“They are not Greek,” he scoffed. “Zeus and his rabble were the ones notorious for such frivolity.”
Audrey seemed to find that hilarious for some reason I couldn’t fathom, and doubled over laughing. It took her a few minutes to recover. She was still giggling when we took the field.
The field was huge. It was larger than the one I’d gotten used to playing on in college, and that was saying something. Ohio stadium had the capacity to seat over a hundred-thousand people. How the hell had they managed to set this up? When had they constructed this? How had no one noticed?
At least the larger field gave us room to maneuver. If we were lucky we’d get an opponent we could evade and wait until they tired. It had rained the night before, and the ground beneath us was slick and muddy. That was going to make things harder, especially if we did things human.
Though the slippery substance did give me one idea. Before we could make it even halfway across the field I stopped in my tracks, bending to scoop up a handful of mud. Then, before I could convince myself to do otherwise, I slathered the smelly gunk on my face.
The sensation of something foul and viscous splattering across my face made my heart begin to pound, and sent a wave of nausea rolling through me. It began to play out again, behind my eyelids. Why now? What had I done to trigger it?
‘Too small.’ The voice that is not my own snarls. I’m dizzy. Why is it so damn hot in here? I turned on the air a half hour ago, damn it!
The rage had spun me in circles for an hour straight before the moon had fully risen that night. I’d turned the air up as high as it would go. I’d stripped down to my boxers, and the heat kept pulsing through me, fanning the flames of the irrational anger.
‘It’s too small.’ The voice snarls again. ‘Run. Fight. Find prey. Kill.’ Yes, that was it. If I found prey, I could kill it. The unbearable heat would go away if I just did what it wanted.
Keith Page hadn’t meant to anger a bear when he’d walked in the door. He’d been bringing me soup and a bottle of Gatorade. How fucking unfair was that?
Bile rose in my throat as I recalled how the hot splash of his life’s blood had felt as it splashed across my ursine face. Too warm. It wasn’t what I wanted. The prey should be found in the icy river. The dorm was too hot. The blood wasn’t satisfying. I had to seek it elsewhere.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the onslaught of memories and smeared the mud to cover my face with shaking fingers. I had to disguise my face and my scent the best that I could. If Thor caught sight of my face, Audrey and I were as good as dead.
“What are you doing?” Audrey hissed, glancing at me. “They’re taking the field. We don’t have time to play in the mud.”
I bit back the unkind retort that sprang to mind. She didn’t know how dangerous my face could be to her. When I was satisfied with the coverage, I drew the sword from the sheath strapped to my waist. I came to stand beside Audrey, who held her spear at the ready.
“Get behind me,” I ordered.
She shot me an irritated glance, “No.”
“Damn it, I thought we talked about this. I don’t want you to fight.”
“I’m a grown-ass woman. I can fight if I want.”
“Your pride isn’t worth dying for!” I snarled, reluctantly taking my eyes off of the careful approach of our opponents. I could scent it on the wind. It was a wolf and a young, human female. I smelled salt in the air. Tears. Another quick glance confirmed they weren’t Audrey’s.
My blood boiled. They were dragging innocents onto a field of bloody and violent death. I was going to rip off someone’s balls for this if I got the chance.
“Behind me,” I ordered coolly. “I’m not above knocking you out and guarding your unconscious body if it comes to that.”
She blanched, and my stomach pitched at the look of abject fear that flashed across her face. I’d stepped in it big time. Any goodwill I’d managed to accrue in the last couple days had just evaporated. Her scent, which had been edged with fear as we’d walked onto the field, was now consumed by it. I could barely detect the hint of cinnamon behind the acrid stench of her terror.
Good God. My mate, my reason for existence, was terrified of me. She was going to want nothing to do with me by the time this whole ordeal was over.
She swallowed thickly and took several steps backwards, putting herself behind me. I half expected to feel the point of her spear between my shoulder blades. I’d deserve it after the stupid threat I’d just issued. What the hell was wrong with me? I knew better. And, to threaten her, of all people. That was inexcusable.
