Chapter 17 Maximus the Gladiator
Maximus the Gladiator
Aurora
The tiger handlers lure the beast back into its pen with a giant ice cube of blood and gravy, which the tiger is more than happy to hop into.
My father has lost his smile.
His hands are in his pockets, and he’s looking at Locke like he’s disappointed.
I know that look well. I hope this spectacle is over and we can move on to the next thing.
But I know that’s not going to happen, because I know my father.
I prepare for what is to come. I relax in my chair, cross my legs, and toss my hair off my shoulders.
When the spotlight hits him, I tip my flute back and drink the whole thing at once.
My dad stands alone in the cage with Locke and Mads.
His name is actually Jonathan O’Bannon. He’d gone by Jack during his childhood.
He was in track and field, and qualified for the Olympics when he was 18 years old in some long-distance running competition.
His legs are unusually long. He didn’t end up going to the Olympics.
And I’ve never seen him run. But he still looks like a runner.
Long and lean. I have my mother’s shapely hips and average-length legs.
I look like her in so many ways, he sometimes calls me Callysta, after my mother. Especially when angry.
It’s why he calls me “Little Bear” because he views me as the younger version of my mother, the bear. She fought him during her heat like a bear, he said. He tells me the story of my conception on my birthday every year. I got it this morning over my eggs.
I breathe easy knowing this is over, and the tiger didn’t even have to die. There’s no fight now. This is actually working out better than I thought.
“Locke O’Bannon has a secret!” My dad says loud enough that he probably doesn’t need a mic. “He has an animalia bark. How utterly surprising. But, useless if one cannot speak.”
The color drains from my face.
Why didn’t I notice the items in his hands?
A cattle prod and something like a collar.
He motions for the tiger handlers, two alphas who honestly should not be trusted with a colony of feral cats, let alone a wild tiger, drop a gate on Maximus, cutting him off from his blood and gravy lolly.
His massive paw is too big to get through to it.
To get his attention, my father tosses the cattle prod to one of the handlers, who, without hesitation, zaps the flank of the beast.
Maximus turns and swipes both paws at the handler, who shifts away behind his own gate quickly.
My father pulls out a ball gag from his belt and reaches out to grip Locke’s hair in his fist. He whispers a command to be still, and then fastens the ball gag over his head and in his mouth. Mads writhes underneath him.
Fuck!
Fuck!
The handler zaps Maximus a few more times, this time through the bars, making him more and more angry.
What am I going to do? How can I save him now?
I look around to find myself alone with my father’s friends. Their eyes touch my body in all the most unwanted ways. Well, first I need to save myself. I slip out and away.
I need a fucking miracle.
I whisper “fuck” to myself over and over again like a chant that will calm me down.
It never occurred to me that he’d figure out Locke’s secret, because I didn’t even know that was a thing until I did a lot of research.
How did he even know its name? Animalia bark.
It’s becoming very clear to me that I may not be as smart as I thought I was.
I can’t let Locke die! And now Mads is in the cage!
I head down and, silently on my feet, I make my way through the compound.
I make it back to the residence and to my room.
I shut the door and lean against it for a second, catching my breath.
My room is a mess. I spent way too long this week thinking about seeing Locke again.
I didn’t have time to clean. I fumble across the floor to my nightstand and pull out the holstered pepper spray.
I wanted the cute pink one with rhinestones, but I opted for the tactical one.
Maybe I can get this to Locke. I wish I had bear spray, but this will do.
The guy who sold it to me assured me it could take out a crazed alpha driven mad by an omega’s scent.
Or a former Olympic athlete.
I think Locke and Mads need it now more than me.
I race back to the fight hall, but go first to my spot. I find the food tray still there but empty. I’m glad Mads got to eat, then I get the nerve to look down at the cage.
The timer is at 00:00, and the tiger is on one side, while Locke is ball-gagged and standing over Mads’s body. Ok, good, same old…same old.
Honey stands in the shadows and watches me. When I turn to see her, she sees the fear in my eyes.
“Ro.”
“Honey, I need a favor…”
She doesn’t move.
“Please. I know…”
“Tell me what you want.”
“I need you to get them this.” I present to her the pepper spray, like it’s a small animal in my palms.
She steps up and looks at the item, then at my face. She takes it before nodding assuredly. I gasp for air, not realizing I’d been holding my breath.
“Of course. Anything for you.”
She leaves quickly.
I turn just as the tiger swipes at Locke’s leg and causes him to topple. His jaws fix over his head, just testing to see if his head fits. It does. Maximus pulls back. I fix my face. Removing the fear, I look for my father. He’s not even watching. He’s laughing with his friends.
Locke
Maximus is done playing with us. It’s over. It’s fucking over. Maximus does what he wants. And what he wants is a new blood and gravy popsicle.
I’d take this ball gag off, but Legs’s last alpha command was to not touch it. If I even think about touching it, a brain-splitting headache takes over, blackening my vision. When Legs gives me an alpha command, it sticks.
Mads and I can’t hold on.
Legs also told me that if I tapped out, waved the white flag, and told him I’d forsake my pack and bond his daughter, then the fight would be over.
I would rather let the tiger eat my guts while I was still breathing than bond Aurora O’Bannon.
But Mads is barely conscious below me.
I don’t just have my own flesh to protect. I have my beta’s. And he’s done nothing but protect me.
It’s my turn to protect him.
Maximus pounces and sends me flying back.
I hit the wall, and the whole cage bounces.
He doesn’t lose his footing, but I’m able to hide underneath him and squirm down.
Something small, like a tube, hits the floor next to me, but I can’t be sure what it is.
Did it come off Maximus? I ignore it and instead wrap all four of my limbs around his torso, hiding myself from all his sharp teeth and claws.
He flips us over so he’s on his back. I scramble off of him and back away.
He’s a little confused by my actions, but it’s all I’ve got.
Drool drips down my chin from the ball gag.
It doesn’t stop me from trying my alpha bark. Useless.
Shit. Shit. Shit. When I get back to Mads, he’s standing and hitting the wall, making loud noises. We are back to our first attempt to stay alive. I block him from the tiger’s view.
This is it. One more pounce and I’m a goner. His teeth will be in me, and then his claws will be in Mads.
Mads has been through too fucking much because of alphas.
This ends now.
I know what to do. I untuck the remaining scraps of my shirt and rip off a strip, and then wave the material in the air.
A foghorn noise blows out across the hall.
The handlers race out and click their rods onto Maximus’s collar. The gate to the treat opens up, and a third handler shoots some sort of dart into the cat’s neck.
I did it.
I stopped the fight.
Mads leans against the wall, and I push my back into him so he can rest on me.
I saved him.
By damning myself.