I’m pacing in my cell. They shouldn’t have taken Tana two days in a row. That has never happened in the time I’ve been here. We fight once a week, every week, but that’s it. Then we are given food and rest until the next fight.
If they are taking her again, it can only mean they want her dead. She’s become a liability. I’m guessing too many high rollers have bet against her and lost too much money, putting pressure on the Commander. So now they will make sure she dies and they win.
I hear the first two fights and know that it’s not the tiger or Tana. They both end too quickly. Their fights are like mine, they last at least 30 minutes, sometimes longer and we always go last. We are the big events since we are the strongest.
When the fourth fight starts I hear a lot of growling and snarling. I know one is the tiger. I’ve gotten used to his sound, but I can’t quite place the other. It sounds similar but I’d be surprised if they put two tigers together. Better to have two winners in the betting pool, at least until the other tiger gets a following.
When I hear the cheers, I know it’s over, but I can’t tell who won until I see them dragging the tiger back into his cell, leaving a tray of food for him. I notice that they put his food close to his body, not near the other cells like they left Tana’s yesterday. Another reason to be concerned. They don’t care if she eats and gets her strength.
I’m waiting to hear the start of Tana’s fight, but it doesn’t come. I hear the announcer say that the fighting is over for the day but to look for a special event next weekend. If there is no other fight, where is Tana?
I’m still pacing when I catch her scent. I’ve begun to crave her scent of campfire and roasted marshmallows. It’s one of the reasons I’m confident that she’s my mate. Her scent is mouthwatering to me.
“What do you mean my fight’s been cancelled?” I hear her before I can see her. The Chief is dragging her back to her cell. She isn’t injured, she looks fine.
I stop pacing going up to the bars, listening.
“The boss says your fight is cancelled, it’s cancelled.” He tosses her into her cell, licking his lips before turning to me. “I hear he’s got something big scheduled for next weekend. My money’s on you, big guy.” He says, meaning me. “So don’t fuck it up.”
“What do you mean, something big?” I ask, hoping he’ll give us a clue.
He looks around, leaning in closer to the bars when he sees no one is around. He gets closer, but not too close. They all know if they give us the opportunity, we’ll kill them.
“Boss says there’s going to be a premier fight next weekend. Top four of you will go at it until there is only one left standing. Seats are starting at $50,000 each, but I get a front row seat for free.” He smiles at me, giving me a big toothy grin. Half of his teeth are gone, the other half are rotted. I can never tell if it's his body that reeks or if it’s his mouth. Either way, he always smells like something that died in the middle of summer and has been baking in the sun for too long.
I look at Tana. That means she and I will be fighting against each other along with two other competitors.
“You can take her. I’m sure you can. And if you make sure you win, I’ll make sure you get extra food for a week.” He says this as if this would make me want to kill not only the only friend that I have in this place, the woman I’m fairly confident is my mate, but also two other strong shifters.
He walks off. Secure in his decision that I will win next weekend.
I turn back to Tana. “Are you alright?”
She looks at me. “So, it will be you, me, the tiger and the lion.”
“Lion?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t place the scent, but Shere Khan said it was a pride of lions. I’m guessing the females won their matches, but he took out one of the brothers. The other one was supposed to be my match up.”
“You know you’ve been marked for death?” I ask her.
“Yes.” She shrugs. “I guess this is as good a way as any to go out.”
I crouch down in front of her. “You’re not dying, there has to be another way.”
“Oh, there is, but I’m not willing to kill you.”
“And I’m not willing to kill you.” I tell her.
She smiles at me. “But you aren’t marked for death. If we refuse to kill each other, it will be me they take down, not you. Either way, I lose.” She turns and looks at the tiger. “And, if I’m being honest, I don’t really want to kill him either. I’ve grown rather fond of our grumpy companion.”
“Good to know.” I hear the tiger say from his cell.
He sits up, leaning against the wall. “There might be another way, but we’d need to get the lion on board.”
“What other way?” I ask.
