I make my way down to the training area. The large wood-panelled exercise halls almost make me like a young teen back in training. Except the pommel horses have been replaced by boxing rings and blood spattered punch dummies. Denton in particular liked to punch them until his hands bled. Some pathetic display of strength I guess.
It certainly intimidated the newer recruits.
There were twenty men including myself.Six rooms became available last night after the Showcase, seeing as they always end in an opponent's death, therefore six fresh faces sat eagerly on the front row of the benches as instructed, each holding their newly issued robe, the colour corresponding to their living quarters.
They were a mix of old, grizzled, desperate and terrified. All had probably succumbed to building up debts with Vincent’s Axelon group. Sometimes fathers built up the debts and sent their sons to pay the price. A disgusting betrayal of family, they never lasted beyond one fight.
If you are not driven by a psychopathic need to destroy something, or have an overbearing wolf like me, you don’t stand a chance in the Cage.
Vincent coldly announced the statistics for the evening's income, margins and feedback from the crowd. It was coolly removed from the blood and guts of the night before. I usually took a keen interest in the financials, something different to think about but today my mind restlessly wandered.
Annoyingly it kept wandering to the clear blue eyes peering out of snow white towels, crowned by blondest hair I had ever seen. I hadn’t actually fallen asleep when she finally emerged last night. I pretended until I heard her little footsteps creeping across to finally eat some food. I found myself worrying that the hot heat of the bathhouse would leave her faint.
I cannot even remember the last time I wondered about someone else's well-being. It is a truly unsettling feeling in a place such as this. My daydream was broken by the arrival of Kingsley on the stage. Dressed in black and with a superior smirk on his face he began, as he did every month, by trying to terrify the new recruits.
After over a year here I knew his routine by heart.
“For the new faces. You are here because your bodies no longer belong to you. They belong to me, my father and the Axelon team. If, the day before the next showcase your assigned coloured ball is drawn from the bag then you are to fight in the Cage. You will face another team member. There will be six bouts so every month twelve of you will fight. It also means next month six of the men sitting here will be dead.”
He always gave a dramatic pause here, trying to milk his moment. Denton and Xavier stood near the back of the room listening, arms folded and quietly chuntering to each other like naughty school kids. Too cool to listen to Kingsley now they had survived for over a year like me. I still keep my head down and behave though I observe from the corner of my eye.
Xavier idly picked at the scars around his eye and grumbled. “My prize was a bust last night, I had to knock her unconscious to get anywhere.”
“I threaten to take their tongue off,” Denton offered flatly, stroking his dark beard.
“But how is she going to suck me off after?” Xavier chuckled back, “anyway, she’s fucked for a few days now, should be back soon enough.”
“I tried that thing you told me,” Denton muttered, “the back of the head punch, fucking dream, tightened everything right up. Bitch died straight after though.”
“No way! Gutted you only got one go,” he joked, before they moved on to bitching about the new recruits and betting which ones would make it past one round.
Hearing their sick conversations made my stomach churn. I don’t even know her name but I cannot allow Denton to attempt to stake a claim on her. He’s done it to other, newer fighters in the past. I know my lack of participation in his macho bragging games irritates him but I am too dangerous to take on. It’s coming though.
Both of us know one day, Vincent will fix it so one our winning streaks come to an end.
The blonde hair and blue eyes that continued to drift in my imagination were acting like a defibrillator. Suddenly my idling pulse, breathing, sensation of skin felt the volume had been turned up. On automatic pilot for so long I had ignored the disgusting reality l I was living and partaking in. The strong emotions suddenly swirling around left me feeling dizzy.
Combined with the revulsion and anger towards the people around me I also felt shame. Overwhelming shame that I was a veteran, practically a celebrity within this system. How many women had died whilst I blithely sat here in a depressive daydream, thinking only of my own misery?
Looking down at my hands I realised my fists were clenched white in anger.
I tell myself, and Kohl, we are better than this shithole.
Inhaling deeply, adjusting my posture to sit taller, prouder I remind myself I was, am still in fact, a White Forest Beta. I served under Alpha Romanov, Alpha Bram and Alpha Alexander. I was a high ranked warrior. I fought bravely against many enemies and yet I am sitting here with these delinquents.
I was a man of honour. A thoroughly decent man actually.
