A Time for Change (12 page)

Baron shifted back, keyed in the vault’s security code and walked into the vault when the door swung open. He walked straight to the shelves and looked around until he found the year and day the petition was filed. When he found it, he looked for the stack of papers found under P and grabbed them before walking out of the vault and locking it back up.

When Baron brought the petition closer to his face, he got a whiff of the scent.
It smells just like the letters Chelsea and Ace received from the human side,
Baron thought. He knew this was important since the letters sent back from the human side were tampered with.

Whoever tampered with the kid’s letters must have tampered with the petition. I need to get my hands on all the kids’ letters so I can make sure the same magical being tampered with them all, without the kids finding out,
Baron thought. Jake spoke pulling Baron from his thoughts.

“I found where they broke in and called Gabe’s family to come fix it. They are already outside starting on the window. I also called my mother, she has a potion in her mailbox for your shoulder,” Jake said when Baron approached him.

Baron locked up the building and thanked Gabe and Chelsea’s family for coming out to fix it. They climbed into Baron’s car and drove straight to Aishe’s house where there was a potion waiting for him. After letting Jake apply the potion, they went straight to the Alpha’s house and hid the letter in a safe until everyone got there.

Chapter Seven

Two days later, Chelsea, Ace, and James walked into the Battle Arena with their friends directly behind them. They headed straight for the seats where everyone who was battling sat before their fight.

James, Chelsea, and Ace were waiting for the battle to begin when a shifter sitting behind them kicked James’s chair and yelled out, “We don’t allow hybrid shifters in our battle. I am going to tear you apart on the field like they did your parents.”

James tapped into his lion shifter side and turned around so quickly that no one knew he had until he reacted. James reached over, grabbed the shifter by his shirt, and lifted him in the air as he growled at him.

Baron had heard and seen what had happen and made his way over to James before he killed the shifter. Baron placed his hands on James’s shoulder and used some of his Alpha power to calm him down.

“I heard what he said, James, and I will make sure he is your first opponent. You can take all your anger out on him during the battle,” Baron said into James’s ear.

Baron waited there until James turned around and sat in his seat before walking back to his seat.

James sat in his seat, twisting his hands around each other, something he did when he was pissed, until the announcer announced it was time to start the battle.

“I would like to welcome everyone to the first Beta Battle. Here is what will be on today’s agenda. The first battle will be between two male shifters, once their fight is over, the other two male shifters will battle, the female shifters will battle last, and then the mates will battle. After the battle, the winner of the battle will go sit in the green box while the losers will move to the red box. The first round of the battle will be fought in our human form, but as soon as you hear the bell ding again, you are to shift immediately into wolf form to fight in the next round. At the end of the day, the only couple who wins all of the battles of the day will have tonight off while everyone in the red box will have to fight tonight for the right to battle again. Now to start the first battle of the day is with James, mated to Ace, son of Beta Cornelius, Grace, and Leslie; and Chelsea, daughter to Gabe, Faith, and Serentiy. James is also the only wolf/lion shifter battling tonight. He is the son of the late Katarina and Zuri. Let’s all have a moment of silence for them and how their lives were terribly ended. Per the council decision, either James can fight in his wolf or lion form during the battle. James and Hector come up and let the battle begin.”

Once they were in the center of the arena, the announcer moved to the winner’s box to make his announcements, and the referees took their place. The referees were there to break up the rounds before one of the battlers killed the other one and in this case, they were going to really be needed. James was so pissed he couldn’t see straight and had eyes for only Hector.

Immediately following the referee’s countdown, the bell rang, signaling the first round. James felt his anger rush to the surface. He took a deep breath, stepped back, and waited for the right moment. James didn’t want to let his anger take over in the battle, since acting out in anger could cause him to make a mistake and loose the battle, something he couldn’t afford to do.

