THE ARENA

Dakota Mackenzie lay in the center of an arena, an arena she had been hiding from all her life. She managed to find her feet and realized that she was wearing a red dress. Her blond hair was loose and hanging mid-back. The fire from the torches reflected in her bright blue eyes. Several fire torches were burning all around the oval stage that was raised ten meters above the ground. She didn’t remember how she got there but she knew why she was there. There was one person with her on the stage: a man with a weapon. Dakota knew that he was not there to hurt her but to protect her in case someone tried to snatch her before the contest started. In the distance, she could hear the battle cries of people encouraging their leaders. Dakota Mackenzie has never been inside of a WIC Arena, but she has heard all about it. For the past 1000 years or so women have been hunted down by the WIC company. Not any kind of woman; women that could bear children. Once captured the WIC company gave them treatment so that they will over ovulate. After a few extractions of their eggs to be used in surrogate women to bear children for top paying clients; the women were sent to the WICS’s Arena. World population: 11 001 022. WICS population: 183 Children under five population: 203 Roundabout the year 2025 the population came to a near standstill. To this day, the year 3000 and something it was a rare event for a woman to fall pregnant. The WIC company had little success in surrogate pregnancies but yet they still sold the dream. What was more valuable than a fertilized egg ready to be implanted into a surrogate? A woman that could conceive naturally. Half of the population was human and the other half Supernatural; more than half the supernatural population was either vampires or hybrids; the rest was a mixture of were-animals, like Dakota. Dakota was over 1000 years old; a Werewolf Lycan. She has never found her fated mate and that was largely due to the fact that she was a princess, and a princess can only mate to a prince, and she knew royal blood ran through her veins, but she wouldn’t dare to share that with anyone. Don’t think for a moment that she was a sweet innocent 1000-year-old virgin. Dakota has enjoyed several bed partners in her life and standing in that arena she realized that the last man whose bed she was in might have sold her off to the WIC company. Outside the Arena, Alpha Nathan in his human form faced off with the biggest man he has ever had to challenge but there was no sign of fear in his golden-brown eyes. His jawline was solid, making the veins in his neck pop. His chest was broad, his muscles well defined. This was Alpha Nathan’s first time in a WICS’s Arena; he had big shoes to fill. His father has been winning WICS over the years for their pack that resulted in one birth, Nathan being the result of a WICS being won after surviving the WICS’s Arena many years ago. Nathan does not remember his mother as the WICS are collected back by the WIC company after one year. The winner of the session had two months to get a WICS pregnant. The WIC company visits the tribe or pack that has won the WICS’s Arena two months after the contest and tests her. If the WICS was with child, she will stay with the tribe or pack and the child she births stays the property of the pack or tribe but if she was not pregnant, she goes back into the WICS’s Arena. These packs and tribes did not fight to the death for money, no they fought for something far more valuable; a woman that could bear their children; a WICS. Nathan has trained against all his pack members for the past few months to get ready for the arena. He will be accompanied by his pack Luna, Addison. They are not fated mates or claimed mates. Even if they wished to claim each other to be forever mates it is not possible without a shaman spell and these days Shamans are even rarer than WICS. Vampires have been hunting down Shamans like the WIC company has been hunting down women that can bear children. Only a pack Alpha that is married to a Luna or a Tribe leader with a wife was allowed to challenge to compete in the WICS’s arena but once inside there is only one rule; survive. Some couples gave up in order to keep their lives but some fought to the death. A dozen couples will walk into the Arena but more than half of them will not walk out again; not alive in anyways. That night, Nathan has already beaten seven men down and the beast of a man in front of him was all that was standing between him and the Arena. They have been at each other’s throats for the past hour and the crowd was growing impatient. ‘Time to end this,’ Nathan thought, worried that he was wasting valuable energy that he should keep for inside the Arena. ‘If only Rick was a Lycan werewolf then I could have attempted using my Alpha authority and take my chances on who is the higher rank alpha, but I guess no such luck tonight,’ Nathan thought, sweat running down at the side of his face. “Come on little pup,” the beast dared him to attack again. Being called a little pup did not make Nathan lose his focus, after all, he was practically a pup. Unlike the rest of his pack that is all way over hundreds of years old, Nathan was thirty-four. Nathan knew the only reason why he was one of the youngest Alpha’s around was because only a Lycan Werewolf with Alpha blood in their veins could answer the calling when a pack was without an Alpha. Since he was the offspring of their former Alpha, the pack accepted him immediately as they didn’t want some strangers to come knocking to take over their pack. They would rather have a pup for an Alpha that their seven-hundred-year-old Luna could control than allow a new Alpha to control them. Nathan grew up calling Luna Addison his mother but when his father died a few months ago in the very same Arena she became his Luna, his wife; but only by title; they didn't even share a bed. Luna Addison shared her bed with the pack Beta, Max. Nathan shared his bed with any female that came knocking. Luna Addison was wearing low-cut skinny leg jeans with a bustier that looked more like it should be worn as an undergarment, but she was dressed like this to distract the competition. When her husband and fated mate died in the last Arena she barely survived. She pleaded with him to live to fight another day but he was a stubborn Lycan that put more value on his pride than on his life or her life for that matter. The beast of a man knew all too well about Luna Addison’s tricks and it has never worked on him. The beast standing in front of Nathan was not the man that killed Nathan’s father, but he has on many occasions lost in the Arena against Nathan’s father. “Rick, Rick, Rick,” the beast’s tribe roared. “Nate, Nate, Nate,” Nathan’s pack thundered above all the noise, the men eager for Nathan to win them a WICS. Just like WICS that are rare so are available women in general. For every woman alive there are about 500 men; Nathan’s pack being one of the luckier packs with a quarter of the members' women. Rick’s tribe consists of only ten percent women amongst them. Like most human tribes, Rick also had a few vampires amongst his tribe whom they took turns drinking from so that they can stay young and strong. More than half of the groups there that tonight was Lycan werewolves and even though Nathan has beaten their Alphas they were all rooting for him, knowing that, that night’s WICS is believed to be a Lycan Werewolf and one thing that brought all the packs together was when they stood against a human tribe that was trying to enter a WICS’s Arena with a Lycan Werewolf as the price. “What are you waiting for pup?” Rick challenged again, not knowing that Nathan was about to pounce. Nathan pretended to step forward but then sidestepped and met Rick with a blow to his side followed by a kick to his temple that made Rick fall to the ground, his large size making the wood planks under Nathan’s feet tremble. Some of the human tribes started to shove some werewolves around out of anger but since they were outnumbered, they knew what was good for them. It took four of Rick’s tribes’ men to lift him off the ground. Dakota heard the roar of the crowd and realized it was time for the men to enter the arena.