Chapter 12 - Dominic
“After two tests in the trials, the scoreboard is as follows…” Alpha Sirius announces as he holds a clipboard while he stands at the mic on the stage in the hall prepared for this evening's test.
“In the lead is Simon Barker with fifteen points,” Alpha Sirius continues, and an irritated grunt surfaces when I hear his son's name. I glance at the redheaded Simon, seeing red when I notice the proud grin on his face.
Because of my loss in yesterday's test, I was set back five points, placing Simon in the lead, with Santo following close behind with twelve points. I only have ten points from winning the first game, which puts me in third.
I've never been in third place for anything in my life.
Alpha Sirius continues updating us with our points and then proceeds to explain today's test.
“This will be a test of your problem-solving skills and cognitive functions, which are imperative for any leader. In front of each team is a set of ingredients you will use to prepare a meal for your pack.” Alpha Sirius gestures to the tables set up in front of us.
“This may seem like a futile task, but any leader must know what it takes to care for his people. Your luna must be aware of these very same tasks, which is why you’re working in groups of two.
On each table are three ingredients that must be utilized.
Everything else on the shelves is optional. ”
I glance over at Cecelia with a skeptical frown, but her expression is rigid as if she’s confident about the task. I don’t see how anything can go wrong until Alpha Sirius blows his whistle to signal the start of the test.
Cecelia races to the table, her eyes fixed on the ingredients with careful concentration as she lifts the packaged meat and sniffs it. She does the same with the other package, then proceeds to sniff each bag that contains the compulsory ingredients.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice low as I watch the other participants scamper around, already starting to rip at their packages to prepare their meals.
Though we’re limited to an hour, I promised Cecelia to take her more seriously and give her a chance to offer suggestions. She kicks the pedal on the trash can and tosses one package away, then turns to me and beckons me closer with a wave of her hand.
“The mushrooms are poisonous,” she whispers in my ear. “They grow near the harbor; I can smell it.”
I nod slowly as I realize that the others are using their mushrooms, noting that we have an advantage over them already.
All thanks to Cecelia.
“We also can’t prepare deer meat and rabbit meat together. I heard Agatha say that when combined, it can give a werewolf white-liver. We also shouldn’t mix honey with deer meat. It causes a running stomach.”
I blink fervently as I step back and stare at Cecelia, lifting my hands in a show of surrender. “Okay, you run the show today. You just give me instructions and handle all the decision-making.”
Cecelia nods curtly, wasting no time in handing out firm instructions to me. From ordering the spices and herbs she needs from the pantry to telling me which way she wants the meat cut, I simply do as I’m told, becoming mesmerized by her authoritative nature.
I’m also highly aware of the way her flowy, floral dress whispers over her body with every graceful movement she makes, and I’m left in awe as she works her magic at our cooking station.
When the whistle sounds again to signal the end of this round, I wipe my hands on a kitchen towel as I stare at Cecelia, who holds her chin up high, seemingly proud of our work.
Alpha Sirius, along with a handful of elders, strolls over to our table first. I gulp down my nervousness, then step up to the table as Cecelia pushes the prepared plates toward the front.
“Dominic Rivera and teammate,” he begins. “What have you prepared for us today?”
As Alpha Sirius skeptically takes a look at our plates, I glance at Cecelia and give her an encouraging nod to speak.
She clears her throat as she points to the first bowl. “We’ve prepared a deer meat stew, along with”—she points to the flat plate—“rabbit meat skewers and a honey drizzle to go along with it.”
Alpha Sirius lifts the spoon from the deer stew and sniffs some of the soup. The silence that stretches in the hall is contagious, and my eyes flicker around to the other contestants, who seem as tense as I’m feeling.
Alpha Sirius drops the spoon back into the bowl and turns blue eyes of suffocating speculation on me. “There aren’t any mushrooms in here. Why did you leave it out?”
I step forward when the spotlight of the alpha’s crystalline eyes lands on me. “They were…Poisonous,” I murmur hesitantly, to which Alpha Sirius leans in and narrows his eyes at me.
“What did you say, Dominic? Could you repeat that louder, for everyone to hear?”
“The mushrooms were poisonous, so we left them out,” I say loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear. Though my voice is level, I’m losing my mind with anxiety. But I don’t let it show, remaining calm as Alpha Sirius turns to the left side of the room, where the others wait behind their tables.
“Ah…did you hear that, everyone? Dominic and his teammate deliberately left out the mushrooms that he claims were poisonous. Did anyone else leave out this ingredient from their meals?”
Simon and Amber are the first to raise their hands when all the other teams exchange wary glances and shake their heads.
“Yes, Simon?” Alpha Sirius addresses his son.
“We made a gravy with our mushrooms!” Amber exclaims excitedly, to which Alpha Sirius chuckles.
“Well, I sure hope you didn’t taste your own meals,” Alpha Sirius bellows. Just then, another contender, Alex, and his partner, lurch over the table as they throw up, their faces turning blue.
Alpha Sirius turns to the elders, one of them sighing as he extracts a vial of clear liquid from underneath his coat. He strolls over to Alex’s table and holds the vial in his face.
“The mushrooms were, in fact, poisonous,” Alpha Sirius announces.
“Any good leader should be aware of what they’re working with, no matter the circumstances.
