The Moon Goddess' Chosen

491 Spitting Image Of The Luna

The match had only just begun and the Sirius team had scored one basket, earning them 2 points in the race to make eleven. They weren’t far ahead but with an opening that flashy, the crowd had tipped in their favour and any more points they were to score would considerably boost their momentum and damage the Lycaon team’s morale.

What was worse was that Lina hadn’t revealed the height of her abilities in the game yet… which kept Cole on edge, ‘When did she even learn to play basketball?’

The question, considering how she was Katie’s sister, felt rhetorical in some way. If Lina was going to be the spitting image of the Lost Luna, then basketball simply came as part of the package.

Jason passed the ball back into play from behind their hoop.

At the moment that the ball left Jason’s hands, the two werewolves felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere, as though they’d already lost the ball when it was right in front of them.

Cole rushed forward and grabbed the ball tightly, making sure to hold it in place as though it would vanish. When he was confident of his grip on the ball, the pressing aura vanished. Everything seemed to be just fine.

‘Did I just imagine it?’ Cole asked his beta alpha through the mind link.

‘No, I felt it too. The opening that was about to be exploited,’ Jason sounded uncertain.

This didn’t make much sense and yet the fear was clearly there.

.....

Lina and her team were already on the other side of the court, preparing their defence against them.

“Be on your toes. They’ve got another trick up their sleeve,” Cole called out, alerting Bella to get serious.

Cole’s team distributed themselves well, trying to steer clear of their marks. Each time the ball left Cole’s hand—even when it was simply bouncing off the ground and back into his hand—, the same tense fear gripped him again.

It felt like the moment the ball left his hand, he’d given it willingly to the enemy.

It wasn’t until he locked eyes with Lina that he realised just where this pressure was coming from. The princess wasn’t moving about the court like the others since she was his mark and therefore meant to stop him.

There was a dangerous air to her stillness…

“Someone’s been training,” Cole said, before crouching low and increasing the speed of his dribbles.

Lina’s eyes followed the ball intensely but she never once made a move to swat the ball from him. Her lack of movement unnerved him. He wanted her to fall for a feint or at least make a move… but she wouldn’t.

Cursing, he looked to the side for one of his teammates.

Like a steel vice in his heart, his fear gripped him once again. This time, his fears came to fruition… for in the next moment, Lina had vanished right in front of him.

He’d only taken his eyes off her for a second… and that was enough for the princess to completely vanish. The ball he bounced never made it back to his hand.

When he did turn around to give chase, he was met with the sound of the buzzer and the scoreboard switching to 0:4 in favour of the Sirius team.

He turned to his teammates and noticed something unexpected. They’d been completely shut out from following Lina, almost as if they had anticipated an opening like this.

The two werewolves were on the wrong side of the semi-circle the defence was supposed to occupy, keeping Jason and Bella from making a recovery.

It wasn’t just Bree, Lina or Crysta as individuals—well, they each had their strengths and weaknesses for sure— but the whole team was made of extremely talented werewolves that seemed to be in perfect sync.

‘They are not alphas though… Why?’ Cole found himself asking this question as he jogged back to their side of the court.

Jason gripped the ball with his hands and unconsciously twirled it on his fingers, “Are you okay, Cole?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why would you ask that?” Cole barked.

“I’m not pointing fingers. Believe me… It’s just that, I couldn’t follow her. Even though I watched everything,” Jason mentioned, “Pass to me… and pay close attention. I get the feeling we can’t beat Lina one-on-one.”

Cole decided to lean on Jason’s rationality to form a solid plan. The blonde rushed forward after giving Cole the ball, switching sides with Bella to throw their marks off while they searched for an opening in the opponent team’s defence.

Jason was a powerful beta alpha who almost never lost his cool… almost.

But that didn’t make him invincible and that limit was soon approaching…

Or perhaps he’d already hit that limit.

Cole wished he could soothe the beta alpha’s aching heart and fan the flames of his spirit back to the way they used to be… but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Jason was always the jolly type that strove to put a smile on everyone’s face in any way that he could. At first sight, he was simply someone that liked cracking jokes…

But if that was the case, then Jason would break this routine but he never did… even when Cole knew he had no reason to smile.

The king had never seen him crumble even once. It didn’t matter how bad his situation got.

He was also the only person—other than Cole— that wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Kyle, which was a powerful achievement all on its own.

Cole snapped out of his thoughts as he saw an opening for Jason. He thrust his hands out towards Bella, only to bring the ball back and throw it to Jason.

Even without Lina showing many reactions to his dribbling, there was a slight likelihood that she wouldn’t be able to avoid the temptation of intercepting his passes with her insane speed.

A smirk formed on Cole’s face when he noticed the princess shift her weight towards Bella, only to brake as the ball was thrown in the opposite direction.

The king would have been happy with this development but the lack of surprise or shock on Lina’s face only made him realise something…

They weren’t out of the woods yet.

In three swift dribbles, Jason had gotten around Crysta. His breath was erratic, indicating just how much he’d strained to pull off something like that. Crysta, also turned, seemingly unfazed by the sudden burst of speed.

