Page 38 of Three Ring Heat: Part One
“You’re just gonna stand there and look pretty,” I assured her. “And try not to flinch.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ARINA
“Arina, are you okay?” Daze’s voice barely made it through my foggy thoughts as I stared at the enormous wooden knife-throwing target.
It was painted like a red-and-gold bullseye and stood at least seven feet tall. There were straps evenly spaced around the surface to properly secure someone to it as it spun around, but everyone had assured me I wouldn’t be spinning.
I’d be standing perfectly still.
In front of the target.
While a demented fucking clown threw knives at me.
I exhaled a shaky breath and dragged my eyes away from the bullseye to meet Daze’s sympathetic gaze. We were standing in the middle of the arena floor while crew members hustled and bustled around us, setting up equipment. Some tossed us curious glances as they passed, but no one spoke to us. They were probably used to Zero’s antics.
A spotlight had been turned on overhead, pointed directly at the target. For some reason, that was even more stressful. Notonly was I being put on the spot, but I was being put on display. All for the sake of trying to get into the circus.
Am I okay?
No. Not in the slightest.
The amount of adrenaline coursing through my veins probably could have charged a dead car battery, and my heart was so close to beating out of my chest. Any second now, it would slam through my ribs and flop out onto the dusty concrete floor.
“I’m fine,” I finally lied, the words hollow to my own ears.
How could I be fine? Not only was the clown using me for target practice completely unhinged, but he was myscent match.
My heart stuttered at the thought, and I fought to catch my breath.
Things had just gotten so complicated, and I wasn’t sure how to move forward.
Before meeting Zero, I could have walked away. I could have politely declined Daze’s offer and made a new life in Dallas away from the big top.
Now, I didn’t want to leave. Icouldn’t.
Scent matches were so rare that scientists had tried to create artificial ones by experimenting with pheromone manipulation. They were never successful. So many omegas were taken against their will and forced into bonds they didn’t want that only a select few ever had a shot at finding their match.
Here mine was, feet away, ready to throw blades at my face, and I couldn’t even tell him the truth. I couldn’t reveal my designation or the suppressants in my bag. I definitely couldn’t leave.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Or a clown and his knives.
I sighed, shrugging off my backpack, and Daze stuck out a hand to take it from me. A polite smile was my only response.
“You can still back out.” Zero’s voice lit up my nerve endings, and he stepped into my line of sight a second later. A sexy smirk lifted the corner of his mouth, and his eyes glinted with something sinister.
I didn’t like him. He was psychotic and scary, hardly the kind of alpha I imagined being bound to, but his scent did things to me I never could have imagined. Like a magnet, it pulled at every part of me. It called to my very being, urging me to eliminate the space between us. I managed to stay rooted to the spot, but I had to swallow down a whine.
He stepped closer, leaving only a few inches between us, and my breath caught in my lungs. He was dangerously beautiful, his golden eyes concealing a million secrets I wanted to unveil and his wicked smile warning me to stay away.
“What do you say?” he asked, his smirk breaking into a maniacal grin. “It’s not too late to say no. I could slice you to ribbons, hit something vital. It’d be a shame to mar that pretty face.”
In a flash, there was a black blade in his hand, and he was twirling it between his fingers. My pulse lurched as I watched, and the impossibly sharp edge glinted in the light. I swallowed hard.
He was trying to scare me off; that was his plan.