The wind changed direction and brought the scent of wolf to my nose. My eyes narrowed as I focused in on the source. The man striding across the field toward us had a mean, runty look about him. His face was pinched, and his dark eyes were shifty. His body was lean and taut as whipcord. I wasn’t sure if it was some were-bear instinct or years of navigating the waters with fellow testosterone-fueled men in locker rooms, but I knew that this werewolf was fast.
Standing a few yards behind him was a girl. Not a woman, but a tiny, pre-pubescent girl. I ground my teeth in frustration. She wasn’t even a teenager yet! Who had thought that dragging a little girl onto a battlefield had been a good idea? Norse dick-bags.
The werewolf stopped three meters away, sizing me up. Physical size didn’t always mean a correspondingly small or large animal form, but it could. The only bear I’d yet to meet with a bigger animal form than mine was Chance. I knew before he even began to shift that he’d be small, and that would give him the advantage over my bear form. Small and fast. He’d make a bid for Audrey before I even got halfway through my shift.
The little girl hid behind her protector’s leg, eyes wide and full of tears. She was too fragile to be on this field. I didn’t know how many matches this wolf had lost, but I suddenly wanted him out of the game in the worst way. The girl should be at home watching Saturday morning cartoons, not watching a bunch of men and women beat the shit out of each other.
I glanced at the sword in my hand, and then back at the little girl, who shrank back in fear. I turned the blade away from her and tossed it as lightly as I could. It landed in the mud at her feet.
“Take it,” I encouraged. “You’re going to need it.”
She blinked at it once in confusion.
So, now you don’t have a weapon. Oh well. You were never any good at fencing anyways.
I had other weapons in my arsenal that she sorely lacked. She nervously bent to pick up the weapon. Her thin arms shook with the effort of holding it upright. I knew she’d never be able to swing it. Maybe if someone saw her with a weapon they’d actually think to give her something she could use the next time some jackass tried to go for her throat.
A similar look of confusion flitted across the face of the werewolf. I turned to face him, a terrible smile curling my lips. I knew it was probably more of a baring of teeth than anything else.
“I don’t hurt kids. This is between you and me, buddy,” I muttered.
The wolf flashed me a fierce little smile of his own. “Don’t think I’ll take it easy on you, oso.”
“Bring it on.”
He rushed me before I could even finish the sentence. He leapt straight for my middle, his form twisting and writhing in mid-air. By the time he’d flown across the distance between us he was fully transformed, and a hundred-and-twenty pounds of wolf was hitting me broadside.
At first, the attack was driven completely by instinct. I had no clue what to do when faced by an angry wolf. How could I? Coyotes were way more common in Tennessee. The urban sprawl of Columbia, Ohio hadn’t been a prime place to come across wolves, either. So, I knew it was my bear that directed my attacks.
One wolf didn’t stand a chance against a bear, but my inexperience worked against me in this fight. I had been changing involuntarily at the full moon for over a year. I’d managed the change on my own precisely three times in my life. It w
asn’t second nature to me, as it might have been for someone like my brother-in-law. It would take time that I didn’t have, and in the meantime, I knew he’d attack Audrey.
I went down, the wolf landing on top of me. I tried to wrestle my way out from beneath him. I still had a fairly decent chance against him if I could just keep him at a distance. I took a lot of punishment on my forearms, and was intensely grateful for the bracers that Adner had given me. Without them, those teeth would sink into flesh, not leather. He came for my face again, and for a moment, all I could see was a mouth full of sharp teeth and spittle.
I drove my fist upward, intending to hit him in the jaw, and somehow managed to lodge my hand in the slippery, wet confines of his mouth. Before he could get the chance to react and chomp down to remove the whole hand, I shoved my arm further down, blocking his airway.
