Page 58

MARLOWE

Alaroth wrapped his arm around me and settled back into his chair, his hand gripping my shoulder tightly. I fought against my instincts and loosened my muscles, leaning into him casually.

He rubbed his nose along the outer shell of my ear. “Even a moment away from you feels like a lifetime, beloved.”

Barf.

I patted his knee with my hand, pretending to silently agree. He knew it was all pretend on my part, but as long as the true feelings in my heart never revealed themselves, he didn’t care.

A horn blew from on top of a small tower on the other side of the arena, and the gates finally opened.

Two small groups of six alphas each entered, one with faces painted red and the other blue, dressed only in loincloths and carrying short swords and rounded shields. They lined up to face each other and Ezra came out to stand in the middle, inspecting each soldier carefully.

Like gladiators of Rome, these alphas had bodies built for combat. Their large, bulky muscles were well protected under a thin layer of fat, the sun glistening off the thin sheet of sweat and oil on their tanned skin. The hair on their heads was cut short, their faces clean shaven. A vacant, almost haunting look lived in their eyes.

For however large they were, though, Ezra still towered above them. He nodded towards one from each group, who remained in the center while the others backed up to the edge.

My brother slapped each on the shoulder, resting his forehead on theirs as he whispered something I was too far away to hear. Words of encouragement, perhaps.

Ezra backed up and the horn sounded again, and they immediately sprang into battle.

Steel clashed as they circled, their shields raised. The red alpha lunged forward, narrowly missing as the blue alpha parried, countering with a swift strike. Dirt sprayed in the air from quick foot work, and I held my breath as a feint drew an opening for the red. He disarmed his opponent, swinging his sword towards his neck.

I covered my eyes as all of the alphas yelled, “Stop!”

in unison.

The ring became silent, save for the fighters’ heavy breathing. They paused, mid-strike, waiting to be dismissed.

Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Ezra stepped forward.

“End it,”

he barked.

Red swung his sword back again, pausing once more as Alaroth now issued his own orders to stop. But Ezra, his face tight and resolute, barked at him again to kill his opponent.

I closed my eyes, hearing the sick sound of metal tearing through flesh.

One by one, the alpha soldiers paired up and fought, the other alphas’ and the king’s orders to stop being overridden by Ezra’s bark, until only the victors remained.

The blood, the senseless violence and death… I was shaking with anger. The king, however, was absolutely delighted in each kill, happily sipping wine and eating cheese-stuffed pastries like we were at the movies. When he tried to feed me and I recoiled, he grunted in annoyance. “Are you not enjoying yourself?”

Think of the pack.

“It just feels like a waste,”

I answered, trying to sound unbothered. I opened my mouth and accepted the food. “Couldn’t you have proven Ezra’s power the other way, where he tells them to yield?”

He scoffed, giving Nivardi a pointed look before responding to me like I was an idiot. “Culling the weak is never a waste.”

“Hm, agree to disagree.”

With his hand wrapping around my braid, he pulled my head back slightly to look at me. His aqua eyes bore into mine, a smirk growing on his cruel face. “Well then, I’m very interested to see how you react next.”

After the bodies had all been cleared from the ring, the winners lined up on one side. Their expressions still betrayed nothing of how they felt. Were they proud of themselves? Did they mourn the death of their comrades? Had they maybe even been friends?

Nivardi still stood off to the side of the platform, not wanting to get too close to me. He watched the demonstration with his arms crossed. One finger tapped on his elbow, and if I had to guess, he seemed nervous.

Ezra came up to the platform and bowed his head. “I hope I have proved the strength of my control, Your Majesty.”

Alaroth stood up and took my hand, leading me to the edge. “You have, thank you, Ezra.”

With a quick nod, the soldier on top of the tower blew his horn again, and the gates opened once more.

This time, instead of a well-disciplined unit of warriors, a cage was rolled inside on a large dolly. The alpha inside growled viciously, shaking the bars and snarling at the males who stood near them. Unlike the other alphas, this male was unkempt, his hair and beard long and shaggy.

He looked rabid.

As soon as the cage was on the ground, the handlers left the ring and locked the gates.

Ezra took a step back, then turned towards Alaroth with a confused eyebrow arched high. “Your Majesty?”

“Another test. Order them all not to fight,”

he said. I should have been relieved that this round wouldn’t result in any more death, but the smile on his face made my blood run cold. He had something else planned, something far more sinister.

With a snap of Alaroth’s fingers, the cage disappeared, and the raging alpha lunged towards the soldiers.

He didn’t have weapons or clothes, and he was thinner than the others. More weak alphas, then? What was this test for?

The soldiers got into a defensive position, their swords drawn and shields out.

“Stop!”

Ezra barked.

But the order only affected the armed soldiers. They froze in place as the wild alpha attacked them, biting into their necks and ripping them apart with brute force alone.

