The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
(Bk 2) Chapter 41

"Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony!" A woman in front announced, the same woman to welcome us to the Games when we first arrived. She is clapping her hands and urging all of us to do so as well.

While everyone else cheered, I stayed quiet.

The unease that I felt consumed my whole body because now it was real.

It was happening.

This was it.

The time has come.

"Today is a very important day for all of us because every single one of you are the future of our race. And your choice today will mark the start of your new lives." She says, her voice soft and calming, so unlike what I was feeling. "I have been in your shoes once and I can say with absolute certainty that it is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I hope that it will be the best for you all as well."

I don't know why, but I think when she says this, she's looking directly at me.

"I know it can be daunting and worrying, but we hope that if you do choose today, only if that is what you want

because that is important, we hope you will choose from your heart" She finishes, still looking at me. It was as if she was only talking 10 me

Or maybe that's just how good of a speaker she was. She made everyone listening to her feel like she's talking to you.

I sigh, eyes on my lap.

It was hard not to worry.

Especially when I've never been more confused in my life.

"When you are called, please walk down the aisle to the platform. You will be allowed a certain amount of time to hear the claims for you and if you wish to choose someone that didn't claim you, you may call them while you're in front. If you do not wish to choose this year, you may at any time do so while you are in front." The organizer explains, going over the details of the Choosing. "If everyone is ready, we shall begin with the As." The As were a very big group occupying at least two or three rows. Miss A didn't have to go up on the platform until at least half of them chose. I do not know how they assign the seats but she sat comfortably in the middle, watching the first of them go up the stage.

The first A is a man, handsome, strong. I vaguely remember my dance with him. He was polite enough but didn't seem all that interested apart from the usual pleasantries. As he is announced to us, several girls immediately jump up on their seats staking their claim on him, but he refuses them all and was happily waiting for aBook 2 Chapter 11

girl from somewhere in the front, around the Cs, to stand and shyly claim him, all while holding a little gift in her hands

He happily agrees, knowing from the start that he was choosing her and she was choosing him

It was so precious that I wanted to cry and sing prayers for them.

She walks to the platform and together they do the official mating rights, marking each other with a knife and sealing the wound. They said a few beautiful words that I couldn't really hear as I was all the way in the back. To officially end their Choosing, they say their ranks, their names for the first and last time in the Games.

It was so beautiful that my heart ached as I clapped for them.

The two are given new seats in the clearing, allowing them to sit together and watch the rest of the Games. They held each other's hand the entire time, relishing their new lives together.

The next A comes, followed by the next. All the As seem to be lucky today, as the ones that went up all had chosen someone with that someone choosing them as well.

And then suddenly, after several more As came and went, a man called an X and he was looking at me. Put on the spot, I almost had a mini heart attack, feeling a thousand or more eyes staring at me. As politely as I could, I shook my head.

I didn't know him. I barely remember our dance.

Book 2: Chapter 11

I barely even remember seeing him at all

He sighs but reluctantly accepts the girl that stands to claim him instead

The mating rights were not as enthusiastic after that.

More and more people come and go from the platform until the Miss A that I know and love walks up to the platform. I cheered for her, clapping

Pand whooping and she

shook her head at me, laughing as she stood in front of us all.

She is truly beautiful and perfect, a sight that makes everyone stop and stare.

The guys were already standing, waiting for the organizer to start, but before she could, Miss A shakes her head and says, "I will not be choosing today."

My eyes widened in surprise and the rest of the crowd of boys let out sounds of disappointment.

She didn't wait to be dismissed and walked back down to her seat. And as if nothing had happened, she went back to eating a plate of appetizers.

My heart wants to feel bad for her because I know she hasn't moved on from whoever she was trying to get over, but I also felt a little proud that she handled that so well and so casually.

She is truly the most perfect girl and I loved her even more for that.

I am proud that she is my friend at the end of the day.

The Choosing continues and the first guy that doesn't get chosen happens. The crowd of attendees were silent and unmoving with none of the girls choosing him, and when he chooses a random girl from the back, she shakes her head. He is asked to sit down and I feel sorry for him.

It was around the Cs when the first girl that no one claims comes up on the platform. She burst into tears, muttering letters and pointing at boys, but they all refused her.

I tried not to stare as she walked back to her seat, her distraught cries loud and shaking the decorations.

Like always, the Choosing went on even as she wailed

I was chosen six more times and each time I shook my head with a quiet apology.

Hours went by and we were at the Es now.

I wait for my friend to come up and she does after a full row goes up first.

Miss E struggles up the platform, carrying her heavy gown with the staff trying to help her lift it up the steps. She is truly a work of art, every part of her perfectly planned and choreographed. The flutter of her eyelashes, the pouting of her lips, the way she tilted her head to the side and smiled, everything was so beautifully orchestrated for maximum mate choosing.

She situates herself in the middle, sparkling like a diamond and smiling widely like she has just won the lottery.

But there was only silence as she waited to bechosen.

No one claims her.

And I mean no one.

Not even the men I've seen her with.

It was de a d silent.

Completely and utterly silent.

My heart squeezes, looking around the crowd, willing for anyone to stand, to call her, but no one does and I can see her disappointment.

I can see Miss A's panic as well, glancing around and hoping to see someone.

But most were not even looking at Miss E.

The organizer tries to end the silence by speaking. "Is there anyone you would like to claim?"

Miss E huffs impatiently, an ugly scowl on her face as she suddenly glances at my row. At first I thought, does she want me to choose her? To say something? Give words of recommendation? Because I can do that. I would do anything she wanted me to do if that meant helping her. But I realized that she wasn't looking at me, she was looking at someone that was sitting two seats beside me and my entire body froze up when I realized who was there.

No.

