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He liked the challenge.
Anteros watched Frankie’s face, watched her fingers, to see which move she would make first. Her pointer and thumb settled over the pawn in front of her queen, and she moved it out two spaces.
A pretty typical move.
In response, he moved his king’s pawn out one. Immediately Frankie brought her knight out into play. Anteros raised a brow. She hadn’t even taken time to think about it, or at least it appeared she hadn’t. She wasn’t looking at him; her head was turned down and her features caught the shadows. He brought a pawn into play and in response she brought another knight into play.
She was wearing what she’d worn to sleep. It was thin, sheer, and lacy, the color a pale purple that shimmered against her skin. Everything about her was exposed. Her arms were bare and he could see the hairs on the arm against the window rising, goose bumps forming. When they’d moved from the bed to his room, he’d not given her a chance to change.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
Her eyes briefly flashed to his before she made her move.
“Nope.”
He watched her intensely. This was why he’d wanted to play chess. Chess not only exposed your opponent’s strategies, but how they thought and the way they handled obstacles. Frankie was utterly stoic while moving her pieces. She didn’t even do that thing where she rubbed her arm when she got nervous.
Anteros looked down at her move: a bishop right below his knight. With leisure, he moved so that if she tried to take his knight, he would have her from two sides.
She took the bait anyway.
Anteros took her bishop instantly. Her next move put her right in line to be taken by his pawn. It was too easy. Frankie had made some good moves in the beginning, but now she was showing her lack of skill. They exchanged a few more moves and when she brought her queen out, Anteros could tell she was flailing. The queen had nowhere to go. All roads meant extinction.
Frankie moved her queen forward and took a pawn, but she’d led her queen right into destruction. He eyed her, but she gave nothing away. She still didn’t look at him, bright blue eyes downcast and shadowed under her thick lashes. She’d sacrificed her queen for a measly pawn. With a shrug, he moved his king and took her queen. It was a quick and efficient move and he would just move the king back at the next turn.
Frankie moved her knight.
With a scowl, Anteros realized he hadn’t been paying attention to that piece.
Now he was in check.
He had no option but to move his king forward. The sound of his king sliding across the board was the only noise in the room. Frustration at his own incompetence filled in his gut. He glanced up at Frankie again, wondering if she would give something away. She’d just had a small victory and he wondered if he would see a smile, a tick of her jaw—anything. Still she didn’t look up.
Frankie moved her other knight, putting him into check again. Anteros shifted in his seat, sliding the king diagonally now to get out of check. With quick and harsh precision Frankie moved up a pawn and put him back into check. Anteros was forced to move the king even farther down the chessboard and away from his defense.
He rubbed a hand through his hair and glanced up at Frankie. How the fuck had he not seen this happening?
She’d been setting this up from the very beginning. He didn’t have many options now, could only move his king farther forward. He saw what she was doing very clearly: she was forcing him into a mate.
He made his move then curled his fist, looking from her to the board, waiting for her to do what he knew was coming.
He saw his destruction just a few turns away.
He may as well throw up the flag now, but he had to move.
He pushed his king to the last row, avoiding checkmate for just one more turn. When she moved her king, up a row, exposing her other rook, it was over.
“Checkmate,” she said. Now she looked up, and he could see the small, nearly imperceptible grin on her face. Anteros stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. She’d sacrificed her queen but in the process had drawn his king out, all the way across the board, to death.
He stared at her a moment longer, then his phone vibrated. Shaking his head, he looked down at the phone.
Pretty Boy: U coming 2day?
Anteros ran another unsteady hand through his hair. He always met with them after a council meeting. Unlike The Council, Anteros enjoyed his Wolves—at least, as much as he could enjoy people. When it came to the Wolves, they allowed him the closest he got to letting loose. For the first time, though, he wanted to skip that meeting, too. He couldn’t stop watching Frankie. Mesmerized. No one had ever beaten him in chess.
Not even Lucio.
And the way she’d beaten him was masterful.
