Her Second Chance Mate

Tournament Pickings

“Listen up troops!” Jake yelled as I and Max stood off to the side lines of the training field. “We’re going to start training for the tournament, whoever wants to take part please come to me after this first training session and I will add your name to the list. Our Alpha and Beta will be watching the training session and will also be making decisions on who they want. All three of us will be taking part in the tournament.”

A hand shot up in the middle of the warriors. “Yes?” Jake yelled out.

“Can anyone be in the tournament?” 

“Yes, there will be a mix of challenges for those who have shifted and those who have not. When signing up, make sure you write down your age and if you have shifted or not.” 

Jake blew his whistle “Let’s get to it!” He yelled and then jogged over to us.

“Ok, so first...let’s figure out those who would be good for the non-shifted challenges.” I said, as we walked towards the groups of those who have not shifted yet. 

“There are four challenges for each shifted and non-shifted and we can have 2 competitors per challenge with a back-up person for each. So 3 per and if we wanted, we can use the same person for multiple challenges.” 

I nodded my head, “ok great. What are the challenges again?” 

“Race Course, Tracking, Hunt, Team timed challenge.” Jake advised. 

“First will be the race course - for those that have not shifted yet 5 miles, for those shifted 10 miles. However, they cannot shift into their wolves to run. Having the ability to shift already makes them faster.” Max advised while he read the packet of challenges. 

“Tracking - each person will have something specific to find hidden within the woods.” Jake said.

I just nodded my head. 

“Hunt - this will have a time cap, and it will go by size of kill. One kill per person, points for size.” 

“Makes sense.” I advised, watching a group of non-shifted she-wolves running around the track. 

“Team timed challenge” Jake began. “Teams made up of 3 people max, they will have to run a smaller course with obstacles designed to have to use teamwork to get through and they will have to grab a flag as the end of the course then run back through the course and finish with the flag. Whatever team can finish first with their flag, wins.” 

“That’s not all.” Max started, as he read the last page of the packet.

“What is it?” I asked him, turning my head towards him.

“There will be one last challenge, to take place Friday, all other challenges will be Mon, tues, wed and thursday. Saturday will be a bonfire and BBQ as well as awards.”

“Okay...what’s the challenge for Friday?” I asked.

“Pack Leader Fights.” He said looking up to me.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“The three leaders: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma of each pack will fight each other. This will be a fight to submission, not death and it is not for pack rights. Simply a who’s the best challenge.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Well, that’s new but i’m not surprised. Carson always thought he was the best when it came to fighting.” 

“Will you be okay?” Max asked. 

“What? Of course I will.”

“But this will be the first time you’ll see him since he left 2 years ago.” 

“And?”

“And…”

“He broke my heart 2 years ago, not yesterday. While I may not have a mate, I have moved on. He’s no longer in my heart.”

“This isn’t a fight to the death.” Jake replied.

“Don’t worry boys, I won’t kill him. I’ll just hurt him, really bad.” I said with a laugh.

We walked around the training fields for the rest of the time. The elite warriors trained around 4am, so we would be watching them tomorrow. Their trainer, our head warrior, already advised them of what we would be looking for and all 10 had already signed up to be part of the games. 

A week later we were all sitting in my office, going over the list of pack members that had either signed up or who we thought should participate in the tournament. 

“Ok, we need a total of 12 shifted and non-shifted packmates. But since all 10 elite warriors have signed up and with the help of the lead warrior, we only need 2 more shifted members. Each elite member has their own special skill when it comes to the challenges at hand and I have no doubt in my mind that we will win. As for non-shifted members, well that’s where we need to focus our attention.” I advised.

“Ok, so for the race course, there are some boys they are younger 14-16 of age but they are the fastest kids i have ever trained.” Jake advised. 

“Oh i think i know who you’re talking about!” Max said. While i just looked at them with a blank stare. 

“Well...do tell.” I advised.

“There’s Matt, Alex, & Sarah. And if you ever tell Alex I said any of this I will deny my ass off.” Jake advised.

“Matt...as in Carson’s cousin?!” I asked.

“Yes. and Sarah the head cooks daughter. All three of them blew through time when they did trial runs. All three almost came close to our own records.” 

“Again, if you tell Alex I’ll deny - but I wont be surprised that once he shifts he’ll be the youngest to join the elite forces.” 

“So what you’re really saying is your younger brother should really be my Gamma?” I asked with a smirk.

“ALPHA!” Jake yelled in shock.

I laughed out, “calm down Gammmmmmma I’m only joking!” I laughed again.

“Ok, let’s let them know they’ll be part of our team and start getting them to train together. We need to figure out which 2 will be running and who the back up will be...next?”

“Well, these three for the tracking are actually children of our top trackers. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that their parents started training them at a young age. Craig, Shane, and Jay.” 

“Perfect” I replied. “For the hunt? Would we stick with the same?”

