2. The Great Hunt

A loud scream suddenly broke the silence.

My head jerked up before I could stop myself, but I caught the movement just in time and lowered my gaze back to the floor. The soldier's threat was still fresh in my mind. I wasn't stupid enough to risk drawing his attention to me.

The scream came again. This time, I knew exactly where it had come from.

A knot formed in my stomach.

We had all been holding on by a thread since arriving here. Some of us were just better at hiding it than others. It was only a matter of time before someone broke.

Through my peripheral vision, I saw the scarred soldier push his way through the crowd.

My stomach dropped.

He had heard her.

The girl was still crying when he reached her. She tried to shrink back into the women behind her, but there was nowhere for her to go. He grabbed a fistful of her long blonde hair and yanked her out of the crowd and toward the front.

Then his hand closed around her throat.

He lifted her off the ground and turned toward the rest of us.

"I don't remember giving you permission to make a sound," he snarled. His eyes moved slowly over the room. "You were told to keep your mouths shut, so keep them shut. I shouldn't have to explain something so simple to a bunch of stupid little bitches."

He tightened his grip around the girl's throat, and she let out a weak, gurgling sound.

"Let this serve as a lesson." His eyes swept over the crowd before settling on the section where she'd been kneeling. "This is what happens when you don't listen. So the rest of you little sluts had better learn quickly. Disobedience isn't tolerated here. Not from the likes of you."

The likes of you.

I knew exactly what he meant. To him, we weren't young women who had been ripped away from our homes and brought here against our will. We were the unwanted. The discarded. The girls no one cared enough to protect, the ones our packs could sacrifice without losing sleep over it.

We weren't people to him.

We were things.

And now those things belonged to the Lycan King and his men.

I watched the girl struggle in his grip, barely able to breathe. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.

Then he threw her down hard.

Her body hit the stone with a sickening crack, and I flinched.

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

The girl began to crawl. It was slow and painful. Her left leg dragged behind her at a terrible angle, clearly broken. Every time she tried to move, her face twisted with pain, but she didn't make a sound.

I wanted so badly to go to her, to help her up or at least whisper that she would be okay. My hands twitched against the floor, but I stayed where I was.

The last time I'd tried to help someone being punished, I'd ended up with a broken jaw and two shattered legs. Without a wolf to heal me, it took months before I could even sit up without crying. Seven months later, I still walked with a limp.

The healers back home had taken one look at me and decided their medicine was better spent elsewhere. Remedies were for warriors, ranked wolves, and anyone else the pack thought was worth saving.

Not a sick, wolfless girl who contributed nothing.

The girl finally made it back into the crowd. When she dropped to her knees, I saw her face clearly for the first time. She looked young. Far too young to be here. Far too young for whatever fate awaited us beyond these walls.

For a brief moment, her eyes met mine. Terror stared back at me from them. Then she looked away so quickly as if she couldn't bear for anyone seeing the fear in her eyes.

The soldier wiped his hands on his pants as if touching her had dirtied him. Then he pulled a small black notebook from his pocket and opened it.

"Listen up," he said. "I've got a message from the King. Out of all the pathetic little rejects we've brought here, eighty-seven of you have been chosen to take part in the Great Hunt. You should consider yourselves lucky. Most females will never get this close to real power, let alone have the privilege of being chosen for it."

Lucky?

We were prisoners and this asshole actually thought we should feel lucky?

My stomach twisted so hard I had to swallow twice to keep from throwing up. I risked a glance at Mirabel. From the look on her face, she was thinking exactly what I was.

"The rules are simple," he continued, pacing slowly in front of us. "In a few minutes, you'll be released into the Northern Woods. You'll get a head start, so use it wisely. Run as far into the trees as you can before the Alphas are released."

He paused and looked over us.

“Those waiting outside aren't ordinary soldiers. They're Alphas and high-ranking warriors who've paid for the privilege of taking part in the Hunt.”

A few people shifted uneasily.

"If one of them catches you, you're his. He can do whatever he wants with you. Consider it the prize for winning." A faint smile touched his mouth. "But if you're clever enough to reach the markers at the far end of the forest before you're caught, you'll be free from the hunters."

He closed the notebook halfway.

"Of course, you won't exactly be free. You'll be taken to the capital, where His Majesty will decide what happens to you."

A low murmur spread through the room despite the threat of violence.

I felt a hysterical laugh rise in my throat and bit down hard on my tongue to stop it.

So that was it?

Those were our choices?

Get caught by an Alpha and become his property, or make it to the end and put ourselves at the mercy of the Lycan King. It felt like running from a rabid dog only to fall straight into a tiger's jaws. Either way, we were going to get torn apart.

Getting caught meant spending the rest of my life at the mercy of some Alpha who could beat me, use me, and throw me away whenever he got tired of me.

But making it to the end?

That was worse.

I'd already seen how the King's men treated us. If his soldiers could kick women around and call them names without a second thought, what would the King himself be like?

I didn't want to find out.

The soldier snapped his notebook shut.

"You've got ten minutes once the bell rings," he announced. "Run fast and maybe you'll 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.

"Ten minutes," he shouted over the ringing. "That's all you get 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 that gate drops, so use every second you've got. Run. Hide. Make it fun for them."

The metal shutter at the far end of the warehouse began to rise. Cold air rushed over my skin, and I stared at the dark forest beyond the opening. The trees were so thick I could barely see through them.

"Run!"