The Half-Blood (BOOK 1 OF THE HIDDEN KINGDOMS SERIE)

The Players

"I was here first," the stranger had a harsh and indifferent expression.

"Well, I can't know for sure. Since I've been here, I've never seen you until now. Either you could be one of the perverts from the camp who was following me, saw me undress, and entered the water. Seizing the opportunity". His expression became even colder and more laborious. His eyes went over my face and down into my body. The dark color of the water at night prevented my breasts from being seen. So I didn't think it was necessary to cover my breasts with my arms.

"Do you enjoy what you're seeing?" I asked him with a boldness I hardly recognized in myself. The proximity of this beast was overwhelming, and I should feel intimidated instead of trying to intimidate him.

A scornful smile grew on his face. This man was no ordinary man. Dominance and power were the sensations that radiated from his body like the wild waves of a raging ocean crashing against stone barriers demanding passage.

"On the contrary, looking at you, you're not beautiful enough to tempt me. And besides, witches are not my type". With his arrogance, he climbed out of the pond and disappeared.

But what the hell? How fucking dumb was I, this asshole drops that on me, and instead of answering him with something smarter, I stay silent like an idiot?

Witch? I'm not a witch. I'm a werewolf. I swear to anyone, if I ever run into him again, I'll tell him what an arrogant, asshole, and brute he is.

The sun rose, and with it came the day of the game. After we woke up, my sister and I left the tent and headed to the area where the food was. When we arrived, we found bread, meat, cheese, and some varieties of fruit, placed chaotically on several rectangular wooden tables, which looked old and damaged. The tables had room for at least twenty people. We took one of the dark brown ceramic flat plates and some wooden spoons and started to choose small pieces of meat, cheese, and bread. We tried to sit on the small logs that served as chairs, but they were all taken. In the end, we sat on the grass, away from the tables.

While we were eating the remaining pieces of wild boar meat from the day before, the Viking who had been bothering us approached us.

"What now?" I heard my sister's irritated voice.

"What's the matter, witch ?" the Viking replies with a mischievous smile.

"What do you want now? You don't have any other women to bother with your presence? The Viking laughs at her words.

"Someday you're gonna warm my bed" It seemed strange that this caveman should have this sudden change of mood towards Maeve.

"Listen carefully because you're already bothering me: Where only I would warm your bed, it would be in your dreams and be careful that I don't enter them and make you experience the pain of waking up as a eunuch. You're just a costumed, abusive, rude idiot. I may be a witch, but at least I'm not as repulsive as you."

She ended by saying with a look so cold that it was intimidating. Is this my sister? I've never seen her say such harsh words to anyone. For the first time, the Viking was speechless. His look was no longer that of a fool, but now it was that of someone who was feeling sorry. He stood there for a few more seconds, staring at Maeve, and then he was gone.

Neither of us said anything, just finished eating and headed to an area where Hado would gather the competitors to explain the rules of the game.

The four of us were sitting at one of the tables where the food was being served, a bit away from the crowd that was waiting for the announcement about the game.

From here, sitting on a log, I appreciated the costumes and styles that men and women wore. Many of the women had extravagant hairstyles made of braids. They looked like warriors ready for the attack. Others wore garments that highlighted their feminine attributes.

The men, on the other hand, many were dressed in white wool tunics, and kind of leather vest and brown leather pants. Almost all of them had part of their head shaved.

I was inadvertently trying to find that bastard from last night. As much as I told myself that it wasn't worth thinking about what that prick said to me, I couldn't stop thinking about the words I had prepared for him if I re-encountered him.

My father pointed us to a man who was walking in the direction of the crowd.

"That's Hado," he said.

Hado was a handsome man, from here I could see that there were a couple of stiff muscles and a full-back under all those ridiculous medieval clothes. He was a tall man. Already in the area, Hado climbed on a keg of beer to make himself noticed.

"Good morning everyone," he began by saying.

"As you know, today is Hunting Day. Many of you already know how it works. The men must chase and hunt women. The game will last approximately four hours and will begin before the sunsets. The wolf that returns alone before four hours or at the end of the hunting time will win the game. When you hear the horn, it will be the signal for the women to start running. They'll be left with a five-minute head start. When those five minutes are up, you will hear the horn again, that's the signal for the male wolves to start hunting."

"Please, What a horrible game. These people are Neanderthals and these women, how could they be part of such a thing? It's denigrating." My wolf came out.

"I know, right?" I replied

"Werewolves must remember that we no longer live in the old traditions. You will only spend one night with the woman you catch. Any use of violence against women will be punishable by immediate death. As for you women, if you enter the competition, refrain from the consequences. Remember, you gave your consent when you signed your name."

Wow, I feel better already. I thought ironically when I heard that we didn't live in the Old Traditions.

"Now, I'm going to mention the names of the women who will participate."

Hado started calling them all, while I was pouring myself some mead, which didn't taste so bad after all.

"Noira of the Infernal Pack... Tara of the Crimson Pack... Maeve Dawler......and Nala Dawler of the Crossbreed Land. Since everything has been explained, please prepare yourself and head to the forest entrance and shift," Hado ended up saying as he got off the barrel.

The four of us were shocked to hear our names.

No, no, no, this can't be happening.

There has to be a mistake. I got up without thinking twice and went to see Hado.

"Excuse me, but there's been a mistake," I said.

"What do you mean?" Hado replied

"We didn't sign our names. "

When Hado noticed my father's presence, he said, "All right, come with me, let's go see the document you signed. If the signature is not yours, you won't have to go."

We nodded and followed him to his tent. When Hado took the two documents and gave them to us, he asked, "Is this your signature?

I didn't know what to say, it was... it was my signature, and judging by my sister's face, it was her signature too.

"Yes, but I didn't sign it."

How could our signatures be on these documents?

"Look, Miss Dawler, your signatures are here. Unfortunately, I can't do anything for you."

"Beta Hado" my father began by saying. "It is impossible that my daughters have given their consent to this. Please can you disqualify them.?

"I'm sorry, Darious. It's the rules. "

Okay, so if these were the rules, we'd run away from here before the game starts. As if Hado had guessed my thoughts, he said, "Don't think about running away, we have our men guarding the perimeter.

"Hado, please, they're my daughters," my mother pleads.

Hado looks at us compassionately and sighs.

"I really can't do anything, Elenor. Look, all I can tell you is that you have a witch daughter and the other one is a wolf. Let the girls use their tricks to escape. If you know what I mean."

Of course, we knew, to save ourselves from this, we had to use Maeve's powers.