Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
She patted his arm. “I told the shifter—one of Armendale’s—that I don’t have much magic, so I had no choice but to submit to him. He called me weak, and some choice names, so naturally I’m going to ruin his life. His mate will find out he’s been unfaithful in about”—she checked her phone—“oh, a half-hour or so. This fight is starting early. They bumped Sabby up. Fred helped me empty the shifter’s bank accounts. That money will go to his mate—only if she leaves him—and a child he pretends doesn’t exist. Well…” She tilted her head. “Except for the money I used to buy billboards in his hometown. In about a week, everyone will know his private browser search history, a few photos he really should’ve destroyed, and some illegal activity that Armendale likely won’t be too pleased about.”
Sue stared at her for a long, silent moment, before turning back to the shifter wasting time by strutting around the space. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to psych Sebastian out or psych himself up.
“If I accepted his challenge, Sue, he’d kill me,” she said quietly. “I know you don’t like how I go about things—”
He held up his hand. “I never understood how you went about things, Nessa. I never fully understood why, and that’s because I didn’t understand the world you were forced to survive in. Now I do. You’re like Robin Hood. Can’t begrudge your looking after his mate and his child, no matter the way you do it. He didn’t do the right thing. You will.”
She teared up as a small smile crossed her face. “Thank you,” she whispered.
A couple shifters pushed to the front at the other side of the field, stepping into the reffing roles. They’d watch their guy, and we’d watch ours.
They looked at both Sue and me, their eyes alight with violence. Their hungry gazes swiveled to Sebastian.
“Sebastian is going to have an accident,” I murmured, like this was some kind of Mafia TV show. “How does that work? They let it get close and they help the struggling shifter die? Or mage, in this case.”
“Yeah, typically,” Sue said. “They get in the way of the other party, if there is one, and a fatality accidentally happens.”
“They really don’t understand mages.”
“A lot of the shifters at this thing don’t.”
“Well. If they try to do something stupid, there will be nothing accidental about their fatality.”
He huffed, his version of a laugh. “I thought you weren’t going to engage?”
“I’m not going to rush in to engage. I can do it from way back here.”
The challenging shifter, finally ready, turned into a jaguar. He walked at an angle to Sebastian at first, and then directly at him.
“You can go at any time,” I told Sebastian. “He shifted. You’re fighting.”
“Oh.” He straightened and squared his body and started rapid-firing spells like he was in the middle of a battle.
The first two hit the shifter and he jerked, as though not having expected that. He attempted a roar, tried for a leap or a lunge, and got two more spells. He yowled, dodged to the side, then to the other side, no escape. No cover.
Head lowered, his friends losing their cheerleading spirit, the shifter struggled on. His body shook. Blood ran down his sides and dripped onto the ground. It was a visible effort not to succumb to Sebastian’s magic.
“I lied.” I jogged forward so I could see the shifter. I wanted him to feel it in the worst of ways. To brush up against the line between living and death before the magical barrage stopped. That required watching him closely.
“Keep going?” Sebastian asked, not having broken a sweat.
“Yeah. Maybe lighten the power so our friend here, with all his strutting and bullshit, can learn how a mage really works. They seemed to think mages use knives to kill people. They need an education.”
“What is this?” one of the cheerleaders asked aggressively. “Are you helping him?”
“Your pal? Yes, I am. I am keeping the mage he challenged from killing him.” I straightened. “Or I could just let Sebastian end it now? I don’t like death on these mock battlefields, but for you, I’ll make an exception.” I winked at him.
He tensed and took a step forward.
I smirked, because that really enraged mad shifters. “I’ll give you two more steps, and then I’ll let Sebastian kill your friend, and I will kill you. Spoiler alert, I don’t have to move from my location, either. I only ride my friends like a pony. You, I’ll kill in glorious fashion. The audience will bathe in your blood.” I shrugged. “Up to you, bro.”
He paused, suddenly wary.
I didn’t look away from him. “A few more hard ones, Sebastian, and then let his friends drag him out of here.”
“Hard, like…painful, or hard like ‘nearly kill him’?”