Chapter 34 Hawk
Hawk
Even in the darkness behind the cages, I could see her.
The female from the bed.
The sharp pain in my thigh battled with the dull ache pounding in my skull. A war between following the words of my king or my basic instincts that told me to find the female and protect her almost destroyed me.
It was too much, but the sight of her in a collar, dressed in chains, made the fog clear enough for me to fight.
Beside me, the vampire sighed. “I don’t know why you want to do this,” he muttered, “but good luck.”
From the corner of my eye, he appeared almost…pained. But he didn’t try to talk me out of it. I wasn’t sure why I had the feeling he would.
He hadn’t questioned me about the wound on my leg since the incident in the med bay. For some reason, I was grateful. He still had no idea who had caused the injury, but I knew now.
It came back to me in flashes. The dreams of her, the war plaguing my mind telling me to forget, the desire to save her almost losing against the pressure caused by the unknown presence in my mind.
Then the pain. I’d done it to myself. I remembered it clearly now. Pulling the knife from my belt and slamming it into my leg. The blood pouring from the wound.
But the pressure had released, and for a moment, there’d been clarity. Freedom. Respite from the war and the knowledge that one side would mean my doom, the other my salvation.
It was always meant to be her.
She was my safety. My freedom. My clarity. My salvation.
Yet despite knowing that, the war waged on. I needed another moment to see clearly, but the vampire made it difficult. He no longer left my side. Like he knew.
But the fight would open my eyes. He wouldn’t be able to stop me in the ring.
The small male who said I wouldn’t fight returned with lips pressed together. “The King has given his blessing,” he said, gaze flickering to the throne at the other end of the Pit. “You may fight.”
I stepped back and bowed my head before joining the other soldiers who wanted to partake.
Unrecognisable faces sharpened into features I could make out.
Many Fae, with their pointed ears and glossy skin stood with teeth barred and arrogance on full display.
There were a few vampires with fangs lowered, glaring at one another.
A shifter female with red hair and dark skin stood off to the side with her arms crossed, eyes glowing.
In the ring, the two shifters who fought finally fell. The wolf was covered in blood, each breath heaving from its chest. The panther dropped its head, black fur torn apart. Both were alive enough to be healed. Both were dragged from the ring towards their cages.
“Now, for some real sport. One of our very own commanders has put her name down, and she’s ready to fight!” The voice echoing throughout the Pit sounded like he didn’t believe his own words. “Sunniva Storm and Hawk Nash!”
There were cheers. Cat calls. Some shouted profanities as the shifter female pushed off the wall she’d been leaning against. Others jeered at the mention of my name.
I hadn’t recognised my name before the clarity, but now, it rang in my ears with the knowledge that it meant something. That it once had been spoken by her.
I followed the female into the ring, heart pounding. That tickle in the back of my mind started again when my feet hit the packed earth. At the first sight of blood, what felt like icy fingers tried to pick at the clarity I tried so hard to protect.
It wanted to take away the female in the cage.
But I protected the feeling I got when I thought about her, and kept my eyes trained on the shifter walking ahead of me.
“Hand to hand battle only. You may use magic. And whoever loses…” The demon overseeing the fights trailed off, but it appeared the crowd understood what he meant.
So did the shifter, because she tensed under the scrutiny of his gaze and the looks of the others.
When she stopped in the centre of the ring, I joined her.
Something flashed in her eyes, something I didn’t recognise.
I couldn’t pull her face from any memories; she wasn’t someone I’d interacted with before, though I couldn’t be sure.
I wish I’d taken the chance to check with the vampire.
He would have given away if she were someone to watch out for.
“Let the fight begin!” Over the roar of the crowd, I listened to the thundering beat of my heart.
My opponent bowed her head, eyes flickering behind me towards the soldiers gathered for their chance in the ring.
Irritation flared in her glowing eyes, but the moment they snapped back to mine, she struck.
