Currently, all the teams in the Fae Games stood in one of the village’s massive gyms.
The thing about mental breakdowns was, even though you were having one, the world didn’t stop around you.
Nope, you had to keep trudging on. While inside, you were dying.
I cracked my neck back and forth.
Maybe if I twisted fast enough, my head would pop off, and I wouldn’t have to deal with the billion problems that defined my life.
My neck cracked loudly as I yanked my head to the side with a swift tug.
Cobra looked over with narrowed eyes, like he knew what I was trying to do, and I fought the urge to stick my tongue out like a little kid.
It was weird to stand beside all the people we had aggressively attacked a day before. It was even weirder when we’d first walked in, and all the competitors had greeted one another.
A water fae had slapped an air fae on the back and said, and I quote, “Sorry for stabbing you.”
Then the air fae had said, “No problem, bro.”
No problem, bro?
I felt like if someone stabbed you, even in a competition, then you had a problem. Bro.
Of course, Ryak hadn’t apologized for skewering me with his spear. He’d just smirked. It had taken all my willpower not to flip him off with both my hands.
Just kidding; I’d flipped him off, and he shook with rage.
Overly aggressive men in physical combat situations were just so predictable. I thought about the betrayal of John, the first beta that had attacked me, and now Ryak.
Still, at least not every man wanted to kill me violently.
One of the half warrior twins looked over at me with a curious expression.
His blood-orange mohawk and emerald eyes were bright against his dark skin, and his cheekbones were stunningly prominent.
Beside him, his twin was busy talking to Demetre.
I didn’t know if the twin staring at me was Noah or Shane. Was he the twin tiger that I’d played with, or the one that had set me on fire? Neither seemed good.
As a blood-orange mohawk turned toward me once again, my face heated as I made eye contact.
My gut told me it was the dude whose limp body I’d played with. Was he thinking about it?
Because I was.
I just wanted a sun-god-damn bubble bath and a good book.
Although, I’d used to enjoy reading about the half warriors battling and fighting monsters in the fae realm.
Now that I was living it, I was over it; the genre sucked.
I wanted a good smut book where the female lead was worshipped like a queen and dicked down by multiple men repeatedly.
All day. Every day. Constant dicking.
Also, the lead men needed to be super sweet and supportive.
No growling, posturing, sneering, or excessive alpha testosterone. Just excessive cuddling, hand-holding, complimenting, and kissing.
Out of the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help but admire how Cobra’s gorgeous face jewels sparkled, how Jax’s strong features were highlighted by the pretty jewelry in his hair, and how Ascher’s tattoos covered every inch of his skin.
Even Xerxes, who openly loathed me, was handsome in a soft, pretty way. Like a freaking prince charming.
Why were the toxic men the best-looking?
It just wasn’t fair.
“Congratulations!” the fae instructor shouted as he walked into the room. The large man had bright-green hair and loved to shout his words instead of speaking like a normal, sane person.
Instantly, my head throbbed, and I fought the urge to tell him to shut up.
I would have if his biceps weren’t larger than my entire body.
“Congrats, Jax, for being the winner of the last competition!” he yelled again and clapped his hands loudly.
A bunch of female attendants ran into the room with hot towels and water bottles, and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at them.
If the trainer said we were running, I was going to cause a scene.
My sternum was literally still healing from being speared. I couldn’t run well under normal conditions, let alone post-stabbing ones.
My chest hurt for another reason as the attendants walked among us.
They tittered over Jax, and one even asked for the “Meat Grinder’s” signature.
Jax blushed and mumbled nonsense, clearly overwhelmed and not used to the female attention.
When one attendant reached over to feel Jax’s massive bicep, I fought the urge to chuck my water bottle at her like a dagger.
When another attendant gave Cobra a water bottle and got into his personal space to admire his jewels, I reminded myself that violence was not the answer.
Finally, when an attendant cooed over Ascher’s horns and tattoos, my leg cramped from fighting the urge to slam my foot into her throat.
With deep breaths, I tried to remind myself that it was wrong to maim people.
The problem was everything I did lately was violent as hell. It was becoming second nature.
Just another issue I needed to bring up to my future therapist.
A different attendant handed me a towel and water, and she didn’t coo over my beauty. Highly disappointing.
However, she shuffled closer.
“All hail the first female gladiator,” she whispered under her breath, and winked at me. Then she put her forefingers up to her lips and pointed them down like they were fangs.
