Chapter 3 Placing a bet on her

Zay Mullani

In his entire twenty-two wolf years of being alive, Zay painstakingly ensured he never put himself in a position where he would have to entertain ridiculous nonsense from foolish wolves, especially those who approach him with ulterior intentions. 

Clearly, this frail-looking, barely five-foot-two, light-pink-haired she-wolf standing before him fell under the category of those foolish wolves. 

But the shit she just said…

Damn.

It certainly was too abso-fucking-lutely hilarious. 

So hilarious that as he pushed a stifled laugh out of his lungs, his anger vanished.

“You…” He chuckled again, his lips tugging. “You’re definitely joking.”

She furrowed her forehead, displaying that irritating emotion he recognised as sadness. 

Just that was enough to turn his laughter into disgust. 

One of the things he strongly despised was she-wolves who think that shedding a few tears would make him do their bidding. 

At this point, he had heard and seen enough. 

“Leave,” Zay warned with a clenched jaw. 

“N-No.” 

This she-wolf had an overall timid presence, yet her response was sharp and full of resistance.

Was she really high on something? Zay wondered. 

As he studied her for a second, this she-wolf stepped closer again and pleaded. 

“Mark me.”

“This is bullshit,” he whispered aloud. 

She nodded, then shook her head. “Call it whatever. Just… Just do this for me, Alpha Zay.”

“And why would I do that?” Zay asked. Then, cursed himself for furthering this nonsensical conversation. 

“Because…” Her light-blue eyes grew more doe-like, reminding him of his mother on that night that... “B-because o-only you can, Alpha Zay.”

Zay blinked.

“Please.” Her voice sounded like a mess. “I’ll do anything.”

“I don’t have time for this shit.” He strode towards the door and widened it. He glared at her from that distance and ordered, “Leave before I shred you into nothing but skins.”

“Alpha Zay, no!” she screamed, rushing closer. 

Then, she halted in the middle of the room. 

“Please.” She lowered her voice. “All I want is to escape.” The tremble in her voice reached his ears. “I’m tired.” The sudden depression that appeared in her eyes didn’t slip past him either. “I… I can’t keep doing it. I really can’t. Before I…”

Her hands tightly pulling at the chest area of her clothes, she lowered her gaze to the floor. 

“I…”

She didn’t complete her words even after seconds of silence.

Because… her tears took over. 

They were silent, but were not hidden.

Instantly, something uncomfortable wrapped around Zay’s chest.

It was not the tears; it was because she had said something that made him realise that he somehow had something in common with this ragged she-wolf. 

Escape, she had said. 

Escape was all he had been craving ever since he was born into his damned family.

All he did to find freedom never worked. They never did the work of completely freeing him from his horrible father.

Zay nearly didn't pursue Ice Hockey because he feared it would result in the same shit as before.  

But… the night he finally faced his fears and truly held on to that hockey stick and skied over the ice like a dancer with no care, the adrenaline that filled him assured him that he had found something great, something close to that escape he had been yearning for. 

Once he fully immersed himself in the game and his team, Zay was catapulted into the limelight. Fame, glory, respect, riches… he got them all. 

And surprisingly, he finally got his father to stop sabotaging his life. 

‘Fool,’ Zay snickered to himself while he chose to exercise brief patience with the sobbing she-wolf before him. ‘Why did I think he had changed?’

With a tightly clenched jaw, Zay replayed the meeting he had with the Lycan King two weeks ago. 

‘You’ve joked around enough, Captain Zay,’ his father had mocked with that usual, authoritative timbre. ‘Return to the university and resume training for your Lycanship.’

Zay outright refused, and that resulted in a huge consequence. 

A positive one– maybe. But not for Zay. 

His nosy father had not only taunted him about the three games they had lost in a row since the playoff season started, but he also highlighted that he was aware of the financial mess the team was in because of their ex-coach's gambling issues. 

The Lycan King didn’t hesitate to invest a hefty sum in the team. In exchange, he got to put a leash around Zay.

Zay, his stupid son. 

“Are you done?” Zay harshly asked the she-wolf. 

“I’m sorry. I—” She shook her head and spluttered, “I’ll l-l-leave. I’m asking for too much.”

“Don’t move,” he said, and she jolted into a frozen position right away. “Beggar Wolf…” He leaned against the doorframe and watched her with a hooded glare. “Look at me.”

The she-wolf hesitated, as if she didn’t just make the most daring request.

“I can snap your head off if you don’t act sharp.”

She hearkened, but only after a few seconds of flickering her gaze between the door and the floor. 

Zay, with silent judgment, looked at her from head to toe. 

