Chapter Ten

 

The announcement came the very next evening. At the end of another grueling day of training, the trainers told Kate and the rest of the shifters not to report to training the next day. They were giving the shifters one day of rest before a big special Games event would take place. Excitement buzzed around the Severson household, as both the Seversons themselves and all of their staff discussed who would be competing and who was likely to win. Kate had never seen anything like the “sports fever” that the Games produced. It struck her as odd. Why would anyone be so excited about which shifter was going to win a match? There were real problems in the world, real issues to fight for. And yet these Gilt Hollow citizens poured all their energy into thinking about which shifters they wanted to place their bets on.

Kate herself had become a bundle of nerves, not because she cared who won any of the matches, but because she herself was about to attempt a heist that could cost her and several of her new friends their lives. The morning of the Games, adrenaline pumped through her veins as she reported to the Arena with the rest of the shifters. That adrenaline had nothing to do with her first official Games match, and everything to do with the tough task that lay ahead of her.

She refused to meet Otto’s eyes as they gathered in the competitors’ room that belonged to the Seversons. She knew he still wanted her to give up her plans, but she never would. She needed to do this. She needed to make a real difference for the resistance. And it might be months before another Games event. She was going to take this chance while she had it.

It didn’t take long for the noise in the Arena to become deafening. The stands were quickly filling with Gilt Hollow citizens, many of whom arrived early so that they could settle into their seats with drinks and snacks well before the first match began. The Gilt Hollow citizens also wanted plenty of time to place their bets. Gambling seemed to be a huge part of the attraction of the Games.

Like we’re all just goddamn horses in a goddamn horse race. Kate was beginning to understand why Otto had grown so incredibly bitter. How could you not, after being subjected to this mockery for decade after decade?

This special Games event was going to follow the format of the larger Winter Kickoff Games and Spring Kickoff Games that were held every year. There would be several rounds of fighting where two shifters would be in the ring at the same time, each facing down a different wild animal. Each shifter’s job was to subdue their wild animal as quickly as possible, and once an animal had been held to the ground for a ten second count, that shifter was declared the winner of the match. Winners advanced to a second round to face other first round winners, then on to a third, fourth, and fifth round. At the end, the best two shifters would face off in a dramatic final match, seeking the coveted title of Games’ Champion.

Of course, none of the shifters cared about the title. The noble houses who “owned” the shifters were the ones who craved the bragging rights of having a shifter champion under their care. But being crowned a champion did have its benefits for a shifter. The trainers usually were kinder to you, and you were given more grace when you committed minor infractions of the nobles’ rules. Otto had been Games’ Champion so many times that he could do almost anything he wanted, as long as he didn’t steal any of the Seversons’ stuff or disrespect them.

And here I am, with no Champion credits to my name. Yet I’m about to steal a shit ton of stuff from the Seversons’ vault. Kate swallowed nervously as she looked around at the other shifter competitors in the room with her. She had to put on an exceptional showing in the Games today. At the very least, she had to make sure she advanced to the second round. Otherwise, Loki might decide that it had been a mistake to bring her on as a trainee, and punish her for being a disappointment. Kate had heard enough about how Loki treated shifters when he wasn’t happy with them. She didn’t need to experience it for herself. But it was hard to focus when the pressure weighing on her shoulders felt so heavy. Rumor had it that this special Games match had been called because Loki wanted to show off his new female shifter competitor. He expected Kate to make him look good.

Luckily, Kate’s first match was also the very first match of the day. She wouldn’t have to wait around for long to see how her first official competition was going to pan out. After her match, she would wait for the next two matches to finish up, then join a few of the shifters who had competed in those two matches as they headed over to the Severson estate to raid the vault. Kate would not allow herself to dwell on the possibility of anything going wrong. She was determined that the raid would go smoothly, exactly as planned, and that she’d be back at the Arena with plenty of time to spare before her second match.

She knew Otto would roll his eyes at her if he could read her thoughts. He’d tell her how foolish she was being and once again try to get her to abandon her plan. But Kate wasn’t abandoning anything. She was going to raid that vault today or die trying.

And she was going to try not to think too much about the fact that she might, in fact, die trying.

The trainers abandoned the shifters to the competitors’ room as they themselves went to place their bets, get drinks, and act rowdy with the trainers from the other noble houses. Kate had been told by veterans of the shifter Games that the trainers tended to be hopelessly drunk by the end of the first round of matches, a fact that made Kate extraordinarily happy. Drunken trainers meant that, as long as the shifters showed up to their scheduled matches, no one would really notice if they weren’t in the competitors’ room in between. No one would notice if a group of shifters snuck over to the Severson estate and back.

A loud, hornlike blast sounded out, startling Kate. The shifter sitting next to her, Kellen, laughed.

“Scared ya, didn’t it? That’s the Games’ announcer, sounding the five minute warning blast on his bullhorn. You better go get in position, since you’re first up.”

