him doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know you.”

  His words sent shivers down my spine as I remembered the park.

  “Quinten, I wanted to tell Ray, but I decided against it. When I stopped at the park after taking you home, I had the strangest feeling that someone was there, watching me. I had that feeling when Ray, Ilene, and I went on our run, too. Do you think that Roger might actually be watching me?”

  He thought to himself for a minute. “I’m not sure. He could be, but why would he want to? What would make him start watching you? You’re really young, especially compared to him, and he doesn’t know your family, right?”

  “No, I don’t think so. At least, Ray’s never mentioned anything about Roger to me.”

  “You really think you were being watched?”

  “Yes,” I said, nodding. “I know that someone was there. I could smell them, hiding in the shadows, watching me.”

  Quinten’s hands clenched into fists in his lap. “You should tell Ray about this. If he is following you, he might be planning to hurt you, instead of ask you to be his mate. He could be seriously dangerous,” Quinten said tightly.

  “I know, but it might be nothing. Maybe it was some homeless person trying to sleep in the park. I could have spooked him, and he could have been watching me to make sure that I wasn’t planning on hurting him.”

  “Alanna, are you stupid?” Quinten asked. “You can’t seriously think it was a homeless person.”

  I sighed. “Of course I don’t,” I said irritably. “I’m just trying to keep myself from freaking about. You’re right, he could be dangerous. The thought of him following me, and watching me, it seriously creeps me out.”

  “I think you should seriously talk to Ray. He might be able to do something.”

  “Alright,” I agreed. “If I have time tonight after this stupid dinner, I’ll talk to him about this. I hope I’m just overreacting.”

  “Me, too.”

  Quinten and I went to the library to kill some time. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in our small little town. There was a movie theater, a couple of gas stations, and some grocery stores and the schools. The library was about all that we could do.

  Quinten grabbed a book, which was written in Braille, and sat down in a purple comfortable chair by the fireplace. It was mid April, and as usual, it was raining out.

  The fireplace had a fire going, and it cast a soft warm glow over the sitting area. Quinten and I claimed the chairs closest to the fire, and it quickly set to work drying us.

  I flipped through a magazine, not really reading anything on the pages. Instead, I kept glancing up at Quinten. He was so focused, so concentrated, and so handsome.

  Strangely, whenever I noticed his good looks, I’d just thought about them in passing. He was good looking, and that was that. I’d never thought anything more about it, until now.

  What he’d said in the car was bugging me, and that annoying feeling wasn’t going away. I’d never actually seen Quinten with a girl, other than me, and suddenly I found myself wondering if he’d ever had a girlfriend.

  Could I ask him?

  Should I?

  That was personal, and it was his business, not mine. Besides, it wouldn’t matter any if he did have a girlfriend. It wasn’t like I was interested in being his girlfriend.

  Right?

  The rest of our day in town was spent with me thinking about my future, and with Quinten staying in an awkward, uncomfortable silence. I kept thinking about the same thing, over and over again.

  What would it be like to have a mate?

  What if that mate was Quinten?

  The dinner party was going to be absolutely horrible. Right before I started getting ready, a package arrived for me, from Roger. When I opened it, I found a beautiful floor-length spaghetti strapped dress with crisscrossing back straps. It had a beaded bodice, front side slit, and a pleated train. It was a soft cream color and it looked expensive.

  When I pulled it out of the box, Ray flinched. It was practically backless
and the neckline was really, really, low. A little folded piece of paper was in the bottom of the box, and Ray picked it up with tense hands.

  He unfolded it and his jaw clenched. His hands began to tremble. “Dad, what’s wrong?”

  He sighed. “I saw this dress, and thought it might suit you. Please, wear this dress for tonight and think of me.”

  Ray was struggling not to hit something.

  “Dad–”

  “That bastard! How dare he put you in this position!?”

