And Zora hated them. The sight of human beings being forced to fight like animals had never sat well with her. Neither had the idea that shifters were only animals. Sure, they had an animal form. But that didn’t mean they weren’t people. Zora had gotten to know Leo, one of the Seversons’ shifter guards, quite well, and she could not in good conscience consider him any less human than she herself.
Still, she’d figured that if the shifters wanted to volunteer for the Games, she shouldn’t judge. Once she found out what “volunteering” actually meant, she’d been livid. Now, she wanted to do whatever she could to help the shifters. But wanting to help and figuring out ways to actually do so were two completely different things. So she did the only thing she could do: she took on the tour duties for Oskar. Most considered giving tours to shifters a boring job, and were happy to let Zora take over. Zora thought that once she had a chance to talk to Oskar alone, she could come up with some way to help him. She’d always been good at winging it.
She hadn’t expected her heart to react the way it did at the sight of him up close. Zora had seen enough shifters in her lifetime to know that male shifters tended to be tall, muscular, and handsome. But she’d never seen anything quite like Oskar Warden. Even scowling and angry, his handsome face made her stomach do funny flip flops, and her heart flutter in her chest. How was she supposed to have a conversation with him about anything while keeping a straight face, let alone a conversation about something as serious as finding ways to help him and his fellow shifters. Zora felt foolish, like a child who had jumped into a very grown-up world without realizing that she had no clue what the grown-ups were actually doing.
And now, idiot that she was, she’d led Oskar straight into Loki’s greedy hands. She knew she shouldn’t blame herself too much. After all, Loki would eventually find a way to pit Oskar and Otto against each other. Avoiding the Arena today would have only delayed the inevitable.
“So this is where the magic happens,” Oskar said in a sarcastic voice. The fact that he’d said anything at all startled Zora. He’d been moody and silent since the apple orchard. He’d eaten the potatoes she offered him, but he’d done so without uttering a single word. Zora followed his gaze now, to the bottom of the Arena where the large fighting ring was covered in a dusty layer of dirt.
“This is where the Games take place, yes. And some training. Most of the training happens in the training facility next door, but each shifter is allowed a certain amount of time to come practice in the actual Arena. Just to get used to it before actual fights.”
“How generous,” Oskar said, his sarcastic tone deepening. Before Zora could figure out anything else to say, her brother was walking toward them with a ridiculous grin plastered on his face. His clothes jingled when he walked from all the gold accessories pinned to them, and Zora resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She’d always found the fashions in Gilt Hollow completely impractical, but her brother embraced them with gusto.
“Good to see you, Oskar,” Loki said, as thought Oskar was an old buddy of his. “I hope you slept okay?”
Oskar only grunted in response, but Loki either missed his sour mood entirely or chose to ignore it.
“Those outfits look good on you,” Loki continued, gesturing at the black shifter uniform Oskar was wearing. Zora said a silent prayer of thanks that she’d convinced Oskar to wear the damn thing. Loki would have made a huge deal out of it if Oskar was still walking around in Bear Hollow clothes. “Did you eat anything?”
Oskar nodded at Loki, but again said nothing. Again, Loki didn’t seem to notice or care that Oskar’s expression had darkened several degrees since Loki started talking.
“Good, I’m glad you had some nourishment, because you’re going to need your strength,” Loki said in a dramatic tone. “It just so happens that Otto is here, one of our best Shifter Games champions. I’d like you two to spar a bit, so I can get a feel for what you’re capable of. Don’t worry, I’ll tell him not to seriously hurt you.”
“Are you kidding me?” Oskar said, his eyes turning black as midnight on a moonless night. “I thought the Games involved fighting wild animals, not other shifters.”
“Is there a difference?” Loki asked, then laughed as though he’d just made the funniest joke anyone in the room had ever heard. Zora saw Oskar’s jaw line twitch and she noticed his fist flexing. She had to jump in and say something before Oskar lost his temper and punched Loki. Loki would honestly love nothing more than to have Oskar punch him. That would give Loki an excuse to have Oskar thrown in prison for at least a month, and to subject him to torture and harsh discipline. There would surely be some sort of repercussions for Oskar’s sister, too.
