Page 69 of Wild Wolf

To enter any of the hunts, we had to use code names to keep the secrecy of this place. In fact, it was said if a true name was spoken here and the Vampire Hellions who ran this place heard it, they would happily cut out your tongue and force you to swallow it.

The passage we followed was lit by balls of fire that rolled along glass pipes in the walls, curving overhead and spiralling away underground, leading us deeper and deeper into the unknown. The crowd around us were whooping and chattering keenly, the masks on their faces doing nothing to hide the unsavoury nature of them.

Their presence spoke of danger and I found myself stepping closer to Rosalie, noticing the other members of her newly formed pack tightening around her too. She didn’t seem to notice us protecting our Alpha, but as looks passed between us, I knew they were just as ready to fight as I was.

A drunken asshole came stumbling into me and I shoved him away with a snarl that warned him to back the fuck up. He muttered an apology as he looked up at me, taking in my height and the promise of pain in my eyes before quickly disappearing back into the crowd.

Finally, the narrow passage opened up and a roaring din of noise fell over us as we arrived on a carved balcony that ran around an enormous cave, overlooking a stomach-churning drop.

Sin pranced forward, shoving Fae aside and tugging Rosalie after him by the hand as the rest of us muscled our way after them, arriving at the very edge of the balcony. Far below was a view into a network of passages carved through red rock in a winding labyrinth. Some of the paths led underground or off into the chambers hidden beyond the outer walls, but it looked like most of the hunts could be viewed from up here.

There were balconies further down too, smaller, more private spaces where throne-like seats were filled with those who had likely paid for the privilege.

Rosalie rested her elbows on the stone railing, gazing down at the pit where all kinds of carnage was about to go down. “So how does this work?” she glanced Cain’s way as he stepped up beside her.

“The Hellion Hunt is held down there,” Cain explained. “But private hunts are held off in private chambers too. The main hunt grows progressively more savage throughout the night. Each round will have five volunteers who wish to be hunted and up to twenty Vampires will hunt them at once.”

“Fuck me, twenty?” Ethan muttered. “Don’t any of them get carried away and kill the volunteers?”

“Sometimes,” Cain said darkly. “That’s the risk the volunteers take. It’s part of what draws them here. Fear of death is often the best way to feel most alive.”

“Holy guacamole,” Hastings murmured, his eyes roaming over the arena fearfully, and I gave him a bracing pat on the back.

“I suppose I’m pretending I never saw any of this shit then?” Max muttered irritably and I breathed a laugh.

Sin climbed up to sit on the railing, swinging his legs casually. He might have had air magic, but that shit still made me uncomfortable. “Can anyone play? I want to play!”

“If you want to volunteer, be my guest,” Cain said, a smirk to his voice.

“Oh you’d just love an excuse to suck on my neck, wouldn’t you Cainy bub?” Sin slung an arm around his neck and Cain knocked it off.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked. “How is this going to help me get a hang of being a Vampire? Isn’t this exactly what Vampires aren’t supposed to do?” I shot Cain a look and he met my gaze over Rosalie’s head.

“Yes, which is precisely why it’s the perfect way to hone your skills. If you can keep your head down there and follow my lead, you’ll learn more about being a Vampire tonight than I could teach you in a year.”

“This sounds fucking dangerous,” Ethan said, moving in to lean against the railing, but it wasn’t a warning, he sounded star damned excited. “Are only the Vampires allowed to hunt?”

“There’ll be a free for all later tonight,” Cain answered. “The Vampires hunt alone because they tend to move so fast that there’s no point in other Orders running with them. There’s no chance of catching the prey before they will. It’s pointless.”

“The prey,” Rosalie purred. “Dalle stelle, you’d have to be crazy to volunteer.” She glanced Sin’s way, but I couldn’t catch the look that passed between them.

Cain moved to stand at my side. “Come on, we need to register. If we hurry, we can join the first hunt.”

“Good luck,” Ethan said, gripping my shoulder, a bright glint in his eyes. “We’ll be watching.”

I nodded to him and Rosalie purred well wishes in Faetalian, wiggling her fingers at us in goodbye before the five of them grouped closer together. Cain steered me away towards a stairwell and we circled endlessly down to the base of the cavern where a line of Vampires were queueing up to a stone booth to register for the hunt. There were snarls passing between them, a sense of rivalry thick in the air as we joined the line, and I felt that same rivalry burning through me too. My fangs lengthened and I growled at the assholes closing in behind us. Cain seemed surprisingly at ease in this situation, looking all too natural in this environment.

“How many times have you hunted here?” I asked.

“Lost count.”

“Why did you do it?” I frowned. “You risked a lot by coming here. If the FIB ever caught you, your clean slate would have been pretty damn tarnished. You might have found yourself shoulder to shoulder with the convicts in Darkmore, and I doubt they would have been kind to a former guard.”

“Mm,” he grunted, ever the cagey bastard.

I figured that he had no intention of opening up to me, so was particularly surprised when he did.

“I might have to wear a mask here, but it always felt like taking one off whenever I stepped into the Hellion Hunt. I was free in this place. Free to be the monster I always knew I was. I was raised to fight, to unleash the cruellest parts of my being, and no matter how much I despise Benjamin Acrux for the upbringing he gifted me, I do owe him one thing. In his company, I learned how far I could push myself, I found out how strong I could be, how vicious. And there is something in that which I still crave even if I spent many years trying to crush it away. It’s what I was drawn to in Rosalie, that damn wildness which knows no bounds. She has never changed who she is to fit anyone’s demands, especially not society. I tried to be someone else for so long, that sometimes even now I don’t know exactly who it is I am. I only know that the longer I spend in her company, the more I uncover it.”

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