“Do I get to know your reasons?”

“Huh?”

He sighed to hold back his frustration. “You want me to mark you.” She nodded swiftly. “Why?”

“Uhm…” She wiped her hands against her faded gown. “If you… If you agree, I’ll… I’ll tell you.”

“You’ll… You’ll tell me?” Zay couldn’t resist mocking her. 

It was between that and actually snapping her head off or pulling her tongue out.

There was just something about her obvious weakness that irked him.

However, her request had now awakened something rebellious within him. 

Following his situation with his father, tomorrow’s game would be his last. Ever. 

After days of struggling with his father’s decision, Zay had concluded that he would step away from that last game. He had even hung his uniform in a special box which he planned to bury deep in the woods. 

At that time, that seemed like a reasonable decision.

‘But why should I do that?’ Zay chastised himself. 

His team had been suffering too many losses. They needed a win. 

He… needed a win. 

Zay, with his mind racing, recalled a time in this very locker room when one of the boys was saying some shit about making a bet with the universe. 

While that concept still sounded flawed, Zay wondered if it would be crazy of him to use this she-wolf as a stake in the bet with the universe.

Poking his mouth with his tongue, he looked at her and said, “There’s a game tomorrow.”

“O-Oh.”

“Whether I help you or not depends on that game.”

She scratched the top of her head, her small forehead knitted into a frown. “That–”

“Doesn’t make sense?” Zay peeled his back off the door frame and approached her. “Widen your senses and listen, Beggar Wolf. Right now…” He stopped once there were at least three paces left between them. “I’m using you to place a bet.”

“I really don’t understand, Alpha Zay,” she confessed with another tremble in her voice. 

“If we win the game tomorrow, consider it your good luck.”

“The game?” Her confusion deepened. “What happens if you l-lose?”

 Zay frowned at the jarring possibility that he could actually lose his last game. 

With a clenched jaw, he grumbled, “I’ll have you tossed into jail.”

She went mute. 

Then she drew a sharp breath. “The jail…” For a second, she seemed like a different person. “Is it in Lower or Upper Moonglade?”

“Why would you-?”

“I need it to be in Upper Moongladea. If you lose…” She hopped forward, slightly surprising him. “Take me to the jail in Upper Moongladea.”

“Shouldn’t you be more interested in the winning part?”

“It’s… It’s good too. I mean…” Just like that, she was timid again. “Either one works, Alpha Zay.”

‘She might be possessed,’ Zay noted to himself. 

Clearing his throat, he folded his arms behind him and looked ahead. “If my team wins, I’ll grant your ridiculous request.” He strangely became curious about her reaction. So, he looked at her again. “I’ll mark you.” He then shifted his eyes to the strange dark spots around her neck. “But don’t ever think I’ll make the mistake of sharing my body with you.”

“Ah!” she screamed with her hands thrown into the air.

 Then, she covered her mouth, her eyes brimming with tears, excited as he expected her to be. 

But this excitement was not the usual ‘Alpha-Zay-said-yes-type of excitement’.

It was more like… ‘I found my freedom! Yay!’

“I’m fine with that. I don’t need your body. Alpha Zay!” She screamed before he could react to the second statement. “Really! Oh! Thank you!” She grabbed his hand like it was the best thing in the universe. “Thank you so much!”

“Save the thanks.” With a fake cough, he snatched his hand out of hers and left it hanging in the air because he couldn’t afford to even wipe it over his clothes. “This only works if I win.”

“If!” She clapped once, showing off the sparkle in her eyes. “Of course.”

“Of course? You’ll be thrown in jail, Beggar Wolf. But you say, of course?”

She shrugged, and her smile widened. 

Zay just couldn’t understand why any sensible wolf would be happy about that. 

“Anyway,” he coughed because he was not done with announcing the bet. “If we win, there’ll be a bigger present waiting for you.” 

“Present?”

Zay smirked. “It might be better to tell you right now since your type tends to be cunning.” 

He glanced around the room while imagining the kind of chaos he’d wreck on campus if his second plan worked out fine.

“Beggar Wolf, from this point, pay very close attention to what I say.”

Her throat bobbed, her eyes shifting back to that timid state. 

Zay took another step closer. “The moment the Moon Rock’s win is announced, you…”

Briefly, he wondered what her name was. Based on just her looks, he couldn’t guess.

“Me what, Alpha Zay?”

“The moment we win,” he chastised himself for that foolish curiosity, “you… must become my girlfriend.”

Her eyes turned dark. “Huh?”

“You need me to mark you. I need a fake girlfriend.” He smirked. “I consider it a fair price in exchange for doing you a favour.”