“The Games are mostly fought against wild animals,” Zora said, trying to sound like a professor who was merely explaining facts to a class without passing any personal judgment on whether the facts were good or bad. “But occasionally, for special matches, two shifters might be pitted against each other. These are known as ‘almost death matches,’ because the shifters are not supposed to actually kill each other. The goal is for one shifter to wound the other shifter so badly that it’s obvious they could have easily killed the other shifter if they’d wanted to.”
Oskar was staring at Zora like he would have liked to have “almost killed” her right then. Zora didn’t dare even look at Loki. She didn’t want to encourage him to speak, because she was pretty sure that whatever he might have to say would only make things worse.
“Anyway,” Zora continued quickly with a bright, fake smile. “There are actual death matches as well. But those are only fought against animals, not against other humans.”
“Not against other shifters, you mean,” Loki corrected Zora. Zora winced and ignored him. She’d specifically said “humans” instead of “shifters” because she wanted Oskar to know that she viewed shifters as people, not as animals. But of course Loki couldn’t let that comment go. To Loki, shifters would always be less than human. Zora wondered for a moment how horrified Loki would be if he knew that his own sister actually felt attracted to his new shifter “volunteer.” Zora swallowed hard and looked down at her feet, suddenly worried that her brother would be able to see her feelings in her eyes, even though he’d never been the overly observant type.
“Well, whatever you want to call the matches,” Oskar said to Loki in a tight voice. “I’m not interested in fighting another shifter. My understanding was that I ‘volunteered’ for matches against animals.” Oskar placed extra sarcasm on the word ‘volunteered,’ and Zora saw Loki’s eyes darken and narrow.
“You volunteered for the Games,” Loki said. “And you will train for the Games—all aspects of them—or I’ll have to pay a little visit to your sister.”
Zora saw Oskar’s face twitch. His hands were balled into tight fists, and she knew it must take everything in him not to launch a punch at Loki. But his sister’s wellbeing mattered more than even his own dignity and pride, and so he turned with an angry grunt and hopped over the railing into the Arena. A small cloud of dust rose from the spot where his feet landed, and he strode toward the center of the ring as though he knew exactly what he was doing, even though he’d never been here before. His broad back looked tense, but strong. Zora chewed her lip, trying to think of some way to get him out of this. But she knew this fight could not be avoided forever, so she sat down in the seat beside her brother and tried to act like it didn’t bother her to watch two shifters unwillingly pitted against each other.
Loki laughed as he settled himself in his seat and pointed at Oskar and Otto. “Oskar has no idea how the fights work, but I guess he’s too arrogant to wait for instructions. Fine. Let’s see how he wings it.”
Zora did her best not to visibly bristle. If Loki became suspicious at all that Zora had a soft spot toward Oskar, that would be the end of her being allowed to escort him around.
The two shifters approached each other in the center of the ring, and Otto spoke to Oskar for a moment. Zora didn’t know w
hat they said, but as Otto spoke she saw Oskar’s shoulders visibly relax. He nodded, and then the two of them backed up until they had placed about fifty feet between them. Otto glanced up at Loki and nodded, and Loki loudly counted to three.
On three, the two shifters began to change forms. Zora had seen this hundreds of times before. Her family was one of the biggest participants in the Games, so she’d watched training and real fights over and over since she was a little girl. But watching Oskar shift felt different. Her heart beat faster as his clothes began to tear away and his rippling muscles began to thicken into bear skin, covered in chestnut brown bear fur. His head morphed into the head of a grizzly, giant and fierce, with keen, dark eyes and razor sharp teeth that gleamed white when he roared. His hands and feet became huge paws that ended in pointed claws. One swipe of those claws could easily take a man’s life.
