Lottery Arena: Escaping my Mate

I’ll have to play the game

VALERIAN

21 years old

I jumped down the last couple of steps and rounded the corner quickly. I was in a hurry to get out the door and get this over with.

Easy Valerian, you know we have to go along with this. My wolf, Tikaani, thought to me.

I know, but I don’t have to pretend to enjoy it. I’m just gonna keep my head down and my mouth shut. I told him.

Since I turned 21 a few months ago my name was automatically placed in the lottery arena drawing. I honestly hated the whole thing.

They’d taken my little sister, Sky, when she turned 16. She was in the first lottery arena and had been captured by none other than our Alpha’s son, Haze.

When they emerged after the seven days were over they were already a bonded pair.

My sister had her head down and followed a step behind him as they exited the gates.

She could sense me nearby and jerked her tear stained face in my direction.

She was whisked away by his future beta, Drake. I’d only been allowed to see her three times since then.

She’d tell me she was happy, but I could sense something else just beneath the surface.

I knew the shewolf population had been almost wiped out just like everyone else did. But there had to be another way to motivate our pack other than what we were currently doing.

I just wanted to get the hell out of here and head toward the coast. I’d been surprised when I saw my name posted on the bulletin as one of this year’s lottery winners.

Most of the winners were pack mates who had their names entered multiple times for helping the pack out.

There were rumors about inspection day of course, I’d heard everything from “you get to sleep with a shewolf” to “you view them behind glass for 30 seconds” so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Whatever it was, I was sure it would be at the shewolves’ expense.

Other packs had heard of what we were doing and some of them were starting to institute their own lotteries. The world had become a very different place in five years.

I reached the double electrified gates a little early. The arena loomed in the background, It was truly massive. I remembered learning in school it was 5 square miles. The male wolves that had completed the complex all within two years were the first to have their names put in the lottery.

Hundreds of them had worked night and day to get it done on time, hoping they’d be drawn for a chance to have a mate. More males began to arrive, some were chatting amongst themselves excitedly about being able to view the unmated females.

It made me sick the way most of them talked. The unmated shewolves were kept behind the fences within the barracks under constant guard. It was like they were prisoners or something. I’m sure they felt the same way.

Several armed guards came out and instructed us to line up in a single file line. They walked the length of the line going over the rules with us.

At no point were we allowed to leave or separate from the group, doing so resulted in instant disqualification.

We were not allowed to approach any shewolf. They stated they would lead us into an auditorium to view the inspection of the shewolves.

At no point were we to get up from our assigned seats without permission. There were 40 of us total. 40 females would be inspected and 15 would be selected for this year's lottery arena.

They instructed us to move, we began marching through the gates toward the auditorium. There was a separate electrified fence between the walkway and the shewolves barracks.

The girls were on their way to breakfast it looked like. They too filed down the pathway on the other side in a single file line.

They all wore bright red, easy to spot. Some of the males were twisting their heads around to get a better look at the females.

Tikaani had been relatively quiet inside my head and left me alone to my own thoughts. He knew when I needed solace, even from him.

But he perked up inside my head. What’s got you worked up all of a sudden? I thought to him while scanning my eyes around.

Mate. Mate! He shouted in my head. There was no way I could have heard him right, mates didn’t exist anymore. No one had found one in over five years.

Hey asshole, if I say mate, I mean MATE. He interrupted my thoughts in a pissed off tone.

Ok, Jesus, I hear you. I told him.

Wouldn’t I smell her though? I asked him as the sweetest lilac I’d ever scented drifted toward me.

It nearly knocked me to my knees. Told you! She’s here. Our mate is in that group of females. He was pacing in my head, howling.

Fuck. How were we going to get her out of this? In an instant I knew I had to play the game. I had to play to win. No one was capturing what was mine.