“I said stop!”

Ezra barked again, a note of fear in his voice. But the wild alpha still didn’t listen.

It was sick, it was pointless, and it was… too much. Even Nivardi closed his eyes, turning his head away from the violence.

Alaroth refused to let go of me so I could return to my seat, no matter how hard I pulled against him. “Please,”

I begged. “I don’t want to watch this.”

He ignored me.

The carnage was swift but brutal, blood soaking into the dirt as the anguished howls quieted and the previously victorious alphas now lay dead on the ground.

“Why didn’t he listen?”

I whispered. My brother should have been able to control any shifter with his bark, but his command hadn’t worked on this male. What was wrong with him?

“Berserker,”

Alaroth responded slowly. “We give the alphas bloodbane to keep them strong and to help them channel their aggression for battle. It keeps them socially controllable.”

The crazed alpha turned towards Ezra.

“But for a small percentage, it seems to turn them into these wild creatures. They don’t listen, they’ve forgotten what it is to be fae and have resorted to their animal ways. Even with the silver keeping them from shifting.”

I noticed the bands around his wrists, and that he was getting closer and closer to Ezra who barked at him in vain. My heart caught in my throat—was he actually going to try to kill Ezra? Could Ezra defend himself?

The gate opened again, and this time a small omega was shoved through, wearing nothing but a short, cotton dress. It locked behind her as she ran back, banging her hands and begging to be let out.

“We were just killing them for a while, but they are impossibly strong. I wondered if we might still find a way to use them. Then a few years ago I had the most brilliant idea. A hypothesis, really. Perhaps they can’t listen, but can they smell?”

The Berserker stopped in his tracks as a wave of her frightened scent hit him and drew him away from Ezra, and he now bound towards the helpless female.

I gasped.

Ezra barked at him, the orders temporarily seizing my body but having absolutely no effect on the rampaging alpha. He reached the omega and grabbed her, tearing her away from the wall and digging into her neck with his teeth.

“No!”

I turned towards Alaroth and grabbed his arm. “Why are you doing this? You have to stop him!”

Alaroth didn’t say a word, just observed intently as Ezra desperately tried to pull the alpha off the omega’s lifeless body. Her still eyes stared towards the platform where I stood, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

“So yes, they can smell, I discovered. But even the alpha instinct to mate with an omega is gone. Their only desire is to kill.”

Ezra and the Berserker now fought. Even his fingernails were sharp, and they tore against my brother’s skin, leaving jagged, bloodied stripes along his chest.

This couldn’t go on. I hated my brother, I’d told him I wished he was dead, but I couldn’t sit here and watch him get torn apart.

What could I even do, though?

“Alaroth, please…”

I begged, gripping the railing in front of me.

He stepped behind me and whispered in my ear, “Help him, beloved. Can you tame the fiercest storms?”

Two large hands pushed me over the edge and straight into the ring itself.

I fell ten feet face forward, landing hard on my outstretched wrists that shattered as I braced myself from the impact. Pain brought forth a wretched, desperate scream, causing both Ezra and the Berserker to stop. The alpha’s nostrils twitched as he sniffed the air, and he growled before launching himself towards me.

Ezra released a guttural howl and followed until he collapsed on the ground, his body twitching and seizing.

I looked up to find Alaroth, his hand raised towards my brother and using his magic against him.

Oh my god, he was going to kill us both.

The Berserker was seconds away, and I covered my head with my forearms, my wrists and hands useless. I didn’t even have time to say goodbye to my pack. I was going to be torn apart by a roided-out alpha while my brother watched.

Hands grabbed me, and I whimpered as I waited for the life-ending agony.

But instead of teeth on my throat, I felt a nose. He breathed me in and groaned, nuzzling me and pawing at my breasts. I froze as he flipped me around, tearing at my pants to mount me from behind.

“Try telling him to stop,”

laughed Alaroth, taking another sip of his wine. Nivardi’s face was pale as he clutched his chest and watched in horror.

“Your Majesty, we have to get her out of there…”

“Nonsense,”

the king responded. “Marlowe, you must tame him!”

Tears streamed down my face as I turned around. The Berserker had managed to rip the seams apart on my bottoms, the fabric in shreds on the ground around us. His erect cock was positioning itself to enter me when I found my voice. “Stop, please…”

He paused, his nostrils flaring as he stared into my eyes.

“Let… let me go…”

His hands released me and he sat back on his heels, tilting his head as though waiting for further instructions.

Ezra’s seizing stopped, and he slowly rose to his knees. Blood dripped from his lips, his chest was in ribbons, and his lips curled back. He got up and ran to the Berserker, grabbing his head and snapping his neck in one swift motion.

The alpha’s body hit the ground with a soft thud. Ezra looked at me, about to speak, when the gates opened, and three more Berserkers were released into the arena.