I choked.
“Just one hundred fights” echoed around my head like a bullet.
Sometimes, it was important in stressful situations to ground yourself and remember your core value. Mine was the ability to throw my blood and infect someone until they became my mental slave.
It was the only thing that kept me from crumpling to my knees and crying like a baby.
“Follow me. You’ll begin your training today.” The don opened a door and led us down a dimly lit hallway.
Beta men in black suits flanked us on all sides, holding massive machine guns. The lights flickered.
What was it with this realm and creepy flickering lights?
We followed him into a narrow elevator that I recognized from a book on advanced technologies back in the shifter realm. Nondescript music played, and our reflections rippled across the sleek glass panels of the small box.
“Um, also, one last thing.” I tilted my head to the don. “The girls need an education. Lucinda is only sixteen, and I believe the others are of similar ages?”
Jax nodded at the don. “Jess is eighteen, Jala is fourteen, and Jinx is twelve. I would appreciate it if you could figure out schooling for them.”
The don pressed his palm against black glass, and the white light of the elevator turned dark red.
Abruptly, we plummeted downward.
If I had any sense of self-preservation, I might have panicked and screamed.
Instead, I couldn’t hold back the laughter that escaped my lips as my hair floated around me and my feet elevated off the floor.
In contrast, the men’s faces were stoic as they levitated upward.
Xerxes’s long blond locks curled up at the ends in all directions. He twirled his dagger in midair and glared at me.
Once again, the scent of sweet cinnamon filled the space with undertones of frost, chestnuts, and pine.
Abruptly, the elevator stopped moving, and I slammed back down. The door opened with a whoosh, and I stumbled forward on unsteady legs.
Ascher caught my arm and held me upright, his tattoos pulled taut across his cut jaw as he growled with annoyance. “Be careful.”
A pitch-black corridor greeted us.
The only sources of light were neon cursive words on the wall that said, Hell is paved in the bones of the disloyal, which didn’t have the same shock value the second time around.
The don led us forward.
The dark hall seemed to go on forever and was eerily quiet, and instead of panicking over that fact, I focused on ranking the different wall sayings from most inspirational to least.
- Sweat, Suffer, Survive—A fun little remake of “Live, Laugh, Love.” Gotta respect the angsty creativity. Whoever had written it was definitely in their feels. Ten out of ten, inspired.
- Rage-fight like a beast, annihilate coldly like the moon goddess—Very badass. When had the moon goddess become a terrifying figure? I thought she was associated with inner peace? I liked their version better. Eight out of ten, inspired.
- Mess with an alpha, and you fuck with the pack—I liked it, but also, too soon. Seven out of ten, inspired.
- When it’s time to rest, scheme; when it’s time to fight, massacre—Hm, didn’t know how to feel about it. I valued a nice rest day. Six out of ten, inspired.
- A death for an eye, and the beast realm survives—It reminded me of another saying, but I couldn’t remember what it was. Points off because it was confusing. Two out of ten, inspired.
- Busted knuckles, split lips, broken bones, loaded gun, and it’s only Monday—Immediately, no. One out of ten, made me uncomfortable.
- Half-breeds warning: War is coming—For obvious reasons, zero out of ten. Very creepy and upsetting, unnecessary half-breed slander if you asked me.
The don turned to make small talk, and I pretended I wasn’t having a panic attack over the last saying.
“What about the boy with you—I believe he said his name was Aran? Does he need to go to school?” His tone was too casual.
I shook my head and tried to appear nonchalant. “No, he’s twenty-four and a water fae, so he won’t be attending school. He’ll look after the girls.”
If by “looking after the girls,” I meant “asphyxiate them in their sleep,” then Aran was going to get Nanny of the Year.
“Hm.”
Could snakes sense lies?
The don kept leading us down the narrow hall. “I will arrange for education for the girls. Do you know what they will shift into?”
I shrugged. “Um, I’m an alpha, but we don’t know our parents, so I’m not 100 percent sure Lucinda will also be an alpha.”
Jax had been trailing behind with the other men, but now he walked forward to stand beside me. “No, all my sisters are adopted. We are unsure of any of their parentage.”
A sense of déjà vu washed through me.
I shivered.
It was probably just chance, but it seemed weird that none of us knew who our real parents were.
Half-breeds warning: War is coming.
Nope, I was not dwelling on it, and instead pictured prancing through a fae flower field.
