I felt my hand spasm around the handle of my knife as an angry flush heated my face.Oh, the rat bastard.
I gritted my teeth, my muscles quivering. Not with fear, not with cold, not with shock. Withfury.
Honest to Gods, I wanted to kick him. Stomp on him. Spit on him. Jam my blade right in his eye.
Instead, I fisted my free hand so tight my nails painfully stabbed into my palms. My temper wasn’t easily triggered, but when something set it off? Yeah, I wanted to burn a motherfucker.
The force of the wind suddenly turned wild … or maybe it had never calmed to begin with; maybe I’d just gotten accustomed to the violent sound of it … but I didn’t feel the chill anymore. The rage flooding me was so scorching hot that it seemed to heat me from the inside out.
Hearing footfalls, I half-turned to see Talon and Ajax heading over.
“What happened here?” demanded Ajax.
Talon took in the scene—my slashed tent, the gash on my arm, the male on the ground, the growling Laelaps—and his face darkened in a way that was plain scary.
Just then, Jelani jogged over. “Shit, you okay, Anara?” His eyes went to my injured arm, and his expression hardened.
“It’s not that bad,” I gritted out, shoving away the hair that was whipping my face, courtesy of the wind.
“Not the point,” Jelani clipped.
Talon let out a high-pitched double-whistle that sliced through the air and caused the dogs to back up. But they kept their attention pinned on Klemens, baring their teeth.
Covered in bites, a shaking Klemens remained on the ground. He shrunk in on himself as Talon prowled closer, his expression like thunder.
“You tried to kill a fellow candidate?” asked Ajax, his face tight. “Tried to kill herwhile she slept?”
“It was an accident,” Klemens claimed, pain coating every word.
I felt my brows fly up at the idiotic defense. His knife justhappenedto accidentally cut through my tent and slash my arm? Really?
Talon shot him a look of such contempt he flinched.
“I … I fell,” Klemens insisted. “I was holding my knife at the time and—” He cut off as Talon slashed a hand through the air, staring at him through cold, disgusted eyes.
Jelani gently tugged on my wrist. “Come on, let’s go get that wound seen to.”
I resisted, busy glaring at Klemens. I could hear blood rushing in my ears. Could feel adrenaline racing through my system. Could—
“You don’t want to bleed freely out here, Anara,” Jelani persisted. “The smell will attract all kinds of beasts.”
Okay, he had a point there.Drawing in a steadying breath that did nothing to calm me, I let Jelani lead me away.
“You know what, Talon?” asked Ajax behind me, a cruel note to his tone. “I think we should let the dogs drag Klemens further into the Pines. He’ll make a nice snack for one of the creatures here.”
Ruthless.
And I couldn’t say I’d feel even a hint of sympathy for Klemens if the officiates went through with it.
Whatever was said next got lost in the noise of the raging wind, so I had no idea if anyone protested the idea or if Ajax announced he’d been bluffing. I didn’t mind admitting that I hoped he wasn’t joking; hoped Klemens was alive and screaming while something ate him.
Just before I ducked into Jelani’s tent, I caught sight of Atticus staring at Klemens, his face losing color. I would bet my life that he had something to do with this.
His gaze snapped to mine, and I shot him a narrow-eyed look that made him swallow hard.
Inside the tent, Jelani guided me over to his bedding. “Sit.”
I did so, shoving my hair over my shoulder.