/Finally/ murmured Kohl steadily, his low rumble adding to my thoughts. /Now, let us remain composed whilst we put a plan in place./
Vincent took to the stage again. This was highly unusual. The briefing was usually Kingsley’s big moment. He stood wide and proud, hands on hips, legs splayed, full alpha male stance. Yet someone as vile as him could never truly be an Alpha, even with all the money in the world. Even now, physically past his prime his silver-grey eyes still looked ready to kill. I dreaded to think how massive his wolf form would be.
“Fighters, I have news. In order to access other…markets we are taking a select group south to promote the Axelon team. Of course we will discuss this more after the next Showcase, no point picking you to go if you wind up dead,” he chuckled darkly. “Now, get on with whatever it is you want to do.”
Kohl perked up, a little pulse of excitement ran through me. /We make it through another match and we can maybe escape/
But what about the girl?
It’s a ridiculous urge but for some reason, I want to make sure she is okay. Instead of spending countless hours smashing a punching bag just to kill time, I’m heading back to my room. Ideally her eyes won’t be as terrified of me, but hopefully they will still be that crisp ocean blue. Martha is a good woman here, she won’t let anything happen to her.
“Hey Ivan,” Denton barked across the gym as I rose to leave, “hope you found your cock last night, heard your girl was chilling in the bathhouse, what the fuck?”
Vincent, Kingsley and everyone else's eyes turned to me in curiosity. Fuck.
“Enjoy your lonely wanks Denton, if you’re killing them you’re doing it wrong, do you even know how to fuck a woman or is it just goats you’ve had before,” I barked back. As I headed out of the wooden double doors they crashed together behind me, the loud laughs of the other men bouncing around the room.
/What about keeping our head down/ my wolf hissed.
Shut up Kohl, I mutter inwardly, jogging back to my room, furious that I’ve shown a weakness to the team. If they know I am not hurting her, they might use that to hurt us both.
After bathing Martha escorted me back. Despite her niceness to me she was still a part of this awful system, how could be a good person and exist in here? My damp blonde hair was up high in a large bun. As soon as I got back to the room I locked the door, took off the hideous silken gown. Grabbing the grey hooded top from last night, a peculiar apple scent hit me, sending a warm feeling down my body and I hugged it closer to me. This must be what Martha meant about a shifter's scent. Is that why Martha made me have such a potent soak? Well right now I reeked of oranges and lime so hopefully Ivan will be fooled into thinking that is my particular smell. Why I clasped the grey hooded top to my chest like a comforter I have no idea. My random nest of towels has been cleaned away, the room is stark and basic. I frantically searched through his large mahogany drawers for something else to cover my naked body. Martha might think Ivan is better than the others but nobody likes finding s
Cherish, a beautiful name, looked at me like I do towards those animals Xavier or Denton. Perhaps naively I had forgotten that she would see me as a scum, no different to the rest. I don’t have to help her, I can just bide my time until the next bout and then get the hell out of here… “Who is the other person?” she asked softly, snapping me out of my dark thoughts. I realised I was still standing against the door frame, guarding her like a savage. My muscles ached with tension as every millimetre Vincent came towards crossing my threshold made my hackles rise in anger. Turning around I blew out my cheeks and ran two hands through my already dishevelled russet hair. “Other person?” “The one who says pussy mileage, compares me to a whore…I…I think that is not entirely your own voice?” Her eyes were blue and crystal clear. They looked to be free of judgement, no longer narrowed or scowling at my very presence. Instead she remained sitting inside my bed, white covers up around her wi
It’s been three days since he grabbed me, and I haven’t said a single word to him. I go to the bathhouse, he goes to his training, sparring, whatever it is he does all day. I won’t be forced into anything I don’t want to do. I’d rather die. I’d tell him that too if we were talking but he appears to be waiting for me to cave. Instead I glower at him and read the same limited book again. More fool him. He ambles about coolly, my eyes still seeking glimpses of his muscular body as he wakes and retires each day. Each morning I hear him turn over in the bed, his face peering over from the high mattress, wondering if perhaps I was going to give up being frosty. Not a chance. Today he slammed the door as he left, clearly frustrated with me. Good. Provided with the modest clothes, Martha told me Vincent was away on business so there was no risk to us while I was in the room. Meaning Ivan could stay the hell away from me. Martha still came for me every morning though since she witnessed
