Page 366 of Hunters and Prey

Chapter 7

Unit four was gone, either dead or taken elsewhere by the Bloods. Only the mercs in unit seven remained. And then there was us: Helgi, Bran, Dante, and me. I clasped my hands together to stop the tremor. They’d stripped us of our weapons before throwing us back in our cell, leaving us back at square one. Now that it was over, now that we were back in our cell, the heat of adrenaline was gone and the shock was setting in. I’d done my fair share of killing in the name of righting wrongs, to save an innocent life or protect a child, but this ... this had been a senseless and barbaric act wrapped in the facade of a sport.

Gustov was a monster that needed to die.

The key I’d found burned a hole in my pocket. It had to be Dunstan’s key. The one he’d stolen from the mercs. It had been on the edge of the arena, in the spot where Dunstan had lost his life ... where I’d ended Jasper’s life. Death, fucking death. Common decency dictated that I hand the key to Bran, but common decency was a gray area in my line of work, and my gut screamed finders keepers. Damn, the rogue in me was strong right now, teased to the forefront of my consciousness by all the carnage. It reminded me that once we got out of here, this key could provide the payday Helgi had been dreaming of. Best to squash the voice of morality that muttered at me to hand it over, best to focus on Helgi and her ministrations as she examined my back.

Helgi adjusted my ripped tunic, bunching it up into a knot snug against my upper spine. The Wyvern’s tail had torn a huge gash in the material, rendering it pretty much useless, but it covered my breasts well enough. Thank goodness the scales had saved my flesh from damage. They’d protected me from serious harm. Armor was about the only thing the unsightly things were good for. The mattress under my butt felt way too good and the urge to just lie down and close my eyes was almost too much, but Jasper’s face, twisted in agony, played over and over in my mind. I’d barely known the guy, but watching him be torn to shreds, having to end his life ... The images cut into my mind again and again like a wicked scalpel.

“You did the right thing,” Helgi said as she finished adjusting my top. “You ended his pain.”

She’d always been adept at picking up on what I was feeling. Her intuition and empathy were what had drawn me to her as a child. Usually, her words made me feel better, but not this time. This time they raised the nausea a notch.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “None of this should be happening. We should be in the Outlands. We should be free.”

Helgi leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Big Red seems awfully interested in your back right now.”

A distraction on her part, no doubt, but it worked. I arched a brow and turned my head to catch Dante staring. He didn’t bother looking away. Instead, he tore his gaze from my scales and locked onto my face with a strange intensity that had my toes curling and my gut screaming at the same time.

“You want a closer look?” My words were acerbic. I hated it when people stared at my mutation. I’d been lucky it was easily covered, but having it exposed for all to see right now added a sharp edge to my tone.

“Yes. I would, actually,” Dante said smoothly.

Well, I hadn’t been expecting that. Helgi snorted and moved out of the way to allow Dante better access. The heat of his body entered my personal space and a shiver ran up my back. Pleasure, sweet and fresh, lanced through me. It bloomed warm and throbbing at the apex of my thighs. What was this? What was he doing?

“Silky,” he said softly. “They are tough yet as smooth as silk.” His voice was a sigh, a caress that shivered up the nape of my neck and spread across my scalp like questing fingers slipping through my hair.

Oh, God. He was touching me. He was running his fingers over my scales, feather-light, and I could feel it. How was this possible? My back had been a dead zone on my body for as long as I could recall, and now .... now, I could feel ... him. My heartbeat kicked up, and my pulse throbbed in my throat.

I pulled away. “Enough.”

His heat retreated, and he moved back to his spot against the bars to my left. He was staring at the side of my face now. His regard was like the sun, warm and inviting, but there was no way I was looking at him, not when my body still throbbed and my face probably screamed arousal. He couldn’t know how he’d affected me, not until I’d figured out why. How could his touch filter through my impregnable scales?

“You’re lucky your back is armored,” Dante said.

I straightened, conscious that the golden mass on my back was still partially on show. “Luck has nothing to do with it, it’s a mutation and it came in handy today. Now quit staring at me.”

Dante averted his gaze. “Apologies. They are mesmerizing.”

Helgi made a choked sound, and my neck heated. Mesmerizing? No one had ever called them that before. My stomach did a little flip. Shut it. Now wasn’t the time to get all goo-goo eyed. He’d called the scales mesmerizing, not me. Not that it mattered what he thought of me.

“What are the Bloods going to do to us now?” Bran asked, bringing the focus back to our current predicament. “What more are they going to do?”

The mercs in the cell opposite stood up against the bars, apart from us yet still part of the gang. They were as battered as we were, as tired as we were, and the other Skins in the cages that hadn’t yet had a turn in the arena listened in rapt attention, probably looking for any bit of information that might help them when they were dragged off to face the Wyverns.

“They’ll do whatever they want,” Dante responded, his tone bitter. “They stole the Wyverns—plucked them from the battlefield somehow.” He slid to the ground in a crouch with his back to the bars. “Who knows what else they’ve stolen from the Dreki.”

“Machines of war,” Helgi said. “If these collars can subdue a Wyvern, make it do what they want, turn it against the Dreki, its original masters, then they can turn the tide in their favor.”

“They could break the stalemate,” Bran said. He shook his head. “I have no love for the Dreki—they tried to enslave humanity, after all—but I have even more derision for the Bloods and their methods.”

They were right. This was all part of a bigger plan. We were part of a bigger plan.

“Anya, what are you thinking?” Helgi asked.

“I’m thinking we need to find a way to get these collars off. Without these, they haven’t got shit on us. If we can get them off, if we can get to some weapons, we can fight our way out.”

Dante’s brow crinkled. “And how would we do that?”

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