Falling in love with my Ex's Alpha Chapter 161

The arena sprawls before me, a vast ring surrounded by opulent adornments that exude regal grandeur. The sheer expanse of the ring is imposing, commanding attention and respect.

I can't wait to win this round to get closer to being the next Alpha King. I feel like this is my fate.

My eyes roam the place where old Wylder and the royal council have settled, and I have to admit that, that old man thinks of everything, every fucking detail.

The ring itself is a marvel, colossal in size, it exudes an aura of grandeur, its surface gleaming under the radiant lights that shimmer from above. The ropes enclosing the battleground are taut, emphasizing the magnitude of the impending clashes.

Lavish banners flutter gently, displaying emblems that resonate with the grandiosity of ancient kingdoms. I feel mine will be next.

The audience fills the majestic stands, their voices echoing through the grand hall. Each seat is a throne, where spectators wait in anticipation for the fervour of the battles.

Each participant brought a small team as support, I don't linger on the people of the other participants, I focus my gaze on the spectators in my pack, I'm happy to see some Omegas and some warriors around my little mate. Isabel and Chad are on her side, while Jacob and my Beta are with me.

I still haven't accepted very well her being close to him, but I know he would give his life before anything happened to my mate and my baby.

I stand amidst this grandeur, my heart pounding with excitement and apprehension. The majesty of the arena, coupled with the imminent battles, ignites a fucking fire within me, a determination to leave my mark in this majestic theatre of combat.

I know I will fucking win this. I can feel it.

***Jacob***

As soon as Mr. Wylder takes a microphone and goes to the middle of the ring, everyone around becomes silent.

I'm with my mate next to Kaiden, where the other tournament participants are. I tried not to make too much of a fuss with Ben, I just gave a short nod when I saw him.

When the round is over, I can talk to him, but now he is our opponent.

I see Chad looking in his direction, probably looking for Maia, but she didn't come. After everything that happened, I don't know, but if it were me, I wouldn't have done it differently than her.

"Good afternoon, everyone; the third round is about to begin! This penultimate round will be divided into two parts," Mr. Wylder begins to explain, and everyone listens attentively, "the first part will be as follows: the participant will choose a member of their pack who will fight alongside them against the other participant and a member of their pack," he says and tries to continue. Still, everyone starts making noises of excitement and confusion about what he just said.

I immediately look at my mate and know he's going to volunteer to fight on Kaiden's side.

My eyes go back to where Kittykatie is as Mr. Wylder continues, "Silence!" he shouts, and everyone stays quiet. "As I was saying, in the first part of the round, participants will engage in a fight with another participant and will have the help of a team member. However," he says, looking to where the participants are, eagerly waiting to fight, "you can't choose your Beta," another murmur begins and he tries to calm the audience again, but this time with his aura, which resolved it faster than his scream, "this test was designed and prepared by Royal Beta Damien," he points with his hand to an old man sitting where the royal council is, at the same time I see Duncan smiling devilishly at him and him returning the smile before turning his face to Wylder, "All participants will be drawn and you have less than 10 minutes to choose who will fight alongside you," he finishes the explanation and heads towards a table with the names that are about to be drawn.

"Fuck, Kaiden, what now?" my mate curses on our side.

"I'll go with you," I volunteer.

"You haven't done the pack change ceremony yet. It's against the rules. I need someone from my pack," Kaiden responds firmly, "I'll call Isabel–"

"No, let me fight by your side, Kaiden!" Chad speaks from my side.

"What? Hell no! You will protect Katie. There's a lot of danger around us!" he says as his gaze scans around us furiously.

"Please... Let me do this for you," Chad says firmly, looking into his eyes, and they look at each other for a while, clearly arguing over mindlink.

Their eyes go towards Katie, and then they look at each other again.

Kaiden clenches his jaw with obvious anger, and they turn to Jay, "Don't leave Katie's side," he turns to me, "stay by her side. I'm feeling a lot of eyes on her, most of them are coming from Duncan's team," Kaiden says as low as he can without attracting attention.

I know he would prefer to lock Katie up somewhere until this is all over, but it would be worse if he wasn't near her. Here, at least, we can know everything that is happening.

"Attention, the first fight will be..." he reaches into a full moon-shaped container, "Alpha Kaiden against Alpha Benjamin," he says, "come forward with your ally."

"Fuck!" Chad curses at my side, and Kaiden gives a sarcastic grin, "he'll want to fight for other reasons, I'm fucking sure."

I agree with him, I know Ben, if he already wanted to win this round before, now he will be even more excited to win, knowing there is a way for him to beat Chad simultaneously.

"Don't worry, I also have some things with him," Kaiden says with a vicious smile, but looking at his opponent, "let's go, Chad."

Then, they head towards the ring, and Jay and I go to Kittykatie.

I feel a strong aura as soon as I sit next to her, I look at the ring, and I see that it's coming from Kaiden. Somehow, after he marked his fated mate, he became stronger, more powerful, it's painful to look into his eyes while he's like that.

Kittykatie squeezes my hand tightly, and I almost feel pain; the difference between when she was human and now is huge. I feel her heart racing, "They're going to be fine," I say, and she doesn't look away from the ring while she nods. Her other hand is resting on her rounded belly, I immediately miss Vick. I've gotten used to being with her all the time, but after our trip to my pack, she can now be alone without needing Jay or me by her side all the time.

Of course, she was upset about not coming, but I would never bring her here. This is not a place for children.

"The rules are as follows," Wylder begins to explain in the middle of the four participants, I recognize Ben's Gamma on his side, he is a powerful warrior, he was taking care of Ben's pack when he came to help rescue Katie .

"You cannot leave the ring, you cannot fight in your wolf's form and, above all, the death of the other participant is prohibited–"

"Ah, but it won't be fun," Kaiden teases, looking into Ben's eyes, who returns his furious look at him.

"Whoever surrenders first loses the fight," Wylder continues with a furious look at Kaiden.

Kittykatie lets out a gasp next to me and squeezes my hand even tighter because as soon as Mr. Wylder leaves the ring and signals the start, Ben doesn't wait a second. He attacks Chad at the same time as his Gamma.