Darcingtowne Wolves: The Flower Moon Games (Book 2)

Chapter Four: Playing for Keeps

Just as Carrie was starting to get her bearings, the large, frosted double doors off to her left slid open, and Tiffany strolled in along with a pair of heavies. They were not quite as big as Mason Silvius, one of The Misfits elders, but big enough to make Carrie nervous. She wasn’t the only one; several of the other women shifted backward, and more than a few whimpered.

“Hello, Ladies. I’m glad to see that you’re all coming around.” Tiffany said.

Carrie might be scared and confused, but if she learned anything from her Alpha it was not to let that fear show. She wasn’t good at impassivity though, so instead she pressed her lips into a thin, flat line and glared. She even added a little undercurrent of growl that made her throat vibrate. Tiffany glanced her way and winked. That f*****g b***h!

If those men weren’t there, she would have launched herself at the b***h’s throat.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’re here.” Tiffany said, taking a tone of nonchalance as she c****d her hip, and gestured around. “It might not seem like it, but I hope that you will all come to see that your being here is actually a great honor.”

The silence that came in response to this ludicrous statement didn’t seem to phase Tiffany in the slightest.

“We’ve brought you all here because you are the best unmated, ranked female werewolves, or werewolves of ranked blood, in the country.” Tiffany continued, her lips curving into a sweet smile that shone in her eyes. Not in a nice way, though. She smiled in the way that made Carrie want to slap a ho. “...And the unmated Alphas who have come here to watch The Flower Moon Games only want the best.”

Carrie’s eyes bulged. The Flower Moon Games? Holy s**t. She’d heard of the Flower Moon Games, but was pretty sure they had been outlawed decades ago after several she-wolves died during the competition.

It was an ancient tradition, where unmated females were brought together to participate in a series of challenges to show off their skills, and hopefully attract the attention of a powerful male. Numerous queens and powerful Alpha consorts had been selected after emerging victorious from the games, and even if you didn’t win there was still a good chance that a male might choose you.

But, a number of the challenges - which were often set forth by the ranked males who were in search of a mate - were brutal. They were werewolves, so it’s not like physical displays of dominance weren’t part of their culture, but most of those displays didn’t end with a bloody maiming or murder by combat. Not in modern times, anyway. Werewolf society had evolved in the last two hundred years, and most disputes between werewolves were settled with words or maybe a solid scrap if the words didn’t seem to be making headway.

Sebastian mocked the Alpha’s consort, Tobias, for being ‘sensitive’ but that’s only because the last scrap he got into with Toby ended with Sebastian’s out cold on the gym floor. Bash had a tendency to talk too much during a fight, which gave Toby time to cold c**k him. Not that it took much time; Tobias popped the Beta as soon as he opened his mouth. Sebastian did not appreciate everyone laughing at him as he slowly came back to consciousness.

Carrie didn’t feel like laughing now. Instead, dread was rising up from the pit of her stomach to her throat, making her feel nauseous.

“You have got to be shitting me.” a raven haired and muscular looking woman who gave off serious beta vibes said, before throwing herself to her feet. “I’m not going to compete with anyone to become some random Alpha’s play thing. You might as well kill me now.”

Tiffany didn’t hesitate. She reached for the gun that was holstered on one of her guard’s hips, pointed it at the beta, and shot. There was a flash of silver as the bullet sank dead center into the she-wolf’s forehead. It happened so fast that Carrie didn’t even have time to scream before the she-wolf’s body hit the floor. There was a heartbeat length of silence before women began wailing. Carrie’s throat burned, and that’s when she realized that she was one of the wailing women. The sound felt foreign to her ear, like she was hearing the sound from somewhere outside her body.

“Now, I am sure that all of you harbor dreams of finding a mate.” Tiffany said, holding the gun out to the guard, who took it from her and re-holstered it without a word. Her tone was still light, but had an edge of steel to it as she continued, “Let me assure you that the males who will be observing, maybe even participating, in this competition are quality wolves whom any one of you would be lucky to have. Reputable Alphas who will treat you like a queen.”

Carrie covered her mouth with a hand as she tried to catch her breath, her chest heaving with sobs as tears ran down her cheeks. She’d never seen a dead body before, much less watched someone get shot mere feet from her face.

“We are now going to give you all a few minutes to consider how you want to approach this once in a lifetime opportunity going forward.” Tiffany sighed as blood began gathering in a pool on the floor, contrasting sharply against the pale white marble tile with its thin grey veins. “It’s up to you how you want to play the game, but please do keep in mind that we play for keeps.”

As soon as the doors slid shut behind Tiffany and her goons, the women all began looking at each other, as if waiting for someone to take the initiative. Carrie ripped her eyes away from the growing pool of blood, sucking in a breath. 

