Chapter 228 Lucifer And Bunbun

With Aria taking first place and Charlotte securing second, only third remained up for grabs. Every human still in the race desperately wanted that final point for their House.

Their Chibuns, however, couldn’t have cared less.

Karen’s was practically a lost cause. The creature hopped everywhere except toward the finish line, wandering from one side of the course to the other. Sadly for Karen, the rules prevented her from crossing the starting boundary or touching it, leaving her with no choice but to call and gesture furiously from where she stood.

“Go that way!” Karen snapped, pointing toward the finish. “That way!”

The Chibun stopped, and for one hopeful second, Karen thought it had finally understood her. Then it turned around and started hopping in the opposite direction.

Karen looked ready to commit murder.

If any Chibun currently stood a chance of claiming third, it was Trisha’s. She had named the sandy-brown female Bunbun, and although Bunbun wasn’t tearing down the course the way Karios had, at least she was making steady progress toward the finish.

There was only one problem. Lucifer was harassing her.

“Goddammit, Lucifer! What the fuck are you doing?” Brittney shouted, gesturing wildly toward the finish line.

Lucifer ignored her completely. He had lost all interest in racing and was far more fascinated by Bunbun, following closely behind her and repeatedly sniffing at her. Bunbun tried to move away, but Lucifer followed.

Then he attempted to climb onto her and

Brittney’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“LUCIFER!”

Several heads turned at the scream.

“GET THE FUCK OFF HER, YOU RABBIT WHORE!”

The outburst earned another wave of laughter from the crowd, but Brittney was beyond caring at that point. Where the hell had that Chibun picked up such behavior?

“Bunbun, don’t let him distract you!” Trisha called, desperately trying to coax her Chibun forward. “Keep moving, baby girl. Don’t let a male ruin your chances this early in life.”

Unfortunately, the advice fell on deaf ears because Bunbun had other ideas. The sandy-brown Chibun stopped and turned around.

“Oh, no.” Trisha covered her face with one hand. Even among animals, females were willing to throw away a promising future for a male.

Lucifer sniffed at Bunbun again. Then Bunbun struck him squarely in the face with one of her hind legs. Lucifer stumbled sideways, visibly stunned by the rejection, while Bunbun bounded several feet away from him.

“Yes!” Trisha pumped her fist into the air. “That’s my girl! Mummy is so proud of you, Bunbun. Serves him right!”

“Excuse you.” Brittney pointed indignantly at Bunbun. “Your daughter just assaulted my son.”

“Your son tried to mount my daughter in the middle of a race.”

“He’s young! It’s normal for him to explore!” Brittney cleared her throat, realizing how ridiculous she sounded even to herself.

“Brittney.”

“What?”

Another cheer suddenly rose from the Ophidian side, and both women whipped around.

While they had been arguing over the questionable upbringing of their Chibuns, Fatima’s cream-colored one had quietly made its way down the course. It crossed the finish line without any of the drama surrounding the others and immediately lowered its head to the treats waiting beyond it.

For a second, Trisha stared. Then her mouth fell open. “No, Bunbun!” she wailed. “We were so close!”

The Ophidian section celebrated their single point as though it were three. It wasn’t much, but with two rounds remaining, the competition was far from decided.

Unfortunately, their excitement didn’t sit well with Karen. That praise should have been hers!

She marched straight toward Venus, pointing furiously at her chestnut Chibun, which had wandered even farther from the finish.

“There’s something wrong with my Chibun. This game is rigged.”

Already well acquainted with Karen’s temperament, Venus kept his response formal. “If the competition were rigged, I imagine you’d hardly be the only one complaining. You’ll receive a different Chibun in the second round, so keep your composure.”

Unfortunately for Karen, Venus had spoken loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear.

And, as expected, Charlotte couldn’t resist.

“Only when things don’t go her way does she suddenly decide the game is rigged.”

“Shut up, Charlotte!”

“And if I don’t?” Charlotte raised a brow. “What are you going to do? Daddy isn’t here to save you.”

Humiliation burned through Karen, and she opened her mouth to retaliate, but Caelis’s voice carried across the court before she could.

“The first round is officially over. Therion takes three points.”

The Therion section broke into cheers so loud one would have thought the fate of Bestiaris itself depended upon the outcome.

Maverick glanced down at Aria, unmistakable pride in his eyes.

“Aetheris takes two. Ophidian, one.”

Despite coming last, Ophidian answered with the loudest roar, while Aetheris received their two points with considerably less enthusiasm.

Charlotte’s smile faded. An uncomfortable pressure settled over her. Second place wasn’t enough. She needed to do better in the next round.

“The second round begins immediately,” Caelis announced before turning the proceedings back over to Venus.

Handlers moved onto the course to collect the Chibuns. Some went willingly. Others required considerably more persuasion.

Lucifer was among the latter.

He darted around the first handler who reached for him and made another determined attempt to follow Bunbun.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Brittney groaned. “Somebody get my horny son.”

Aria burst into laughter while Trisha covered her face. Across the court, the corner of Venus’s mouth lifted. Like mother, like son.

From the corner of her eye, Aria noticed a handler approaching Karios.

The mottled grey-and-white Chibun had finished eating and now sat beside the empty dish, calmly running one paw over his face, blissfully unaware of the honor he’d just won for Therion.

As the handler bent down and scooped him up, an unexpected tenderness tugged at Aria’s chest.

She waved. “Bye, Karios. I’ll come back to claim you. That’s a promise.”

Karios’s ears lifted.

The handler turned away, but the Chibun twisted in his arms, stretching his neck around the man’s elbow. His dark eyes searched through the crowd until they found Aria.

Maverick noticed. “He really likes you.”

Aria smiled. There was nothing particularly strange about that. She had handled enough animals at the shelter to know that sometimes they simply took to certain people faster than others.

Several feet away, however, Caelis had noticed too. He said nothing. One round proved very little. That was why there were three.

“Switch them,” he ordered.

The handlers obeyed, redistributing the Chibuns among the nine competitors as another wave of excitement swept through the crowd.

Aria gave Maverick one last chaste kiss on the cheek before stepping away.

“Three points down,” she said. “Six more to go.”

Maverick smiled. “Go win, my Luna.”

Aria beamed before returning to the starting area. A chestnut Chibun was immediately placed into her arms.

Karen’s Chibun.

The same troublesome little creature that had spent most of the previous round hopping everywhere except toward the finish.

Yet Aria looked down at him and smiled. “Welcome to the winning side, little one.”

Across from her, Karen received Karios and her irritation disappeared almost instantly.

She stared down at the mottled Chibun in her arms, and a slow, satisfied smile spread across her face.

Now she had the winner.