Once in a Dragon Moon - Ophelia Bell Page 0,5

paused before reaching the door and looked back. She cocked her head and nodded. “Perhaps. I’m sure Gerri Wilder has received stranger requests than that. I’ll find her contact info for you so you can call her when you’re feeling better. But I must insist on you resting for now. You’ll need to fully recover if you want to impress a new trainer.”

2

Jacob

“Man, my ass is numb from sitting on these damn bleachers. If we haven’t found the miracle trainee by now, they probably don’t exist. I vote we cut our losses and head home.” Teague grumbled and stood. He rubbed his ass with both hands, then stretched his arms over his head until his spine cracked. “Ah, that’s the ticket.”

Jacob peered up at his ebony-haired, bearded partner and shook his head. “We’re not done yet. There are half a dozen tryout entries to go. I’m watching every last one.”

On Teague’s other side, Gunther snorted and leaned back on the bleacher step behind them, his sharp gaze focused on the referees conferring in the middle of the sandy ring below.

The sun had set and the artificial lights cast long shadows through the half-ruined pillars that served as obstacles for the contestants. The stands around the practice arena were scattered with other trainers, though their numbers had thinned as the day wore on. Jacob and his partners had arrived late though, thanks to him having to fulfill a diplomatic obligation for his father and meet with an envoy from Nova Solara about opening up trade with the clans on the other planet. Hopefully if they landed a trainee those requests would end, but odds did not appear to be in their favor this evening.

While all the aspiring champions on the list today had been fine fighters worth a trainer’s time, not a one had stood out as the right one for Jacob and his two partners to take on. He was losing hope they’d find one today, but he wasn’t about to leave without being sure.

“You’re a damn slave-driver, you know that?” Teague said, settling back down a step above Jake with his elbows on his knees.

“You love it,” Gunther shot, smirking at them both.

“It’s different when we’re naked,” Teague said, then added under his breath, “My ass wouldn’t be numb, for one thing.”

Jacob rolled his eyes, but couldn’t suppress a smile. They were his best friends and frequent fuck buddies, but today was about their careers, not their sex lives.

Every trainer with a successful, long-term career started with that singular star champion or team. But ever since their falling out with the Silver Fangs duo, they’d been floundering for someone new. Preferably someone who actually knew how to follow the rules. Every time Jacob had watched Silver Fangs compete and gradually advance up last season’s bracket, it made him angry, but he couldn’t report infractions he couldn’t prove.

At least they weren’t doping. Thanks to Astra Garrick, the League had finally eradicated the drug that had caused all those deaths in prior years, and they were cracking down on illicit substance use among the champions. Exploiting latent skills was all a would-be cheater had to fall back on, but every team was required to report whether they had an ability that might present an unfair advantage. If they had one, they were forbidden from using it, and if it was so innate they couldn’t control it, they were disqualified from competing at all.

Silver Fangs were a pair of twin wolf shifters from a pack rumored to predict the future. They denied having the skill, insisted it was an old wives’ tale, but Jacob and his partners had seen them in action and were convinced otherwise.

The fallout from their confrontation hadn’t been pretty, and had ultimately resulted in the duo seeking out a new trainer. So now Jacob and his two partners were back at square one, on the hunt for a new aspiring champion whose skills they could hone.

One by one, each subsequent candidate stepped into the small arena below them. A bored announcer would list their name, their animal, and their origin before one of a handful of retired champions would take turns stepping in to spar, using a rote set of tactics designed to test the applicants’ strength, speed, agility, endurance, and stealth.

So far none of the candidates were quite up to Jacob’s standards, though there was nothing particularly wrong with any of them. He still scrawled a few question marks next to the names of a handful possibilities,