Stolen (Tribes #2) - Milana Jacks Page 0,5

over my jeans. I am so offended that the male has thrown something at me. It feels like a rotten tomato in my face. Humiliated, I want to cry, and my eyes fill with tears.

A piercing whistle rings in my ears and draws me back out of my self-pity party. Males snarl and sprint across the muddy open field. A bolt of lightning strikes in the distance and thunder roars over the shouting males seconds later. The sky darkens, and rain pours harder, and I can barely make out what I’m seeing. Pockets of different landscape pop up everywhere, males leaping into them, then disappearing as if they never existed. In a matter of seconds, the field empties. I look to Feli for an explanation, but he’s staring into space and moving his hands in front of him.

Gur shifts in his seat. “Female,” he says.

That’s me. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. The translator works.”

I nod again, eager to hear what he has to say. He turns to me, his jawbone kind of moving in an unnatural, scary-as-fuck way. I want to recoil again, but gather strength and ball my fists. Faced with his pale gaze, I swallow.

“When the males return with gifts, you will not accept a gift from either of the two Ka males.”

“Two Ka males?”

“The other tribe,” Feli says, glancing back at me as if that clarifies everything.

Gur stands and brushes his thumb over my cheek. “If I were younger, I’d have competed for you, but alas, I’m too old now.”

Feli snorts, and Gur snaps his head Feli’s way. “Tread carefully, my boy.”

Feli continues moving his arms, agile fingers swiping back and forth. I’m dying of curiosity about what he’s doing, but the tension between my captors is high, so I ask nothing, biding my time and thinking that when I faint from hypothermia and fall from the chair, they’ll have to keep me somewhere warmer or maybe even return me into the hole. At least there, I’ll be alone in my misery.

My teeth chatter.

The rain keeps pouring, soaking my hair and clothes.

“She will die if you keep her here for the span,” Feli says.

Gur snorts. “Maybe you want to keep her warm until the night?”

Feli’s jaw works while Gur laughs, and something he said replays in my mind. I clear my throat. “What did you mean when you said you’d have competed for me?”

Gur claps. “So she speaks!”

I speak, asshole. I’m not an animal. You are. “Yes, sir.”

“The males have three days and two nights to court you. They rack up points as they search for gifts for you. The winner takes the prize. Don’t forget what I said.” He points at the Ka males lingering in the distance now, just standing there, observing. “Those two, you will ignore.”

Chapter Three

Nar

As I stand in place, my boots sinking deeper and deeper into the mud, I can’t take my eyes off the female. If I don’t move, the ground will swallow me. I step forward, and Mas walks away, likely thinking I’m gonna follow him according to the plan we contrived before entering the games.

But Mas doesn’t know I know what this little female smells like, and that, deep down inside, I didn’t come here for Gur. I came here for her, and I’m gonna get her. I move toward her again when Mas appears in front of me, his hunter lurking behind his pale eyes. Bright orange eyes flash at me. “What the fuck are you thinking?” Mas whisper-hisses.

I’m thinking about snatching her. “You said Gur would enter the games,” I tell him. Mas erected a secret portal inside Ra territory, one that can take us in and out of here if we need a quick exit, and we’re gonna need it if events don’t go as planned, meaning if the Ra figure out we’re here to kill Gur, their earl. Things are already looking shitty for us, and definitely not going as planned. Gur was supposed to enter the games. I was gonna off him during the games while also winning, thereby securing myself a breeder. “Why is he still in the camp?”

Mas looks around, then steps closer, his chest bumping mine. He whispers, “Gur entered, then exited at the last second before Feli closed the games. We proceed and play until we have a better chance at targeting him.”

I grunt, moving back because his proximity and his dominant hunter irritates my hunter. I’m already irritated with the scene I witnessed here. The rain is pelting her body, and she’s