Hector was tired of waiting for James to move first and charged at him with a determine frenzy. James blocked and moved out of the way of everything Hector tried to hit him with, causing some of Hector’s strength to leave him before the next round. As Hector would throw a punch at him, James would step slightly to the left to avoid his punches, along with everything else Hector threw at him. James waited until the right time and threw a couple of combo punches, which all landed squarely on Hector’s jaw just as the bell rang again for the second time.

Hector hadn’t fully recovered yet from being punched in the jaw so many times when the bell rang, but it didn’t stop him from shifting immediately—he just knew this round would be his. He wasn’t going to let a lion shifter beat him. James immediately shifted into a huge lion, Hector was not expecting James to be this huge in lion form.

James knew he had to save his strength for the next couple of battles, so he was going to fight smarter instead of harder since he would have to fight many shifters today. James was not going to lose this battle, he had to win for his parents, sister, mate, and friends. The school depended on them winning these battles and he wasn’t going to let them down. James kept his eye on his opponent, who wasn’t that far in front of him, watching him.

Hector growled loudly before charging at James. Ace and Chelsea were both on the edge of the seats as they watched. Chelsea was biting her nails as she watched Hector charge at James. Her leg began to bounce up and down when she noticed James not moving out of Hector’s way. It looked like James was going to let Hector rip him apart limb by limb with his sharp teeth or claws. She blew out the breath she didn’t know she was holding when she saw James move out of Hectors way, but not before knocking Hector to the ground with a forceful slap of his paw.

Hector was pissed! Most of the wolf shifters of the Isle saw him get knocked down by James. Hector growled as he stood and charged at James with a burst of energy.

Right before Hector could jump on James, James rolled out of the way, and Hector landed on the ground with a thump. Hector moaned and growled as his body began to ache from the pain. As James moved out of Hector’s way, again he could feel his energy depleting some.

James wanted to end the fight before he got too tired so he charged at Hector. He jumped into the air and landed on Hector as hard as he could and applied more pressure as Hector began to thrash about. When the bell rang signaling the end of the fight, James hopped off Hector and let him up, even though he wanted to kill him for what he said about his parent’s death. The referee directed Hector to the red box while directing James to the green box where the winners sat.

Everyone still had their eyes on James, mesmerized by his cat shifter eyes and wolf muzzle that they didn’t hear the bell ring signaling Ace and Hector’s mate, Javier’s battle to begin.

Ace yawned and folded his arms across his chest as he ducked and dodged his opponent, frustrating his contender in the process. A couple of shifters in the stands laughed as Ace yawned again. Javier charged at Ace and threw a punch at him. Instead of moving out of the way, Ace caught his opponent’s fist in his hand and flipped his opponent onto his back while gripping his fist.

Javier grew angry. He didn’t like how Ace was making a joke out of their battle. Javier jumped up off the ground, panting, as his anger took over him. He was going to make Ace pay for what he did. He swung with all his might, but what he didn’t count on was Ace moving out of the way. Javier swung around in a circle and fell to the ground after Ace moved out of the way of the punch. Ace waited until his opponent stood back up before he showed him how to connect a forceful punch. The bell rang signaling the end of round one and the beginning of round two.

They shifted within seconds of each other. Ace immediately began to play with Javier again. He would pretend as if he was going to strike him but would stop just inches from his face.

“Finish him now, Ace! Stop Playing!” James yelled from the winner’s box. Ace raised his paw and struck his challenger with enough force to knock him to the ground. His opponent howled when he felt the punch and his body hit the ground with a thud. Ace waited until his opponent got back up before going in for the kill. He didn’t want to chance someone claiming it wasn’t a fair battle. The other shifter was embarrassed since Ace knocked him down in front of the entire shifter pack.

Javier jumped into the air with his claws extended trying to land on Ace, counting on the force of the impact to give him an advantage. Ace stood there as Javier fell from the air and waited for him to reach him before knocking him over with his paw, causing Javier to growl.