Kate swallowed hard and nodded. She had been briefed at least a dozen times on what to do, and yet she still worried she wasn’t going to go to the correct place. She wasn’t about to admit to her nerves, though. She didn’t want any of the shifters to see that she was worried, and attribute that worry to the fact that they were about to raid the Severson vault. She needed to be the picture of perfect confidence.

Holding her head high and ignoring the wild pounding of her heart in her chest, she left the training room and started heading down the hallway. She hadn’t made it more than a few steps when she felt a strong hand grabbing her upper arm. Startled, she looked up to see that Otto had grabbed her.

“You’re going to want to turn around.” He gently turned her one hundred and eighty degrees, and then linked his elbow with hers. “Your entrance to the Arena is this way.”

Kate’s cheeks burned. “I…uh…oh. Right. I knew that. Just a little overexcited I guess. First Games and all.”

Otto only grunted as he continued to walk at a brisk pace, their linked elbows forcing Kate to keep up. Kate could feel the warmth of his body spreading to hers. She felt the electric tension crackling between them, and for a moment she was tempted to scream at him. How could he not feel it? How could he not realize they were lifemates? And how was she supposed to focus on a Games match with thoughts of him swirling through her mind?

“You’re nervous,” he said as they neared her entrance door. A thick wooden door opened into a small concrete room, where another door, this one metal, would open in a few minutes to let Kate into the Arena. Otto had turned to face her now, with one hand on her right upper arm. Her skin burned where he was touching her, and Kate wished she was brave enough to lean in and kiss him. But he’d made it clear that he didn’t want anything romantic between them right now, and Kate feared rejection if she tried anything remotely physical. Her ears pounded, but she wasn’t sure whether it was a reaction to Otto being so close or if it was because the noise level here by the Arena doors made you feel like your eardrums were going to burst.

Kate shrugged and tried to smile casually. “I just have a lot on my mind. A lot of adrenaline before my first match. And before…other things.”

Otto narrowed his eyes at her, and Kate felt her stomach melting under his intense gaze. “Don’t do this, Kate,” he said, half-yelling so that she could hear him. “Don’t go through with your other plans for today. You’re too nervous, and you’re liable to make a stupid mistake that will cost you your life. Call off the raid until next time. Just focus on getting through your first Shifter Games event.”

Kate shook her head. “I’m not abandoning my plan. My nerves will settle after I’ve finished my first match.”

Otto sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Everyone’s nervous their first Games. I was. There’s no shame in it. But don’t turn your nerves into a stupid mistake and get yourself killed raiding the vault.”

Kate shook her head again. “My mind’s made up, Otto. I’m not abandoning my plan. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a match to fight.”

The heat in his eyes burned her up, and she wanted to scream at him. Why was he looking at her like that, if he didn’t want anything between them? He was looking at her like a man in love, and yet his words made it clear that he did not consider Kate anything special. She pulled away from him toward the door that would take her to her first experience as a shifter competitor—her first experience in the crazy world of putting herself on display like an animal, just for the entertainment of these full humans she hated so much.

She gritted her teeth together again, reminding herself that she was doing this for a good cause, and reached for the door handle. But Otto pulled her back one more time, spinning her around and leaning into her until his face was only inches from hers. Kate felt her heart doing flip-flops, and her core burned with warmth.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” he said in a husky voice.

Kate’s heart flip-flopped again. She couldn’t find her voice, so she just nodded. She thought his eyes were going to burn a hole right through her. Right through her heart.

For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. He leaned in an inch closer, and she could feel his breath, hot and steamy, on her face. But after holding her gaze for another millisecond, he let go of her arm and turned to walk away. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

“Good luck,” he called over his shoulder without looking back at her. His voice still sounded deep and husky, like he was filled with desire and it was spilling over into the tone of his words. Kate was tempted to run after him, shake him, and demand that he either stop acting like he was attracted to her, or actually man up and act on those feelings.

But she didn’t have time for that right now, even if she could have found the guts to do it. She could hear the announcer in the ring, his voice barely rising above the crowd as he said something about the first female Games’ competitor ever.

“That would be me,” Kate muttered. What had she gotten herself into? With a sigh, she opened the heavy wooden door and stepped into the tiny concrete room, waiting for the announcer to finish revving up the crowd so that the metal door would open and let her walk out into the ring. The little concrete room felt like a prison cell, which struck Kate as appropriate. After all, she had lost what little bit of freedom she had when she volunteered to join the Shifter Games. Her life was completely dictated by the whims of Loki Severson.

Well, not completely. He can take my freedom, but not my free will. He can’t stop me from sacrificing my life for the resistance.

The crowd erupted into impossibly loud cheers at just that moment, and the metal door began sliding open with a great groan. Kate was blinded by the bright Arena lights for a moment, but she started walking forward anyway. She didn’t want to show even the slightest hint of hesitation or fear. She wanted these people to know that she was tough. When the revolution started in earnest, she wanted them to remember how tough she was, and to fear her.

Kate walked to the center of the ring to shake hands with her opponent, a wolf shifter she did not know from one of the lesser-known Gilt Hollow noble houses. She was glad she didn’t know him. That would make her feel less badly when she kicked his ass at this match.

