Page 56 of The Hunt of Night

His head falls back with a full laugh before he settles his gaze on mine. “It doesn’t need to. You like me either way,” he states, turning toward the focal point of everyone’s attention as the wolf, whose name I don’t even know, starts to circle Cassian. The latter stands still, bored and inconvenienced, as he glances at the time.

“Call it out, Crystal. Let’s get this over with,” he grumbles, but Crystal stands tall, making sure she’s got everyone’s attention as she makes her announcement.

“I challenge Cassian Kenner to a duel for him.”

It doesn’t even sound right,I think, as Flora appears at my left side, nudging my arm with hers.

“She’s actually going to try and take down the man she wants to win over. How the fuck is that real?”

I scoff, unable to calm the nerves running rampant inside of me. “I don’t even know anymore,” I admit, inching a little closer so I can have a full view.

“These wolves are weird,” Kryll mutters under his breath, offering me a little relief. At least a shifter sees it too.

“I know,” I mutter,and apparently, it runs in my veins.

He must sense the unspoken words as he draws me in closer. “You’re not weird.”

I bite back a smile, despite the circumstances, as I turn away from him to focus on Cassian. “If you say so.”

“You’ve got this, Crystal,” someone hollers from the crowd, igniting a fire inside me that’s ready to build into an unstoppable inferno.

“What’s going on here?”

The entire gathering falls silent at the professor’s voice, and I peer through the crowd to see Professor Whitlock standing tall among the students. His eyebrow is cocked as he folds his arms over his chest, waiting for an answer. A sense of relief washes over me, ready to bring this whole mess to a stop.

“Crystal has challenged me to a duel, Whitlock. We may be a few minutes late to our next class,” Cassian states, and instead of shaking his head and calling it all off, the professor nods.

“As you were.”

He saunters off without a single look back at the mess he’s leaving behind, and I gape at him in disbelief.

This entire thing is fucking madness.

“Somebody call it,” Raiden hollers, clapping his hands to move the duel along, and I know, despite my preference, it’s going to happen whether I like it or not.

“Let the duel commence,” a wolf shouts from the crowd, and Crystal takes off, charging toward Cassian with a devilish glint in her eyes.

My heart pounds wildly in my chest as panic creeps up my spine, but the moment she comes within arm’s length of him, he knocks her away. She stumbles to the side, slowing to spin around. She manages to find me in the crowd, her smile splitting her face in two before she takes off for him again.

Bitch.

“He’s being gentle,” Kryll murmurs as we watch him redirect her again, and I scoff.

“Cassian? Not possible,” I grumble, hands balling into fists with agitation, and he must hear my words because his dangerous dark eyes find mine.

I can’t look away, I can’t blink, I can’t do anything but lose myself to him until a claw rips through the air and cuts his cheek. I gasp, moving to take a step toward him, but Kryll holds me back.

Blood drips down Cassian’s cheek from the three slits that now mark his face.

That bitch. I’m going to destroy her.

“Focus, Cass,” Raiden grinds out in annoyance as I try to swallow past the lump in my throat, but it’s impossible.

Cassian rolls his eyes as he swipes a hand over the blood before turning to face Crystal. She charges at him again, an extra leap to her movements as she edges closer to him, but just as she goes to reach for him again, his fist rises, smashing her in the face.

I shy away from the sight. Duel or not, and under these conditions or not, a man hitting a woman is not a visual I’m opento. I peer through my fingers in time to watch her limp body fall to the floor with a collective gasp echoing around us.

Holy fuck.

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