Crouched in his wolf form by the loser’s box, Ace became angry when he heard Hector talking disparagingly about James and his family, low enough where only Ace could hear it. Ace took his paw and slapped Javier with so much power he knocked the wind out of him. The announcer called the fight after Javier struggled to get off the ground after five minutes. Ace headed to his place in the winner’s box sitting right next to James as they waited for Chelsea.

As Chelsea walked to the center of the arena, Javier and Hector’s mate whispered to her, “You are going to wish you never stepped into the arena with me, and your mates never embarrassed mine.”

Chelsea just laughed and continued to make her way to the arena, not paying attention to Aixa. She could feel James and Ace watching her as she made her way to the center of the arena. When she let her eyes roam over there to where they were sitting, they both smiled and nodded their heads at her.

Chelsea kept her eyes trained on Aixa, watching her every move. Aixa wasn’t about to wait for Chelsea to move or lose as her mates did. Aixa growled and began circling around Chelsea as if she was a predator and Chelsea was prey. Chelsea already knew Aixa was more bark than bite and was waiting on Aixa to make the first move.

Aixa stood behind Chelsea and tried to trip her from behind.

Chelsea could sense Aixa behind her so she flipped into the air and grabbed Aixa by the shoulder for leverage while she was upside down above her in the air. Before she landed fully, Chelsea lifted Aixa up by her shoulders. Chelsea waited until she had Aixa over her head before she put any force behind the throw. When Aixa’s body had cleared Chelsea’s head, she threw Aixa with only some of her strength.

Aixa’s mates growled and stood when their mate’s body landed on the ground with a loud thud. Everyone in the crowd covered their mouths with their hands, they couldn’t believe what they just saw.

Chelsea knew Aixa was playing it up for the crowd since she knew for sure she didn’t put that much force behind the throw.

Aixa used the wall as leverage for her to stand. The crowd knew she was faking it by the time she made it back in front of Chelsea since she was switching the leg she limped on every couple of steps. Aixa waited until she thought Chelsea was looking the other way before she tried to triple kick jump Chelsea in the face. Chelsea caught Aixa’s leg right before it caught her in the face and threw her leg in the air causing her to fall on her back. While on the ground, Aixa swept her feet under Chelsea knocking her off her balance. Chelsea thought quickly and she did a back flip before she could fall. The bell dinged just as Chelsea’s feet hit the ground.

At the first sound of the bell, Chelsea shifted quickly followed by Aixa. Chelsea was tired of this battle and wanted to end it quickly. Chelsea charged at Aixa without a second thought. Instead of moving out of the way or avoiding Chelsea, Aixa charged at her as well. Chelsea opened her mouth and growled when as she drew closer to Aixa and moved a step to the left without Aixa noticing. Just as Aixa was face to face with her, Chelsea lifted her right front leg and smacked Aixa with all her might, knocking her hard into the wall right next to them.

The bell rang signaling the battle was over and Chelsea was directed to the same seats as her mates.

Chelsea, Ace, and James won the rest of their individual battles and their couples’ battles until they were the last ones in the green box.

“We are having a three hour intermission between the first battle and the losers’ battle. We would like everyone to be back here at three p.m. on the dot, especially the contestants. The only contestants who do not have to come back are James, Ace, and Chelsea, they will have their final battle tomorrow,” the announcer said.

***

The next morning, Chelsea, Ace, and James went directly to the winner’s box when they walked in. The two winners of the losers’ battle yesterday will be battling first and the winner of that battle would be battling against Chelsea, James, and Ace for the Beta Title. James and his mates could see Charity, Trevor, and the rest of their friends sitting in the bleachers directly behind them when they turned around.

The announcer walked to the middle of the ring thirty minutes after they arrived. “This finale will be a little different than the Alpha Battle. There will be only two rounds in each battle and only couples will fight in this battle. There will be no individual battles today. First up will be the two couples who won the losers battle the night before,” the announcers said before walking over to the announcer’s booth.

An hour later, Aixa, Hector, and Javier had won the losers battle even though Aixa barely participated in the battle.