Chapter Nineteen
Peder sat in a small cell with Nahuel for gloomy company. When he had agreed to the challenge, he hadn’t known they would take the Yaundeeshaw hunter as well. It seemed foolhardy to send the two injured hunters to fight. They’d been given a good meal of fresh meat and bread with ale. Now, they waited under the fighting arena.
“What are your strategies?”
Peder gave Nahuel a slow blink. “For what?”
“When you fight, what strategies do you use?” Nahuel sat on the floor across from him. Eyes closed, he rested his head against the wall. If he hadn’t spoken, Peder would have thought he was praying.
Sorin’s teachings sprang to mind. “I’m as tall as most hunters, but I lack the muscle to take them down by brute force. My alpha has been teaching me to use my body to counterweight their attacks and to use pressure points in joints to immobilize them.”
Nahuel’s eyebrows both rose. He peered at him through cracked eyelids. “Most hunters would have just said to win.”
Peder gave him a sheepish grin. “That too.”
“What are your loss to win relations?”
There were no holes to crawl in. Nahuel didn’t know him except that he was Apisi. That he treated him like a hunter helped Peder act like a hunter. He couldn’t lie. Nahuel would smell it. “One one. You?” He said it as if all hunters should have such scores.
Nahuel lifted his head slowly. “One one? As in you’ve won a single fight and lost a single fight?”
He nodded, unable to voice anything due to the constriction growing around his throat.
“So you’ve only fought two challenges? Ever?”
“They weren’t exactly challenges. I’m including the fight in the holding pen and the one with Timothy.” He stared at the floor, not willing to look at the incredulity in Nahuel’s eyes. Peder thought he’d done pretty well so far. Timothy did place them in this event. He wouldn’t do that unless he believed they’d win.
Nahuel leaned forward and grasped his chin so he’d be forced to meet his friend’s wide-eyed stare. “So you’re not really a hunter?”
“I’m omega.”
“But you said your alpha’s been training you. Alphas don’t train just anyone—unless he thinks there’s alpha in you.” Nahuel was on his knees now. “And omegas don’t fight. You’re full of surprises, Peder.” He clapped his shoulder. Hard.
Peder clenched his teeth and held back the wince. His bruises from the caning were abundant. “I don’t know about alpha, but I’ve been changing.” He recalled the other shifters kneeling to him in the pen. Alpha of slaves. What a sorry title. “It doesn’t matter. We’re here now and have to win otherwise—” He swallowed hard. “You heard what he’ll do to Kele.”
Nahuel nodded, solemn again. “How do you want to approach this?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never fought in pairs before. What do you suggest?” Nahuel had more experience than he. Maybe they played such sports in the Yaundeeshaw den.
“Stay out of the fight at first. Let me test their strengths and weaknesses. I’ll call them out as I spot them.” He rubbed his ear. “We’re both young. We can tire them out before attacking.”
“Sounds good.” Any plan was better than no plan. He could follow directions well. “But that leaves you the target for most of the attacks.”
“You’re more injured than I am.”
Peder chuckled. “This is nothing. A few years ago, I walked around like this all the time.” Pain tolerance didn’t seem to fade with time. He hurt but it was like a faded bad memory. It made him uncomfortable but didn’t affect him.
Nahuel didn’t share his laugh.
Clearing his throat, Peder reached for the bucket of water the slavers had left for them and took a deep drink.
“I heard things about your pack.” Nahuel rolled a pebble back and forth between his fingers and crouched in front of him. “As a pup, I used to have nightmares about the Apisi.”
Peder passed him the water. “I won’t eat you in your sleep.” Would Nahuel’s nightmares compare to his? He doubted it. He had lived with the monster, not been told stories about him.
“No, that’s not what I mean.” He drank and looked away. “If I’d thought there’d been any truth to the stories…”
Peder frowned. “There’s nothing anyone could have done. He was our alpha. Any challenges to him would have been an act of war and I think the hunters would have followed him out of loyalty to the den.” He shook his head. “It’s done. Sorin saved us.” He had saved Peder. He wouldn’t let his teachings go to waste. They would win this challenge. If for nothing else than to prove to himself that he truly possessed a hunter’s heart.
