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Chapter 21: Cedric
CooperWhat do you think of Bastian's assessment of Ishir and Tana?
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The Arena Chapter 22: Tana
As we fly away from the arena, I have time to think. Ish and Palila are quiet on my back. Cedric is a Lycan. He’s not an Alpha werewolf like I thought. He’s werewolf royalty. And while I feel bit excited that a royal identified me as his mate, I’m also angry. He judged me for not telling him that I was a dragon, for letting him believe that I was an Alpha werewolf, when he did the exact same thing to me. “Tana, whatever you’re thinking about, you need to stop. Your body is becoming increasingly hot and neither of us up here are dragons.” Ish says from my back. I chuff at him, apologizing for losing myself in my thoughts. “And I told you it’s uncomfortable when you do that.” He says. As day breaks, we stop to make camp. I can’t exactly fly into my penthouse in the light of day. When we stop, Ish goes to get food and wood to make a fire. I take a look at Palila. “How are you feeling?” I ask her, looking her over. Her arm doesn’t look right. “My wing was broken. I shouldn’t have bee
The Arena Chapter 23: Cedric
When I return from trying to find Tana, we instate Galen as my Gamma. It’s an important ceremony. Being that I am a Lycan, my ranked members gain strength from being appointed to their positions. Drinking my blood during the ceremony doesn’t make them a Lycan, but their strength will far outmatch that of a regular werewolf. After Galen takes his oath, and we get him established, Bastian and I begin the tour of the packs. We start locally, and I can tell right away that there's going to be a problem. Apparently, since my parents' death, no one has taken charge of the packs and they seem to have gone astray. That’s about to change. As we pull up to the packhouse, I can see that there is a very small contingent of pack members here to greet me. This is either a purposeful slight or the pack was recently decimated. Since I haven’t heard of any recent attacks, I have to assume it’s an insult. As our driver pulls up, Bastian growls. I look at him and I can see he and I are on the same pag
The Arena Chapter 24: Tana
A couple of months after burning the second arena down, Edur tells me that our CEO, Mr. Brodski wants to see us. “Do you know what this is about?” I ask him. “No, but our team is the best that he has, so I’m sure it’s not bad.” Edur says. The man lets everything roll off his back. Nothing upsets or stresses him. We are escorted to Mr. Brodski’s office where he greets us, literally, with open arms. He hugs Edur before turning and hugging me. “Edur, Tana. Welcome. Come, come, sit. Do you want something to drink?” I start to say no. “Iced tea for me.” Edur says. “Just water for me.” I say, taking my cues from Edur. Mr. Brodski claps his hands as if we’ve given him exciting news and tells his admin, a human, to get our drinks. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked you here today.” He says. The man is brilliant when it comes to running a company, but when it comes to interactions, he’s terrible. I can tell he’s nervous and can smell his sweat. A human might not recognize th
The Arena Chapter 25: Cedric
It takes months to tour all the packs. Word spread about my return, and Koden’s death, and the rest of the packs were respectful. They may not have liked me taking my place as Alpha, but they will respect it or pay the consequences. I’m currently pouring over the financials that the accountant just left with me. Bastian showed him out of the packhouse before coming back in. I’m sitting at my desk, my head in my hands and I’m trying to convince myself not to pull my hair out. I look up at Bastian as he closes the door. “Did you understand any of that?” I ask him. “Sure. ‘Money, blah blah, finances, blah blah, company.’” I look at him a minute. “Yeah, that’s about all I understood too. I don’t even understand what I’m looking at here and I swear he was intentionally being ambiguous. I feel like I’m trying to read a foreign language.” I stare at my financials for another minute before closing the book. “Do me a favor, find a company that can look these over and tell us if everything
The Arena Chapter 26: Tana
We spoke with Kali and got as much information as she had. After they escaped from the first arena, they ran for days. They found a city and settled down. Zaiden got a job as a male model. Why am I not surprised? They aren’t sure how the supernatural hunters found them or knew what they were, but they did. They laid a trap for them and captured them. Kali was the only one that was able to escape. She ran and then, when she tried to find them, she couldn’t. She heard Ishir was in the business of finding shifters, so she found him. “And here I am.” She said with a flourish. She reminds me of an exotic actress with her elegant ways. I found out after we moved here that Ish is, what the humans would call, a private investigator. He has his own business and it’s what helped him to find the last arena. After talking to Kali, he decides that they will go searching for the next arena. They leave the next morning, and I made Ish promise that he would let me know where the arena is before th
The Arena Chapter 27: Cedric
I sent Bastian to the human town to find out about our financials. I need to go after Troy. I got the intel, and my trackers begin identifying the places where they’ve seen him. I start tracking the sightings and see that, once again, they are in a circular format. Fuck! There’s another arena. With Bastian gone, I can’t afford to attack the arena yet, but I need to make sure that I’m right. I get a group of warriors together and I tell Galen that he’s in charge. I make a plan to get additional intel and let the warriors know what we’re doing and what the plan is. “This is a reconnaissance mission only. I’m not leaving the pack vulnerable without Bastian here, no offense Galen.” “None taken.” “With Troy still out there, any action against me will give him an opportunity to attack, so until Bastian returns, we will just get whatever information we can.” “With all due respect Alpha, doesn’t that mean that some shifters will die?” I clench my teeth. That’s exactly what it means, and
The Arena Chapter 28: Tana
When Ish and Kali return home, they tell us they found the arena. Kali is pacing in the way only a predatory feline who feels caged can. Back and forth, back and forth. “Kali, please, have a seat.” Her nervous energy is making me nervous. “Ishir, we can’t just leave them in there for another week.” Kali says. “We have to. You didn’t see the locks.” He turns to me. “They made preparations for another attack. You can be sure that they will be prepared to fight when we show up.” “I’d like to see them fight against my fire.” “It’s not you I’m worried about. Kali, me, every other shifter in the arena, we’re the ones that will be shot with whatever crap they fill their bullets with. I’m not worried about the silver, but that’s not all they use. And don’t even get me started about their possible use of poisoned arrows.” “Okay, so what’s the plan.” “Same as before, except this time we have Kali. We’ll stop and get Avani on the way…” “No. We didn’t need him last time and we won’t need h
The Arena Chapter 29: Cedric
I can’t believe I’m helping a dragon. I’m trying really hard not to fanboy, but I never expected to be in such close proximity to one of these magical, beautiful creatures. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to her. I don’t feel the same draw to Avani, but I feel an almost unignorable pull to this dragon. She’s beautiful, strong and so graceful. When I saw the harpoon launch and puncture her wing, I was furious. I took all that fury out on the man who shot her. But then Troy was there, fighting me, and trying to kill me. I finally got the upper hand and threw him over the rim of the arena. I don’t know if he survived. I didn’t have time to worry about it. The dragon, Red, as I’ve started calling her in my head, got hit by a second harpoon and without my help, she won’t be able to get out of here. She won’t even be able to shift. If she did, the harpoon would certainly rip her in half. Her scent is overwhelming me. She smells so much like Tana. I’ll have to rethink what kind of shifter my
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