“I have an idea, but let me think about it, we can talk more tonight, when everyone is gone.” He says before grabbing his food.
I turn back to Tana, ready to continue our conversation when the Chief comes back in with another three trays of food.
“For you.” He says and slides mine to me.
“For you.” He says and slides a tray to Tana.
“And for you.” He says sliding the last tray to the tiger.
“Hey, what about us?” One of the other prisoners asks.
“You’re not one of the top four, so you get nothing. If you fight and win, you get food. Otherwise, you can starve until it’s your turn to fight.” He tells him before turning to leave.
I watch from the corner of my eye as Tana smells her food before kicking it away from her. “You poisoned mine.” She says, glaring at the Chief.
He turns, giving her that same disgusting grin. “Commander’s orders. He doesn’t want you too strong girlie.”
“Why not just starve me then?” Tana asks.
“Because even starved you win. And like I said, my money’s on the big guy here.” He points to me again.
I hear the tiger scoff. I’m not surprised, he’s easily twice my size.
I watch as Tana’s new neighbor grabs her tray of food and proceeds to devour it. Tana just shakes her head. I take my tray and sit beside her against the bars. “Here, share mine.” I tell her.
“You eat it, you’ll need your strength.”
“We’ll both need our strength.” I say and wait until she reaches out to grab a slice of meat before beginning to eat.
I don’t know why Cedric is so damned hardheaded. I’ve been marked for death. Nothing that he does will keep me alive. If I was capable of shifting, I would have months ago and gotten everyone out of here.“Did you hear any more about that dragon shifter?” I ask him, wondering why, if they found another dragon, they weren’t in the pits today.“No, maybe it was a misunderstanding, and they were talking about the pride of lions or maybe they knocked the dragon out and they haven’t woken yet.”“Yes, but then, wouldn’t that be the fourth in our fight next weekend?” I ask.“I haven’t smelled a dragon.” Shere Khan says, looking at me meaningfully. Shit, does that mean he knows what I am?“You know what a dragon smells like?” Cedric asks him.“Yes, but unlike other shifters, they don’t share a similar scent based on their breed. It depends on their element.” He replies.“What do you mean, their element?” Cedric asks.“Do you not know anything about dragons?” He asks, looking at me again.Cedr
I can’t believe Ishir has met a dragon. They are supposed to be good luck. And that’s about all I know of dragons. His knowledge far exceeds mine. I’m hoping one day that I’ll get to meet one. I’m sure they would make a powerful ally to my pack.I have every intention of getting out of here next weekend and I’m getting Tana out as well. If Ishir is right, I’ll know when we are in the arena if she’s my mate. Even if she’s not, we’re getting her out of here. We walk back to where we usually sleep, laying down and holding hands.“The smartest move would be to get the lion to come back and open the doors for the supes. The three of us have been in the arena and know the structure, where the Commander and the other ranked members are. We know the weak spots and the best places to start the battle.”“I can go after the Commander.” Tana says. “I’ll start the fire, but the lion will need to get back down here right away. The keepers will try to take him out, so either you or Ishir will need t
When they move me, they put me in a space that looks and smells like it is where the toilets are. There is no one here except for me and the smell is so terrible I can barely breathe. There is no air flow, so breathing becomes difficult. It’s not surprising that they only give me poisoned food, not that I could eat in this literal shithole even if it wasn’t poisoned. I realize starting on Thursday that the water they give me is also poisoned. So, basically, before my battle, I can’t breathe, I have no food and no water. If I were a regular shifter, like they think I am, the lack of water would be very problematic. But as a dragon, I can go long periods without water. It’s the tainted air that’s the problem for me. What water I might be able to draw from the air is contaminated. I can’t pull enough oxygen into my lungs because of the putrid scent in the air. On Saturday morning, the keeper comes in and shoots me with some sort of dart. I didn’t expect that it would affect me, but it m