The sounds of the crowd grew louder. Someone was making announcements.
Timothy arrived at their cell door. “Listen up. You’ll be in the second fight. It runs like challenges. First one out of the ring loses. This isn’t to the death. You kill someone then I have to pay for their corpse. That means I’ll take the price out of your hide. Am I clear?”
Peder nodded. “Sir?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What did you call me?”
“Master?”
“What is it, Goldie?” He folded his thick arms over his chest.
“Where is Kele?” She’d arrived with them, then Timothy had taken her away.
Timothy gave him a secretive smile. “She’s well. Don’t worry. I’ll keep my word.” Then he left Peder clutching the bars.
“You can’t protect her forever. In fact, I think you’re making it worse.” Nahuel rested his hand on his shoulder.
Peder thumped his forehead against the metal bar. “I know. I know. But I can’t help it.” Throwing his weight back, he released the cage door and paced the small space. “She’s been under my skin since the first time I met her. I’m like a rabid dog when someone tries to hurt her. I can’t think straight, I can’t sleep.”
“Love is a grand thing, isn’t it?” Nahuel had returned to his original spot with his back to the wall, his eyes closed.
The crowd cheered above them. Growls and a sharp whine broke through the other noises.
“I’m sorry. It’s callous of me to speak of her with you.” Peder chuckled. Nahuel and Kele’s mating ceremony felt like years ago instead of days. “I don’t mean any disrespect.”
Nahuel didn’t respond.
A sinking feeling crept into Peder. “Do you love her?”
Finally, the other hunter smiled. “No. I didn’t even know her name until a few moments before the slavers attacked, but she loves you. I can smell it on her. The whole ride here in that damn small cage. You both reeked of it.”
“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t stop saying it. Part of it was his omega conditioning, but part of it was he truly felt like he had stolen a treasure from Nahuel.
“You shouldn’t be. She’s beautiful and maybe one day we might have loved each other.” He shrugged. “Now all I can hope for is to survive another day.”
The announcer began speaking again, but his voice was too muffled to hear the words.
Guards opened their door. “You’re next.”
They filed out and were led to the ring. Torchlights surrounded the circle and kept the spectators in the shadows. The scent of blood and sweat tainted the air. Two large males made of gristle and rough edges stood in the center. They’d already dropped their clothes outside the ring.
He and Nahuel added theirs to the pile.
The announcer introduced them by name. The crowd cheered for their opponents, clearly the favorites.
Nahuel stood with a relaxed stance and leaned close to his ear. “We’re in trouble.”
Peder’s spine snapped straight. Kele couldn’t afford for them to lose. He turned to face Nahuel, but he’d already left Peder’s side and shifted to feral. The others had as well. He automatically thought of his trigger memory and embraced his body’s change.
The announcer raced from the ring.
As they had agreed, he kept to edges and observed Nahuel’s tactics. His friend feinted his first two attacks, one for each hunter.
They reacted differently. The first jumped back and the second jumped forward, attacking Nahuel in return and taking the fight to the ground.
Nahuel held the other’s head as he snapped his sharp teeth at his throat. The fight wasn’t supposed to be to the death, yet the pouncing hunter acted like he wanted life blood.
The crowd’s roar seemed louder than the previous fight, but he’d been under the ring at the time. It hit his ears as if the cheers were a physical blow. He spun and stared into the dark. Was Kele watching?
Peder couldn’t seem to draw in enough air. His chest heaved but the suffocation grew worse.
A sharp whimper of pain returned his attention to the fight. Both hunters were on Nahuel now. This wasn’t a regular challenge. The spectators wanted blood and the attacking shifters were animals—they’d lost what made them civil.
With a snarl, Peder leaped into the fray. Claws extended, muzzle open he landed on the closest hunter.
If they wanted blood, he’d make them drown in it.