2. The Great Hunt

Why was this happening to me?

Hadn't I suffered enough?

Wasn’t it enough to grow up unwanted, to learn early that no one was ever coming to save me? Wasn’t it enough to live in a body that was already failing me, breaking down piece by piece while everyone else grew stronger?

I was already dying slowly.

Wasn’t that punishment enough?

I pressed my tongue hard against the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.

Someone a few rows over started crying quietly. Through my peripheral vision, I saw the big, scarred soldier lunge into the crowd.

​He reached down and fisted his hand into her long, blonde hair.

​The girl wailed as he jerked her upward, dragging her across the floor like a sack of grain. Her fingernails scraped against the floor as she tried to hold on but he didn’t slow down. He dragged her all the way to the front before finally stopping.

Then he grabbed her by the throat effortlessly and lifted her.

Her feet left the ground instantly. Her legs kicked in the air while her hands clawed at his wrist, trying to break free.

The soldier scanned the crowd with a look of disgust on his face.

​"I don't recall being unclear," he snarled. "But perhaps I overestimated the intelligence of such... worthless creatures. Did I not imply that you were to keep your filthy mouths shut? Or is the concept of silence too difficult for your little brains to grasp?"

​He tightened his grip on the girl’s throat. She made a weak, gurgling sound.

​"Let this serve as a lesson," he sneered, looking directly at the section where the girl had been sitting. "This right here? This is what happens when you don’t listen. Let it be a lesson to the rest of you sniveling sluts. Disobedience doesn’t get tolerated in the Ironfang pack. Not from the likes of you."

The likes of us.

This was a brand. A label meant to strip away the last of our humanity. To him, we were nothing more than property or perhaps just toys to be broken when the boredom set in.

​I looked at the girl still gasping in his grip, then down at my own trembling hands. I forced my eyes to stay on the floor.

Don’t look up. Don’t move. Don’t give him a reason.

He threw her down hard. Her body hit the floor with a sickening crack that echoed off the walls. I flinched even though I wasn’t the one who got tossed. ​The girl didn't scream this time. She went completely still and her body crumpled in an unnatural heap. For a heartbeat, I thought she was dead. But then I saw her chest hitch. Tears streamed silently down her face, and she bit her lip so hard it turned white, muffling any sound of agony.

The soldier spat on the floor next to her.

"You’re lucky His Majesty doesn't want his new stock damaged before the games even start," he smirked. "If it were up to me, I’d have ripped you apart for the headache you've given me. Now crawl your sorry ass back into the crowd before I change my mind and finish the job anyway."

​The girl began to crawl. It was a slow, agonizing process. Her left leg trailed behind her at a sickening angle, clearly broken. Every time she shifted her weight, she winced and her eyes fluttered as if she might pass out, but she didn't make a sound. She had learned her lesson.

I wanted so bad to go to her and help her up or at least whisper that it would be okay. My hands twitched against the floor but I stayed put.

The last time I tried helping someone who was getting punished, I ended up with a broken jaw and two shattered legs. They didn’t go easy on me just because I was a girl. They made sure I felt every hit. And because of my sickness, because I didn’t have a wolf to heal me fast, it took months before I could even sit up without crying.

It was seven months now and I still walked with a limp. The healers back in our pack wouldn’t waste good medicine on somebody like me. I was nobody. Just another wolfless mouth to feed.

So yeah, I stayed on my knees and hated myself for not helping her.

The girl finally made it back into the crowd. When she dropped on her knees, I saw her face clearly.

She looked young. Too young to be here. Too young for this. Her eyes met mine for half a second then she looked away like she couldn’t hold it.

The soldier wiped his hands on his pants like touching her had dirtied him. Then he pulled out a little black notebook from his pocket, flipped it open, and cleared his throat like he was about to read the weather.

"Listen up, all of you, " he announced. "A message from the King himself. Out of the thousands of the pathetic dregs we gathered, you hundreds have been chosen as the lucky candidates to participate in the Great Hunt. Consider it an honor. Most females never get this close to real power."

Lucky?

We were prisoners, rounded up like cattle and this asshole thought we should feel lucky? My stomach twisted so hard I had to swallow twice to keep from throwing up. I risked a tiny glance sideways at Mirabel. Even she looked like she wanted to say something rude, but she kept quiet for once.

​"The rules are simple," he continued, pacing back and forth. "In a few minutes, you will be released into the northern woods. You’ll have a head start to get as deep into the trees as your little legs can carry you. Then, the players will be released. These are Alphas and high-ranking warriors who have paid dearly for the right to hunt you."

He paused, letting that sink in.

"If you are caught, the hunter who finds you claims you. You become his property, his plaything, his servant...whatever he desires. You belong to him henceforth. However," he chuckled, "if you are fast enough or clever enough to make it to the markers at the far edge of the forest, you win your 'freedom' from the hunters. Instead, you will be hand-delivered to the capital, where His Majesty, the Lycan King, will personally decide your fate."

​A low murmur broke out, despite the threat of violence.

​I felt a hysterical laugh bubbling up in my throat. I had to bite my tongue again to keep it down. So that was it? Those were our choices? It was like running from a rabid dog that’s already foaming at the mouth, only to trip and fall straight into a tiger’s open jaws. Either way, you’re torn apart.

Getting grabbed by some alpha meant you’d spend the rest of your life as his toy; probably beaten, used, and tossed aside when he got bored. But making it to the end and letting the Lycan King decide? That felt worse. Way worse.

I’d seen how his men treated us already. If this is how the soldiers acted, kicking girls around and calling us bitches and sluts, then their king had to be ten times meaner.

Rumors said he was immortal and nothing under the sun could kill him. What chance did I have against that? At least with a regular alpha there was a tiny sliver, maybe one percent, that I could fight back, maybe even kill him in his sleep if I got lucky. But the king? No. I’d rather take my chances with one of his hunters than end up alone in a room with that monster.

My mind raced ahead. I wasn’t going to let any of us make it to that far ridge. We’d stick together, run smart and find a spot deep in the woods where we could hide or... or something. I didn’t know what yet, but I wasn’t handing us over to the king on a silver platter. Mirabel could do whatever she wanted. She still had her wolf and that Gamma blood running in her veins. The three of us were in this together, like always.

The soldier snapped the notebook shut.

"You’ve got ten minutes once the bell rings." He said. "Run fast and maybe some of you will last longer than the last batch did. The alphas are waiting outside, eager to play. Any questions? No? Good."

A heavy, bronze bell began to toll from the tower above us. The sound vibrated through the floorboards, rattling my teeth.

"Ten minutes," the soldier shouted over the ringing. "That’s all you get. Ten minutes before the Alphas are released to sniff you out. I’d suggest you start moving, unless you want to be claimed right here on the dirt. The clock starts the moment the gate drops. Use it. Run. Hide. Make it fun for them."

A massive metal shutter at the far end of the warehouse began to grind upwards, revealing the dense, twilight-dark wall of the forest. A collective gasp swept through us.

​"Run!" he barked.