Zora shivered, but not from fear. Her heart was pounding with excitement from watching a man as attractive as Oskar shifting into his bear form. His fierceness and strength sent waves of desire through her, and she wished with every fiber of her being that it was acceptable for a Gilt Hollow citizen to fall in love with a shifter. She’d known Oskar less than a day, but he already captivated her with his effortless power. The Gilt Hollow men who had tried to date Zora always tried so hard to prove their might, but they came across as desperate and fake. Zora wanted a real man—a man who didn’t need to hide behind fancy clothes and piles of gold to feel like he was important. And she knew as she watched Oskar’s bear stand on its hind legs and roar that she had found a real man.
Too bad dating him was out of the question. She could only imagine her father’s anger if he learned that his daughter, one of the mighty Seversons, had fallen for a shifter. The story would be the most scandalous thing anyone in Gilt Hollow had ever heard of, and Zora would probably be locked up in her room, forbidden to go anywhere alone.
Zora sighed. She had to keep her feelings for Oskar in check. If she was careless and got herself locked away under constant supervision, she’d never figure out a way to help the shifters, and she was determined to help them. A romance between herself and Oskar, as tempting as it was, could never be. Assuming Oskar even had an interest in her, which was a big assumption, they could never have a real life together. He was a “volunteer” for the Games, and she was the daughter of a Gilt Hollow nobleman. The powers that be would never allow love to blossom between them.
And so, Zora had to settle for admiring Oskar from afar. She sat with a neutral expression on her face, watching as Oskar’s bear and Otto’s wolf started creeping toward each other, taking the slow measured steps predatory animals took when they were on the verge of attacking. Zora held her breath, wondering who would make the first move. Otto’s wolf was much smaller than Oskar’s bear, but Otto was an experienced fighter, and his smaller size made him quicker. Zora had watched him fight opponents much larger than himself and win easily, simply because he could dart in and inflict a wound, then dart out again before the other fighter even knew what hit them.
Zora realized she was chewing her lower lip again, and she forced herself to stop. Otto wouldn’t kill Oskar. At least she was sure of that much. Otto knew the way the Games worked, and he knew better than to kill off anyone’s prized fighter. But Otto might seriously wound Oskar, and for the first time in Zora’s life, she found herself on the verge of tears while watching a fight. She’d always kept a stoic face during these events, until now. Blinking rapidly to try to blink away the tears before Loki noticed, she tried to think about anything other than what was going on right in front of her.
The rest of the fight unfolded quickly. With loud roars, the two shifters charged at each other. Oskar’s bear swung at Otto’s wolf, but the swing was clumsy and slow, and missed entirely. Zora heard Loki suck in his breath beside her, and she knew he was disappointed.
Oskar wasn’t giving up yet, though. He roared again and charged toward Otto, his teeth bared. The wolf dodged out of the way and then leapt onto the bear’s back, sinking his teeth into the bear’s neck. Oskar roared and stood on his hind legs, trying to shake off the wolf. But Otto held on tightly. Everything after that was a blur. Fur, claws, and teeth seemed to be moving everywhere at once, and Zora couldn’t help but clap her hand over her mouth as she watched Oskar’s bear turn bloody and sway unsteadily. Otto normally would have pulled back by now, but he seemed intent on doing as much damage to Oskar as he possibly could. Finally, Loki stood up and waved his hands.
“Enough! Enough already. Otto, lay off of him. It’s obvious that you’ve won.”
Otto’s wolf stepped back, its muzzle covered in blood and its eyes wild. Even in wolf form, Zora could detect the hint of an evil grin on Otto’s face. She shivered, and this time the shivers were from fear. She wanted to jump up and run to Oskar’s bear, which was now slumped on the ground, but she didn’t dare move. Loki would think she was soft if she ran out there now, and if he thought she was soft she’d be forced to stop all of her interactions with the shifters.
Otto quickly shifted back into human form, his naked, muscular body barely showing a scratch. He looked down at Oskar, still in bear form, and shrugged before looking up at Loki. “He’s got potential, but he needs a lot of training.”
Loki was too furious to answer Otto. He only glared at Oskar as the bear slowly began to shift back into human form. Once human, Oskar lay, naked and bloody, on the Arena floor, as though sitting up itself was too much effort for him.
