She pulls her lips back over her petite fangs, her face incredulous.
“His camouflage was terrible. Could you really not see him?”
“Nope, guess my human eyeballs just suck,” I pout.
“Kitaico and Roinsi are much better in the art of evasion than poor Guion was,” she says sadly.
“Why didn’t Aekaz hide?”
“It’s the way of things, the hopeful deemed the strongest hunts the others. It is a point of pride among our males to win at a disadvantage.”
“I’m over male pride.” I slump further into my seat.
I wish I was strong enough to look away from the screens, but I can’t. As Aekaz throws boulders bigger than a midsize sedan around the arena, I’m transfixed.
Where are you, Kitaico?
Unfortunately, even I can spot him when the burned tip of his foretentacle,the one I shot off,comes into the camera’s frame.
The portion of skin near the most damaged bit pulses yellow, as if it can’t change like the rest of his hide. The burn mark stays the color he normally is.
“You fool.” Aekaz’s voice is broadcast through the arena as he grabs Kitaico’s damaged appendage.
But Kitaico doesn’t thrash like his first victim. Instead, he swipes his foot around, kicking out the other hopeful’s legs.
As Aekaz drops to the dirt, Kitaico scrambles up the nearby rock, jockeying for a better position. But the brute jumps back up to his feet, looking up at my mate and laughing with his whole body.
“Having the higher ground will do nothing to stop me,” he says before rushing Kitaico like hell on wheels, scrambling up the side of the rocks.
Despite Kitaico’s defensive stance, when Aekaz’s hand grips his arm, he can do little but try to stay as far back as his reach allows.
“I’ll be sure that your mate is well taken care of,” he tells my alien, his vicious voice dripping from the speakers.
The combination of the glint in his eye, his grip on Kitaico’s arm, and seeing what he did to the first male has my vision tunnelling.
I think I scream when Aekaz spins my mate around, pushing his chest into the pile of rocks as he pins him down, using his knee to hold Kitaico’s arm tightly against his back.
I can almost make out the feeling of the many hands that must be supporting me, but through the blur of tears, I cannot bring myself to avert my gaze. My body feels like it’s operating on its own, separate from my mind.
Kitaico’s shoulder muscles twist and his jaw clamps as he tries to get out from under the giant Andjin’s grip.
Aekaz turns his eyes skyward, ignoring the struggling male beneath him. He doesn’t even break a sweat keeping his hold. Cockily, he looks directly into the camera before leaning down and whispering into my mate’s ear.
“You’ve met your fate, and his name is Ae?—”
25
no antidote
Aekaz’s kneepresses into the space between my shoulder blades, forcing me against the rough outcropping of rocks. Behind me, the brothers grapple with his leg, their frantic efforts to dislodge him proving futile against his unyielding strength.
His grip is unshakable, trapping my arm behind my back and leaving me helpless to escape no matter how much force I exert with my free hand.
I’ve been bested by Aekaz.
He’s taking his time, showing off to the arena. I feel like a prize kill, about to be dispatched by its hunter.
I know he’s yelling at the crowds, but I can’t make out what he’s saying because all I can hear is a muffled scream through his nonsense. The sound is far away, but I’d know the tenor of Lena’s voice anywhere.
