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The way he rolls his shoulders, I imagine Titus groaning with her request, though I can’t hear it from here. He hops the fence and steps inside the pit, where the growls intensify. As he makes his way toward the center of it, I can see from my bird’s eye view the way the crowd parts for him. The Ragers keep their distance, and it isn’t long before their swiping and clawing at him settles, along with their growls, almost as if they’re comfortable in his presence.
It isn’t long before they ignore him all together and go back to their pacing, as before.
“By the gods, I’ve never seen anything like it.” The awe in Freya’s voice matches the incredulous expression slapped across Lilith’s face. “It’s true, then.”
“It is. And any human female who tries to bear his child will suffer a painful death.”
“We can’t sacrifice him. Such an act would bring terrible things upon us.”
“I still want him,” Lilith whines. “I want to have him. Just once. To be with a god is--”
“Not happening. As I said, he’s mine.”
“You’re nothing but a little girl, with very little experience.”
My anger boils to the surface, and before I can stop myself, I backhand her across the face. Slapped with shock, she holds the now-red flesh of her cheek, and gritting her teeth, she volleys a punch that I dodge. When I jump back, I take the stance Titus taught me.
With an incredulous chuckle, she glances back at Freya, then to me. “How ‘bout if I kill you and keep him for myself?”
“How ‘bout if I kick your ass before you have the chance?”
Another swing, and I dodge it a second time, following up with a glorious left hook that knocks her back a step, and when she blots her nose with her finger, a dot of red coats her skin. A rush of adrenaline races through me, and I prepare myself for the next punch.
A swing I didn’t anticipate comes out of the right, and my jaw rattles when it crashes into my cheek. Another hit sends me flying backwards.
“Thalia!” Titus’s roar from down below is white noise to the pounding of blood in my ear and the ringing that won’t stop.
“Who’s bloody now, bitch?” Lilith pounces toward me, but I roll to the side, sending her knees crashing to the rock. On a growl, she scrambles to her feet, and when she tries to pounce again, I throw a kick square into her stomach.
With a grunt, she tumbles forward, catching herself on her arms.
Two weeks ago, I’d have been a bloody mess, begging this woman for mercy. Now, I can’t wait to get to my feet again, to test my right hook.
“Enough!” Freya’s voice echoes around us, reverberating off the surrounding rock. “Fighting over him is useless! As she said, he cannot be satisfied by just any woman.”
I sure as hell didn’t say that, but I don’t argue her point.
“We’ll give him the choice,” Freya says, with a promise in her voice. “He’s welcome to stay here, among us, or leave in peace. Where did you say you came upon them, Lilith?”
“In the cabin by the river.”
“Then, if that’s where he wishes to return, we will honor it.”
“And … and what of her? She’ll choose to go with him!”
The older woman’s gaze falls on me, as I push up to a sitting position. “That is her choice. That’s the beauty of how we live. Many of our sisters aren’t given that same courtesy in this world.”
“I just … wanted him. Once.”
Arms still bound, Titus jogs his way up the rocky path until he reaches us. His muscles are damp with sweat and have undoubtedly captured the attention of Lilith, who unsheathes a knife and cuts away the rope binding his wrists.
Head tipped back to the enormous Alpha beside her, Freya stares up at him with a gleam of fascination that wasn’t there before. “Titus, you have proven yourself, and you are welcome to stay, or you are free to go.”
“And what about the other men I arrived with?”
“They’re just regular men, therefore they’ll not be extended the same offer.”
With a nod, Titus swipes up my arm and starts in the opposite direction.
