Chapter 139

Judy’s POV

“Are you really not going to tell me why you came home so late last night? No way did that dinner end at 2 am,” Nan said, folding her arms across her chest as she watched me rummage through my clothes, trying to find the workout outfit I planned to wear for the competition.

“Nope,” I told her, grinning.

I really didn’t want to have to think about it right now, honestly. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Gavin and how he made me feel last night. The raw emotions that were so real in my chest last night felt foreign now. I could still feel the ghost of his touch on my body, and I shuddered at the memory.

I finally found my clothes and went into the bathroom to change. I was nervous enough about this competition, I didn’t need to start second-guessing things with Gavin too.

“You’re no fun!” Nan said from the other side of the bathroom door.

I chuckled as I quickly dressed and threw my hair in a ponytail. After I finished with my business, I opened the bathroom door to find Nan standing in front of me with her hands folded across her chest.

“I’d tell you if anything happened between me and boy,” she told me, sticking her nose in the air.

I laughed and gave her a playful shove as I walked past her.

“There’s not much to tell,” I admitted. “I mean… we had sex. That’s all there is to it.”

“Seriously though? He made you so upset that you fled the country without saying anything to him,” she reminded me. “We were supposed to be taking a break from guys.”

She was right; I did promise her that this would be a guy-free trip. She had to get her mind off Chester, and I wanted to get my mind off Gavin. But now it seemed I couldn’t stop thinking about Gavin.

“You’re right,” I told her. “I’m sorry.”

She sighed and shook her head.

“No, I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m being a terrible friend. You clearly like him and I shouldn’t stand in your way.”

“We are only causal fuck buddies,” I teased with a shrug. “At least that’s what it seems like we are…”

“You haven’t talked about it?” She asked with a frown.

I shook my head.

“No, and I’m not sure I’m going to,” I admitted. “Things are really sloppy right now. I think it’s better if I just focus on this competition.”

She nodded thoughtfully as she glanced at the time.

“Do you have time for breakfast?”

“I have an hour. Let’s get something fast,” I replied.

We ended up getting breakfast at the breakfast buffet in the dining hall. They had a lot of great food, but my nerves were getting the best of me so I decided to only eat a little. I grabbed some orange juice and a piece of toast while Nan piled up her plate.

We took a seat at an empty table while she devoured her food and talked my ear off about her day with her new friends. I was glad she met some people to occupy her time while I focused on this competition.

The small plate I had for my toast disappeared and I frowned down at where it was. A second later, a new plate appeared in front of me. It had a ton of food on it; way more than I could stomach. I looked up to see Gavin frowning at me; my eyes grew wide.

“You need to eat,” he told me before he turned away with my toast.

I stared down at the food and then back at Gavin. He was now seated at a different table, listening to something someone was saying with earnest curiosity. My cheeks were flushed.

Had anyone noticed him doing that?

I glanced around and I didn’t see anyone watching me, thankfully.

Nan looked as if she was about to burst out laughing as she nibbled on her own food, trying not to make eye contact with me. As annoyed as I was that Gavin did that, I couldn’t argue with him. I knew I had to eat properly if I wanted to get through today, that was why I was forcing toast down my throat.

I relented and picked up my fork. Once I ate half the plate, I couldn’t stomach it anymore and pushed it aside.

I glanced at the time; I only had 20 minutes left before the competition started.

“I have to go,” I told Nan.

She nodded and gave me a double thumbs-up.

“I’ll be rooting for you,” she said. “Good luck today!”

I nodded and hurried out of the dining hall. The competition arena was packed with participants and audience. Alpha Levi was in the center of the arena, talking to some other Alphas and Lycans.

One of the Gammas who were keeping watch over the event directed me to some of the other competitors. I had never been around this many people at once before and I had to admit, my nerves were on fire. I was glad that my ankle no longer hurt, I just hoped I didn’t damage it again while I was fighting.

“Oh, it’s you,” a voice said from beside me.