I had no time to think; she was swift and agile, slamming her foot into my stomach before spinning out of my grasp. The air left me in a huff, the pain dull. It wasn’t enough to bring the clarity again.
She stalked me as I let my wings free. I turned in a slow circle, keeping her in my line of sight, feeling the pull of air at my fingertips. But I didn’t use it.
The female bared her teeth. “Attack,” she said, voice lowering into a growl.
I gritted my teeth, pushed into the air, and threw myself at her. The shifter coiled her arms around me as we hit the ground. I brought my wings in before they could be broken by the impact, groaning at the force of them snapping into my body.
We rolled, dirt rising around us. The dull hum of the crowd turned to a roar of sound and chaos as we came to a stop with her hovering above me.
For a split moment, she glanced away, eyes darting up to the crowd. From my position below, I couldn’t tell where she was looking, but the darkening of her eyes made my stomach clench. But she hesitated when our eyes connected again.
The beast wasn’t present anymore, and she was in full control of herself and her creature. Either that was going to serve me well, or it was going to make this more difficult.
“Hit me,” I growled, slamming my hand into her forearm, which was giving her the stability to hover over me. “Fight.”
Her lip curled in a snarl. “You’re waking up.”
Those three words caught me by surprise, but so did the twist of her lips as she smiled. I let my hand fall from her forearm as she leaned closer, voice lowering so much it was almost inaudible over the shouts of the guards.
“You want out? You do as I say,” she said, eyes flashing with a fire I’d never seen from the other creatures working for the king. “You aren’t his lackey anymore.”
I felt that familiar sensation in the back of my mind again, but when the icy fingers inched closer to my consciousness, I shoved it back forcefully.
“Fight me,” was all I could manage, gritting my teeth as the pressure intensified.
Without another word, she slammed her fist into my chin. The hit had me biting down on my tongue, splitting the inside of my cheek. Blood filled my mouth, and I spat onto the dirt with a cough.
But that one hit forced the icy fingers away from my memories. For a moment, the darkness peeled back to reveal a memory that’d been only a flash of familiarity before. The emotions that rose with it took my breath away.
“Ivy, you need to release it,” I’d growled, absolutely terrified, because I knew if she gave into the power building inside her, it would claim her—maybe even kill her. “You need to give them the magic. Please, just release the fucking magic.”
I’d never felt so much fear before for any other living creature. But somehow, I’d been terrified for her.
I sucked in a breath as the female above me hit me again. “Make this look real, Nash. Otherwise, we’re both dead,” she hissed.
That was the only warning I got before she moved to strike again. This time, I batted her arm away and shoved her off me.
All at once, the sound of the crowd hit me, the rush of noise ringing in my ears. The light above us made my vision swim for a moment, and I had to blink hard against the glare burning my eyes.
It didn’t stop the shifter from striking at me with a hand partially clawed. Out of instinct, I went to step away from the hit and the pain that would come with it. But at the last second, I hesitated, and made a half-assed attempt to get away, letting her claws dig into my side.
The claws ripped through my abdomen, sending my blood flying across the dirt. In the distance, I heard shouts that were unlike the others. Warnings played in my mind. Darkness swam at the edges of my vision—not from the pain, but from something else.
Again, I saw her. Green dress hugging her curved figure, the sight of her in it my complete undoing.
Observing her on a sofa with a blonde female at her side, both laughing, sitting together without a care in the world.
Holding her in my arms, feeling the press of her soft body against mine, tasting her sweetness on my lips and wondering how she would feel naked, bonded to me.
I stumbled back, hand going to my side. I lifted my gaze from the shifter, whose hand was covered in my blood, to the stands.
I found the cage almost immediately, the Princess within standing, staring at me in horror.
Princess…She was more than just a brief, hazy memory now.
Her name formed on the tip of my tongue. A name that had lived on in my dreams.
Ivy.
Three letters that exploded into a world of horror, guilt, and love.
And then it all came crashing down.