Page 62 of King of the Cage

“Very well. Tonight, you have that chance. You are the sole acolyte tonight to bring back a prize from the Hunt. Show us you can play nice with others and carry out the claiming.”

“What’s the claiming?” I wondered.

“You’ll see.”

17

BRAN

Iwas directed to a study, a small room with a massive fireplace at the end. I didn’t want to leave Giada alone any longer, but there was no choice. If we were playing along with this charade, we had to follow the rules.

There were two other people in the study. Potentially other acolytes. They stared angrily at me as I entered. I gave them a short salute and sat in a chair by the fire.

“What happens now?” someone whispered behind me.

“I don’t know. That was the Hunt, and you had to find an Offering… I think there’s one more part, involving the girl.”

“Doing what to her? I feel like shit. I need a shower and an oxy to take the edge off this whole thing. She clocked me fucking hard, and I just got LASIK, it can’t be good for my eyes.”

“Tell me about it. Maybe we’ll get to go soon. I can’t believe my dad did this when he was my age. He’s so boring now.”

“Yeah. They could have warned us, though, right?”

“Yeah, not that it matters. We didn’t find an Offering, so I guess we’ve failed? My granddad is going to be pissed.”

I felt their dark stares directed at the back of my head and held up a middle finger in their general direction.

A door banged at the end of the room, and all heads swiveled in that direction.

A man walked in, flanked by four security guards on each side. The Sentinel. The door closed behind them, and they stood in front of us and raised a hand for silence.

“Welcome, acolytes, to the next stage. The Offering. Make the Offering you hunted, claim her, and progress further into becoming a member of The Enclave.”

“Claim her? I don’t fuck for show,” I said quietly.

The tension grew.

The plague doctor mask swiveled toward me. “Tonight, you will, or you will fail and become another peasant on the street.”

My hand curled into a fist, my shoulder smarting.Focus.You can fuck them up later.Have patience.

We filed out of the room and walked through the lower floor of the hotel. People in black cloaks and masks drifted after us. They took us to an atrium, where chairs circled a raised dais in the middle of the room, and a stone table sat in the center of it. It resembled an altar.

Giada stood at the edge of the thick stone slab with a rigid back, her head up, her eyes like fire, staring down any man who dared to look at her.

I met her burning black eyes, and something in me relaxed.

“Who here has an Offering to make this eve?”

Members were filing in and taking seats. Anxiety brewed in the pit of my gut. Something fucked up was about to happen here, and I had no idea how to stop it.

“I do.” My voice sounded unyielding and grim. Resigned to this fate.

The Sentinel nodded. “Brandon O’Connor, you are the only acolyte to bring an Offering from the Hunt. Proceed.”

I stepped forward as everyone else took their seats. “What the fuck do you want us to do? Perform while you all beat off?”

The Sentinel ignored my glib remark and nodded toward the table.

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