Channing waited for anyone else to leave, but there was no one else who got up. After watching no one get up he continued, “everyone comes here one after the other and draws a ball from this box.”

He held a black box in his hand and I went ahead first since I was sitting at the very front, I moved my hand inside till it felt right and I pulled out a red ball that looked like it could open but didn’t. I went back to my seating area and tried to open the ball, but it just wouldn’t!

Everyone else got up one by one and picked themselves a coloured ball. Channing then proceeded, “everyone has their respective colour, there will be three teams of five people each. Selene got the red colour so she would be the handicapped of the group that I will select!”

What? Really I was handicapped! Just when I thought my luck was done playing games with me. Now whichever team I go to will surely hate me.

How do you manage to do that, Luck? Come and mess with me every chance you get. I just hoped I don’t be the dead weight on them, more than that this doesn’t come in my own way.

He blindly pulled out a white ball and holding it up said, “Selene will be the handicap of group white!” His casual tone made my eyes wander around to check who had a white coloured ball.

I wasn’t able to spot any and it got me just more nervous. There were a few old members of the pack who already hated me and all I could pray for was none of them had the white colour in their luck.

“What is a handicap?” I asked impulsively.

“Well I wanted an odd number but there was an extra member so I chose to put a handicap”, replied Channing as if that was no bother to him.

“But that is useless and unfair, you can do four groups of four members each” My mind wanted to protest till the point where he changes the rules, but Channing simply raised his eyebrows as if the way I said it all was utterly wrong.

I sighed pursing my lips, there was nothing illogical about my words but knowing Channing he wouldn’t consider it at this point. His lips pulled up in a smile, “If you come out as a winner with a handicap in your team, wouldn’t that be a better qualification for a Beta?”

Everyone somehow agreed to him. I didn’t hate him, but my silly luck. It loved to make me do hard work, not that I mind just if I had even a little bit of it like others!

Channing clapped his hands rubbing his palms and came back to his excited state, he sure was gonna enjoy the competition. The vibes already overflowed from his uncontained sparkling eyes,

“-The competition will have three stages,

1)….Teams will be formed of 5 people each in colour black and blue. The white team will have 6 members, a handicap in their team means 1 extra task to perform.

STAGE 1; will be a race of the teams, everyone keeps the ball safe as it contains the task for tomorrow. I mean it, don’t force open it today or it is a direct elimination!

The first group to win this race completing all the tasks and crossing the finishing line will advance to the next stage.

2)…STAGE 2; there will be a dual arrangement between the people of the group who won, Only 2 people will win this round.

The one who completed their task first and reached the finish line in the previous stage, from their respective colour group will fight directly in the final round, giving them an entry in the next stage irrespective of their win!

For the white colour group though, if they win, a proper dual will take place as they have an even number of people. But the rules will be reversed, the first to finish in the previous stage will go through more battles and the last to arrive will go through just one. It will be revealed when the time comes so don’t stress about it.

3)…STAGE 3; this stage will be revealed when the time comes as it is the last and final deciding stage. But one thing, I am not giving up on the old ways of vote selection. So stage three will have something to do with that”

Wow, he had planned everything pretty perfectly. Keeping the old ways alive made it in favour of everyone and no one could call in biased of the last decision.

Right when I thought he was done, Channing spoke up again,

“As for the rules!” He exclaimed.

“There are only Three rules,

– You are not allowed to gravely injure anyone else during the entire competition, That can take more than a week to heal.

– No cheating or external help allowed. And no cheap tricks.

– And finally, prove to the entire pack that you are worthy of this position as Beta!

Any breach of the rule will lead to immediate disqualification!”

Channing finally caught his excited breath and drank some water quenching his thirst, “any doubts?”

A girl with pink hair raised her hand, her voice extremely seductive with every word, “about rule no. 1, is it okay to inflict easily repairable damage on our opponent?”

The twinkle in her eyes was scary, I didn’t remember her name at all but now that I see her! I would never want to face an opponent like her whose eyes reeked of bloodlust! I could tell she wasn’t interested in the position, just Stage 2.

“It can be acceptable as long as it is just used for self-defence or to immobilise your opponent. And Hailey, you are specifically warned beforehand for your actions”, replied Channing with an underlying threat and it made my gut feeling all the more strong. “Anyone else has any doubts?”

Everyone shook their head in a No, I just hoped Hailey wasn’t in my team as that would mean going against a bloodthirsty opponent. I might get cornered to use my ability and that wasn’t something I wanted to do this soon.

Channing took another sip and closed the water bottle, some water slipped down his sharp jaw and soaked his already skin-tight t-shirt. It kind of made me want to watch what his buffed body looked like beneath that piece of cloth.

“Okay wolves, go home and prepare for tomorrow! We meet sharp at six in the morning right here”, Channing gave a charming smile that made my heart skip a beat. What was happening with me?

I shook my head telling myself it was nothing and I should just focus on the competition ahead.

I huffed nervously, it was nerve-wracking, yet the excitement I experienced was unable to be described in words. If I got this position then half of my job was done. After all, people seem to weigh words of people with a significant position heavily, and with the limited amount of time in my hand, there was nothing better than this.

Just the problem was I started with a handicap giving me the lower hand in my journey. Not a problem, I was used to working hard and there was no way I was letting my mischievous luck win in this.