The girl can hold a grudge that is for sure. She is far more hot-headed than me, which I think riles her up even further. Even I have my limits though. She has no concept of how much danger she could be putting us both in. Thank fuck Vincent is away on business and that Kingsley doesn’t like calling on me, otherwise we would be in serious trouble. Heading down to training I had hoped maybe this morning she would drop the childish act. A night of tossing and turning in my sleep has left me agitated. Koh now fills my head with vivid, colourful dreams when it has been blackness for so long. Such intense dreams, recalling the beauty of Silver City and its castle left me more tired than when I went to bed. To roll over and see a frosty, angry face that considers me a murderous demon does not help matters either. But the sparks. That brief contact had sent Kohl spinning in confusion, as much as he enjoyed it, he cannot place her wolf. Perhaps it has retreated from the trauma of her kid
Genevieve’s reality terrified me to my very bones. So much so that I paced Ivan’s room restlessly once Martha escorted me back to the room. Eventually my own desperation to make things right got the better of me and I took a few steps outside the corridor. The slightest noise had made me as skittish as a mouse but after ten minutes of aimless wandering I heard raised voices. When I realised one of them was Ivan my body set off running before my brain could even process it. I cannot explain it, it was as though another force was in charge of propelling me forward. Though I didn’t disagree with the action, it was bolder and more confident than I would ever dare. When I rounded the corner and saw his face, that fire of russet red hair and blazing green eyes I only sped up. I expected when I leapt at him to be overwhelmed with the same tingling sensation as before. A flash of disappointment hit me as there was only the boring, unexciting sensation of material. Had I imagined the sensa
It has been two weeks. T Two weeks of absolute hell and torment as I stick to my silent vow. It has not been easy, but tonight has been the worst. Now I know she has a fiancee, well that was the slap in the face I needed to put away any foolish notions I had about her. Feelings for her captor? Absurd. The best thing I did was get her those gloves. It seems cold of me to just throw them on the bed when she was not there but I will not be tortured by any further accidental touches or glancing friction. I make sure to see Vincent in his office everyday now he is back, giving him no reason to drop by. Kingsley is away hunting the next batch of prizes, something he seems to relish more than the fights themselves. Cherish attempted to talk to me when I returned from first leaving the room. My skin is still burning from her touch, my heart racing from trying not to place my lips to hers. I had to get out of there before I did something dishonourable. “Ivan, I need to tell you…” “You d
I don’t know what the hell my mind is doing to me but it’s driving me crazy. Taking Ivan’s pillow was such a random act. As I gathered all the towels as usual and made my comfy little nest once more I spied it hanging over the side of the bed. The scent of sweet apples was so strong I couldn’t help just taking it. Telling myself, ‘it’s just a pillow, he has four, he won’t miss it’ seemed so sensible. Waking up in a fright with it clamped between my legs, covered in my wetness…I cannot possibly give it back to him now. Yet I want it nowhere near me. Not when it sends my brain haywire. My dreams are still of the country air, ascending heights to see panoramic views of forests and lakes. It is breathtaking. But last night, as I felt myself effortlessly climbing through the tall pine trees, as you do in dreams where everything is easy and light, someone was waiting for me. Stood at the top of the hill, facing away with a black hooded cloak over their head. The cloak hung down to their c
I hung back after showering and changing from training today, I needed to ask Vincent for a favour. Considering these past few weeks were the most I’ve ever spoken to him he must think I’m losing my mind. “What is it Ivan?” he barked as the room emptied. “I can tell you’re waiting for me?” Like a silverback gorilla he stood tall and proud, his scars and white hair for all to see. “I’m wanting to ask if I can use the running track later?” “Just you?” “Well, I want to take my prize out there. She’s not used to the lack of fresh air here so I’m thinking…” “You want her perking up before the showcase?” he guffawed, “or you just like doing it outside Ivan?” he asked with a filthy leer. I couldn’t help my face turning scarlet, not because it wasn’t true but because Vincent clearly thought deep down I was as feral as the rest. “Something like that.” “Course you can, I can’t guarantee you’ll be alone, the truck with the new prizes arrives today so it might get busier but you can take y