After greeting her opponent, Kate turned to walk toward the opposite side of the Arena. She paused about a dozen yards from another thick metal door. The wild animal she would be facing would come out of this door in a few moments. Kate held her breath, wondering what it would be. She knew that in the past, the wild animals had ranged from bears to panthers to angry bull elk, and even to lions. She doubted she would be given a lion for her very first match, since the Games usually started out on the easier side and got more difficult as the day progressed. But one never knew. Sometimes the Games organizers liked to do crazy, unexpected things, just to keep it interesting.

When the door opened this time, however, Kate saw that she was faced with a wolf. She breathed a sigh of relief. A wolf she could handle. Kate let out a loud roar and began to shift, letting her panther form take over. Her Shifter Games uniform tore away as her sleek black inner cat broke loose. Her arms and legs changed into the powerful legs of a panther, ending in sharp claws, and her head morphed into a sturdy panther head, complete with razor sharp teeth.

Kate was running forward toward the wolf before she had even completely finished shifting. She took a deep breath of air, filling her lungs to maximum capacity. Her panther lips turned up in a smile as she felt the rush of oxygen throughout her body. She loved how powerful she felt when she had shifted into this big cat form. Nothing could hurt her. Nothing could bring her down. She was on top of the world.

The adrenaline rush propelled her forward, straight into the wolf. The wolf was on the larger side, but certainly not the largest that Kate had ever seen. And with the speed Kate had picked up in just a few leaps, she toppled the wolf over on impact.

The wolf yelped as the air went out of its lungs, but it recovered quickly, turning its jaws backward in an attempt to reach Kate’s panther neck. Instead, the wolf made contact with Kate’s shoulder, ripping a small gash in the exact same spot where Otto had wounded her only days before. Kate shook the wolf’s weak bite off with a grunt and a growl.

What is it with everyone wanting a piece of my shoulder? Kate gritted her teeth and held the wolf down firmly, ignoring the sharp pain from its teeth as it made contact with her shoulder again. She felt badly for the animal, and wished there was a way for her to apologize to it for the fact that it had been dragged into this circus. Kate knew that the Gilt Hollow citizens in charge of the wild animals did everything they could to torment the animals. They starved and tortured them until the poor things couldn’t even see straight. Kate hated the fact that the match she was a part of essentially tortured the animal further, but she figured the best possible thing she could do for the animal was to end this match as quickly as possible. That was the best possible thing she could do for herself as well.

She hated the way the crowd was roaring around her right now. She tried not to think about the fact that she was surrounded by an Arena of people who were placing bets on how well her inner animal would perform. She tried not to think about how dehumanizing that was. She tried only to think of subduing the wolf she was wrestling with. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could start sneaking over to the Severson vault.

“Ladies and gentleman, it looks like our amazing newcomer, Kate of House Severson, the first female competitor ever, has subdued her wild animal opponent in a matter of seconds. Let the countdown begin!”

The announcer’s voice rang out loud in the bullhorn, but the roar from the crowd still drowned it out almost entirely. Kate gritted her teeth together, struggling to keep the flailing wolf down with her large panther paws.

Just stop with the theatrics and start the damn countdown already. The announcer was milking this moment for all it was worth. And perhaps he was also trying to drag the match out a bit. Kate knew no one had expected her, a newcomer, to perform so well in her first official Games match. They wanted more of a long, drawn out show, but she wasn’t interested in giving it to them. She was interested in getting this match done and getting away from the noise and lights of the Arena.

Finally, the announcer could delay no longer. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

The roar of the crowd surged, and they counted down along with the announcer. Kate wondered how the other shifter in the ring was doing. She hadn’t heard the announcer mention him at all, so she figured he must not have wrestled his animal to the ground yet. She was glad. A win in her first match would make that bastard Loki happy, which would make her life easier.

“One!” The crowd was beside itself as the announcer finished the countdown, making Kate the official winner of the first match. You would have thought she’d just been crowned the overall champion from the way everyone reacted, and she would have rolled her eyes even in panther form, except she was worried that someone on the front row of the Arena seats might see her. She didn’t want to do anything to cause anyone to suspect her of insubordination right now. She wanted to keep as low of a profile as possible, which, admittedly, was going to be difficult with the crowd as hyped up about her win as it was right now.

Gilt Hollow assistants with tasers ran into the ring to subdue the wild animals and send them back to the cages they had come from. Kate turned her head away, wincing at the yelping from the wolf. Otto had been right. This whole “Games” thing really was that bad.

Kate shifted back into human form to go shake hands with the other shifter competitor before exiting the Arena. She turned just in time to see that his wild animal had also been a wolf. It looked like he hadn’t held up so well against it, though. The man was covered in blood, and several of the gashes on his body looked quite deep. Still, he didn’t complain or even wince as he walked toward Kate, wordlessly shook her hand, and then turned to leave the Arena.

Kate stepped back into the small concrete room she had come from, and breathed a deep sigh of relief when the metal door slid shut behind her. She had survived her first match. Now, she needed to survive her first attempt at a resistance mission. Hopefully, this would not be her last attempt.