It can't be.

Book 2: Chapter 11

This wasn't real

"Mister W, please come up the platform and mark your mate." She says loudly, not even needing a microphone to say it, her voice echoing through the quiet clearing. "We had a deal that you agreed upon, remember?"

I couldn't help myself when I glanced to my left to face him, to W, who stared at me with a look of such guilt that all I could do was stare back, utterly shocked

"I'm sorry," He whispers lowly, eyes on me and not to the girl that called him.

"It's out of my control. I tried - I needed

her to be... I'm sorry. But this is for my future. This for me.

You understand, yes?"

Even as he walks away, he continues to stare at me.

And I simply watch, wordless and confused.

I could not fathom what was happening but he went up the platform and the sadness was back on his beautiful face, the dread, the misery.

It all suddenly clicked.

The rumors about him were wrong.

He didn't love any girl.

He most definitely didn't love Miss E.

He was trying to escape her.

From the very beginning.

I had read him wrong.

This was what I was warned about. How my friend... is notBook 2 Chapter 11

my friend and why my guard was so against W

He must have known.

Somehow, the organizers must have known about this

My eyes quickly found Miss A and she looked just as surprised and betrayed as I was.

"What a f*****g bitch." She suddenly says from her seat. And she did not say this quietly.

The organizer shoots her a chastising glare, but this doesn't stop Miss A

She shakes her head, glowering at Miss E. "Fake a s s. I thought you were our friend."

Miss E puts her chin up but I can tell Miss A frightens her as she doesn't say a word back. She was likely afraid of Miss A yanking her down the platform by her hair and I wouldn't put it past A to do so.

I was still too shocked to react, watching Miss E squeal like she had won a competition that no one else knew we were competing in.

Miss E looks at me as she holds W's hand, flashing me this disgustingly sweet smile, and I can't help but laugh a little.

It was all starting to make sense.

She was the one behind my room getting ruined and how my things were in the lake. It happened after W crowned me. She must have paid someone to do it for her or something like that. When 1 whirl around to face my guard, silently asking for confirmation on this, he nods, his jaw clenched tight

Well, she got what she wanted

She got W.

And she can have him.

I clap for them as they mark and bonded themselves together. Because they deserved each other. Because no one else deserved to be mated to them but them.

The look of absolute terror on W's face only confirmed the reality of their mating; he was never going to love her the way Miss E wanted to be loved

But then another new piece of information drops and I feel as though I have been slapped across the face.

"Emily, future Alpha of the River Pack."

This time, when she looks at me, she actually giggles because she knows that I know.

She was related to Mister F.

They were siblings. Frederic and her.

I just made her Alpha.

All the warnings were true.

And W... he had all the right to refuse but he wanted to become an Alpha too.

"Wylan of the Coastal pack." He says, unable to look me in the eye.

"Smile, Wylan, you're an Alpha now" Miss E- Emily muses triumphantly "You've got your dream. The position that you've always wanted."

My skin prickles with warmth and I know he is close, hovering behind me

"Do you want me to deal with them?" My guard whispered.

His breath was heavy against her neck, hot and irresistible,

"Right here? Right now?"

I didn't need to look at him to know he was serious. That if I asked this of him, he would. "No. Let them suffer together.

"If you change your mind," He steps back, the sudden cold under my skin giving his movement away. "Let me know."

It was good to hear his voice again.

After the fight, after the things we said, I'm just glad hes talking to me again.

But this doesn't change how my Choosing is officially hopeless.

More and more went up the platform, some calling for me but none of them the one I wanted to leave with.

I must have blocked out because the next one walking up the platform was 0. Girls were s cre a ming for him, chanting his letter like a prayer. With W taken, O was the last option for them.

Those eyes of his, they found me instantly and as he stood there being called by dozens upon dozens of girls, thereBoth 2 Chaple 1)

was a moment, a licker of hope that maybe, just maybe, he would choose me

He opens his mouth and 1 suck in a breath Briefly, of so briefly, he breaks eye contact to look at something from behind me and then... "I will not be choosing today" The finality of this is bittersweet. I expected tears to fall from my eyes because it hurt, but no tears fell. That was that

1 tuned out the rest of the Choosing after that, barely acknowledging the guys that called for me before looking down at my hands again. I have failed. I have failed my family. I have failed myself. I have failed everyone. "Miss X, it's your turn."

I look up at the organizer and she smiles at me encouragingly.

"Come up to the platform."

But I did not move. I want to run. I want to leave. I want to forget this entire day ever happened.

"Go," A gentle voice from behind me urges. It caused warmth to replace the dread in my veins and something about it makes me stand, makes me walk up the aisle and stand on the platform facing everyone in the Games.

I am terrified, but I know I must not show it, so I stand tall and I stand proud, pitching my chin up.

Miss A, who's sitting in front, smiles at me genuinely, giving me that extra strength to brave it.

My fetter is hollered by several dozen men, sming and waving al me, some sending kisses in the air and allemphing to get my attention over the others

I'm trying to get my head together. I'm trying to remember them but all I could see was my guard at the very back, in the cover of the shadows

I see him and I cannot see anyone else.

The answer was there

I chose him.

It should have been him all along.

And that only means that I cannot be here anymore.

"I will not be choosing-" I stop mid sentence as something in the air changes. It becomes electric. It becomes hard to breathe.

My formidable and terrifying guard left the shadows and strode towards me in all black.

He walked like he owned everything that he stepped on, everything that he passed, and when he stopped in front of me, I was at a loss.

I was at his mercy.

"I am Tedros Valentine-Ludovic of the Mountain pack. Son of Alpha Ajax Ludovic. And I will be choosing Jewel Xanthos of the City pack. Daughter of Alpha Jeremy Xanthos."