Whether it’s a battle on the field or a meal prep for the pack, you need to be aware of what you’re dealing with and find ways to work around it.
Since you’ve all used them in your meal preparations, you’ve all automatically failed.
There will be no points for anyone who’s used poisonous mushrooms in their meals.
” He turns to me and throws me a wink as he picks up a rabbit meat skewer.
“I bet no one else knew that the two meats couldn’t be combined.
It gives one white-liver. Congratulations, Dominic. You’re in the lead with twenty points.”
As Alpha Sirius strolls off toward the exit, I turn to Cecelia as my jaw drops. I wasn’t expecting to win today, but I was at least hoping to catch up. She just exceeded all my expectations and brought me back into the lead.
I throw my arms around her as a broad smile spreads across my face.
“You did it, Cecelia!” I exclaim proudly as I spin her around excitedly. “You were amazing!”
As I set her down and grab her shoulders to hold her at arm’s length to stare at her face appreciatively, our eyes meet, and I have the sudden urge to kiss her.
She stares at me expectantly, her honey-golden eyes twinkling with wonder that makes her appear starstruck. Her gaze pulls me in, and I'm just about to forget that we're in the company of other contenders when Santo cheers out my name.
As a chorus follows to congratulate me on my win, Cecelia and I awkwardly break apart, and I cough into a fist to clear my throat just as Santo comes running over.
“Yo, Dom!” Santo holds out a fist for me to bump. “That was awesome! None of us suspected those things were poisonous.”
“Yeah…” I shrug, throwing a nod at Cecelia. “I have my partner to thank for that.”
In return, Cecelia blushes as if her indifference suddenly fades, leading me to realize that not only is she smarter than I thought, but she's also taking the trials seriously.
Of course, she'd want me to win so I can clear her father’s name once I'm alpha, but there's a newfound determination to win now.
I shouldn't be feeling this way, and Simon comes strolling over to our table as if to remind me of this.
His snide smirk as he scoffs at Cecelia before turning to me with daggers in his eyes is a brutal reminder that Cecelia and I could never be mated, not if I want to become alpha.
She's at the bottom of the pack hierarchy, and no one will ever take me seriously as their leader.
Least of all Simon Barker, Alpha Sirius's son.
That's why he played a hand in me being partnered up with an underestimated omega who he thought would thwart my success in the trials. She's just proven everyone wrong, and Simon has noticed.
It's evident in the way he ridicules her with cold eyes, sizing her up from head to toe, igniting my fury from deep within. I have to remind myself to remain calm, even if my pulse is on fire and I want to punch him in the face.
“Well done, Dominic Rivera,” Simon jibes in a sarcastic tone as he claps his hands, raising his chin as he scowls at me. “The underdog rises once again.”
I step in front of Cecelia and stand face to face with Simon, squaring my eyes at him but clinging to my composure when I say, “Thanks, Simon. I guess you should never underestimate your opponents.”
“I don't underestimate you, Dominic. I underestimated her,” he says as he throws a nod toward Cecelia behind me. “What did you do, huh? Tame her?”
A growl forms in the center of my chest, but I gulp to keep it down. “It's like you said, the underdog rises. Why are you surprised?”
Simon scoffs as he crosses his arms over his chest. “I should warn you, though. The last two trials are the real surprises. None of us knows what will happen, so perhaps your partner will be of no use to you.”
“Why don't you let me worry about that, Simon?” I retort calmly, not wanting him to suspect that I have any trepidations or concerns about my partner's capabilities. Simon thought he'd thwart my chances, only for Cecelia to prove him wrong.
She's proven me wrong, too, and I won't let the alpha’s son dampen our high spirits. The words still echo sometimes—the cruel words I once spoke about her. But now I’m not haunted by those words, but rather, they’re the driving force for me to stand up against Simon this time, instead of remaining silent.
“Perhaps it's you who needs taming,” I sneer as I turn to Cecelia. “Come on, Cecelia. I'd like to go back to the cabin. We can celebrate this victory with all the edible food we prepared.”
Cecelia nods, and I turn to the table to start packing some of our meals to take back to the cabin, giving Simon my most charming, unfazed smile. “Please, help yourself. You look famished.”
With a bitter scoff in response to my friendly offer, Simon turns and marches back to his partner, Amber.
Alex and his partner are recovering at their table after drinking the potion the elder passed them—probably an antidote to the poisonous mushrooms—while the other participants help themselves to the meals Cecelia and I prepared.
When Cecelia is done packing what she needs, I nod gently at her to signal that we should retreat to the cabin for the evening. It appears there's still a lot of bitter animosity between the others and Cecelia, and it's the only reason I could never take her as my mate.
I mean, what would they think of me if I claimed her as my mate when I won the trials? I'm still caught between a rock and a hard place, but all I can do is focus on the trials and win, and stick to my end of the deal with Cecelia.
Once the trials are completed, she'll be free to do as she pleases. I will release her then, but it won't hurt to keep her close during the trials to satisfy my inner wolf's aching need to be around her.
I can enjoy her company for now, like the private dinner in our cabin, where she seems to warm up to me despite her reservations and indifference after what happened last night.
It's another hatchet buried in the past, and now we have the final leg of the trials to look forward to, even if the tests will come as a surprise.