My imagination was shit, because the field warped into a dungeon and massive rats climbed over me.
“Oh shit. Legolas.”
The don stopped walking. “What?”
“The dude in the prison, he said something. Some star thing…” It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t quite remember it.
Everyone looked at me expectantly, and I scrunched my nose like I was remembering.
Really, my mind was completely blank. All I could recall was the awful stench of the feces.
Cobra walked forward from where he was whispering something to Ascher (give a man a pack, and suddenly they’re all buddy-buddy) and sneered, “Legolas from the High Court, position 4444, said to alert someone that he was being held hostage in the, now very dead, fae queen’s prison. Also, Sadie, your memory is shit.”
My chest rattled as I growled at him.
Cobra hissed back.
Sun god forbid a girl have a slight mental lapse after fighting for her life against an evil ruler and being tortured. Also, I’d never claimed to be the brightest; my talents were elsewhere.
The don’s eyes glowed. “You are sure that is what he said?”
Cobra looked bored. “Positive.”
The don gulped, his Adam’s apple moving and distorting his neck tattoo until the O in “Loyalty” was stretched. “I will alert someone right away. You don’t want to mess with the High Court.”
“Who?” I asked at the same time as the men.
The don grabbed a handle of a door that was hidden in the darkness of the hall. “The people that rule over all the realms. More powerful than you can imagine.”
I gaped. The don’s long black hair swished behind him as he casually walked through the door like he hadn’t just obliterated my entire concept of how the world worked.
Legolas had talked a good game, but I hadn’t actually believed him. The man was an emaciated prisoner in a dungeon, for sun god’s sake. Who knew what those conditions did to a person’s mind?
“I’m gonna be sick,” I mumbled.
“No time for that. We have to survive,” Jax whispered under his breath, and once again Ascher placed his palm against my lower back, gently guiding me forward.
Cobra and Xerxes stood stiffly behind us.
The first thing I noticed was the noise: the eerie silence of the hall was replaced with a shrieking voice and loud, banging instruments.
The second thing I noticed was the towering ceiling.
The room was dimly lit and filled with neon-red lights and hazy smoke, and it reeked of cigarettes and sweat.
Did no one turn up the lights in this realm, and what was with the excessive smoking?
The third thing I noticed was the dozen fighting rings scattered across the floor. In between the roped-off mats, weights and barbells were strewn everywhere.
Alphas pounded each other with their fists, and loud cracks echoed as they broke bones.
Blood, sweat, and saliva flew.
There were a couple dozen alphas, all shirtless and either fighting one another or lifting massive amounts of weight.
The powerful stench of sweat overwhelmed the different alpha scents, creating a disturbing combination that reminded me of dozens of candles burning. If the scent of the candle was BO with musky undertones.
A voice yelled, “The don arrives!”
Abruptly, everyone stopped fighting or lifting and shifted into a wide-legged stance.
Heads bowed, arms clasped behind backs.
Someone turned off the screeching music.
I decided to not dwell on the glowing handguns tucked into the sweaty shorts of almost every alpha.
The don addressed the room, his voice harsh and commanding. “We have five new recruits. One of them is an omega, and one is a female alpha. They are all bonded to each other except for the female alpha.”
Way to rub it in.
There was light muttering around the room.
Cobra muttered something under his breath, and I didn’t miss the fact that he and Jax shifted slightly in front of Xerxes.
Ascher’s fingers pressed harder against my lower back.
The don’s voice deepened an octave, and he spoke with a slight hiss. “There are confidential extenuating circumssstancesss ssssurrounding them. All you need to know isss they didn’t grow up in Ssserpentine City and are unaware of mossst of our culture. Anyone who hasss an isssue with the omega initiating can bring their complaintsss directly to me.”
Alphas stopped muttering and bowed their heads deeper.
I’d bet all my supposed money, which notably I had yet to see any of (and no one had told me how to claim my credits), that no one was going to bring a complaint to the don.
His massive white snake slithered lazily around his neck.
The don smiled and relaxed his shoulders, probably sensing that he was the most terrifying bastard in the room, and continued his speech.
“They will join the two alphas currently initiating.”
He gestured over to the only two people who stood in a fighting ring without guns tucked into their waists. It was a man and a female.
I’d been nervous because I’d only seen three women in the entire room, and I had a long, torrid love affair with toxic masculinity and alpha douche canoes.