  Ray took a few deep breaths, and he appeared to calm down enough so that I could talk with him. “Dad, it’s fine. Even if he is doing this for the reasons that you think he is, I have the right to say no. And believe me, I will be saying no.”

  He nodded reluctantly. “I know. I just don’t like that he thinks of you as a potential mate.”

  “Dad, you know that I’m most likely going to have a mate someday. It can’t just be us forever.”

  He chuckled weakly. “Don’t remind me.”

  “What?” I asked with a smile. “You don’t want grandbabies?”

  He snorted. “Of course I do. Years and years from now, when I’m old and gray.”

  “You’ll never be old and gray.”

  “Exactly,” he said, grinning.

  An hour later, I was sitting in the room that I shared with Ilene. I was working her long thick blonde hair into a French braid, and she was talking excitedly about the dinner. For some strange reason, she was excited about the thought of meeting Roger and all of the other fussy werewolves that would most likely be in attendance.

  Once I was done with her hair, I had her stand up so I could admire her dress. She hadn’t completely cooled off yet from our earlier fight, but she wasn’t glaring daggers at me every chance she got.

  For the party, she was wearing a short, tight, silver dress with a strapless and low neckline. It had a fitted silhouette bodice that was accented with sequins through the entire dress. With it she paired silver shoes and bracelets. She was definitely trying to look older than she was, and it worried me just a little.

  With her strong jaw, straight nose, full lips, and blue-gray eyes, I knew that someday she would have been an absolutely beautiful and powerful looking woman. But, as it was, she was stuck forever in the body of a fourteen year old girl. A small, not yet fully-developed, fourteen year old girl.

  It was a little creepy, seeing her trying to act so mature and grown up. What possible reason could she have for wanting to look that way for a dinner party?

  Someone knocked on the door, and Ray stuck his head in. He smiled, but I could tell that it was forced. “Well, don’t you two look beautiful?”

  Ray and Quinten were both dressed in black jackets and slacks. Quinten’s hair was combed and he stood as straight and tall as possible. He looked great in a suit, even if he was obviously nervous.

  “Alanna, Quinten is going to be your date for the night.”

  He grinned at me. “You’re one lucky girl to have a date that’s as hot as me on your arm.”

  I giggled.

  “How do you know you’re hot?” Ilene asked, ruining the moment. I glared at her. She was tugging at her already low neckline. “You haven’t even seen yourself since you were a child.”

  “Ilene–”

  “It was just a question!” She snapped.

  Quinten sighed. “Alanna, its fine. Ilene, you should know that having a sense of humor about everything in life, including yourself, makes it much easier to go through each day. If I couldn’t joke about myself, I’d be absolutely miserable.”

  She sniffed and began plucking at the bottom of her tight-fitting skirt. Ray looked away, trying to be oblivious to his younger daughter’s actions. If I wasn’t still angry at her, I would have felt sorry for her, going into such an adult situation like this dinner party dressed like she was.

  But she obviously didn’t mind.

  The four of us drove to the dinner party together in Ray’s car. We were all in near total silence, other than the occasional advice from Ray.

  “Dad? The other day, I thought Roger wasn’t that impressed by me. In fact, I got the impression that he disliked me for being friends with Quinten because he’s a human boy.”

  “A blind human boy,” Quinten muttered angrily, drawing lines on the car’s backseat window. “Don’t forget that part.”

  So much for being able to laugh about yourself…

  I glanced at him and noticed Ray’s eyes flick up to meet Quinten’s in the mirror. “Well, I heard that Roger’s been asking around about you, discreetly of course, but he asked the wrong person, who told me.”

  “Who was it that told you?” I asked, curious.

  “Your cousin Jax.”

  I smiled. “Will he be there?” If so, the dinner party was about to get a lot less horrible.

  Ray nodded. “Yes, he will be. Your uncle Charles was a very important, well-liked man. Jax was always received very well by the others. He has a way of diffusing any tense situation, which comes in handy sometimes when meeting with dozens of other werewolves.”