But, before she could speak, one rather excitable blonde said, “I...I can’t believe this is happening to us! I mean...yeah, it wasn’t fun being sniffer bombed… I dunno about you ladies, but I would LOVE to have an Alpha for a mate. I’m definitely Luna material.”

She giggled, but when no one else joined her, she huffed and said, “Y’all are party poopers.”

“There’s a reason these games were outlawed. She-wolves died attempting some of the challenges that the Alphas set forth. Do you really think these Alphas, who are willing to circumvent the law, won’t give us worse challenges?” another woman said. She was tall, willowy, and had short dark hair and sharp eyes set into a fine featured face with high cheekbones and full lips. She blinked owlishly, squinting in the direction of the blonde. “Ugh, I can’t see a damn thing. Does anyone see my glasses?”

The raven haired beauty let her hands wander around on the floor, and yelped when she accidentally touched the warm blood. The composure that she’d displayed broke, and her lips started to tremble. When she started crying, one of the other women who had thus far not spoken, slid an arm around her. She was a sweet looking girl with long brown hair tied into a fluffy fishtail braid that was slung over her shoulder. Her eyes were red and cheeks stained with now drying tears, but she seemed to have gathered herself.

“I don’t think we have much choice but to compete. We just need to remember who we are, and what we stand for. I for one won’t be hurting anybody.” the brunette said softly, reaching out to pull the glasses from the crying woman’s shirt. They’d been hooked into the collar, probably after falling off. “Here’s your glasses, Miss…”

“Me either.” Carrie replied immediately, though truth be told she wasn’t entirely confident in that. 

You never knew how a person would react under pressure. When push came to shove, would she hurt someone else in order to stay alive? Carrie wasn’t sure. A few years ago, she would have been confident when she claimed she wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

She had a feisty mouth, but before had been a weak wolf who depended on her Alpha to pull her out of bad situations. Even now, there was a part of her praying that her pack was already pulling out all the stops to find her. But, she was older and wiser now. She knew that if these people managed to kidnap her from a huge, crowded party that they probably had protections in place that would make it impossible for her pack to find her. 

The only one she could depend on right now was herself. So, she took stock of what assets she had. Thankfully, her captors hadn’t stripped her of her jewelry - some of which was imbued with protection magic. She was cute looking; charm could do a lot for a girl if she was willing to use it, and she was way smarter than she looked - which threw people off. She was also small, but surprisingly quick, and had years of self-defense training which had given her strong muscles. They were a bit hidden under a layer of puppy fat, but Carrie liked cupcakes too much to get that lean carb-cutting fit girl look. Hopefully her mate was into curves.

The thought of her mate stung a little. If only the moon goddess had seen fit to give her a mate, she wouldn’t be in this predicament would she? Was this a punishment? What had she ever done to deserve this?!

That was a foul little thought, especially because she knew damn well that being unmated had nothing to do with how good or bad a person was. Plenty of good wolves were unmated. The best wolf she knew, Elder Mason, had been rejected, which went to prove that even the moon goddess' choice didn’t always work out. Even so, Carrie couldn’t help but feel that cruel little thought seed itself in the back of her mind as she eyed the women around her with an air of mild suspicion.

They were all ranked females, but Carrie was willing to be that she was the only half-wolf in the room. Now that the shock had worn off, their auras were starting to filter through. Not only was she the only half-wolf, but as she looked around, Carrie realized she was also the only Delta. Though, in The Misfits, that was more of a title than a sign of her aura’s strength. Damn. She was seriously outclassed.

If she wanted to get through this, she’d need to come up with a plan. Half these women looked like warriors, and the other half varied. It was hard to tell what a person’s strengths and weaknesses were if they weren’t obviously related to physical power. But, the games were supposed to vary too, and she supposed that the Alphas in question probably had varying taste...maybe she just needed to catch one of their attention?

She shivered. She totally got it when that first woman spoke out. She might be willing to do a lot of things to please her true mate, but there was no one any of these assholes could be her mate, right? No, the moon goddess wouldn’t do that to her. Carrie took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and exhaled. She had to keep the faith. The moon goddess had a plan. And, saving that, Carrie would come up with one herself.

She wasn’t going to die here. And, if some asshole decided he was going to choose her for a mate, she would figure out how to escape him. 

While Carrie had been thinking and assessing, the other women had continued talking. All conversation came to a halt as figures loomed in front of the frosted doors, which slid open a moment later.

“Now then,” Tiffany said as she strode back into the room, her high heels clicking on the cold tile. “I trust that we’re all ready to move on to the next phase of this introduction?”