Everything seemed to slow down for Cole, allowing him to feel the sheer intensity of the game and his heart pounding loudly in his ear. Jason didn’t take three steps away from Crysta before a pair of blue eyes appeared before him.

The alpha had to grit his teeth to keep himself from crumbling under the intense pressure rolling off Lina’s form. That, along with the small amount of foresight that his experience with the game had earned him.

Before Lina could steadily mark him, he let the ball fly, bouncing right by her foot and straight into Cole’s waiting arms.

Lina turned almost instantly and nearly staggered back at the sight of Cole soaring through the air, airborne and a metre above the ground. His target… the hoop, was unguarded.

Lina’s team could only watch as Cole jammed the ball into the hoop. The buzzer rang out, announcing the Lycaon team’s first score.

The crowd that surrounded them erupted in applause from the brief seconds that had just been witnessed. This little friendly game had turned in a demonstration of power in a matter of seconds.

“Kyle, get in here,” Cole yelled as the Lycaon team jogged back to their seats, “Bella, sit this one out for me.”

Bella clenched her fists in frustration but marched off without a word.

......….

“They are good!” Kyle stood up from his seat after watching the short few seconds that the game had gone for. He could already feel his body get flooded with the adrenaline of a challenge.

“Do you think you stand a chance?” a feminine voice asked from his right.

Honour was standing with Madeline on the sidelines. For Madeline’s comfort, Honour was standing between the two of them, working as a shield to keep their situation from getting weird.

Unfortunately, her presence made it even harder for the two of them to talk which felt like a miscalculation on her part. Honour had assumed Kyle would speak up even though she was around but to her surprise, the man remained silent.

It was already clear that he had stepped off the court just to talk to Madeline.

“Of course, we stand a chance. If anything, this just got a lot more interesting. Close wins are the most exciting ones. A win where your opponent fights with all they have. It’s always fun to go all-out on against a strong opponent,” Kyle mused enthusiastically as he walked up to the centre line.

He shook hands with Bella and stepped onto the court, getting into her position.

‘Kyle knows how to make this complicated…’ Honour sighed. To her side, Madeline was fidgeting with her thumbs, keeping silent for the longest time Honour had ever known her to be.

Her eyes stayed pinned on the beta alpha of interest… and her thoughts remained a curious mess.

.........….

It was barely a minute since the start of the game and the pressure was already this intense. Despite Cole’s play, Lina smirked mischievously, “What are you happy about, Lina?” Crysta chuckled.

“We can win, Crysta. It’s a nice feeling,” Lina shrugged.

Bree got the ball and stood behind the hoop, “You think I could score one?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. Do you want the next one?” Lina asked.

“You’re not seriously making such a decision now. It will make the game infinitely harder,” Crysta whined.

“Think about it, Crysta. They’ve brought Kyle back in. That means they are scared. And if we can decide who gets to score and make it happen, then they’ll realise just how much of a handicap they are in,” Lina explained with a mischievous smirk on her face.

Noticing the awkward pause by their immobility, they switched to speaking through the mind link as they started the game. Bree passed the ball to Lina and the two girls ran ahead to face off against the Lycaon defence while Lina jogged calmly.

“Lina, I know what you’re saying… but they brought Kyle in. From the little we watched earlier, he’s good. I would say he’s more dangerous than Jason in this situation. That sneaky giant probably tapped out to get a chance to talk to Madeline,” Crysta replied through the mind link.

“You might be right. In that case, Kyle’s your mark the next time we’re on defence,” Lina announced through the mind link.

For now, Lina noticed Kyle marking Bree and Jason still stuck to Crysta.

“Will you be okay, Bree?”

“Yes, I will,” the amber-eyed wolf replied with a rush of determination that didn’t reflect her situation on the court.

Kyle was much larger than her and given his astonishing speed and reflexes, he had the capability to mark her tightly with no gaps for her to receive the ball.

Crysta, on the other hand, seemed to be an equivalent match for Jason… which still came as a surprise that Lina humbly dismissed from her mind.

As expected, the blonde beta alpha seemed to be expending a minimum amount of energy against Crysta. His eyes depicted thought… fast thought as they darted about the court, seemingly in calculation.

“It’s all futile,” Lina chuckled out loud, dropping low and dashing straight for Cole.

At that moment, Cole’s body betrayed him… freezing with a massive wave of nostalgia. There were many things that could have put him in this state. The explosive burst of speed that nearly blurred the princess out of reality stunned the prince… but that wasn’t all.

The sheer inability to stop Lina’s drive…

Everything about her form was perfect and frighteningly precise, leaving no openings. The speed she’d used was nearly unimaginable… and in every way, nostalgic.

.....

For werewolf kind, this was borderline impossible. The princess of Sirius was incredible.

But to Cole, in the moment that she’d started her drive. Her sapphire orbs had glowed with intense sparkle and determination that he’d gotten accustomed to a long time ago… and the look of bliss as she went against strong opponents.

Coupled with the striking resemblance to the Lost Luna, Lina Sirius had completely assumed the character of his mate, stunning him all at once.

For a brief moment, Cole could have been playing with Katie…

If it hadn’t been for the odd shuffling sound of sudden movement to his right, Cole would’ve stayed like this… Lina wasn’t going for the basket as he’d initially thought.

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