Duty Roulette Novels & Stories

The day of judgment was set in the family's underground council chamber. Alexander slammed a revolver onto the table in front of all the elders. "Russian Roulette," he said, scanning the room coldly. "One bullet, a one-in-six chance. If the Donna survives, the past is wiped clean." The elders whispered among themselves and eventually nodded in agreement. Alexander didn't check the cylinder in public; he seemed confident in his arrangement. He picked up the gun and strode over to me.

“So what, we all just go out there and get mauled to death every night?” “No,” I said firmly. “Not all of us. We test in pairs.” That led to more arguments—over who would be inside, who would be outside, who would be responsible for recording data. In the end, we decided to let chance decide. Nyra tore four scraps of paper, marked two with a faint charcoal X, folded them up, and tossed them into the empty bread basket. We each drew one. When I unfolded mine, the bare paper stared back at me. Inside duty.

Riley, her blonde hair cascading like a waterfall over her shoulder, flashed a wicked smile, revealing a bottle of 'Silver Serpent' tequila from behind her back. "Ever played 'Confession Roulette'?" she teased, waving the bottle enticingly. Cathy's eyebrows shot up, "That sounds dangerous. Rules?" Riley giggled, "Simple. We spin the bottle. The person it points to takes a shot and then has to confess something they've never told anyone. If they refuse, it's two shots and a dare. Think of it as 'Truth or Dare' with a bit more...bite." The allure of the game was too hard to resist. The first spin had the bottle pointing at Cathy. After gulping down the sharp tequila, which made her wince, she

“What is that? I didn't quite get the term he used. Do you mind explaining?” As the words left my lips, I paused for a second and waited patiently for a response. When her lips finally opened, she gave me a response. And it went thus. “I have community duty. It is mostly given to the faulting workers of the alpha, and sadly, despite how hard I've tried to keep a clean sheet, I have one punishment mark. I have to make sure that is done if the pack prisoners do community duty. These are the ones that tried to harm the pack and the members that tried to cause harm. Done of them are sentenced to community duty, and it is my job to make sure I guard them all through the cleaning and clearing and

“That puts two full patrols on rotation and one reserve. This is good coverage. Anything else, Princess?” “Rotate them in twelve-hour shifts until the Rite begins,” I said. “We don’t want anyone exhausted. If anyone looks tired, I want them replaced before they start making mistakes.” “As you command,” he said. Then his gaze sharpened beyond my shoulder. “Della.” I barely had time to turn before Della rushed up, braid swinging, and the scent of clean linen trailing after her. She slowed when she saw her father, adjusted her shoulders, and tried for a dignified walk. It lasted for three steps.

Everyone knew it. Cole nodded once. “Fine.” Rylan glanced at Tomas. “Guess you’re stuck with me.” Tomas looked unimpressed. “Try to survive the experience.” Rylan grinned despite himself. Lotty let out a small breath, tension easing just a fraction. Matthew stepped closer to the center of the room. “Rotation one: Cole with Garrick in the hall. Rylan with Tomas for external escort coverage. Every six hours you swap.” Adam added, “No one moves Lotty or Decker anywhere without at least one guard from each pack present. No exceptions.”

I said. Kaelor looked at the logs. "It's not Aldus," he said. "No," I said. "Aldus was in the northern clearing. Someone used his name,someone who knew his schedule well to know which slots he wouldn't actually be filling." "Someone on the rotation management side," Kaelor said. "Someone with access to the unsigned rotation template," I said. "Who sees which slots are empty before the assigned wolves sign them." "The rotation management function," Kaelor said carefully. "While Darius was at the

I knew the reason he kept them around was not to receive blessings and wealth, but rather for protection. He wanted to be warded off from the dead and to protect himself from divine retribution. Every year, he would find people blessed with good destiny whom he would swap destiny with. That way, he ensured business operations would continue to progress. Job was one of his victims. He also made sure to have my destiny swapped as well. When I turned eighteen, the clairvoyant predicted there was going to be a terrible, unescapable disaster that was going to befall me.

"I know we've had our differences, but I need someone who can fight without hesitation. Someone who won't freeze if things go bad." Mara's expression shifts from surprise to fierce determination. "You got it, Luna." The title still feels strange coming from her. From any of them, really. Phoenix pulls up a new screen. "I've been monitoring their patrol schedules. They rotate guards every four hours. Next rotation is in ninety minutes. That's our window—they'll be tired from their shift but not fresh enough to be sharp." "Ninety minutes." Ryder checks his watch. "Everyone gear up. Light and mobile. No heavy weapons—we need speed over firepower."

He responded. "What's the bad news then?" She asked him. "You would have to play Nikamura's part pending when your weak body is away. That means I'm stuck with trying to teach you everything she knows because ours is a dangerous world." He said. "Hmm, figures I have no choice. It'll be until when I heal then." She said to him. "No...we start immediately. There's an auction coming up and we need you to be Nikamura no matter what." He said to her.