6. Just ten.

Kayla.

“Ronald, make them assemble and scatter.”

Seth’s voice carried across the open training ground with cold authority. He didn’t raise his tone, yet every word landed with the weight of an order that could not be questioned. He didn’t even look at the guard when he gave the command.

But the guard responded instantly.

Ronald.

The same one who had dragged us here.

“Yes, Alpha,” he said quickly, bowing his head before moving into action.

Within seconds, chaos erupted among the girls.

“Line up!” Ronald barked sharply.

Everyone scrambled to obey. Feet shuffled across the rough ground as the girls hurried to arrange themselves. Shoulders bumped. Chains clinked faintly. Nervous whispers died the moment Ronald’s gaze swept over them.

A straight line formed again.

But this time it didn’t last long.

“Move!” he ordered, pointing across the wide training field.

He began pushing us apart, separating us one after another and placing each girl at a different point across the open space. Some were pushed far to the left, others to the right. The once unified line dissolved into scattered figures standing awkwardly on the field.

The distance between us grew quickly.

Isolation.

Deliberate.

My feet scraped the dirt as Ronald shoved me into position several steps away from the nearest girl. The wind brushed against my face as I stood there, trying to understand what game they were about to play.

My eyes shifted toward the platform where the Alpha triplets still stood.

I wondered what was going through the mind of the heartless Seth.

Among the three brothers, there was something particularly cruel about him. The way his eyes watched people. The way he spoke as if lives meant nothing more than dust beneath his boots.

Yes.

I was certain of it.

He was the most dangerous one, the most evil but that realization did not scare me. If anything, it only hardened the fire burning inside my chest.

I would wipe that smug expression off his face one day, no matter how long it took. I would grow stronger, train harder and become more ruthless than he was.

Stronger than all of them.

“Attention, pathetic humans.” Scott’s voice cut sharply through my thoughts.

I looked up immediately.

He had stepped slightly forward now, his arms folded behind his back as he studied us like livestock waiting for inspection.

“Weaklings are not permitted in the Moonbridge territory.” He added as his gaze shifted briefly toward his brothers.

Sage and Seth exchanged a look with him. A silent conversation passed between them, then all three nodded at the same time.

An agreement reached without a single word spoken.

A faint unease crept into my stomach.

“Just ten persons are permitted to remain alive,” Sage announced brightly.

Alive.

The word echoed in my ears.

“So try as much as possible to run into the field and dodge our arrows.”

He smiled, not a cruel smirk, not a threatening grin but a bright, cheerful smile, the kind someone would wear while greeting friends.

The contrast made my stomach twist violently.

How vicious of them.

How could he smile like that… while calmly announcing the deaths of dozens of people?

Girls around me gasped softly. Some whispered prayers. Others began trembling openly where they stood.

All in the name of eliminating weaklings.

My foot slammed into the ground before I could stop myself, dust puffed lightly around my shoes, my fists clenched tightly behind my back, nails biting into my palms as anger flooded through me again.

Monsters.

Every single one of them.

I was so consumed by my rage that I barely noticed the movement beside me. Until fingers suddenly wrapped around my hand.

I turned sharply.

Lily.

“Run, Kayla!” Lily shouted.

Her voice snapped through the haze in my head like a crack of thunder.

For a brief second I had been standing there, frozen in the middle of the field, my mind still boiling with rage from the Alpha triplets’ cruel declaration. But Lily’s grip tightened around my hand, pulling me back to reality.

I blinked.

Then my legs moved.

We ran.

The entire field exploded into motion as every girl sprinted in different directions, scattering across the open ground like frightened birds trying to escape a storm. Lily held my hand tightly, her fingers digging into mine as she dragged me forward.

Our feet pounded against the rough dirt.

Breath tore through my lungs as we pushed ourselves faster, desperation driving every step.

Then the arrows came.

A sharp whistling sound sliced through the air.

Another.

And another.

The sound alone made my skin crawl.

I dared to glance over my shoulder for just a moment.

What I saw made my stomach twist violently.

One of the girls collapsed instantly as an arrow pierced straight through her chest. The force knocked her backward, her body hitting the ground with a dull, lifeless thud.

Another girl stumbled mid-run before falling to her knees. An arrow stuck out from her shoulder, blood already spreading across her torn clothing. She gasped weakly, her breathing shallow and broken.

More arrows followed.

More bodies fell.

Some died instantly.

Others dropped slowly, struggling for breath as life slipped away from them. The ground behind us was turning into a graveyard.

My vision blurred.

I didn’t even realize tears had begun streaming down my face. They ran silently down my cheeks as I kept running.

The Alpha triplets were animals.

No.

Animals were kinder than this.

The image of my parents flashed violently across my mind, my mother collapsing, my father’s body hitting the ground after that brutal strike.

The memory struck my chest like a hammer and a dull ache spread through me, heavy and suffocating.

“Assholes!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. The word tore out of me raw and furious, echoing across the garden.

But the moment the sound left my mouth...I saw it and my body froze instantly.

An arrow.

It had already been released, cutting through the air with terrifying speed, flying directly toward my side.

Straight at me.

Everything slowed, my whole body went rigid, my legs refused to move, my lungs forgot how to breathe.

Was this how I would die?

The thought struck me sharply.

No.

No way.

I haven’t had my revenge yet.

I haven’t killed them.

I haven’t made them pay.

“Kayla… Kayla!” Lily’s voice rang out desperately somewhere behind me.

She was screaming my name.

But the sound barely registered in my mind.

All I could see…Was the arrow rushing closer.