15. Sadie #3
He elbowed me back in the arm. Hard.
I slammed my foot into his shin.
Cobra whipped his gorgeous face around and hissed at me like a wild animal.
I stuck my tongue out at him.
His emerald eyes flashed with fire, pure fury rolled off him, and his jewels writhed across his flesh.
My lips curled into a smirk. If he wanted to act like a little bitch, then I’d treat him like one. No way was I just going to roll over and let him walk all over me because he didn’t get his way.
He stepped toward me threateningly.
I flipped him off.
Cobra hissed.
“Really?” Ascher growled.
His back pin straight as he walked up, his face was back to a cold mask of indifference, but something unnamed sparked in his eyes as he watched Cobra and I tussle.
I turned around to huff past him and almost walked into a tall man in a business suit. Mumbling apologies, I took in my surroundings.
For a second, I forgot to breathe.
Serpentine City in the daytime was breathtaking.
The sidewalks were full of men and women clad in expensive-looking business suits and dresses.
Every woman wore heels and had her hair in an elaborate updo.
I turned in a circle and took it all in.
While all the fae were tall and willowy with similar graceful features, this realm was a different story.
Shifters of all sizes, with vastly different features and skin tones, walked briskly across the wide sidewalks, funneling in and out of the massive buildings.
I unfocused my eyes until the world blurred around me in streaks of color.
It wasn’t hard to picture all the people shifting into various animals. Even though betas and nulls didn’t shift, the animal influence was still present in their pheromones and postures.
The burnt scent of betas overwhelmed my nose. A few musky whiffs indicated there were other alphas nearby, and there were faint sweet notes of omegas in the air.
I’d never felt so alive.
It was like waking up from a nightmare and realizing none of it had been real.
A sense of belonging settled through my bones.
A man and woman held hands and hurried down the street, rich, earthy alpha scents trailing behind them. Enchanted blue jewelry dripped from their wrists and necks, matching their impeccably tailored clothes. Both had dark-golden skin and white hair similar to my own.
Two saber-toothed tigers?
I opened my mouth to ask, but they quickly disappeared into the bustling crowd.
A short older woman sidestepped a puddle and looked up, her wide bright-green eyes instantly bringing to mind a small woodland creature.
My breath caught as I realized she sported small, almost imperceptible horns that curled slightly at her temples.
Like Ascher’s, but different.
No one had jewels in their skin like Cobra, but a woman hurried by, and the shimmering around her eyes was incandescent scales.
On closer inspection, the business attire was constructed of different fabrics and colors with unique markings and symbols.
What appeared to be a crush of similarly dressed people at first glance was actually a bustling crowd of unique individuals.
Some people stalked through the crowd like predators, alphas blending in like wolves in sheep’s clothing.
The crowd instinctually parted around us. Heads down, high-heeled and dress shoes hurrying by, everyone gave us a wide berth, like they could smell the danger from our pheromones.
From what I could deduce, nulls jogged past in huddles of five people or more. No scent clung to them as they walked together in protective groups.
Even though they didn’t shift like alphas and omegas, betas stood taller and stronger than any fae.
Like their beast counterparts, their features differed widely, with the history of animals apparent in the slants of their eyes or the striped tiger markings of their hair.
Predators stalked the street.
Suddenly, Xerxes’s name was gasped, and people stumbled to a stop.
The whispers grew until there was a small semicircle formed around us as more people called his name.
On instinct, we shifted to form a circle around Xerxes, and he hunched low to hide his face.
But ABOs raised their noses in the air and whispered his name as they squinted at us, cinnamon on their tongues.
An alpha woman stalked by in impossibly high heels and a black coat made of massive feathers. Her nose lifted and eyes glowed as she inhaled cinnamon, head turned toward us.
“Come on,” Xerxes said, startling me out of my shock as he pushed our protective blockade forward into the building.
He was the only person not looking around and gaping.
As he pushed us into the building, I craned my neck around and searched the crowd for the woman in the coat.
She walked past, massive feathers trailing behind her.
Shock stiffened my muscles.
She wasn’t wearing a coat—she had wings.
Suddenly, the rain didn’t seem dreary.
The soft patter of raindrops was the magical song for a unique, vibrant world. Everyone was an ABO, and they were everywhere. Unique. It was overwhelming, and it was everything.
Xerxes shoved us through a revolving glass door.
“Welcome,” the don greeted us in an empty, nondescript waiting room.
Technically, he was the reason all the men were now in a pack without me.
I tried not to let my annoyance show on my face and focused on radiating “I am the perfect gang member” vibes.
From the way he stared down at me with boredom, I did not impress him.
His white snake was once again wrapped around his neck like a small necklace, and it raised its little head to hiss at us every few seconds.
Since the don and the snake were connected, did that mean he was hissing at us?
Rude.
The don shifted his attention to Cobra. “How are you adjusting to pack life?” His emerald eyes glowed more the longer he stared at his son.
Cobra said nothing.
The don didn’t look concerned. “Today, you will begin your second initiation challenge. The basement of this building is an alpha fight club. No one may join the Mafia and shift into their alpha forms until they prove they have complete control over their mind and body. Only the strong survive in Serpentine City. Understood?”
“Um, what do we have to do, exactly?” I blurted nervously.
The “Loyalty” tattoo on the don’s neck bobbed as he swallowed thickly, and his snake stared at me.
I sputtered awkwardly, “Um, only if you feel like explaining. Your Highness. Royal, sir.”
Jax shifted closer so he was partially blocking the don’s view of me.
Finally, after taking a long drag of his cigarette, the don said, “You will each train for one week to prepare your body for your fights, and you will take a test to show you’ve learned the rules.”
He blew out smoke.
“You will fight matches in your unshifted forms. You must learn to be strongest in your weakest form, since enchantments that counteract shifting are common on the black market. If you survive your matches and maintain consciousness, you pass the second trial.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How many matches do we have to survive?”
The don blew another cloud of smoke. “A few.”
My shoulders relaxed. I was a good fighter, not a great fighter, but with the numb, I could hold my own.
The don took another long drag of his cigarette. “Just one hundred fights.”
Sun god kill me now.