Holy sun god’s tits.
I had a fan, and apparently, my fan base called me a gladiator. They even had a little symbolic hand gesture that represented me!
“Thanks for your support,” I whispered back and tried not to burst into tears. It had been a really hard couple of months, and this random fae girl’s support meant everything to me.
She gave me a big smile but squinted with confusion, like she couldn’t tell if I was about to cry or laugh.
Thankfully, before I could break down, the damn trainer started yelling again.
“As victor of the round, the alpha team now has 100 points and is in the lead. As you know, no one got any points after the opening ceremonies because of…complications.”
He looked over at Jax and Cobra, and I remembered Aran telling me they had started a stadium-wide riot.
Frankly, it sounded kind of fun, and I was sad I’d missed it.
“As a reward for winning, Jax, you get a spa day of massages, and you get to choose one of your teammates to go with you,” the trainer said.
I crossed my fingers behind my back and tried to act casual as I looked up.
Jax glanced down at me and grinned, and I practically vibrated with the urge to put my hand in the air and shout, “Pick me!”
He looked over at Cobra, and Cobra nodded at him with a smile.
I barely stopped myself from fist-bumping the air.
They had definitely shared a silent conversation, and Cobra had definitely given him permission to choose me.
Don’t ask me how I knew, I just did.
“I’ll take Sadie.” Jax smiled at me.
My heart burst into a million sparkly bubbles of happiness, and I fought the urge to throw myself into his arms and give him a big, sloppy kiss.
“No, she doesn’t have clearance to get a massage because her sternum is still healing. Pick someone else,” the motherfucking fae doctor said as he leaned against the wall.
He always supervised our training sessions to make sure we were okay.
The bastard had said nothing the other day when they’d forced me to go for a run. I had clearly been hyperventilating and ten seconds from dying, but now he stepped up and said something.
The jerk wanted to stop me from getting a massage—a relaxing, rejuvenating experience?
I tried to remember why it was morally wrong to walk over and rip out his trachea with my teeth.
“I’m fine. I feel great. Let me go,” I alpha-barked at him.
“No. You aren’t cleared.”
The bastard didn’t even flinch, as he literally ruined my life.
Also, apparently my alpha bark was weak as hell. I was less dominant than everyone, even a freaking fae doctor who was built like a string bean.
“Sorry, little alpha, but he’s right. Your body is still injured, and you need to recover. I’ll bring Cobra,” Jax said gently.
Cobra said sarcastically, “Yay, spa day.”
I flipped him off with both fingers.
The big, psycho bastard stuck his tongue out and wiggled it back and forth like he was eating me out.
I made an inappropriate gesture that involved my fist and my arm.
Jax sighed heavily and ran his hand through his long braids like he was done dealing with our bullshit.
Since he was about to get pampered all day, I felt zero percent bad for him.
“Now that we’ve settled that, let’s turn to today’s lessons,” the trainer said as he addressed the room and ignored our antics.
I crossed my fingers behind my back again and prayed to the moon goddess that we wouldn’t be running.
I promised her that if we didn’t run today, I would remain a pure virgin and devote my life to serving her.
“The next challenge is a little different. The queen has specifically requested this herself.”
My stomach tied in knots, and I prayed harder that the queen didn’t request a running challenge.
She hated me so much, and was so cruel and manipulative, I wouldn’t put it past the bitch.
The trainer said casually, “In one week’s time, you will each have to seduce a fae vampyre, a rare, ancient beast that has been told to murder you if you fail.”
My heavily concussed brain ached.
Fuck you moon goddess. I was going to be a raging whore and fuck so many men that I couldn’t walk from the strain on my vagina.
Then I was going to find a sex club, and I would invent positions so exotic and shocking that they would worship me for my creativity.
If the moon goddess wanted to treat me like this, no way was I devoting my life to her.
She was literally being so rude right now.
Alphas could die in one way: by losing all the blood in their bodies and then being decapitated.
A fae vampyre could easily suck all the blood from a person’s body in a few minutes. In every book I’d read that mentioned vampyres, it described them as the scariest creatures to ever walk the realm.
I might as well just buy a shovel and dig my grave now.
There was zero percent chance I would survive this.
“Today, you will brainstorm with your team your plans to seduce the vampyre. Jax and Cobra, the attendants will take you to the spa.” The trainer spoke like he was talking about something mundane, like the weather. Not having to seduce an ancient beast.
