At the female in the cage.
My heart sank at the sight of her. Despite being in my shifted form, I couldn’t see her clearly. Almost like smoke clouded her. There was only the outline of her cage, but I could scent her clearly. The false king hadn’t tried to hide that.
But there was something different about her. Something tinging her scent. It was something I didn’t recognise, though my beast seemed to recoil from it.
He’s done something, I thought, pressure building in my chest, anger rising when I noticedhimsitting on a throne beside her.
There was nothing hiding him from my view. No darkness surrounding him. While she sat in a cage, hidden from my sight, he sat proudly on his throne wearing a crown meant for arealking atop his head.
My claws extended at the sight of him. He appeared unharmed, though I couldn’t remember if I’d hurt him in my attack. I wished I’d sunk my claws into his throat when I had the chance, but I’d been so focused on getting my fated out that I’d barely even noticed his presence.
And now, I was in a cage, same as her. Now, I couldn’t do anything to save her.
“Let the fight begin!” The wicked demon’s voicerang out throughout the Pit, the sound carried by magic. It had the fur on my arms standing on end, but it excited the spectators, because their cheers created an ache in my ears, too loud to avoid.
Those words also had the bear moving in his cage. He didn’t have the same chains holding him down, though a collar had been placed around his neck, similar to mine—and likehers.
The cages rattled. I watched the bars of mine shift from glowing orange to nothing as they disappeared entirely. One by one, the chains holding me down were ripped away, taken by soldiers standing behind the barrier—a barrier that would keep us from escaping and them safe from attack. The collar clicked off and disappeared too, giving me a sudden clarity.
My handler had explained the magic to me vaguely. Said the barrier was created by charms. And those charms were in the ground.
A ground I felt beneath my hands. The rough dirt, the layers of earth, the different levels of the compound—all at my fingertips. And within these layers, I felt the presence of magic.
The brand on my chest had done more than protect me from the mind control Dante wielded.
It was giving me my magic back. Magic that should have been stripped away by the control Dante had over me.
The crowd’s roar turned into a dull hum in my ears as I focused on the bear. He, too, was stripped of the chains. Even the collar went away. His cage disappeared like mine, though he didn’t move.
There was something in his eyes that told me he wouldn’t attack first. Even my Primal recognised he wouldn’t. My Primal didn’t sense him as a real threat. Which was strange, because he had been before.
Behind the bear, my fated rose. Still, she was covered by a murky darkness. But I could make out her figure. The collar around her throat glowed softly, a hazy colour that reminded me of the moment she placed her string around my wrist and put her charm on me.
I felt the charm on me still, our small connection to one another. It was a burning reminder of why I needed to fight.
If I could not protect my fated, how could I save my people?
She needed to defeat Dante, only that would save them now. And I could ensure she did just that.
I rose to my full height, as did the bear, following my movements. He was large, but he was smaller than me by a few inches. I could see over his head into the stands where the false king had my mate.
The false king didn’t move from his throne, though a smile curved his lips. He brought his hands together, a sadistic glint entering the darkness of his gaze.
The bear finally took a lumbering step towards me before falling back onto all fours and roaring. Somehow, the power of that one sound had the soldiers falling silent. Because it was not a battle cry, not a shout of war. It meant something else to my Primal.
It was a call to action.
I matched that roar with one of my own, turning to the crowd as I did. Some soldiers flinched away. Others jumped from their seats in anger. There were many in the crowd too drunk on the control the false king had over them that they couldn’t react. Others were recognising that this was not for their entertainment.
In the darkness around the Pit, I noticed the red-headed female from the dining hall. I vaguely recognised her fighting the winged male from my home world. But there was something about her that gave me and my Primal pause.
There was a strange scent in the air. Something I’d never smelled before. It vaguely reminded me of the moments before a storm, when lightning struck the sky and thunder shook the earth.
A shudder rolled down my spine, a sense of awareness prickling through me.
My attention went back to the bear shifter, who steppedtowards me. My Primal made a similar move, though neither of us attacked.
I couldn’t be sure why he wouldn’t fight me. But it had the soldiers in a frenzy. They, too, didn’t understand.