“They told me he was the strongest shifter in Bear Hollow,” Loki spat out in disgust. “He might be strong, but he has no skill.” Then he looked over at Zora. “You take care of cleaning him up. I can’t stand to look at him another minute right now.”
Normally, Zora would have pushed back at being ordered around by her brother. He wasn’t in charge of her, even though he often tried to act like he was. But at the moment, she was just glad that Loki was leaving her alone with Oskar. She waited until her brother had stormed completely out of the Arena, and then hopped over the barrier between the rows of seating and the Arena floor. She ran over to Oskar, and gently touched his shoulder.
“Oskar, are you okay?” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she looked up, afraid that somehow her brother had returned and had heard the emotion in her words. But only Otto still stood there, watching her with suspicious eyes. Zora tried to give him a stern look that would make him believe she was a tough Gilt Hollow citizen who didn’t care about shifters, but from the way his eyes narrowed at her, she knew he was suspicious of something. She decided that ordering him around would be the best way to both make Otto less suspicious, and to also get Oskar somewhere she could help him.
“You,” she said, pointing at Otto and trying to sound authoritative the way her brother always did. “Carry Oskar for me. He’s wounded and I need to get him somewhere he can get medical attention. I won’t have my brother’s prized shifter suffering setbacks because these wounds aren’t taken care of.” She’d added the last part for good measure, to act like her reasons for caring about what happened to Oskar stemmed from selfish interests.
Otto did not comment, and he smoothed his face into an expressionless mask as he bent down and easily picked up Oskar, despite the fact that Oskar must have weighed well over two hundred pounds.
Zora kept a stern expression on her face as she directed Otto out of the Arena and back toward the Severson estate grounds, but she couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief when Oskar groaned as Otto lay him down on one of the beds in the Seversons’ in-house medical facility. At least Zora knew he was alive.
“You may go,” she said sharply to Otto, trying to keep up her tough façade. She busied herself with laying a blanket over Oskar’s naked body so that she wouldn’t have to meet Otto’s eyes. But as soon as Otto had left, closing the door behind him with a sharp click, Zora let her tears fall.
Chapter Seven
“Oskar, can you hear me? Are you okay?” Zora choked out the words, f
eeling stupid as soon as she’d asked them. Of course Oskar wasn’t okay. He was covered in blood and the only noises he’d made since the Arena were grunts and groans of pain.
“Oskar, it’s me, Zora. Can you hear me at all?” Zora glanced around the room, feeling instantly overwhelmed. Medical equipment filled the room, but most of it Zora wouldn’t have had a clue how to use. The first aid kits were probably her best bet, but would cleaning up the blood and sticking some bandages on Oskar be enough? Zora wondered if she should call for help. The Seversons kept several doctors on staff, and one of them would be here in minutes if Zora called.
And yet Zora hesitated. She wanted time alone with Oskar, and she wouldn’t get that for a long time if she called a doctor in. They would want to run tests and monitor and do all sorts of things that would prevent Zora from speaking to Oskar without staff members listening in.
“Oskar, if I can’t get you to respond, I have to call in a doctor.” She spoke with desperation in her voice, hoping he would somehow understand the urgency of the situation and find a burst of strength to sit up and talk to her. She knew that was a foolish hope. His wounds looked red and angry, and he needed a doctor. She wasn’t doing him any favors by hesitating to call one. With a sigh, she went to push the button that would ring a bell in the doctor’s quarters several floors above them. Whichever doctor was on duty would come rushing down to the medical wing as soon as that bell rang, and Oskar would be taken care of.
Zora paused with her finger over the button, taking a deep breath to steady her churning nerves, and was just about to press it when Oskar’s voice stopped her.
“What does that button do?”
She whirled around, and without thinking about it she ran toward him. Her impulse had been to throw her arms around him, but she stopped herself just in time and stood in front of him with her arms behind her back instead. She ignored his question about the button, instead grinning like an idiot as she said. “You’re awake. And talking!”
The Misfit and the Bear (The Shifter Games Book 1) Page 5