To ensurewe wouldn’t make the same mistake twice in a row, Alaric returned to his hotel that night, much to our mutual disappointment. But I reassured myself that Alaric was mine, and I was his. Soon the Games would be over, and we’d live the rest of our lives in peace.
I woke up bright and early on the day of the third challenge, but I didn’t feel the usual calm joy of morning. I was uncharacteristically restless and irritable. My skin felt hot and tight, almost itchy in its discomfort. Being torn apart from my fated mate must’ve upset my inner dragon, who wanted to break the cage of my human flesh.
Calm down, Jade,I reminded myself.It was only a single night.
Still, my dragon rumbled, pacing crossly within my soul. I attributed the cause to our separation from Alaric and ignored it. The sooner we completed this final challenge, the better.
As I made my way towards the beach, my discomfort intensified. My dragon stirred, agitated. I didn’t understand. I had no evidence to indicate anything was amiss—just a ‘gut feeling,’ as they say. But I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Gaius stood ahead waiting for me. I spotted him easily easily thanks to his pink shirt. Behind him, the contestants sat spread out on picnic blankets on the beach. Unfortunately, my eyesight was my Achilles heel. I couldn’t discern exactly what was going on. I pushed up my glasses, squinting harder.
I stopped. Therewassomething out of the ordinary. The omegas’ hands were awkwardly folded in front of them. The distance was too great to make out any detail—like a head of white hair.
My stomach tightened for reasons I didn’t understand. I hurried to reach Gaius, but he caught up with me halfway, as if cutting me off from the scene. He gave me a quick pat on the shoulder as greeting, then launched into his announcement before I could question him.
“Good morning! We’re all here, folks, so let’s begin the third and final challenge!” Gaius declared to the film crew. “Mister bachelor, join me this way...”
Since the cameras were rolling, I forced a polite reaction, but my gut reaction didn’t fade. Something wasn’t right.
But Gaius didn’t lead metowardsthe omegas—he pushed me in the opposite direction.
“Could I get a crumb of context, please?” I asked dryly.
“A crumb you shall receive,” Gaius said. “Along with... this!”
His jovial tone didn’t reassure me. My suspicions turned out to be valid when he pulled out a black fabric strip. An eye covering. It wasn’t from my collection, thank Holy Drake, but my stomach still lurched.
Nothing was obviously amiss, so I brushed it off. It must’ve been my dragon’s agitation starting to get to me. I calmed myself and took the fabric.
“I’m meant to put this on, I suppose,” I said, unable to hide my lack of enthusiasm.
“Yes! And I’ll take your glasses, please. Thank you.”
I grimaced. I felt naked and helpless without my glasses, but I conceded with a sigh. I handed them over to Gaius in exchange for the silk covering. As I quickly placed it across my eyes, I heard thethudof the protective glasses case shutting.
“All right. Now, will you please explain the challenge, dear host?” I asked.
“I’m so glad you asked, dear bachelor,” Gaius replied, apparently oblivious to my trepidation. “Today, our challenge is a spicy one. Our omega contestants are bound, and you’re going to be the one to free them!”
Unease swirled in my gut.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted.
“It’s simple, my scaly friend, and so are the knots! You’ll have to untie each contestant—without your vision, of course.”
My blood turned to ice. Bondage was not something to be done lightly. If the binds were done poorly or without the correct knowledge, it could harm the omegas. I was going to throttle whoever put forth this asinine concept.
But Gaius said the knots were simple. He was always honest, so I believed him. That was the only thing suppressing my temper. Besides, however idiotic my brothers could be, they wouldn’t purposely put the contestants in danger.
I hoped.
“Worry not, my draconic friend,” Gaius said. “Just becauseyoucan’t see doesn’t mean you’re alone. The omegas can see the binds, so they’ll walk you through the process. See? You’ll get through this challenge together!”
I had the sudden violent urge to rend Gaius into chicken nuggets.
“So, what is the purpose of this challenge, exactly?” I demanded, struggling to maintain civility.
“Teamwork! You can’t be fated mates without being able to work together, right? Plus, you’ll share a tender moment witheach contestant. Maybe a certain special contestant will have extra time with you...”
