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42. Cherish
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The Beta's Prize 43. Ivan
Cherish has inevitably returned to her pile of towels on the floor. It is the night before the Showcase. I should be resting and yet I cannot help constantly peering over the side of the bed. Like scratching an itch I keep checking she is still there, even though she is rolled over facing away from me. It physically hurts seeing that blonde hair of hers spilling out over the floor. She should be in bed with me, safe and warm. /If you don’t make this right, you might never see or touch her again/ was the thought Kohl spun round and round. Unhelpful to say the least. If I did manage to bring this whole system to its knees, to even execute Vincent, Kingsley and the rest of his cronies for their crimes what would it be for if I never saw her again? Without thinking I thought out loud, my words cutting through the silence of the dark room “did you mean it, that you would have nowhere to go if you got out?” She immediately rolled over, she'd pretending been to be asleep. I couldn't hel
The Beta's Prize 44. Cherish
I must be a glutton for punishment asking to hear all about his mate, the woman who truly has his heart. It's not a topic he’s ever truly elaborated on but I know it’s why he is here. Right down to the way he is holding me, close and fast to his body, sitting on his lap feels like the most natural thing in the world. He wriggles backwards, so his back is against the wooden frame of the bed. With a tug he drags the blanket down from the bed, enclosing us both in a warm, snug little cocoon. “I can’t live in towels like you Mousey,” he smirked, kissing me on the top of my head. When he called me darling a few minutes ago my heart fluttered. Am I scared of admitting I have fallen irrevocably in love with someone I will never get a real chance to be with? Whichever one of us lives, the other's death is soon to follow. It hurts me to even think of Ivan fighting in the Cage again, his body has been through enough. “What do you want to know?” he whispered into the top of my head. “Why are
The Beta's Prize 45. Ivan
It’s possibly the worst way to prepare for a fight in history but I couldn’t care less. Up all night talking to her, holding her and then wrapped up in pleasuring her for hours of the morning. I am shattered, my back and arms are covered in scratches from Cherish losing herself in ecstasy. Any energy I did have she had completely wrung out of me, as she toyed with me and made me erupt countless times. All I can smell, and taste are her delicious berry notes. Deep red summer berries dance on my tongue from having tasted her sweet center. I might die today and yet my heart is almost light. My only regret is not being able to be fully intimate, to go to that next level of intimacy but that would require both of us surviving until tomorrow night, and the odds are not even worth looking at for that situation. /You never mentioned needing your beauty sleep before/ Kohl offered and I swear if wolves could smirk... I came around in the late afternoon, still in a tangle of white towels
The Beta's Prize 46. Cherish
I numbly stepped into the shower, reluctantly washing that enticingly fresh smell of apples from my skin. Perhaps if I stayed under the water and pretended I had heard nothing…no, there was no way to erase what I had just witnessed. Ivan to allow Denton to kill him in exchange for my freedom? The first deal was atrocious, this one was just sickeningly pointless. I heard the door creak as Ivan slowly stepped into the bathroom. He slid his shorts down and silently stepped into the large tiled shower space. He simply wrapped his arms around me, pulling my chest to his torso, his hands around my lower back. I followed, my arms naturally finding their place up on his huge shoulders, my hands tangling his coppery mane. The hot water rained down on both of our bodies as he softly stroked my spine up and down. “Cherish…I know you don’t want this but I would rather you had a chance at getting out of here. I’m dead anyway.” “Don’t say that,” I whispered, looking down as my tears mixed int
The Beta's Prize 47. Ivan
For the very final time, I wait in the holding cell. There are only two of us left as I am the second to last fight. The room stinks of men as I sit under a flickering strobe light examining my hand strapping for the thousandth time. The fighter after my match, Jackson is meditating away in the corner. Whatever helps I guess. Vincent knows that by suggesting a target to get to freedom it will spur fighters on. I imagine every rookie thinks they can do this ten or fifteen times if they had to. However Vincent, being the sick bastard he is, knows realistically, a shifter's body can only heal so much. Denton and I were probably fifty percent less powerful when we first arrived. My battle with Xavier sapped a lot of my inner strength, the whipping took Dentons. Now we are more vulnerable, fuelled not by muscle but primal emotions. Mine is the desperation to get back to Cherish, whereas Denton, all flaring black eyes and wild back beard, is angry. Sheer hatred for killing his only fri
The Beta's Prize 48. Ivan
My victory was all but assured as Denton lay on the floor, his hands trying to cover the gaping, bleeding wounds of his smashed ribcage I looked once more towards the box where Vincent and Kingsley sat. Kingsley had a victorious little smirk on his face, as though he was already planning his tortures for Cherish. Instead I ran to the ladder where hundreds of men were gathered waiting to congratulate me on my win. Instead of climbing I used every last bit of strength and wrenched it from the wall. Aware of the thousands of eyes on me, I was relieved when it came away with a large metal plate attached. The crowd gasped and muttered. Was I planning to decapitate Denton, put his head on a spike like a barbarian? Or maybe something even grislier? “He hated him, he’s going to make him suffer, go on Ivan!” they shouted, loving the idea of an even gorier death than they had seen before. They watched as I ripped the backing plate from the ladders struts, giving me a long piece of metal. More
The Beta's Prize 49. Cherish
I spend most of the evening sitting blankly on the bed beside a small black canvas bag. It contains just a few basic items of clothing and food. There is nothing of value I can include, no money, nothing to assist us once we get out of here. The trivialities of which long black dress to pack was robotically completed. After throwing up I cried whilst Martha softly held me until I fell asleep in her arms. Any remaining adrenaline must have ebbed away from my body, leaving me exhausted. Halo tried to soothe me by suggesting I conserve my strength for what was to come. However when I woke, flinching and flailing, Martha was still holding me, stroking my long blonde hair, perhaps imagining her own girls in my place. “Martha if he dies…will we really be free?” “I don't know but it is the closest I have ever come to it in all these years. Vincent doesn't like to be seen as a man of poor honor.” “But then Ivan…” “He has made a noble choice,” her voice more strict and matronly than friendl
The Beta's Prize 50. Ivan
I mentioned feeling as though I was on a tightrope when she first taunted me in the dark as she slowly headed around the bed a few weeks ago. So this was what it felt like to fall. That first knock on the door, getting nothing but silence, hit me like a sledgehammer. The plummet was sickening. Looking around the corridor, debris and carnage everywhere I started cursing myself for not getting back sooner. Out of desperation I tried that second knock, hearing her familiar scuffle and squeal sent me skyrocketing. My heart soared as though a trapeze artist had grabbed me mid-air. I know we don’t have time for this, we need to be on the move while it’s dark, whilst the crowd is still here causing chaos but fuck, the instant I see those blue eyes I cannot put her down. Her smile, the pure illuminated joy on her face is now etched into my memories. My goal in life is to never put her through such worry again. /Or yourself/ Kohl added, /we cannot let her go again./ We need to get out
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