  “Did it ever occur to Roger that you would say no?” Quinten asked, trying not to grit his teeth in frustration.

  I shrugged. “Probably not. I’m sure that he’s used to getting what he wants.”

  “I don’t know why he wants you,” Ilene said, tugging at her bottom hemline again.

  “Gee, thanks Ilene.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, glancing back at me.

  “How did you mean it?” I asked, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. Was Ilene judging me?

  “I just meant that he could have practically any werewolf he wanted, why choose someone so young and inexperienced? I mean, if he’d waited a couple of years to ask you, when you’ve proven yourself, I wouldn’t find it so strange. You’re talented, and as beautiful as mom was. It just doesn’t make sense right now,” she said.

  She looked away, but I could hear the non-existent sarcasm in her voice. Did she think I was unattractive, or just unworthy?

  Because I knew for a fact that I wasn’t anywhere near as beautiful as mom. I wasn’t ugly, but I wasn’t beautiful.

  Ray nodded. “She’s right, Alanna. I’m a little worried about his reasons for asking.”

  It kind of hurt that they thought he was automatically up to something. Even though I’d been planning on telling him no ever since Ray had first mentioned it, part of me still wanted to believe that Roger had been interested in me because of who I was as a person, not because of some nasty ulterior motive.

  The dinner party was being held at Roger’s mansion. It was a large Tudor made of old red brick. It had large, high windows, a beautiful garden, and a four-stall garage with expensive cars parked out in front for everyone to admire. There were lights and lanterns strung up around the trees, casting a warm soft glow over everything.

  What surprised me the most was that Roger’s mansion was so close to our home. It was only about a ten minute drive from our woods.

  Ray handed his keys off to a young man dressed in a black vest, who took the car away to be parked. Obviously Roger was sparing no expense when it came to impressing everyone. Apparently the huge mansion just wasn’t grand enough on its own.

  Quinten offered me his arm, which I gratefully took, and together the two of us walked through the open double doors and into a beautiful foyer, which was completed with a grand double staircase. We followed groups of other people into the luxurious mansion.

  The dining room was large and it was lit by candles along the walls. Old tapestries and paintings lined the walls, and long plush rugs adorned the floor. A long table was surrounded by almost forty cushioned chairs, most of which were already occupied by guests. Roger sat at the head of the table, and there were a few open chairs around him. He beckoned to Ray, and the four of us found our seats.

  Not surprisingly, I was on Roger’s right, with Quinten by my side. Ray was on his left, and Ilene was beside
him.

  Roger barely looked at the others as they sat down, and I tried not to show how angry that made me.

  A young werewolf walked into the dining room, and I found myself suddenly grinning wildly. He was twenty-one years old and just over six feet tall. His shaggy hair was blonde and curly, and his eyes were honey-colored. He had a broad nose and the strong jaw that came from the Moore side of the family. He was massive, with a muscular build and a deadly grace whenever he moved.

  He always had a goofy look on his face, and he sometimes acted a little childish, but he was so much fun to be around that nobody really cared.

  Jaxson Moore winked at me as he took his seat next to a fussy older werewolf. He was about halfway down the table, and I wished that he could have been a little closer to me. He was handsome, funny, charming, loyal, and polite. I’d always imagined myself finding a mate like him.

  Just, you know, not gay. Jax wasn’t shy about his personal life, but he didn’t go around advertising it. I wondered how many of these people knew about it, or if they would mind. Since werewolves didn’t age after shifting for the first time, a lot of these werewolves had been around for a very long time. They grew up in a time period that wasn’t as understanding as society nowadays.

  Does he feel as uncomfortable here as I do?

  Dinner started, and I found myself being constantly dragged into conversation with Roger. He was trying to get to know me better, and I tried not to let on that I knew about his plans. What was harder was trying not to cringe every time he let his hand brush mine under the table. This was Roger’s party, and it wouldn’t be smart for me to insult him with all of these important people here.

