on him. His eyes took on a crazed look. His face elongated and hair sprouted from his skin, but I couldn’t maintain that contact when my own bones broke, reforming into a distortion of my wolf. My vest top stretched tight over my deformed chest and breasts. No matter, I would not hide my deformed body. Instead, I remained in a crouch and urged my wolf to fight with me, not against me. She settled, remaining alert, but allowing me to take the lead. Her power and strength hummed through my misshapen bones, easing the pain. I respected and loved her, and we’d always worked together, never fighting over dominance, and we wouldn’t now.
The Were-wolf stretched to his full seven foot height and bellowed, sending a shower of saliva over me. I stayed on my haunches, submissive, frightened—and waited. When he leaped, swinging the axe above his head, I was ready. I launched myself. Staying low, I darted around him and in swift and precise strokes, I slashed my knife across his ankle tendons. He howled in agony and fell to his knees. The axe thudded to the mat. Without hesitation, I leaped forward, yanked his head back and slit his throat, not caring that the sickos above wanted a longer fight.
“No,” he gurgled, clutching at the gaping wound with clawed fingers as if he could stop the deluge of blood.
I took a step backwards as he swayed on his knees. The crowd let loose, some cheering, some yelling obscenities. I watched as the man fell face first to the mats, his blood pooling under him. My collar vibrated and my wolf gracefully receded, allowing me to change back with relatively little pain. My vest top was torn around my back and hung loosely from my shoulders. It still covered me, but my bra had snapped open and hung uselessly under my top. My jeans were shredded, the waistband ripped wide open leaving them hanging low around my hips. There was no point trying to keep them up, I let them fall down and kicked them off. I’d long since lost any shyness about my body. That done, I pulled off my vest and dropped the bra to the ground. I ignored the jeering and catcalls from above. I put the baggy vest back on and tied a knot in my prison issue underwear to keep them up. They wouldn’t survive my next change, but it was better than sitting naked for the next few hours like some of the victors in the cage had been forced to do.
A glass was thrown from above and smashed into pieces on the metal cage. Shards flew through the air, lacerating my exposed skin. I winced, but paid no attention to the blood rolling down my body.
Another cheer went up. I glanced over to see Santa Cruz rip out his opponent’s throat with his claws, before punching him in the stomach and kicking him down. He plucked a hunting knife from the mats and opened his arms wide as he strutted a victory lap around the mat. The crowd went wild, demanding more blood. With a roar, Santa Cruz leaped and drove the blade into the male’s belly, slicing him open.
Forcing myself to ignore the gruesome sight, I watched the way he moved, and tried like hell to cower when he stared at me, triumph burning in his eyes. Moments later, I was prodded and electricity sent my muscles into spasm.
“Move!” The guard wielding the prod yelled.
I didn’t look back at my kill. If I did, the blood on my hands would destroy me. I may have killed before and I would do it again without hesitation, but each time I did, I could feel myself losing a piece of my soul.
It was impossible to miss the glass, and I winced when small pieces stuck into the soles of my feet. The other rings were also covered in glass and blood, but half-starved shifters with drooped shoulders and vacant expressions were already coming to sweep the debris aside, while others tossed the dead to the pile at the side of the arena. The sight of that pile of dead Were bodies was enough to make me vomit. In death they kept their form. I heaved what remained of the apple up onto the mat, praying that Reed wasn’t in there somewhere.
“Get a move on!” yelled the guard.
I raised my hands, unable to hold back a cry as each step pushed glass further into