Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Knox
The night caster continued to wave his hands in the air as he encouraged the crowd to cheer more. “Who’s next?” the man shouted.
While the crowd enjoyed his show, no one moved to go against the sorcerer. He had his back to me when I emerged from the shadows and stepped into the open doorway.
“Aren’t any of you brave enough to take me on?” he taunted.
I didn’t speak as I entered the cage and closed the door behind me. The clink of the lock engaging drew more attention from the crowd than my entrance. A hush started to descend over those closest to us as their attention shifted from the sorcerer to me.
“Come on, you cowards!” the sorcerer shouted.
He was still too focused on himself to have noticed an opponent had entered. Everyone knew what that shutting door meant—only one would leave here alive. I could practically feel the crowd salivating over what was to come.
Everyone who entered the cage knew they were taking the risk of facing an opponent who’d prefer to see them dead. The closing of the door didn’t happen often, but when it did, the event captivated every eternal in the room.
I was usually the one who shut the door, but I’d seen a few other matches over the years where the cage was closed. Whenever I entered this space, it was with the knowledge that my opponent wouldn’t be leaving again.
The sorcerer still had his back to me when I lifted my hand and knocked against the bars. That loud, hollow sound resonated throughout the room. It silenced the eternals who continued cheering for the sorcerer and caused the caster’s shoulders to hunch up to his ears.
They eased back down, but he still didn’t look at me. Like all the eternals here knew what the closing of the door meant, they also recognized that knock and who had entered… even if they still couldn’t see me.
That knock was a death toll for all who heard it within this cage. The eternals in No Man’s Land started calling me The One Who Knocks after my third time in here. Over the course of a few months, that became shortened to Knocks, and after a while, I adopted it as my new name, Knox.
The night caster finally turned to face me. His blue eyes raked disdainfully over me, though I was easily four inches taller than him and a good fifty pounds heavier. If it weren’t for his powers, I’d have the clear advantage, but his magical abilities evened the playing field.
“You’re the one they call Knox?” he asked as the last ringing of my knock faded away.
“I am.”
“You’re also the beast.”
“So I’m told.”
“Didn’t I fuck you once or twice?”
“It’s a possibility.”
In fact, it was probably a given. Their gods and goddesses knew how much their followers had fucked me over the years, and while it was never in this form, as the beast always took over in the harem, they all recognized me when I entered the cage.
Before this man, no one had mentioned our shared experiences. Perhaps they feared awakening the beast, but while they remained silent on our past, I’d never forget, and neither would the beast.
While the beast had taken over to help me survive their harem, I didn’t allow it to take over during these cage matches.
These were for me and those I sought to slaughter.
I wasn’t above letting some attributes of the beast out to play as my claws lengthened and retracted in anticipation of the slaughter to come.
“You’re the poor fool who got caught fucking Marina’s daughter,” the sorcerer continued to taunt.
I didn’t deny it. At one time, I was the poor fool who got caught fucking the queen’s daughter, but that idiot died in the harem, and the man who’d risen to replace him didn’t tolerate buffoons.
I’d never again be the idiot who was captured, cursed, and broken in ways I’d never known were possible. Now, I was the monster who would slaughter this man. He had his magic, but he wouldn’t walk out of here.
Outside the cage, heads bounced back and forth as the other eternals followed our conversation. When the sorcerer started circling me, I fell into the expected dance across from him while studying his movements.
“How did you get out of the harem?” the sorcerer asked.
I didn’t reply, as the tiniest twitch in his fingers alerted me that he was preparing to cast a spell. I was sure all the casters were still questioning how I’d managed to get free of their spells and bindings, but that was my secret to keep.
“Of course, I don’t blame you for fucking her. Briar is an alluring woman. I bet her pussy tastes delicious.” The sorcerer licked his lips before flicking his tongue at me.
Despite my absolute abhorrence of these monstrosities, irritation stirred within me at this man’s obvious desire for her. I shoved the emotion aside. At one time, I considered Briar my mate and my everything, but that time had passed.
Now, she was nothing more than the woman who betrayed me and kissed me goodbye before tearing my world apart and throwing me into Hell.
Because we were only given one mate in our lifetimes if we were lucky enough—or cursed enough in my case—to find them, I could never claim another mate, and I would never claim her as mine again.
Though I swiftly buried my irritation at this man’s words, the sorcerer must have sensed it as a smile teased the corner of his lips. “Of course, she’s been off-limits to the rest of us, even if you did publicly ruin her, but that will change soon,” the sorcerer said.
His words piqued my curiosity, but I still didn’t speak as I studied the small twitches in his fingers. Outside the cage, coins exchanged hands as eternals placed bets.
I was the undefeated champion within these bars, but this sorcerer was far more nonplussed by my entrance than any of the others I’d killed. One of my previous opponents had pissed himself and run straight into the locked door.
In contrast, this man exuded confidence. He was far older than me; I sensed that in the power radiating from him, but I had secrets he couldn’t know and the white-hot fury from years of abuse burning within me.
“They’re probably putting her in the harem as we speak,” the sorcerer said. “And when she emerges, we can all fuck her.”
This time, I couldn’t hide my reaction to his words as my eyes flew up to meet his. Briar’s Needing is upon her.
The idea of her entering that harem and screwing everyone she came across constricted my lungs as my muscles tensed. For only a second, I stopped moving.
And in that second, I realized my mistake as the sorcerer threw up his fingers and a ball of black light streaked toward me. Getting over my shock, I threw myself to the side, but not in time to avoid the spell that crashed into my shoulder.