He let out a choked sound of panic and scrambled off of me. I wanted to sag to the ground in relief when his weight left my chest. I knew I couldn’t. The reprieve would only be temporary, and when he recovered the wolf would be pissed.
I scrambled to my feet, backing up a few paces. The little girl watched us with wide eyes, arms still trembling with the effort of holding the sword. She glanced from me to the downed wolf seemingly unsure of who she should trust. I forced my eyes away from the child and back to my own charge.
Audrey’s eyes were nearly as wide and terrified as the little girl’s. For all her bravado, the attack had been faster and more direct than she’d been expecting. And the wolf wasn’t even the biggest were-animal we’d seen in the arena. If Audrey had been the one facing him, I wouldn’t like her odds of surviving the encounter.
“Spear!” I shouted to her.
She snapped out of her horrified haze after a moment, and a look of grim determination settled onto her face. She balanced the spear carefully and then let it fly. It whistled audibly through the air as it arced toward me. I felt a little like an action hero as I grabbed the spear from mid-air and whipped around to face the charging wolf.
I moved the spear a fraction to the right, and it pierced his flank rather than the juncture beneath his ribs. He hadn’t made a bid for Audrey when he’d gotten me on the ground. I could at least make sure that the blow wasn’t fatal.
I yanked the spear from his body, and it emerged with a sickening squelch. The little girl’s scream nearly drowned the sounds of pain that came from the wolf. My stomach twisted. None of this was fair. The wolf wasn’t my enemy. I had no idea who the girl was to him, but she didn’t need to be watching this.
I prepared for the second charge as the wolf got to his feet. Instead, he began to pace back and forth restlessly, favoring his right side. I tracked his movement, spear at the ready. When he did attack again, I spun the spear around, whacking him upside the head with the blunt end of the weapon.
The strike dazed him, and he stumbled backward, letting out a whine. I slipped into the easy rhythm of practice with Chance. At least once a month he’d taught me to fight hand-to-hand. On several occasions, he’d also brought staves. I hadn’t actually believed him when he said the training would come in handy someday.
There was silence in the stadium for a long moment when I struck the wolf hard in the temple, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Then the crowds, which I hadn’t really taken note of when we’d entered the stadium, began to clap. Slowly at first, but with more enthusiasm as it went on. I scowled at them. I didn’t want or need their approval. This was sick, and they should be ashamed of watching it.
I knelt on the ground next to my fallen foe. He was still breathing. Good. A pool of scarlet was beginning to gather beneath his injured flank. A sudden thought struck me. It made me sick to contemplate, but really what choice did I have? It was only luck that had provided me the cover of the mud. I had no idea how long these matches were going to last. There was one thing I knew would not be in short supply in this place.
Blood.
It was still warm when I ran my hand through it. It ran through my fingers and ran down my arms as I lifted my cupped hands to splash my face.
Kevin. Beneath me. Eyes wide, a choked sound the only thing his mangled throat could manage. Blood, so much blood. Not what I wanted. Oh God, no.
I choked back the sickness rising in my throat at the sensation. Blood had gotten me into this mess. Blood had saved my life thus far. Blood would be the price that kept my mate safe.
Perhaps blood was all I’d ever know.
Chapter 4
Audrey
Three days into this hell, and he already had a fan club. ‘The Bloody-Faced Bear’ they were calling him now. I hated the nickname about as much as the practice that had spawned it.
Not that they would really call themselves that, but that was essentially what they were. A group of were-animals had taken an interest in Luke after the first fight. Most of them were guards. Some of them had entered the barracks after descending from their seats in the stadium.
The worst were the ones who’d passed their challenge and moved on to be inducted into the army that Thor and Tyr were recruiting.
Thor and Tyr. I couldn’t believe that I could think those names with any degree of seriousness. How many times had I thrown them around in my classes? How many times had I written their names in essays and discussions with friends? How many times had I discussed them with shifter friends when we discussed multi-cultural shifter awareness?