Holy tits. My stomach sank lower as I realized one very upsetting fact: I was going to have the sex talk with Ascher.
Suddenly, I understood why they’d given us towels as I dabbed aggressively at my sweaty pits and chugged the cold water.
Stress sweat was real, and I was afflicted.
Three giggling attendants asked Cobra and Jax to follow them, but the two men didn’t move.
They both just stood still and stared at Ascher, who had shuffled closer to me.
I could practically hear their thoughts. They were definitely freaking out that I had to spend a day talking about seduction without them.
The trainer yelled from the doorway, “Jax, Cobra, the spa is on a tight schedule! Let’s go!”
I mentally screamed at Jax to stay.
Unfortunately, he was shit at telepathy.
Jax sighed heavily and nodded. He followed the attendants, but stopped when he realized Cobra wasn’t walking with him. He rolled his eyes and grabbed Cobra by the back of his pale neck.
Cobra’s eyes flashed to snake eyes, and a rattling hiss shook his chest. “She’s not talking about fucking seduction techniques with Ascher.”
His eyes had been shifting a lot lately.
A thought struck me.
How could Cobra partially shift when the fae queen had reimplemented the shifting ban after the last competition?
I tried to push through the tingling wall that allowed me to become my saber-toothed tiger, but nothing happened.
Cobra’s diamond collar glinted across his pale throat. He never had explained why he was forced to wear it.
“Little alpha can take care of herself,” Jax said and dragged Cobra away.
I was all for female empowerment, but frankly, this was not the time or the place.
“Don’t leave me with this man!” I shouted at their retreating forms.
The man being Ascher, aka the great betrayer.
“You’ll be fine,” Jax called back casually as he walked out the door. Cobra fought in his grip, but the big man flexed his massive muscles and easily subdued him.
All the other teams were walking out of the gym, and I realized we weren’t talking about seduction in the gym.
Apparently, this was a free day to brainstorm sex.
Not weird at all.
Ascher sauntered closer and got into my personal space.
“This should be fun, Princess,” he smirked down at me.
I pretended not to notice that he was wearing a tank top that showed off all his tattooed muscles.
“It’s going to be hard to teach you everything I know.” I flipped my highlighted hair over my shoulder and sauntered away.
Ascher choked with laughter and followed behind.
“Did I hear that right?” Xerxes asked as he stepped away from the far wall he’d been leaning against.
I sighed heavily with the exhaustion of a twenty-year-old virgin who lived with three annoying alphas and an omega with ridiculously luscious hair. “Apparently, we need to come up with a plan to seduce a vampyre.”
Both men stared down at me with inscrutable expressions.
Unlike Cobra, who wore his mental unwellness on his face, and Jax, who projected caring leadership energy, Xerxes and Ascher were stone walls.
They might as well have been carved from marble because they said little, and their facial expressions gave nothing away.
It was creepy as hell.
I preferred Cobra’s open antagonism to their blank expressions, because at least with Cobra, I always knew where I stood.
Although, I was sure I would take that back the next time Cobra started talking about how I was his possession.
“So, um, where should we talk about this?” I asked, as I tried to project confidence and not lame virgin energy.
Even if I played bad bitch, I was still inexperienced and covered in scars.
The sad truth—it was hard to seduce someone when your flesh was mangled and hideous. Yes, I was having a pity party.
Frankly, I deserved one.
“I have a plan,” Ascher said.
I didn’t like the glint in his amber eyes.
Xerxes and I followed behind him as Ascher led us through the massive village with no further explanation.
I couldn’t help but notice how good his ass looked in his shorts. How good he looked in a cutoff shirt, and how his large onyx horns gleamed atop his shaggy golden hair.
I also couldn’t help but notice how well pine and cinnamon went together.
Ascher’s alpha pheromones and Xerxes’s omega pheromones combined into a sugary, woodsy scent.
My mouth tingled with the urge to lick tattoos and shiny golden skin.
To taste.
Ascher stopped and opened the door to a private room. “We’ll start here, Princess.”
Nothing could have prepared me for what was inside.
It was a large bathing room with a massive soaker tub in the middle, lit candles, and massage oils.
Flower petals were sprinkled across the floor.
Ascher stared down at me with an intensity that made my stomach hurt.
I was screwed.
