I blinked, and the warden seemed to appear right next to the fireplace. I stiffened and glanced at Zander. As always his face was tight, his eyes burning red as he watched the warden. Zander turned to leave, as he often did during these meetings.
Dark eyes flickered to him. “No, you will stay this time, Zander. This won’t take long.”
Zander stiffened but nodded, and remained in his position.
The warden walked over to the sideboard and poured himself a generous helping of amber liquid from one of the bottles, then settled himself on the expensive leather couch in front of the fireplace. “Come closer, Prime.” He gestured for me to approach and stand where he could easily see me.
My skin burned and sweat ran down my neck from my hairline. I didn’t understand how he could tolerate that amount of heat.
“I like it cosy.” He grinned, showing me his perfectly white and straight teeth. His dark eyes gleamed, the flames reflecting in them as he regarded me. There was little point in encouraging him to get on with the point of this meeting. He’d do as he pleased and that usually included making me wait for either punishment or information. Either way nothing good ever came from these meetings.
“I am bringing forward the entertainment for my clients. The fun will begin in fourteen days from now. I want twice as many candidates identified for this one, and I want more women fighting, as well as more in the entertainment rooms. They bring in as much money fighting as the alpha males do when I use them in the entertainment wings.”
I froze, swallowing the choking sensation in my throat. Double the people meant almost a week’s worth of fighting and hundreds of lives ruined or sacrificed to line his and Doherty’s pockets, all to feed the sick satisfaction of the rich bastards who liked to degrade us or see us kill each other.
The warden took a generous swallow of his drink. “And this time I’m going to make it more interesting. I’m going to allow the people chosen to partially change.” He grinned.
Bile hit my throat. I was still trying to process the hundreds of people I would identify to be slaughtered.
The warden stood and took another large swallow of his drink. How I wished for the burn and oblivion of alcohol right now. He stepped right up to the fire and I hoped he’d set himself on fire. He tapped one of the Weres on the carving. “Did you know your kind used to be under the control of Satan himself? Before you escaped through the gates of hell, into this world and developed into no more than wild dogs, you were the minions of hell. You were vicious attack hounds, nothing more, and that’s all I expect from your kind now. In two weeks, you will all fight in Were form and show those who have paid to watch just what monsters you really are.”
I ground my teeth, but managed to stay silent, though it took all my self control. Many of the shifters in here had not changed for years, and to be allowed a partial shift but not full, would be agony, enough to drive some of them insane.
The warden smiled at me, his dark hair gleaming in the firelight. “I can see my generosity bothers you, but make no mistake, it will happen. You are monsters, not worthy of having free will or receiving compassion of any kind. I am only informing you of my plans so that you can prepare more fighters. They will need to be strong, and capable of surviving long enough to satisfy my guests.”
Guests? That was different. He never referred to those that paid for an invitation, bet on the fights, or used us for entertainment, as guests. He fixed me with an unnerving onyx stare that was as powerful as it was cold. Like Zander, he wasn’t a shifter, but something else, something that had my wolf wanting to run. And that scared the shit out of me—my wolf was scared of nothing.
“I want the best fighters you have in the rings and that means the males who follow you around like pathetic lap dogs. They will please my guests with their will to survive, and the blood they will shed.” He licked his lips, anticipation shining in his eyes.
My face remained expressionless and I kept my mouth shut. No matter how much I raged inside, I’d learned the