What could I say? The small-dick men smelled my potent female stench and got all hot and bothered. “Hot” as in overheated by rage; “bothered” as in embarrassingly worried about how to detach my head from my body.
But now I was going through super-fun alpha-beast gang initiation, a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, with another female alpha.
Thank the sun god.
The don gestured for us to join the other two initiates, slapped Cobra on his back, and marched out of the room.
As soon as the door shut behind him, the loud, screeching music turned back on.
Alphas resumed grunting and flexing.
Weights slammed down and shook the floor with vibrations.
Jax led us forward as we walked through the sea of sweaty half-naked men toward where the don had pointed.
Most of the alphas had cigarettes hanging from their lips as we navigated through the fighting rings.
A scary-looking alpha leaned forward and purposely blew his smoke into my face. His bald head was unnaturally shiny.
I coughed and gagged with disgust.
Before I could introduce my knee to his balls, Ascher guided me forward. He whispered in my ear, “He’s not worth it.”
The alpha grinned and muttered something under his breath as Ascher pushed me past him, and I mentally debated how bad it would be if I made the jerk my blood servant. Or maybe I’d shift and show off my massive canines.
That would teach him respect.
The other men said nothing, and I grumbled as we continued forward.
A week ago, Xerxes would have stabbed the jerk, and Cobra would have tried to rip off his eyelids to defend my honor.
Now they didn’t even blink, like they were fine with people treating me like shit.
My chest burned with disappointment.
It’s for the best.
I didn’t want men who only protected me when it suited them. I wanted men who wanted me for me and genuinely cared.
We arrived at the fighting ring splattered in blood that the don had pointed at.
A large red-haired alpha with a gun strapped in his shorts and “Loyalty” tattooed across his pecs stepped forward. “I’m Z, one of the trainers for initiates.”
There was a long, awkward pause as he looked over each of us, then stared at me.
“You’re a female alpha?”
He raised his red eyebrows in disbelief.
I was still silently fuming at the men’s lack of response to the jerk blowing smoke in my face, so I didn’t bother to respond.
Z asked me, “Where did they say you were from?”
“They didn’t say,” I snapped back.
“You have interesting coloring.” He reached a hand forward like he was going to touch my hair, but Xerxes shifted in front of me and blocked him.
The queen’s soldier was back, and Xerxes’s voice was glacier cold. “I believe introductions were conducted.”
Z nodded and smiled good-naturedly as he took his attention off me and back to the two alphas standing in the ring with him. “This is Clarissa and James. This is their first day at the fight club too, so you guys will be initiating together.”
Clarissa reached forward and shook Ascher’s hand, licking her lush lips.
She slowly ran her eyes over his tattooed body.
From the way she stepped closer into his personal space, she liked what she saw.
Ascher was expressionless, but he didn’t push her away or tell her off.
A razor blade stabbed inside my gut.
She was tall and stunning. Standing next to each other, she and Ascher looked like the perfect match. No one would ever wonder why they were together.
Finally, Clarissa stepped away from Ascher and moved toward me.
I stuck my hand forward with a forced smile, but she didn’t smile back and just let my hand hang there awkwardly.
James snickered next to her, his features similar to Clarissa’s. He bunched up his nose like I smelled.
Great, rude alphas.
Groundbreaking.
I stepped back and rolled my eyes like I wasn’t bothered while discreetly sniffing my armpits.
There was definitely an odor coming off me—stress sweat was real—but it wasn’t that noxious. Aran’s fart had been way worse.
Clarissa ignored me and turned to Cobra.
He gave her a dashing smile.
“I’m Cobra. Pleasure to meet you.”
His jewels sparkled across his annoyingly perfect features as he bowed to her.
Jax shifted uncomfortably. Ascher looked over at me with wide eyes, and it took me a long second to realize what had just happened.
Cobra was talking to her.
A woman.
My heart dropped in my chest.
Great. Now he’d gotten over his past trauma and toxic masculinity and decided to talk to the female sex.
For the first time, and last time, I missed the patriarchy.
Cobra smiled at a female alpha who was literally one of the prettiest people I’d ever seen and looked nothing like me.
My shadow snake sensed my distress and gave a zip of comfort across my skin, sending me images of cuddling and happiness.
Melancholy filled me at the reminder of whose the snake had once been, but I focused on sending it loving images back.
At least I still had a shadow snake, even if that was all I got from Cobra.
