“Put me down right now!” I alpha-barked with command and force.
Of course, Jax didn’t put me down; he just squeezed me tighter against his massive chest.
I huffed like I was annoyed, but played with one of his gold-covered braids and relaxed appreciatively against him.
The aftermath of the fall, and the numb, had left me weak.
According to Aran, the doctors didn’t allow visitors in the health clinic, and she’d only gotten through because she was the literal princess. She’d said the alphas had lost their shit while I’d been in a small coma.
Aran had also explained that we were prisoners underneath the stadium. The one elevating platform that led out was enchanted, so only pure-blooded fae could work it.
Therefore, we weren’t kept in physical chains and had free rein to live our lives underneath the fae’s direction.
You didn’t need chains when you were trapped in an enchanted world in the fae realm.
I wasn’t dumb enough to think escaping was an option. We were completely under the thumb of the fae queen.
Still, I was grateful they didn’t chain me in a dark, feces-smeared cellar, which was where I’d seen my life heading a couple days ago.
When I’d first walked out of the health clinic, I’d been nervous that the alphas were being kept somewhere else. That we would be separated and I would be on my own.
The alpha men might be annoying, but I’d become accustomed to their constant overbearing energy.
As soon as I’d hobbled out of the glass clinic doors, my fears had been relieved because three alphas had attacked me.
Jax had immediately wrapped me in a bear hug and squeezed with all his might.
I was 99 percent sure he’d broken one of my ribs, but I didn’t tell him because I knew he would freak out if he thought he hurt me.
His enormous chest rumbled against me with steady vibrations that reminded me of a cat’s purr, and the scent of roasted chestnuts warmed me as he carried me across the world underneath the stadium.
Without the two suns, the air had a slight chill, and fans blew a breeze that made me shiver.
It had taken one day of hot sunshine for me to become a wimp.
I breathed in his chestnut scent and sighed as my body relaxed further against him. Jax was so warm, large, and sturdy, it was impossible to not feel completely at ease around him.
“I thought I almost lost you,” Jax whispered softly as he held me tight against him. He then mumbled a bunch of things under his breath about sisters and women being the death of him.
“Nope, you’re stuck with me.” I grinned up at him, and his warm chestnut scent spiked richer as he enveloped me.
As Jax carried me through the forest, Ascher lifted a tattooed hand like he was going to touch me.
“Touch her and you die,” Cobra sneered and grabbed Ascher’s wrist before his hand made contact.
Unlike Jax, the other alphas were not relaxing.
Ascher and Cobra stared each other down, and Jax just walked ahead of them, ignoring their antics.
“You are not relaxing!” I shouted back to them with exasperation, just to clarify that their energy was not cute.
Men needed to be reminded that they were problematic. Often.
“I’ll show you relaxing,” Cobra sneered back automatically.
“Is that a threat?” I asked with a yawn as I snuggled against Jax’s warm chest muscles. I was unbothered by Cobra’s energy. The man was perpetually unwell.
“It could be,” Cobra said, but he licked his lips in a way that was extremely unthreatening. He appeared almost…hungry.
Jax’s chest rumbled louder, less of a purr and more of a warning to stay away. “Don’t threaten her,” he said as he cradled me like I was precious.
I nodded and cuddled against the big man while smirking over his shoulder at Cobra.
The frosty snake man narrowed his stunning emerald eyes at me like he knew exactly what I was doing.
Unlike Jax, Cobra’s first reaction had not been to hug me.
No, when I’d first come out from the health clinic, Cobra had grabbed my shoulders and screamed in my face.
He’d ranted on and on about how I’d put myself in danger and acted inappropriately. Since tension had literally radiated off him in waves, I’d given his bad coping skills a pass.
It was clear he’d been worried about me and freaking out.
A part of me liked that I’d caused such a stir. She was toxic Sadie, and I wasn’t proud of her.
As a result, I’d smiled and nodded while Cobra ranted at me, but truthfully, I’d zoned out as soon as he’d started speaking.
All I was getting was that he was obsessed with me.
At this rate, I was doing a lot with the whole badass, fighting saber-toothed tiger form. It was about time someone became enamored.
Cobra’s handsome face had been inches from my own as he’d ranted, and the emeralds dusting his high cheekbones were sparkly. When Cobra had yelled something about obedience, I had snapped out of admiring his beauty and shoved him away.
Nope, I took it back. His energy was not cute.
The man was unhinged.
In contrast, since I had come out of the clinic, Ascher had stood still and said nothing. He’d been just staring down at me with an emotionless expression.
His jaw was clenched tight, like he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
Ascher also looked awful.
Scrapes and bruises covered his tattooed skin, and his gold hair was brown with sand. The tip of one of his onyx horns had broken off.
Since I was also covered in scrapes, I wasn’t one to talk.
I didn’t want to say anything to him, but it felt like I was breaching some etiquette by not. I needed the manual on “what to do when your betrayer swan dives thousands of feet onto the ground to cushion your fall.”
It was confusing.
Therefore, I expressed my emotions like a mature, rational adult. I leaned over the side of Jax’s hold, punched Ascher in the arm, and said, “Nice catch.”
All three men growled.
“Don’t touch him,” Cobra sneered at the same time Ascher said, “Never do that again, Princess.”
“Too soon?” I asked as Jax squeezed me tighter and cradled me to his chest like I was a little kitten that needed protection.
The rest of the way, he carried me gingerly, like I was a delicate flower that would break at any bump.
Every time I offered to walk, his chest rumbled with a growl and he held me closer.
So I laid my head back and relaxed against his warm biceps as we walked over plush grass, through a forest of spindly trees.
It was nice to be carried for once.
