Page 25 of Rejected By a Wolf

Then, chaos unleashed upon the arena.

Chapter Sixteen

Antonio Payne

Antonio had every intention of worrying about only himself tonight. He needed to win this tournament, so why would he put his fate in jeopardy on its first day by worrying about someone hardly knew? He didn’t care for that loudmouthed fey.

At least, that was what he tried telling himself.

But when Sophia crossed the arena, hiding herself in the mess of immortals marching in, something twisted in his chest.

Twice today she sought him out. Twice today she initiated a conversation with him, wanting to talk to him more. So why was she now purposely walking away from him? Didn’t he tell her he’d help her tonight?

Yeah, but I lied to her,he thought to himself. Maybe she was smarter than he initially believed and caught onto his fib. Why else would she put so much distance between them when she was supposed to be relying on his protection?

When he finally located her within the crowd after searching it for some time, his heart dropped. She was so small compared to everyone standing around her. She wasn’t going to last the night. Not without him.

She stood tall while listening to King Valaris’ speech, exuding with pride. But there was a look in her eyes that told him she was… terrified.

Fuck,he thought when he realized there was no way he’d go against his word tonight. He couldn’t let her die. If she died he’d blame himself. He couldn’t live with that guilt.

That crazy fey is going to be the death of me,Antonio thought as he began making his way to her.

But as he started walking to where he just saw her he realized he somehow lost sight of her while preoccupied by his thoughts.

He had absolutely no idea where she was.

Then, to make matters worse, a horn sounded off and the unnatural beings around him immediately turned into savages, brutally attacking one another without hesitation.

It was madness. It waslethalmadness. And Sophia wasmissing!

Where is she?!

An unfamiliar panic consumed him, adrenaline coursing through his body. Too many people were entrapped in a much too small space, and they were all set on killing as many immortals as they possibly could. It would take only minutes for over half the immortals on this battleground to die. Which meant he had even less time to find Sophia before it was too late.

He probably only had seconds to reach her.

He darted through the crowd in search of her, weaving through the gruesome battles occurring all around him.

When someone tried attacking Antonio from behind, slim arms wrapping around his strong neck in a poorly attempted death grip, Antonio groaned.

This wasslowing him down!

Without stopping his pursuit, he tore the immortal’s arms off his neck with little effort, tossing the competitor aside. He didn’t have time to finish the guy off. Sophia was in trouble.

FIND SOPHIA!His mind screamed as madness possessed him.

He barreled forward, shoving unnatural beings aside in his race to find her.

How long had it been since the horn sounded off? A minute? Five? It didn’t matter, it already felt like too much time had passed.

Then he saw her, witnessing a scene that shocked him…. itpleasantlyshocked him.

Sophia’s wickedly fast body was twisting around a much too finely dressed elf who was struggling to keep her in his sight. She stabbed him relentlessly with a dagger as she ran circles around him. A body laid at the man’s feet, multiple stab wounds littering his skin.

Did Sophia kill that man?

And the elf she was running circles around? She wastoyingwith him.

---