Page 41

Dray POV

Set Before The Wasteland

E yeing the scav bastard in front of me I debate the best way to shut him up, his mouth keeps moving and his eyes are cocky and so sure of himself.

“Fucking seekers.” He mutters, earning laughs from the men gathered around him. I wait and watch from the shadows, waiting for the move I know is coming. It sends blood lust spiraling through my body as my muscles tense and my blades hum, calling for blood.

As soon as his fist hits the seeker in the middle of his circle of buddies I burst into action.

He doesn't even see me coming, yanking his head back I let him feel my breath hit his neck. His body startles to tremble, like they all do when they know they are about to die. His friends’ eyes widen as they stumble back, pale and afraid of the monster.

Grinning I raise my blade and stroke it along his neck.

“You should be more careful who you fuck with.” I rumble before slitting his throat.

I hold him against me as his body twitches and fights the blood pouring from his neck.

Only when he stops moving and his heart stutters to a stop against me do I drop him to the floor.

Still grinning at the others, I raise the knife to my mouth and flick my tongue out to taste the blood on it.

“Tastes like prey.” I admit and they scatter.

Running so fast they fall over each other with my laughter chasing after them. Fucking pussies.

A throat clears behind me and I look over my shoulder to spot Archel, or as my men call him The Shadow, hovering in the corner just like I was.

He’s a few years younger than me but a ferocious bastard, a cold blooded killer and a good friend.

He stands by my side as my father and brother rip our warriors to pieces and torture our land - but not for much longer.

I cock my eyebrow at him and I can see his lips turn up into a shit eating grin even from under that fucking black cloak he likes to wear so much.

“Our fighter is coming up next.” He says, leaning back against the wall, blending into the shadows so much that if I didn’t know he was there I would glance past him. It makes him a good friend to have.

“Good, hope that fucker dies. Who is he against?” Sheathing my knife, I stride until I can lean against the wall next to him, not trusting my back to these animals.

I know I will have to talk to Major later about the body in his pit but once I point out he attacked first, he won't dare challenge me.

Archel laughs and I look at him in confusion. “A slave.”

Groaning, I lean my head back. “I need him to die, not to win.”

Just then a bell sounds and with an angry sigh I push away from the wall and make my way to the railing on the upper deck. A wide empty circle soon appears around my position, just the way I like it. Looking down I spot the seeker in the ring, boasting and bragging to anyone who will listen.

I don’t even hear Archel come to my side until his voice sounds. “I have a feeling he still might.”

That settles me somewhat, Archel is famous for his ‘feelings’ he somehow always knows where and when he needs to be.

Blinking in shock I freeze as the most beautiful woman I have ever seen is pushed into The Ring.

Her shoulders are hunched, and she has one black eye but she is magnificent.

I can’t help but run my eyes down here, she can’t be much younger than me, maybe sixteen?

Her body is filled out though, all curves but from the bones sticking through her skin I imagine she is starving.

A black Berserker brand catches my eye on her shoulder. So, she's a slave, a Berserker slave.

Her long brown hair is tied back in a plait but it’s when she lifts her head all reason and thoughts leave my brain.

Clutching the railing I lean closer, her eyes flash with defiance and death as she looks around the cheering men.

Yet even then she isn’t daunted, a slave girl against a whole room and she stands there with her feet apart glaring at everyone.

My mouth goes dry as my animalistic side roars, screaming at me that she is meant for me.

In those eyes I see the same pain and need for blood that I see in my own every day.

I barely move as the seeker wastes no time, unsheathing a dagger and whirling at the girl.

He is bigger, almost double her height, but he is slow.

Where his fighting is to show off, she is fighting to survive and from the set of her shoulders and that gleam in her eyes I know she will do anything it takes.

The thought sends a bolt of lust straight down to my cock, hardening it in my leathers .

She’s fast, real fucking fast and every time he lands a hit she gets back up.

Her moves are raw and untrained but every swing is meant as a death blow.

My heart races in my chest and I have never cared about another being surviving as much as I do now.

All that weakness should have been tortured out of me, my father's words, but I can’t seem to care.

The Seeker slips up and she manages to steal the dagger and spin under his legs.

She wastes no time, she doesn't even hesitate as she flings herself on his back and plunges it, again and again into his vunerable neck.

Blood arcs, spraying her body and face but she doesn't care, lost in the kill as she rides him to the floor until he lays underneath her, dead. Rising from the sand, her enemies’ blood covering her and the stolen dagger clutched in her hand she faces the now silent crowd.

No one knows how to react, it is obvious she was sent in there to die.

With a smirk she tilts her head defiantly and flings the knife, it flies into the upper deck and embeds in the wall near a crowd of Berserkers the uproar moving them, but I find my eyes drawn back to her.

She doesn't run or hide. She looks like a fucking queen stood there like that. One I plan on having.

“Well, fuck, I was right,” Archel says with a laugh, moving away from the railing uncaring what happens next but I can’t move away, still frozen on the spot as her hardened gaze swings across the balcony until it lands on me.

It’s like a bolt of lightning hits my body, bringing me back from the darkness and making me wish for things I can't have.

Her eyes round and she seems as enthralled as I am until three Berserkers jump into the ring and drag her away kicking and screaming and still I watch.

I could help, I could jump in but they would kill me.

I am not the leader of the Seekers, they wouldn't hesitate to but if I was…

A plan starts forming in my head, first I need to kill my brother and father, a chore, one that I should have done way before now, then I will find her and bring her back to my land. I will have that Berserker slave but I will offer her freedom and fight by her side.

“Dray, come on. If we are late you know what will happen,” Archel shouts from the stairs. Nodding, I turn away. The next time I am here, I will make her mine.