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Vin had a long life, and he knew we only had this time. He’d known what I was going into this. The profound loss threatened to consume me, and I clamped it down harder. If I focused on losing him, I’d be dead.
My people would starve, or worse, be sold to the vampires, if Rafael took over.
I had too much to live for. This couldn’t be the end.
“Are you too chicken to fight me, brother? Make the first move? Or do you need me to formally challenge you in front of our people and make them watch you bleed out?” Rafael sounded like he was enjoying finally showing his true self.
I held my ground against his taunts. A few years ago, his statement would have been enough to make me attack, but I’d grown. I knew rushing this would only serve to give him an edge. He’d always been calculating, as his actions proved.
He circled me, eyes betraying his anger. He’d thought he could bait me. Good. I didn’t want him to know what to expect. I wanted only Vin to know me.
* * *
“I can’t believe you’re really going to share your food with him,” Gabe said, sitting the way most of us did with a hot meal. Back against the wall, knees tucked into his chest, bowl resting there, and both arms up to protect from anyone trying to snatch it away.
“He has nothing,” I said, spooning half my bowl into the kid’s bowl. We were all kids. Every single one of us no older than seventeen. They liked wolves better young. Those wolves that made it past eighteen or nineteen were too worn out to do anything but act as breeding stock. Fighting was out of the question.
Wolves were only useful as entertainment in their prime. We were nothing more than dogs to them.
“Because he lost. He’s lucky he’s not dead,” Rafael said, taking a seat next to me and shaking his head. “If you give half your food to him, you’ll start losing too. Then what will we do?”
“I’m not going to lose.” I was the only one who’d never lost.
“Not yet,” Rafael said. “Don’t expect us to share with you when you have a crowd of needy kids around betting for your share.”
“We are all in this together. I can’t bear to watch him starve.”
“We aren’t in this together. It’s every man for himself,” Rafael said through a mouth full of warm gruel.
“Not even when Gabe and I fed you because you were too small to win any of your matches?”
“Blood is different.” His tone suggested he was done with the conversation.
“Don’t you think we’d do a lot better if it was us versus them? If we didn’t let the—” I glanced around to make sure none of our keepers were paying attention or in earshot. Dropping my voice, I went on, “The only way we’re getting out of here is to band together.”
“Stop speaking nonsense,” Gabe said, barely audible. “The only way we leave here is in a box.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“If you start something, we’ll all be dead,” Rafael snarled under his breath.
“Our people are meant for more than this. I refuse to believe they can contain us forever. One of us is stronger than five of them.”
“They have silver.”
“How many wolves can a few men with silver bullets take down before we rip them all to pieces?” I said, but my words were more growl than English.
* * *
Rafael dove, catching me in the middle, drawing me out of the memory. I slammed into the ground, the wind leaving my lungs in a rush. Flipping him over my head, I landed, knees in his gut. I didn’t stop there. I beat his face, throwing punch after punch, trying to knock him out. He brought his hands up to defend his face, but when that didn’t help, he nailed me in the ribs and kidneys while he struggled to get my weight off him. My blows didn’t hold much power, but by the time he threw me, his face was bloody and his eyes black.
He climbed to his feet, his breaths coming in labored gasps. His eyes pressed closed for a moment. I stood, hands at my side, refusing to show any sign of the pain he’d caused.
“I’m going to kill you, Dominic, and before today, I might not have enjoyed it, but I will now.” He spat blood before smiling with red teeth.
Vin shifted, and even with the bond clamped down as far as I could, a wave of rage reached me. If Rafael killed me, he wouldn’t survive it. Vin would hunt him down to the end of the earth along with anyone who’d helped him.
“Do you think you’ll live longer if you do somehow defeat me?” I knew I’d win. There was no doubt in my mind, but when he inevitably ran, I wanted the warning in his mind so he didn’t return. “Laura and Vin have witnessed your treachery. They’ve seen you without your mask, and it will spread.”