My relief is palpable when Tana finally lifts her head. I’m not sure why the water was important until she says they had poisoned that too. It sounds like the Keepers were too stupid to realize that they might actually kill her before the battle. As the arena begins to fill with fanatics, I feel my strength returning. The fresh air and the extra food this week have made a difference. I look at my hand and attempt to shift, just one claw. I see that my finger shutters with the attempt to shift, but it doesn’t happen. I feel like Tana was able to make an impact on Zaiden and hopefully he’ll follow through with his part of the deal. I feel more confident when I hear that the first battle will be with one of his female lions. Even if she wins, he’ll realize that the battle to the death is a weekly thing, not a one and done as he seemed to think. Throughout the day, I’ve watched Tana sit in what looks like a lotus style, just breathing in the air. After her ordeal this week, I’m sure she
I don’t know what the little kestrel told Ishir, but whatever it was, it nearly cost her life. I’m not surprised by the boos I receive froom the crowd, although, if these guys were smart, they would have played me up so that their odds would have been better. There’s no way they are making money if I die tonight. However, as the four of us take our stance, ready to fight, I know that none of us are dying tonight. But every spectator in this stadium will burn today. All afternoon, I’ve been soaking up the sun. I’ve been breathing in the fresh air and feeling my fire returning and burning in my gut. Unlike the others, I didn’t try to partially shift. If I had, everyone would have realized what I am. I saw Ishir watching me several times today. He knows my strength has returned. I’m not sure I can totally shift, but I can definitely breathe fire and burn these assholes alive. When the doors open, I see Cedric head toward Zaiden as planned. Ishir heads straight toward me and I run at hi
I have no idea where we are. When I was captured, they sedated me and put me in an enclosed van with no windows. We drove for what felt like days. Now, all I can see is flat lands. I need to find a mountain range where we can hide until Cedric regains consciousness and I can figure out what happened to him. Because I can’t risk being seen, I fly as high as I dare, hoping that I’m not limiting Cedric’s oxygen supply at this high altitude. I stay above the clouds until it gets dark. In the distance, I see a mountain range where I can land and look for a cave or someplace to stay for the night. I land as gently as I can, making sure Cedric doesn’t roll off my back. I shift slowly, and when I’m done, he’s practically crushing me. Gently, I roll him off me. I sniff his body, smelling silver. I look around wondering if there is anything I can use to get the silver out, but I don’t see anything. I extend a claw and slowly, carefully, begin to dig out the multiple bullets he must have taken
I'm basking in my mate’s scent and the feel of her legs wrapped around my body. I’ve waited my entire life to find my mate, twenty-six long years. Who would have guessed that I would find her in the arena. Even more surprising, who would have guessed that both of us would have survived to be here today. The Moon Goddess knew what she was doing when she found this powerful she-wolf for me. I continue kissing her, dominating her mouth. I know she is strong, but tonight, I will make her mine and she will see what I am an not just an Alpha male, but an Alpha of Alphas, a royal Lycan. She will see that I am the mate she deserves. Keeping her legs wrapped around me, I begin walking us out of the water. “Cedric, what are you doing?” She asks, pulling away from me and looking around. “Tonight, I’m going to make you mine. I’ve waited to find you for years. I’ve known for months that you were my mate, I just couldn’t feel it until now. Your delicious scent is so much stronger now. Isn’t it t
Everything was perfect. I knew from my parents that dragons feel things more deeply than other shifters or humans. Their love for each other was something of fairy tales. I knew when I fell in love with Cedric that he would be it for me, for the rest of my life. That’s just how we’re made. A dragon loves precious things – jewels, treasure, rare art objects and mates. Mates are the most precious of all. Of course, I’m not a virgin. I’m an animal, after all. We aren’t bound by the same standards that humans hold themselves to. And sex feels good. Or at least I thought it did. The moment Cedric entered me, I knew that I would never experience anything like this man again. He has officially wrapped himself around my heart and I will forever treasure him. I didn’t expect to feel an even stronger surge of pleasure when he sank his teeth into my neck at the juncture of my shoulder. This is how werewolves mark their mates. Dragons don’t leave a mark, but if he wants me to, I will. He made me