"Just kill me! Why aren't you killing me?!" Kael roared from the stone floor of the arena. His breath came in ragged, uneven gasps, heavy with shock. His fierce face was drenched in cold sweat as he stared up at Ryker's two fingertips, still hovering a single millimeter above his left ribs. For a royal apex predator, being left helpless like this was far more humiliating than death.
Ryker calmly drew his hand back and stood up straight, looking down at Kael with a flat, unbothered expression. "I only came here to take my female back. I have no interest in taking your life unless I have to."
Up in the stone stands, the atmosphere froze. A massive, middle-aged male with thick golden fur—Goran, King of the Golden Wolf Tribe and Kael's father—stood up from his seat of honor, his eyes wide wi