“I’m Clarissa. The pleasure is all mine. I’ve never met someone with jewels in their skin.” She shook his hand coyly and fluttered her long sooty eyelashes.
Cobra said smoothly, “You have a lovely name.”
The razor blade in my gut became a machete.
As they clasped their hands together, overly long if you ask me, Cobra had the audacity to look over his shoulder and smirk at me.
Fuck him. If he wanted to make love with another woman’s hand, that was his prerogative.
He’d made it clear I was nothing to him.
I purposefully lifted my fingers to my face and gave the snake a little kiss. “Such a good little snake,” I praised, and it shivered with happiness.
I sent it more visions of love and kisses, and it barrel-rolled with glee across my gold skin.
Cobra’s face fell, and an unnamed emotion flashed across his face. He abruptly released Clarissa’s hand, stumbling back like she’d stung him.
Clarissa didn’t notice anything and gave her amorous attention to both Jax and Xerxes.
She cooed over Xerxes’s hair and marveled at Jax’s size until I wanted to gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon.
Her brother, James, followed behind her and shook everyone’s hand but mine.
After fawning over Xerxes for an unnecessarily long time, Clarissa leaned forward into his personal space and whispered something about her treating an omega right.
Her midnight hair contrasted with his shiny blond locks, and the scent of cinnamon mixed with her lemony alpha one.
The scents weren’t awful together.
Fucking hell, kill me.
Abruptly, when her nose was almost touching his throat, Xerxes rubbed at his chest at the same time as Jax, Ascher, and Xerxes.
My gut dropped.
Xerxes’s bond was acting up because he was attracted to beautiful fucking Clarissa.
A low alpha sound crept up my throat, and I swallowed down an embarrassing growl.
He is not your omega.
My fingernails bit into my palms and I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood.
I couldn’t look away as Clarissa whispered something else to Xerxes, and he trembled slightly.
The machete in my stomach turned into a grenade.
Our instructor, Z, turned toward me, and I ripped my attention away from the man-whore. “Don’s ordered us to split you up for training. Sadie, you’re going to train with Molly. The rest of you will be joining me.”
Great, I was being singled out for being the runt of the group.
But relief coursed through me as I hurried away from the men, toward the corner ring Z had pointed to. I needed to get away from them before I shifted into my tiger form and embarrassed myself.
I’d made my choice, and they’d shown their true colors.
Whatever we’d had was over before it had even begun, and I needed to accept it.
But if the don thought he was going to make me do some wimpy female version of training, he was going to be surprised.
Did he really think I couldn’t hang with the men? I was a fucking saber-toothed tiger shifter.
Had he seen my teeth? They were longer than his arms.
With every step forward, I fought the urge to look over my shoulder.
At this rate, Clarissa was probably straddling Xerxes and Cobra and humping both of them at once. Ascher would enjoy watching, and Jax would get turned on at the sight of Cobra with such a beauty.
It was all too easy for them to replace me.
Forget about me.
Move on.
A slashing sensation burned my back, and I tripped over a barbell. I was barely cognizant that I was stumbling, my mind flashing back to a small tavern and a beta’s belt.
Parents who’d abandoned me.
Maybe Clarissa was what they’d always wanted. Someone sophisticated, tall, and gorgeous who would simper at them and pamper their fragile male egos.
That wasn’t me.
Preoccupied with mentally eviscerating the men, I didn’t watch where I was going and walked into a wall.
Long, callused fingers reached out and grabbed my forearm as I stumbled back and apologized.
The rippling mountain of muscle in front of me turned around, bulging arms and impressive thighs shining with the sweat of a warrior of lore.
Half the person’s head was shaved, while the other half had long, dark hair.
I gasped when they looked up.
Olive skin, wide hooded eyes, and soft features smiled at me.
“You ready to work, sugar? I’ve been assigned to train you,” the woman said, and I realized in a daze, that unlike all the fae women, Aran included, she wasn’t that much taller than me.
My jaw flapped up and down uselessly as I stared at her sculpted perfection.
Scratch everything I’d just thought about being the runt; it would be an honor to work beside her.
Apparently, Molly was a gorgeous mountain of muscles.
From the three-hundred-pound dumbbells she was casually slinging up and down in each hand, it wasn’t just for looks.
She was everything I aspired to be: strong, beautiful, and more impressive than any man.
“You’re my hero,” I blurted.
Molly chuckled and smiled kindly. “Let’s get to work.”
