Page 192 of Blood Day

It was all a superiority contest that I had no interest in joining.

Yet it thrived around me throughout the ceremony, the vampires and alphas making soft comments about candidates and intentions while evaluating the responses of others.

Entertainment, I thought, thankful when the tenth Immortal Cup candidate was announced. It was a blond male with a steady demeanor, one I recognized as being on the list of untouchables, meaning he could not be selectedfor a harem. He was an immortal hopeful. But seeing him now indicated that we were almost done.

Because the eleventh Immortal Cup candidate was selected right after him.

Although, that was only Prospect Seven Hundred and Three—the one Silvano had asked about with the red hair.

Thus, we still had almost three hundred humans left to go through.

This night is never going to fucking end.

I could no longer see my Lily, her light-colored hair lost in the throng of candidates around her. The moon chase participants blended in with the breeding camp participants, as they would all be moved together toward their final destinations.

Because some of the moon chase participants would end up being bred.

If they survived being hunted and fucked by the wild lycans.

My stomach twisted.I warned you,I thought at Lily.I fucking warned you that this would be your path.

But I couldn’t blame her. This was my fault. I’d relied on Khalid to help me, which he clearly had no intention of doing—something I would have to deal withlater.

Because right now, I had to figure out how to save myErosita.

If I can slip away during the first round with the Immortal Cup candidates, I may be able to reach Lily’s bus.

And then what?

As a Master, I could lie and say I needed Lily for a task. Whatever lycan was assigned to her transport would be beneath me in ranking.

All the royals and alphas—who are the only ones more powerful than me—will be busy with the Immortal Cup candidates for at least an hour. Perhaps longer.

Because they would each take their turn perusing the candidates and deciding if they preferred one of them to join their harem now. And if they found them all lacking—which was rare—they could pick from the candidate group destined for the harem camp.

The purpose of the whole practice was to demoralize the Immortal Cup contestants. They were thrilled to be selected as one of the top twelve humans to fight for immortality.

Just to be told they amounted to nothing and might end up as a sex slave only a handful of minutes later.

It was the part of the ceremony royals like Silvano looked forward to most—hence his eager perusal of the list.

But that just meant he and the others like him would be distracted.

So it might be?—

“Prospect One Thousand,” the Magistrate called, designating the final human to be sorted.

I barely noticed the mortal walking up to the stage.

I just wanted this done. I wanted a reason to flee. To escape. To run.To save Lily.

But I had no true plan. If I grabbed her, I had no idea where we would go. The royals and alphas would be distracted, but only momentarily, and eventually, someone would notice her absence.

Just like Silvano would notice mine.

And then what?

“Clemente Clan service industry,” the Magistrate announced.