I turned to see that girl I met in the gym, Tabby.

“Are you competing today?” She asked.

I nodded.

“Yes,” I replied. “You?”

“Yup,” she said with a grin. “We’ll most likely be fighting each other at some point today. Good luck,” she said with a wink.

As the announcers went over the rules on the loudspeaker, I listened earnestly. We were not allowed to kill anyone during these matches. The only fight to the death was at the finale but until then, we had to be careful not to kill anyone or we’ll be disqualified.

The first round was a free-for-all; they wanted to see how we fought to get a feel for us. We didn’t exactly have to win the fight in this round, but we had to be able to continue on to the next rounds after today. Our goal was to make it so that not all of us made it; some could get so injured not even their wolves could heal them in time. If that happened, they’d be disqualified.

There were probably about 50 or 60 to start with today. We weren’t allowed to shift during the first round so I had to use my human form to fight.

As the alarm sounded, indicating the match to begin, everybody was kind of everywhere. There was no order to it and it made it all that much more unsettled. It reminded me of a mosh-pit.

I dodged different attacks and spent most of my time making a plan for an attack while I tried to keep myself on my feet. I analyzed most of the opponents already and I was starting to get a good read on them.

Like I knew that guy Eric had one leg that was slightly shorter than the other. It was barely noticeable, but I did notice a slight limp when he was walking out of the dining hall last night.

I could use that to my advantage to knock him off balance and get the upper hand.

I knew Gavin was present; I could somehow feel his eyes on me the entire time. I knew where he was seated in the front row with the other Lycans, just as he was yesterday. I tried not to look at him though as I focused my attention on the fight going on around me.

Some were already out of the match, unable to continue on. I winced when one guy’s leg snapped out of place and his bone penetrated his flesh. Medics were on the scene right away, helping him off the arena grounds.

It was mayhem.

I felt a small gust of wind behind me, brushing across the nape of my neck and I spun around without a single thought and punched the person in the face, knocking him to the ground. His nose immediately started to bleed. I knew I had broken his nose, and I was about to break his fingers too but then another person ran up beside me, I managed to grab his arm, spin him around, and pin him to the ground with my body. He tried to buck me off him but only tired himself out. I bent his arm back until I heard a snapping sound. It was a clean break; there was a chance his wolf could heal him before the next round, but at least I got the upper hand in the situation.

I jumped off the guy I was on and kicked him hard in the stomach, making him grunt in pain as he held his stomach.

Fighting like this reminded me of a dance. You had to use exact precision to make yourself noticed. That’s all this round was about… getting yourself noticed amongst the hundreds competing in this competition.

Once I became noticed by other competitors, I was a target.

Others noticed my skillset and I realized that they had underestimated me; I didn’t think I would be much of a threat, but I managed to take down two larger-than-me guys within seconds from each other. That kind of thing gets a girl noticed and now I was officially in the competition. They wanted me out knowing that I had an actual chance at winning. It went from fighting each other to all of them wanting a piece of me.

They came at me all at once but I was faster than most of them. I managed to dodge their attacks and even get a couple of strikes in myself. I heard the audience gasping and awe as I took down a few more that were after me.

At one point, someone managed to get the best of me, but I turned it around on them and had them pinned to the ground in a matter of minutes.

I did a cartwheel away from the oncoming opponents and flipped over their heads, landing on the other side of them. They weren’t prepared for me to be behind them, so by the time they realized where I was and tried to turn around, I had them all on the ground.

The cheering around the stadium was deafening.

I spun around, waiting for someone else to test me. They seemed to be coming out every which way and I was on high alert now that I was the main target in most of their eyes. I felt my wolf’s agitation, mixing with my own, making me feral.

I was so caught up in the moment that I missed my own back and didn’t realize someone was coming up behind me until I was facing the ground, a sharp pain shooting up my spine. I couldn’t help the growl that erupted out of my mouth.

An icy and familiar voice whispered in my ear as I was pressed into the ground, “I won’t let you win, bitch.”