If I hadn’t looked up at the exposed ceiling beams, I would have thought I was outside. Not deep underground, beneath the stadium.
It was bizarre.
Aran led the way in front of us, Jax followed with me against his chest, and Ascher and Cobra muttered expletives beside us as they fought with each other.
Xerxes trailed behind the group silently.
He said nothing, just walked in the shadows with his long blond hair flowing in a glorious wave, reminding me I couldn’t remember the last time I brushed my hair.
As I stared at the handsome omega over Jax’s shoulder, I realized my stiletto heel was no longer sticking out of his bicep.
I couldn’t decide if I was sad or glad that he’d taken it out.
Suddenly, we stepped out of the random forest and stood in front of a massive building that I had somehow missed.
There was a giant structure within the colossal stadium. It was at least twenty times bigger than the health clinic I had just been in.
I still couldn’t figure out why there was a forest in the arena’s basement.
It was official: the fae realm was weird and confusing.
I gaped at the massive structure before us. Steel and glass glinted under the fluorescent lights on the ceiling high above.
Long bamboo stalks lined the entrance, and they clacked together in the hum of the fan-generated breeze.
It was industrial and natural at the same time—something I didn’t know was possible.
The building was about two stories tall, but it spread out across the grassy plain of the underground stadium as far as my eye could see.
It was palatial.
Jax put me down, and I wobbled on my tired legs. Every inch of body was covered in bruises and ached something fierce.
Aran hugged me tightly. “This is where you train during the games. I have to go before my mother dearest loses her shit and sets me on fire. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She didn’t laugh, and I blanched when I realized she wasn’t joking. Her mother might actually set her on fire.
Since I was literally a prisoner in a gladiator-style game and had just cannon balled onto hard sand, I wasn’t in any position to feel bad for anyone.
Still, I found my stomach churning for Aran.
She had disguised herself and gone to extreme measures to escape her mother. Now she was back under her thumb.
Aran sprinted off across the grass, and I fought the urge to run after her. I didn’t want her alone with her mother.
Just as I was about to chase her down, the massive glass door of the palatial complex slid upward and revealed a marble, steel, and glass atrium.
The five of us stepped forward hesitantly.
I gaped at the throng of fae inside. The air buzzed with the chaotic noise of many people in one place.
The building had an open floor plan of two stories, and fae bustled around everywhere. There was an uncovered walkway above our heads and doors all over the walls.
Massive marble statues were the focal point of the atrium.
We stepped forward into a wall of cool air.
The air inside the stadium had been temperature controlled, yet this building was even cooler inside. My head hurt trying to make sense of it all.
“Alpha team, reporting,” an automatic voice echoed loudly through the atrium as soon as we entered.
A few fae stopped to look at us, but most ignored us as they hurried past. Some held briefcases like they were doing business, while others carried tools and metal like they were constructing things.
“Welcome to the Fae Games Training Village,” a tall brown-haired fae said as she seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Apparently, they had a welcoming committee.
Not the vibes I had expected after we’d just fought for our lives in the gladiator complex.
The fae guide didn’t offer us her name, just stood in the atrium and gestured around like we were supposed to be impressed by the “village.” It was an entire ecosystem unto itself.
With wide eyes, I inspected the statues that almost touched the ceiling of the two-story atrium.
They were the largest marble statues I’d ever seen, and they appeared to depict the fae elements.
The first statue was of a male fae flying with his arms spread.
The second male was holding a long, icy sword.
The third had flames for hair, and the fourth had rocks floating around his head.
It was clear what they symbolized: air, water, fire, and earth.
But it was the fifth statue that captured my attention.
Unlike the others, the massive structure depicted a fae lying on the ground. A pool of painted blood surrounded him.
“What is that fifth statue?” I pointed to the bloody person with a grimace. The sculpture reminded me of the painting on the wall of the queen’s palace.
The fae guide said dismissively, “A long-lost race of fae. We don’t speak of them. The fae queen disposed of them for the safety of the realm.”
“Then why is there still a statue of them?” I asked with confusion. It looked like the fae was dying, and I didn’t understand how the queen had eliminated a threat.
Knowing her royal bitchiness, she’d probably just killed them off for the fun of it.
The guide gasped and looked at me like I was covered in fecal matter or something equally heinous. “We don’t destroy art in this realm!”
I squinted at her.
They were fine with torturing innocent people in aggressive physical combat situations, but destroying art was where they crossed the line?
She squinted back.
After a long, awkward standoff, I realized she wasn’t joking, and I chuckled to myself.
I definitely would not be telling her about the time I’d broken a statue in school because I’d run into it.
I had learned the hard way that other girls didn’t like it when you fed the rats in your room and made them a home under your bed. My roommate had chased me down the hall and threatened to kill Peaches—my pet rat.
While running for Peaches’s life, I accidentally knocked over a statue of the sun god and broke it. As punishment, the school had made me spend the night in the forest in the dead of winter without a jacket on.
The temperatures had gotten well below negative forty degrees.
But the joke was on them because one winter, Dick hadn’t let me wear a jacket at all.
My shifter blood was thick in my veins, and that night, only four of my fingers had turned white with frostbite.
The headmistress had definitely thought I would die. I’d shown her.
About a dozen fae walked by talking loudly, and their chatter brought me out of my musings and back into the present.
Hopefully, the fae would learn to respect sentient life as much as they respected art.
Still, as the carved-out eyes of the massive statue stared back at me, I couldn’t help but shudder at the blood that was painted in a pool around the keeled-over fae.
My skin prickled with foreboding, and I swallowed down a sudden bout of nausea.
How had an entire species of fae become extinct?
I didn’t want to find out.