  “Alanna, have you ever heard the werewolf’s creation story?”

  I forced myself to look at him. I refused to admit that he’d finally managed to capture my attention. “No, I haven’t.”

  “The wolf-god Fenrir, son of Loki, was a gigantic black wolf that yearned for companionship. He tired of seeing all others with a mate, and prayed to the God Zeus to help him find a mate of his own. His prayers were answered in the form of Niveus, a beautiful pure white she-wolf.

  “For a few centuries, they were happy together, but Fenrir became jealous of the gods, with their ability to transform their shape any way they desired. Zeus had taken the shape of several animals over the years, and Fenrir desperately wanted that power for himself.

  “Niveus eventually bore her mate’s children. A son, Chandranath, and a daughter, Kamalia. Zeus intervened in their birth, and gave them the powers that their parents did not posses. They were wolves with the ability to become human. The first werewolves.

  “For a while, Fenrir was once again happy. But, his children, forced to live among humans on earth, were mistreated. Fenrir became furious that humans would have the audacity to threaten his children. You see, wolves were feared in those dark times, and many had been hunted and killed.

  “Eventually, Chandranath and Kamalia were caught and slaughtered for their witchcraft. Zeus, seeing the pain he had caused Fenrir with his gift, brought them back to life, and reversed it. Instead of wolves with the power to become human, they were human with the ability to become wolves.

  “They both went their separate ways, and found partners of their own. Their children, and their children’s children, would all go on to become werewolves.”

  “But, werewolves today don’t turn unless they’re introduced to a vampire’s venom. How does the story deal with that?” I asked.

  Roger smiled. “Nothing escapes you, does it? Well, after centuries of breeding with humans, the power of the werewolves’ blood had begun to wane. Men and woman were going their whole lives without changing.”

  “Let me guess, Fenrir got angry again.”

  Roger nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid the god’s often expect more than they should. He ordered Zeus to fix this problem at once, and Zeus was more than happy to agree. You see, over the centuries, Zeus had become quite fond of watching Fenrir’s descendants. They were a thing of amusement, and he missed the entertainment they gave him.

  “So Zeus created their mortal enemy; undead humans that would have the strength of ten men. Their venom reawakened the power inside the werewolves’ blood. He intended for the two species to fight to the death for the remainder of time, and he delights in watching his two greatest creations destroy each other.”

  “So, which side is winning?”

  Roger shrugged. “Depends on who you talk to. Some say that we’re dead even in this war, others think werewolves are ahead by a little.”

  I nodded, thinking about all of that new information.

  After dinner finished, waiters came in and took away the empty plates. Roger stood, and the talk instantly died down as everyone waited patiently for what he was going to say.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, now that the dinner has finished, let us move to a much more fitting room for the remainder of the evening. Shall we?”

  I grabbed Quinten’s hand before Roger could consider grabbing mine, and we followed the others into a large, open, brightly lit room. The floors were made of beautiful hard wood, dozens of candles lined the walls, and a giant glass chandelier hung in the center of the dome ceiling. I recognized at once what it was: a giant old fashioned ballroom.

  A small stage in the corner of the room held several beautiful instruments, and men and women began playing slow peaceful music. Couples took to the dance floor, and for a minute, I watched them all. Ilene and I were by far the youngest werewolves in the room. Some of these other guests were almost a century old, and they’d had a taste of that immortality already.

  Was that what I’d be like years from now? Graceful, deadly, beautiful?

  I looked for Ray and found him over by Roger, trying to keep him busy. He motioned for me to take Quinten and leave.

  I wasn’t eager to spend the rest of the night dancing with Roger. The thought of his hands on my body sent shivers down my spine. I reached over and tapped the back of Quinten’s hand twice. It was a signal that we’d worked out years ago, telling him to follow me closely.

  I just hoped that the noise and people wouldn’t confuse him.