“I thought about that, but I know for a fact that Alex is an amazing hunter. He’s always bringing back a kill when he goes out for a run.” Jake advised.

“Ok, then Alex and who else? What about the daughter of Shane? The lead warrior? I know she’s been hunting since she was pup.” 

“Shelby. Yes! She’d be perfect along with her best friend Samantha. I’ve heard the two of them go out hunting a lot and bring back a lot of their kills to the pack house.” 

“Three-person team, I think we should see how who we’ve already picked work well together. We have 2 months to decide. I think we take this first month and let them start training, living and breathing what they’ve been picked for. The team that gets along the best, I say should be the team for the team challenge.”

“That’s a perfect idea Nikki.” Max advised.

“I know.” I replied with a smile. 

“Now, the shifters.” 

“For the race, there should be no surprise: Shane, Mike, and Ted. Shane might the head warrior but Mike and Ted have been training with him since day one and they’re almost the same speed.”

“Do you think it’s smart to have someone, as old as Shane?” Max asked.

“Are you kidding me? He’ll outrun any of those other wolves any day.” I replied, “I like these picks.” 

“Okay.” Max nodded and wrote their names down on the competitor form.

“Tracking:  Tracy, Kyle, Mitch.”

“Tracy! Yes! Love it. Being Shane’s mate she’s always out on the training field.”

“And then for hunting we have Sean, Steve, and Tracy again.” Jake advised and I just nodded my head. 

“The three-person team should be Shane, Tracy, and Kyle. They might be the oldest of the group, but they’ve been training together since day one and are ALWAYS together.” i advised.

“That’s what you get with a thropple.” Max laughed.

“A what?” I asked.

“A thropple.” Jake said with a smirk. “You know three people in one relationship.”

“How the hell?!?” 

“No idea, but they’ve been together since literally high school.” 

“Seriously, how did I not know this?!” I replied.

“Well, for starters you’re Alpha.” Max stated.

“And you’re Beta...and Jake’s Gamma...I don’t get why me being Alpha means I don’t know. I should know!”

“Nikki when’s the last time you went to the pack gatherings and stayed longer than just your speech?”

I just looked at them. “I’m a horrible Alpha!” I whispered.

“No you’re not. You’re by far the best Alpha there is. You just don’t know the personal lives of your pack members. At least not the behind closed doors anyways.”

“Nikki, you know every member by name, and their position within the pack as well as their mates and children.” Jake said, his hand on my back.

“How many other thropples are there?” 

They both laughed, “None.” Jake said his hand still on my back. 

“And what about you?” Max asked looking at me.

“What about me?”

“When are you going to tell me who you’re having a secret affair with?”

My eyes popped out of my head and Jake’s hand quickly left my back as shock showed on his face.

“Excuse me?” I replied.

“Don’t think I haven’t heard you...which is gross by the way. You need to start locking your door if you’re going to be doing the nasty. I don’t need to walk onto your level and hear any of that s**t ever again.”

I could feel my face turning deep red. “You heard me?”

“Yes, and lets hope the moon goddess has heard my prayers and never allows me to hear them ever again.”

Jake laughed, and I shot him a look that said shut the f**k up. 

“So...who is he?” Max asked again.

“It doesn’t matter.” I replied. 

“How does it not matter? What if you get knocked up?”

Jake started choking on his water at this and I shot him another look.

“I’m not going to get knocked up. I use protection.” 

Max just nodded his head and Jake stared off at the wall. I rolled my eyes and stood up. 

“Well, since we’ve made our choices I think we’re done here. I want to go for a run before dinner. Max let Shane know we’ve approved all members of his team to be part of the games. Also, post the list for the rest of the members to see Jake. Make it known that with the elite team being gone with us for a week, the junior elite team is to start training with the members right away. They have a month to show that they can handle patrolling the pack alone while we are all gone. I will not leave our pack unattended, so any pack member that wants to go to the games to watch has to get approval. We will provide transportation for all members. I’m assuming that the families of those competing will want to come. Let’s use this first month to get head counts and set everything up.”

“Yes Alpha.” Both Max and Jake replied before leaving my office.

I sat at my desk going over the businesses for the pack and making sure the accounts were all lined up. It was the last Friday of the month and our pack always ended the month with a pack BBQ. It’s been like this for years, but my brother was right. The last time I actually stayed for the BBQ and dancing was probably when I was a pup. I decided that I would change that. I wanted to be there more for my pack. Not just an Alpha that stayed in the shadows. Which also got me thinking, was I ready to bring my secret lover to light? I shake my head, one step at a time. Focus on the pack and getting ready to kick Carson and his pack’s asses at the tournament. Just thinking about Carson brought up so many old emotions, it was easy to get over him when he wasn’t around. But if I was honest with myself, he created a hold within my heart that has never been able to get refilled. I don’t know if it ever will.