Fairy,my wolf added.
No shit,I thought.I can see the wings.
I moved sideways through the press of bodies, every shift of air against my skin telling me where people were, how close they stood. A caged-off corner reeked of human sweat and cheap cologne. A human bookie called out numbers, his voice cracking with greed, while hands shoved money through the bars. Humans here, inthis? Risking their lives for a payout?
We told them to stay away, to live in their own neighborhoods, shop at human-owned stores, and keep a healthy distance from anyone with magic in their blood. Flicking my eyes around, I could see that either our warnings meant nothing… or money and a magical high were worth more than survival.
A sharp, smoky burn scraped down my throat. The scent curled in my lungs, a gasp that tasted like a bonfire came out, and I coughed. A woman with black hair turned toward me, her eyes spilling into tendrils of smoke before snapping back to normal. She winked, laughter spilling from her mouth like sweet poison.
Demon.
Yeah,I thought,I figured that one out, too.
The room pressed in. My wolf rumbled, expressing his desire to roll around in all these new sights and sounds, and the soundvibrated through my ribs. My fingertips tingled with the urge to shift. I spotted an empty row at the top of the stands and climbed, every step easing the pressure a fraction.
From above, the chaos sharpened into something almost orderly. In the center ring, a fairy female with hair like orange flames crumpled under a banshee’s scream, clutching her head as fists rained down. Blood splattered the dirt, copper-sharp and hot in the air.
At first, I flinched, prepared to cover my ears, but every time she screamed, a ripple of magic shone around the ring. A barrier.
Bruised and battered, the fairy pulled herself up and flew off. Once the announcer claimed the banshee as the winner, a set of males came out, boasted a bit, then shifted into wolves. Their snarls rattled the metal rails before they charged at each other.
They slammed together, all claws and teeth, in a battle for dominance. After a few minutes, the brown one clamped onto the black wolf’s throat until the wetcrackof bone snapped, echoing against the barn doors. As the black wolf slumped to the floor, the brown wolf shifted back, human skin slick with blood, howling at the ceiling as if he could claim the night itself. The black wolf laid broken in a scarlet pool of its own blood, but his soft whimpers meant he was still alive. Supes didn’t die easy. You had to crush their heart to finish the job. It was the only way.
The air shifted again, clean, crisp, with an electric buzz that stung my nose and crackled against my tongue. I looked around. Off to the side was a female who flicked her fingers toward the wolf. Air curled under him like invisible hands, lifting him off the ground.
Mage.
Yes. They were born into this world like humans, but inside them laid a power to control the elements. Those beings were just as dangerous as the ones who were monstrous in appearance.
The mic squealed overhead, and the whole room froze. Even the air knew to hold still.
“Aaaaare yyyyyou rrrrready?!”
The crowd’s answer hit like a physical wave. Hot breath, stamping feet, and raw animal hunger for violence rolled over me in one deafening roar.
Grinding my teeth, I shut my eyes and hummed under my breath, trying to drown out the deafening mix of voices, footsteps, and pounding heartbeats, but it was no use. My ears rattled. My body shook. My breath caught as the magic in the air rolled over my skin in shimmering waves, making every nerve spark.
Was being around other supes always going to be like this? Or was it just because there were so damn many packed into one place?
Then a tantalizing scent found me, slicing through the tangled knot of stimuli.
Cool, clean air. Crisp as the first breath at sunrise. Beneath it, a thread of wildflowers, delicate but unshakable, wove through the chaos until it reached me. Then came the last note, honeysuckle—sweet, lingering, curling into my lungs slow and sure like it belonged there.
I froze mid-breath, holding it in as though exhaling might make it vanish. It didn’t. It grew, subtle and relentless, spilling warmthinto my chest until my heartbeat shifted, slower, heavier, hungrier. Every inhale pulled it deeper so that it settled in my bones, seeping into hollow places I didn’t know were empty until that moment.
The noise of the crowd dulled to nothing. The thrum of magic faded. It was just that scent, steady and certain, pulling me toward its source like it had my name written in it.
Then I looked up.
?*The crowd parted, and she stepped through, a woman with a wild, wavy mane of white hair and a smile that made my beast slam into the bars of his cage in my chest.
“It’s now our faaavvvvoooorrrite time of the night!” the announcer bellowed, gesturing to a fighter off to the right. “Our challenger, Brutus Hamersmith, is looking to take a shot at claiming the top spot of the Rossey clan leader!”
The beast inside me lunged to the surface, his focus zeroed in on her. Her head tilted toward the man walking beside her. His face was pinched, brows drawn tight, a stark contrast to her wide, careless smile.
A deep growl crawled up my throat.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
