Page 364 of Hunters and Prey

Duh? What the heck did he think I was trying to do? Damn, almost lost my grip. Okay. Got it. The collar was so close, but where was the slot? There. Right in front of me. Eat disc, sucker.

The Wyvern shuddered, swayed, and then began to topple to the side. Oh, shit. My boot snagged as I tried to scramble in the opposite direction to the fall to avoid getting trapped under the beast.

And then I was being yanked off the creature.

“I got you.”

Dante fell back with me in his arms, kicking up dust that stung my eyes and tickled my throat. And was that a grin on his face? A feral, insane grin?

Yeah. Yeah, it really was.

He was enjoying this way too much.

And then I was up and back in the game. One down, two to go. Where was Helgi? Helping Bran with one of the Wyverns. The other one was ... Oh, God. Was that Jasper in its jaws?

“Don’t. Don’t look.” Dante turned me away, but not before I saw Jasper’s arm come away from its socket, not before I heard his horrific, blood-curdling scream. And then it was too late, I was already on the move, legs pumping as I ran toward the fallen Skin. The Wyvern’s jaws came back down for another bite. I skidded, dropped low, low enough to get access to the soft underbelly of the beast, low enough to grab the daggers tucked in my boots. And then the blades were dragging along that purple underbelly and it was the Wyvern who was screaming. It slammed into the wall, shuddering as new pain assaulted it—real, flesh-cutting pain. But my attention was on Jasper—on his mouth contorted in a silent scream, on his pale face and wild eyes. He was dying and it would be slow and painful. But I could end it now—quick and easy.

He locked gazes with me, and in that moment I heard his plea. I had his consent.

My daggers took one more bite, and the light in his eyes died. No time to feel it, no time for raging at the injustice. Had to stay alive. Something in the dust brushed my fingers as I made to rise. Metallic. A key. I pocketed it just as Helgi’s warning shout had me spinning toward her. She was down, but Dante was already on it, helping her up while Bran distracted the Wyvern. The one I’d wounded was still active, and it was headed for its friend. It was four against one and a half now.

Much better odds.

And then a shrill scream interrupted the crowd’s cheers. Something flashed in the periphery of my vision. The crowd erupted in bellows and exclamations. Something was falling into the pit. Past the barrier, which meant although we couldn’t get out, things could get in. This thing was barely four feet tall, and all these thoughts were running through my mind even as one clear, bell-like realization cut through it all.

A child.

A fucking child.

My arms were out as I ran toward the flailing bundle, and the Bloods were screaming, yelling at the powers that be to do something, stop the Wyverns. To turn them off. The child slammed into my arms with the weight of a rock due to the momentum and distance, and a collective sigh went up. But my attention was on the tiny face, on the wide, frightened eyes and trembling lip of the boy I cradled.

How old could he be? Barely seven years, if that? What mother would bring a child to this display of death and debauchery?

A Blood. That was who.

“Anya! Look out!”

The ground vibrated. Something was charging me, and there was no time to act. No time to run. Instinct took the driver’s seat, and I curled in around the child, shielding him with my body as the Wyvern’s barbed tail whipped across my back. The breath whooshed out of my lungs, my vision blurred. I was airborne for a moment, my arms like a vise around the child, his screams an assault on my senses. And then the ground was hurtling up to grab us. I twisted my body, landing on my side, my arms scraping, skin tearing as the momentum took me along a meter farther.

But the Wyvern wasn’t done. It was incensed, nostrils flaring, drool dripping in the throes of a new hunger.

Bloodlust.

This was bloodlust.

Shit.

Wyverns and Bloods did not mix. Wyverns had been bred to abhor Bloods, to kill, to devour, and I had one in my arms.

I ran.

“Over here!” Dante bellowed.

He was running parallel to me. I pulled the boy close. “It’s going to be okay.”

And then I threw him.

He flew in an arc and Dante caught him neatly. The Wyvern adjusted trajectory, the lower half of its body swinging toward me, pushing me up against the wall. If I didn’t move, then it would crush me against stone, but if I acted at the right moment, then ... My shoulder brushed Wyvern scale, and I grabbed on, twisting my body and slapping my boots against the wall. A second, that was all I had to climb the wall and swing up onto the beast’s back, but it was enough. Only problem was, I was facing the wrong way.

---