“Yes!” Lynx shouts, jumping up and cheering Kitten on.
I catch a few shifters secretly smiling as well while Brook reaches for the dagger in his leg.
‘Sorry to put a damper on everyone’s mood, but have you noticed anything off with the other shifters?’Knots points out.
I quickly scout around the ring, and my stomach sours at my discovery. Rebel tattoos slowly appear on half the shifters around the ring, one after another. Thankfully, it’s not everyone, but what’s so disturbing is the fact that they: one, have infiltrated Dad’s pack, and two, everyone is comfortable mingling with them as a whole.Since when have we been socializing with the Rebels?
‘Ahhh,’War gasps.‘I see now is the perfect time for you to implement the Rage Induction.’
‘Teach me,’I practically yip, eagerly awaiting to learn how to tear apart my enemies without getting bloody.
‘To start, find two shifters that seem close and comfortable with each other, and once you find them, focus on their bodylanguage. Your new talents will allow you to see a film around each of them as they move and interact, like an invisible shield.’
As I focus on the closest animated couple next to me, my sight wavers slightly until a red checkered shield surrounds the couple.Why is it red and checkered?
‘The Checkered represents a new, unstable relationship that has merged. Red means they are bonding over mutual anger,’War explains.‘Now what you need to do is mentally grab ahold of their net and separate them while having the intent to cause strife between them.’
‘It’s that simple?’I ask, cocking my head to the side and looking at the net moving over the couple.
‘That's simple?’War scoffs.‘The goal is to do this to entire armies, causing thousands of soldiers to turn on each other within seconds, and you haven’t even done it to two shifters yet. So don’t brag to me until you can do it to a crowd with a mere thought,’he growls, and I feel my lower back flare with heat before going cold, and his presence is gone.
Well, shit. Didn’t mean to piss off my mentor, but I guess he does have a point. I haven’t even tried, and I’m calling his power easy to wield. Following War’s instructions, I reach out and grab the net only to have it slip through my fingers.Fuck.Okay.Concentrate, Knox. You can do this, I murmur to myself as I mentally attempt to grab the film moving along their body.
This time, I snatch the red netting and pull them apart, separating the shifters’ connections from each other. The once red netting shreds apart with some effect, and one of the nets swiftly changes to deep blue while the other stays the same red.
Blinking a few times, my eyesight returns to normal, right as the fruit of my labor begins. The couple immediately starts arguing and gets into a heated debate. I can’t tell what they are fighting over, and it quickly gets somewhat physical, so they are asked to leave and are escorted away from the Blood Matches.
I hate to admit it, but War might know what he’s talking about. It’s time to make miniature wars and help my Kitten out.
Rez
As I circle and keep Captain Brookes in my peripheral vision, I watch as he curses up a storm as he falters trying to grab the knife I just plunged into his leg. It gives me a few moments to catch my breath and check to see if any of my magic is picking up anything else. I don’t have any more extensive visions like before, but knowledge pours in of what Brooks has done. It’s as if his sins are being categorized for me. Is this what it’s like for Bez? Fuck, Beelzebub is like Santa Claus on steroids, except I’m not the one looking through the naughty-or-nice list; I’m sitting back as a list of his atrocities is being spelled out for me.
“Oh, Brooks,” I say in a singsong tone, as the list ends and my stomach turns to stone after ingesting everything thisthinghas done. “It seems you need to atone for a lot of things. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
Brooks finally grabs the dagger from the back of his leg and flings it back at me, only for me to dodge. He runs at me andswings, but I step into it, flipping him over, and slamming the palm of my hand into his nose.
“Carmen, the deer shifter you assaulted and murdered!” I yell, grabbing another one of Ryker’s daggers. I cut across his cheek too fast for him to stop me, and a chunk of skin and most of his cheek go flying. “Danielle and Danny, the twins that you sold off to demons,” I growl.
He manages to throw me off, but I get back up. The look of horror crosses his face as he gingerly touches his cheek and finds it isn’t healing.
“Poison dipped daggers.” I lift Ryker’s dagger in my hand and wink.
Anger flashes over his face as he starts to whisper something right as a horn blasts.
“Next stage is shifting. To Death,” someone yells, and the crowd cheers as I watch Captain Brooks carefully. He finishes his incantation and gives me a smirk when I watch the rebel tattoo become visible and alive on his intact cheek before he starts shifting.
‘Rez?’Lynx calls out.
‘I saw it, Lynx,’I tell him, watching Captain Brooks’ muscles expand, and he grows taller than me.
‘Did you happen to see the others? Or were you just focused on the Captain?’Lynx asks.
‘Others?’I ask, quickly looking behind the half-shifted form that Brooks was changing into, and that’s when I realize we’re up shit creek, and we’re probably going to die. Blood Match or not, this is it for us.‘Aww Shit.’Most of the shifters that I spot surrounding the ring have Rebel tattoos in various places that have now become alive and are proudly on display.
‘There’s the panic I needed to make sure you had. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled program. As you were. Good luck,’Lynx says.
‘Well, Zareen. Any time now, I’m ready for your magic tricks,’I say, as I pull my glaives and look at the weakest points on this goliath of muscled silverback gorilla before me. We’re so gonna die.
