Free A Council of Betrayal by Kim Schubert

closer, whispering in my ear. “I am days away from
being challenged here.” I felt his anger and his fear in those
words as he pressed closer to me.
    My shoulders lost some of their resistance at
his heat. I pressed my fingers tips against his chest.
    “Watch him,” I told Mark, darting down the
stairs and running to the cage door. My shorts snagged on the
jagged metal as I skidded to a stop next to Alec.
    “So, any rules I should know about?” I asked,
breathless, as the announcer boomed my arrival.
    “Don’t die,” Alec whispered, not looking at
me.
    “Got it.”
    The sound of the bell had both shifters
across the octagon cage coming at us. The shorter one came at me,
fangs extended, mouth open as he aimed for my jugular. Ducking
under the attack, I slammed his body into the diamond black
metal.
    “What is wrong with them?” Alec yelled at me,
raking his claws against his opponents back.
    “They’re drugged. Their beasts are in control
and I’m not sure they know what’s going on,” I yelled back. My
contender came back at me with a roar, sporting claws to go with
those fangs as I watched him shift into a giant panther.
    He was going to die. I almost felt bad about
it, almost.
    With a shake of his black head, all human
thought fled those piercing yellow eyes. He lunged at me with a
roar, his mouth closing around the soft flesh of my thigh. I pulled
my weight off the injury as he tried to death shake. Pulling the
dagger from my other boot I stabbed down into his brain. The teeth
in my thigh tightened and I yanked the dagger up before slamming it
home again, feeling the teeth relax.
    I looked up to see Alec finish, bloody with
his own kill. The entire crowd was silent for a breath before their
insanity ratcheted up a couple notches. The noise was
deafening.
    Alec and I turned to the cage door, ignoring
the announcer who tried to lift our arms in the air as the
victors.
    “Come on, let’s go out the back.” He was
sullen. Logan was pissed at us, I had no doubt.
    Limping heavily, I couldn’t take his offered
help. I needed to appear strong. We left the insanity and the noise
behind, walking out into the cool, quiet alley.
    Alec was slammed against the wall next to me,
Logan’s caramel eyes darkening as his lion stared back at us.
    “You could have gotten yourself killed.” His
voice was low with restraint.
    Alec properly lowered his eyes.
    “Why would you do such a thing?” Logan
hissed, his mouth crowded with his fangs.
    “I wanted to prove I could handle the East
territory.”
    Logan slammed the wall next to Alec’s head,
releasing him with a spray of concrete.
    “We already think you are ready,” I told him
softly.
    Logan turned his attention back to me, his
chest heaving.
    “I’m okay,” I told him, crossing my arms over
my stomach, keeping weight off my leg.
    “What were you thinking?” he growled at
me.
    I lifted my chin defiantly. I sure as shit
didn’t need to explain what I did, even if I did want him to carry
me to the car.
    “Let’s get moving. We have bigger issues than
why I decided to help Alec,” I grunted, stumbling as my weight hit
my leg. Biting down hard on my lip, I took another tense step.
    Hudson reached out, swinging my weight easily
up into his arms.
    Logan’s growl had him putting me back down.
“Well shit, if you ain’t going to—“ I wobbled for a moment,
reaching out to balance myself against Alec.
    “Seriously, we do not have time for this.
Someone drugged those shifters Alec and I went against.” All eyes
riveted to me. “I think—“
    Alec flung me to Logan. My arms windmilled
and I stomped hard on my injured leg. Logan in turn shoved me
behind him with Jerry. Hudson, Alec and Mark formed our first line
of defense.
    “Dammit,” I hissed, pulling my lone dagger
from my boot.
    Alec was engaged with two shifters. I peeked
around Logan’s broad shoulder, trying to determine if they were on
the same drug as the others. From the control in their