my own against any of these shifters if I had to, but it was always wise to weigh both their strength and my situation first.
Beyond the thick metal bars of the cage, guards observed the matches. I couldn’t see their faces because of the full face masks they wore, but their whole demeanour suggested they were disinterested, and would do absolutely nothing to intervene. All of them held weapons far outmatching anything I’d ever seen at Rawson’s house, or that Blue had ever developed. All of them wore black armoured jumpsuits with no identifying marks. Only the fact that Red sat against the bulkhead at the far end of the space on the other side of this cage, told me this was all part of what had happened at Som’s. I didn’t know what the director was up to, but thinking about it sent ice skittering down my spine. I sure wasn’t going to any supernatural court in Britain—I was on a bloody plane!
I lost my view of Red as the crowd on my side of the bars closed in on the antagonists. The wolves snarled and launched themselves at their enemy. The stink of pheromones and blood lust flooded the air. My wolf slammed against the power of the silver collar, my vision merging with hers. I winced. My skin burned as she tried to burst through and protect me, only to be forced back.
The crowd parted for a body to come flying through the air, its arm hanging on by a thread.
Jesus! The shift might be held back by the collars, but the viciousness of the predators in this cage was not.
I snarled as one of the large males leaped closer to me. He was obviously trying to get to the victim who was bleeding out all over the floor.
I honed my vision in on that male wolf and gripped the edge of the bench, ready to tear his heart out if he so much as looked my way. My heart rate spiked, but I took a deep breath and exhaled. Yes, I was at risk here, but my life was not in immediate danger. I could fight if I had to, I’d been trained by the best—Rawson and Connor—and I had not exactly played the prim and proper princess in Faerie these last years. Besides, it wasn’t the others in this cage that I was most worried about, it was the guards, particularly Red. I didn’t know what his deal was, or why we were here, but I had a feeling if I ended up being the most vicious fighter, I’d get special treatment and not necessarily of the good kind.
A second, smaller wolf pounced on the back of the feline shifter, digging its teeth into the back of the man’s neck. He roared and shook, trying to dislodge his enemy. While he was distracted, a big male wolf, with shoulder length blonde hair and the golden sun-kissed look of a surfer, pounced. He clamped his large hands onto the feline’s head, twisted and pulled. The metallic stench of blood flooded the air. The feline male hadn’t stood a chance, not alone.
Christ! I cringed as the headless body fell to the ground. The large male threw the head over his shoulder. Right at me. The fucker! It thudded to the floor and bounced then came to a halt about two feet away. I deliberately didn’t look at the gruesome trophy. I’d seen more death than I cared to admit of late —especially in Faerie—and I’d dealt out my fair share. Not saying my halo was still bright, or even still there, but I’d only ever killed in self-defense, or to save myself and Blue, never out of pure, predatory evil.
I grimaced as the fight continued. This many shifters in a confined space made fighting for the top position of alpha an inevitability. I lamented the loss of my weapons, but if all else failed, Fire would break free. Things would have to become critical for that to happen, though, like me being close to death, so I kind of hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. I’d managed once in the past to summon enough heat to help Connor escape a silver collar just like mine, but I hadn’t been able to summon Fire at will since. It was as if my mind and body had locked her away and she had no choice but to stay in her cage.
The blood and aggression drew in the other shifters. They