Page 92 of The Last True Hero

Cold sweat slid down his back. He had to protect Mia and the others. "Rykker said you wanted me to see the wargs who would be fighting tonight. When we got here he changed his mind. Didn't like my plans to encroach on his turf. Things got messy." He shot a dark look at Colton. "I shot him and his men, and then this bastard killed him. I got... I got clawed and tried to hide the bodies. Thought I could get away with it, but that's when the itch started. I locked myself in here before I could go warg." He closed his eyes briefly. "Didn't want to risk going back to find Mia."

"That what happened?" she asked Colton.

He eyed Adam sideways. Then nodded.

Relief flowed through him, but Adam didn't dare show it.

"You shot Rykkerandhis men?" Vex asked. "That sounds like you got the jump on them."

Adam pressed his lips together.

"Where's your woman?" Vex demanded.

"Don't know," he lied. "Last I saw her she was back at the rooms." He forced himself to hesitate. "You won't... tell her, will you?"

Vex snorted, stubbing out her cigarette on the bars of his cage. "Won't need to." She graced him with an evil smile. "Guess she'll just have to see for herself when you enter the arena. That's what you get for killing my favorite. Maybe I can find someone to console her?" Turning around, she gestured to her men. "Make sure he's ready. He can go in with Slash. He seemed to like him so much last night."

"Vex!" Adam caught the bars of the cell and flinched.

She looked back, just before she exited the room. "You don't make demands on me anymore, warg. No matter how pretty you look."

"I locked myself in here to save your people," he shot back. "And mine."

Vex shrugged. "Your mistake. You shouldn't have gotten close tohim." She jerked her head toward Colton.

"No! If I fight," he told her, "then I fight him." He stabbed a thumb toward Colton.

"What the fuck?" Colton muttered.

Vex's eyes narrowed. "You don't get to pick and choose. I'm the master of your fate now. Not you."

"I know. I know. But you want to impress your general? Give him a good fight?"

She paused.

"I can give you a good fight," he promised. He needed to sell this. "Colton and I have bad blood between us. I was hunting him before I came here, and the bastard did this to me. I want one last shot at him. One last shot and I'll make it good, I promise."

Vex put a fresh cigarette between her painted lips, and lit it. She shook out the match, and then drew deeply on the cigarette. Adam swallowed.Come on. He knew he needed to play to either her vanity, or her future plans. Preferably both.

"Done," she said finally, blowing out a cloud of smoke as she turned to the handlers. "Make them the last fight, just in case the general arrives. He's already late. And oil them up or something. I want to see those musclesgleam." She shot one last look at Adam. "The general might not even make it tonight. But I've got a sudden hankering to see your blood on my sands tonight."

Adam sighed with relief as she strode back through the door.

"You stupid son of a bitch," Colton spat, as the reivers swarmed the pair of them with long poles with collars on the end.

Adam ignored him as they collared him through the cell bars.

He had a plan.

* * *

Vex's stronghold first.

Mia's heart thundered in her chest as she put her back to the gate that led to the courtyard. Jake ducked against the other side of the gate, meeting her eyes. Both of them held shotguns. Bethany and Sara hid in the nearest doorway, holding each other's hands. Neither of them would be much good here.

All of their group were running on pure adrenaline, and the choice had been hard. The slave pens were easier to hit, and they'd have numbers on their side if they freed the people held there, but Vex wouldn't be away from her stronghold for long. Even now, the moon shifted in the sky overhead. The war games kept Vex and her coterie of reivers away, with only a light guard on rotation at her stronghold. It was the best chance they'd get.

And both Sage and Thea were held here.