Chapter 9
The Cage
Locke
Iknew it would come to this.
Legs wants one more game with me. I just have to believe that if I survive this next part, I can get to Cadi. Cadi, who is undeniably in heat. Her heat will prevent Oscar and Kol from coming for us.
It’s all up to me to get us out of here.
I’m thrown into the “death cage,” which is suspended in the center of a large room. Most of the crowd coming in will be below and around me. Then there’s a balcony wrapping around the second floor. It looks down into the cage. This is where Legs and his special friends are.
And yes, along with the cigar room, Legs’s other favorite place for me was the fighting cage.
Legs snorts a line of coke off of one of his beta females’ tits.
Sauvignon is wearing a red bodycon dress, just like all his other girls.
He licks the residue off of her cleavage and then kisses her, bending her over nearly to the ground.
Oscar and Kol bonded Acadia yesterday. I felt the bond while we were in the van. That, on top of Cadi going into heat and being in this hellish place again is overloading my brain.
Thankfully, Mads did a total reset when he made me come in my pants with his hot mouth over my pants.
Good fucking hell.
I will never not think about that until the day I die.
I’m still glad that he’s here with me. I couldn’t do it alone.
Even though I’m alone now.
I look away from Legs and see his daughter saunter in with Mads on a goddamn leash. They found him a cane. A wooden one with a steel vulture head as a handle.
There’s something wrong with me, because the image is definitely working for me.
Goddamn. I adjust my legs and will myself not to get a fucking half-staff at Mads in a collar.
With a pimp cane. And his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his veiny forearms. And it’s not just him—Aurora in that tight black dress and long dark hair is a sight to behold.
She looks different. She sounds different. She’s matured, but is hiding it well.
I’d never thought of her in that way. She was always a gnat in this place. When she first came here, she called me her brother, but that quickly went away when she developed her crush. Then suddenly I was her betrothed.
But something is different about her. Maybe I’m being stupid. She’s perfumed. She’s fully an omega now. That’s what’s changed.
And I don’t even know how to process what she said to me. Her voice went a whole octave lower, her eyes darkened, and her face hardened. She transformed into a real person, and not the walking caricature I always knew her as. She told me to trust her.
I watch her more closely than I ever have before.
Her hips sway. She has a solid bitch-face scowl, which hides her adorable gap in her two front teeth.
She leads my beta along the balcony. I then observe those around her.
They are more telling. I spot one, and then I can see more and more.
They give her looks. Quick glances. Small nods.
She returns them with barely perceptible gestures.
What the fuck.
Ro is up to something.
She’s not a passive player in her father’s game. She’s setting herself up to be a legitimate opponent.
Does he have any idea?
Ro takes her seat in the upper center, looking down into the fighting cage. She meets my eyes as she sits down. Her beautiful breasts bounce, and I almost look away from her eyes to get a better look.
Oh, she’s dangerous.
She points to the floor near her feet, and I can’t hear her, but it’s clear she told Mads to sit.
I’ll break her knees. I don’t care how interesting she’s suddenly become.
Her eyebrow raises at my growling face.
Mads uses her distraction to walk behind her chair and lean against the high back. Good for him, not sitting at her feet.
I laugh as she realizes he didn’t listen to her. She twists in her seat and glares at him, and he just winks.
Are they flirting?
I don’t know how I feel about that. Ever since the kidnapping, Mads has been acting strangely. He’s been chatty. Cracking jokes. Winking. Grinning. Laughing.
Is this the Mads from before his assault? The one I saw in pictures.
The floor below fills with people. There’s got to be at least two hundred souls here who are going to watch me fight.
Fun fact, I often lose these things.
I’m not a fighter.
At least I’m not fighting Padrick. He’s also standing behind Aurora. He’s been her handler for a long time now. He’s a pervert if I’ve ever seen one, but at least he keeps to himself and doesn’t yap. Mads ignores him, thankfully.
The way this place is set up, the cage is hung up by ropes and chains, and there are a couple of ramps up to it. I’d try my luck at the ramps, but there are armed men at both exits. Usually, they lock this thing up, and I stay and fight until I pass out. Or they feel bad for me and end it.
My opponents have been alphas, betas, professional fighters, random dipshits, and dogs. Yes, actual dogs. It’s why they call me pup. I live in cages. I do their bidding, and I fight like a dog.
There’s no use in feeling bad for me. Once I was free of this place, I did nothing of value.
Even Kol was disappointed I didn’t become something.
Or desire a bigger calling. I just want to stay home.
Clean the windows. Plan the meals. I don’t know.
House stuff. I like watching movies in the evening with Oscar and Kol.
I like going to the laundromat. My favorite thing I’ve done recently is clean all the blinds in the bathtub.
I wonder what Cadi will think of my small dreams. Cadi. I can’t be away from her this long.
If Aurora really does have a plan, it may be my only hope.
Her insufferable father is given a microphone for the PA system, the lights dim, and the show is about to begin.
Here we go…