“I don’t know anything,” I say weakly, body still trembling as it slowly, painfully, comes back from the edge.Caleb’s good humor immediately vanishes. His smirk drops into a glare of disapproval. “Cover yourself, whore.” In a flourish, he turns away from me and walks to the door.He’s not giving me
Both of our gazes shoot to the open doorway, where the Pitmaster stands, her face twisted in disbelief.“You would dare disobey your king?”“The King who condemned me?” Kidd snaps. “What loyalty do I have to him? Besides, we both know if he really cared about this slut, he wouldn’t have sent her dow
Under the tutelage of the Pitmaster, I begin to train more fully. The smaller blade is easier to manage and I can make several quick strikes against the training dummy without tiring.“Not good enough,” the Pitmaster says. “You are still too slow. And your need for breaks is too frequent. With how l
However, in the time it takes to say it, the girl grabs my discarded blade, jumps to her feet, and tries to stab me.I step backwards but the Pitmaster moves faster. Bringing down her sword, she lobs the girls hand clean off. The girl cries and crumples. My sword… and her hand… fall to the ground.“
With my sword resting at my side, I don’t sleep at all that night. When the morning comes, and the Pitmaster summons me, I’m almost relieved to finally face my fate. Lying awake all night, stressing and dreading this moment has not been kind to my mind and body.I’m not suicidal, but I want this str
Concentrating, Caleb masterfully uses his werewolf aura to control the lionesses down in the arena. Without his influence, they would have devoured Harper within the first minute of being released. He can’t let things end that quickly. The lionesses are hungry, though. The tug against his control,
Whatever was holding the beasts back seems to have vanished now.Sword in hand, I slash this way and that, but still they prowl closer as if looking for a chance to strike. I do my best to hold them off, but I am no warrior. My back hurts, and I am growing tired.I fight as hard as I can, even thoug
Caleb paces outside of the hospital room where inside, the doctors continue to try to save Harper’s life. It’s been thirty minutes so far, and still they work. A nurse he stopped told him, with fear in her eyes that it could be hours still before their work is done.“There’s so much bleeding,” that
That’s… odd. I was expecting more fight from him. At the very least, I thought he might just storm off and leave me alone. But now he wants to… help? Maybe my words got through to him. Does he now see how important it is for us to work together to survive? Containing my pride, I return to my wor
For a brief moment, Caleb’s entire face goes slack with shock. In that instant, I feel vindicated, like maybe he’ll learn something now. However, in the next second, his face hardens instead. His words like ice, he says, “What did you just say to me?” Any other day, maybe I would have backed dow
My main worry is for Tristan and his safety on his dangerous mission. My second worry, however, is for myself, as I’m now alone with him in this farmhouse. There are no other slaves, or servants. No cooks. No cleaners. No other harem women to sate his needs – although that makes me more pleased than
Tristan and Caleb, talking lightly. I also notice that the clothes I left on the coffee table for Caleb are gone. Standing from the couch, I cross the room, closer to the door. “You can’t just go back storming through the gates,” Tristan says. “We don’t know the state of anything right now. Geor
Bethany keeps her head down, completing her work scrubbing the blood from the balcony while trying to not to panic about the very clearly bear soldiers still in the capital, posing as King’s guards. All the while, she waits for her chance to come forward and warn the Gamma about what she’s seeing.
Eventually, once the shooting and the screaming ends, Bethany crawls out from under her bed. There are so many safe rooms in the capital but each one she tried was taken with people of higher rank than her, unwilling to share their space with her. In the end, with nowhere else to go, she retreated b
Caleb pats his thigh like he wants me to come sit on his lap. He can’t be serious. The man could barely walk across the room on his own and now he wants to have sex? “We should wait,” I start to say. His eyes narrow. “You dare deny your king?” He adds a frown. “Or do you think your king incapabl
Caleb gently twists his body this way and that, feeling each poke of discomfort. “That explains why I feel like swiss cheese. Help me to the couch then, damn it.” Tristan and Harper both help Caleb to his feet and together they shuffle toward the floral-pattern couch against the wall. “A bed wou
Caleb’s vision is red as he closes his hands around the traitor’s throat. He has her up against the wall, her feet dangling, kicking wildly. She claws at Caleb’s hands with her dull human fingernails, as if that would ever be enough for him to not see justice done. “C-Caleb…” she gasps, the villai