I’d only seen them at a distance. They sat in a balcony that jutted out over the playing field. I could only assume Thor was responsible for the near constant cloud cover and the mist that shrouded the stadium most days.
If you’d told me that these Gods were real a few weeks ago, I’d have traded my right hand for the chance at an interview. There was no way any board could overlook my doctorate thesis then. But back then, I’d been convinced that they were just stories. There was a reason that a lot of civilizations had polytheistic belief systems. It was easier to believe that the bad things that befell humanity were the result of a God’s doing, rather than an inevitable consequence of living in an uncaring universe.
So, if they existed, did this mean that all mythology was real? That was a scary prospect. I’d come to the Blue Ridge Mountains to collect research for my paper, not to land myself in the middle of a centuries-old war that had rekindled.
One of Luke’s fanboys sauntered up to our table, an arrogant smirk plastered all over his face. He probably thought he was handsome, with his hair artfully mussed, his chest bare and glistening. I wanted to roll my eyes. I saw better pecs nightly when Luke stripped off his armor to sleep.
What a sight that was. One of the reasons I’d taken the top bunk in our quarters was specifically, so I could ogle him stripping in peace. Was it wrong? Maybe a little, but he didn’t seem to mind. I could swear he actually enjoyed it when I was distracted by his bare chest.
The bulk had actually grown on me. Probably because he looked like a God in armor. He’d taken to tying his long hair back with a leather cord before he fought. The only thing that kept me from jumping him was the layer of grime caked on his face.
He’d hadn’t washed the layer of dirt and blood from his face when I’d asked him to the first night. He’d refused. Rather rudely, in fact. I didn’t see why he insisted on marking his face up with blood every time. I could think of quite a few cultures where blood was important, but considering the fact that Luke seemed clueless about most things, I doubted it was anything more than machismo.
The man stopped short of the table and gave me a look so lascivious that it made my skin crawl. He wasn’t just a beast. He was also your everyday monster who thought he had the right to harass any woman he liked the look of. He licked his lips, and I shuddered. While I still didn’t trust Luke, he was better than this creep.
“What do you want, Kent?” Luke demanded, setting his half-eaten sandwich back onto his plate.
“You got a real pretty lady here, James.” Kent d
rawled. He had an accent so thick it could have only emerged from a rural town in Texas. “Prettier than mine, ‘specially after that boar scarred up her face. Fancy a trade? Betty’s a real pro in the sack. She’d put out more than this one.”
My mouth popped open. How dare he? How dare he treat the savage mutilation of his partner so casually? How dare he insinuate that I somehow owed anyone sex?
Not that the idea of sleeping with Luke was an unpleasant one. I’d had several, steamy dreams that had tried to convince me to the contrary. But, I just couldn’t get past the blood that caked his face. That was a deal-breaker for the moment.
“Piss off Kent, before I beat your face in.”
The casual threat should have frightened me. It didn’t. Maybe it was the fact that I’d heard too many statements just like that one growing up. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn’t aimed in my direction for once. But his defense of me, however violent, did warm me a little.
Aside from the threat he’d leveled during our first match, he’d not done anything to hurt or intentionally scare me. I knew he’d been trying to protect me, even then, no matter how frightening his words had seemed at the time.
“Come on,” Kent said, reaching toward me. I slapped his hand away before he could make contact with my hair. I didn’t want his hands on me. He let out a snarl of frustration. Luke’s answering snarl was more impressive.
“Back off. Or I’m going to make you my third.”
He was pissed. It wasn’t often I heard him threaten to kill someone for me. Even in our matches, he did his best to make sure that no one was killed. Most of our opponents hadn’t even been seriously injured. Which is why we were facing so many foes. The logic was that if you couldn’t squash your opponent like a bug, you didn’t deserve to join the ranks of the Aesir army.
I didn’t really follow it. To me, it would have made more sense to draft us all and train us. More soldiers and vassals, right? From what I’d been able to glean from Luke and our guard Adner, it seemed that this whole situation thrived on illogic.
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