The Beasts Boxed Set

Chapter 1-2

Grinning now, eager, I waited for them to make their move.

Both males walked away from me toward the edge of the cage.

awayWhat the f**k?

Two of Snook’s lackeys were waiting to slide long, wicked-looking daggers through the cage’s openings. Both men wrapped their hands around the blade hilts and turned to face me.

Seemed Snook intended to force my hand, give me no choice but to kill.

The crowd’s roar increased in volume as my two opponents lifted the daggers and showed them to the gathered humans. Frantic to place their wagers, the humans outside the cage scurried like starving rats to give money to those who registered their bets.

“Put the blades down. I do not wish to kill you.” I had to warn them. I was an Atlan warlord who fought with honor. If they persisted on this course of action, they would die.

“You’re the one who’s going to do the dying, pretty wolf man.” Python John had a huge smile on his face, his front tooth ragged and uneven. I assumed the other half of that tooth was already on the cage floor.

I held up both hands, palms facing out in the universal sign of appeal. “Do not force me to kill you. Please. Put down the weapons.”

“Enough of this bullshit,” Rico muttered. He and John paced the edge of the cage, stalling. My suspicions were confirmed when I spotted Snook seated at an elevated table near the exit. He caught Rico’s gaze and dipped his chin, giving the two males fighting me the signal to continue.

I did not bother to shout over the din of the roaring humans, all so very eager to see blood spilled. I held Rico’s gaze. He did not smile as Python John did, but there was death in Rico’s eyes. A love of killing. A clawing need for power. I had seen the look before. Too many times. Too many fights. Of the two, Rico was more dangerous, and I would not make the mistake of turning my back on him.

I held Rico’s gaze. “Get on with it. I tire of this game.”

“This ain’t no f*****g game,” Rico shouted as he shifted the blade from hand to hand.

“We’re going to kill you, motherfucker!” Python John was red-faced, eyes glazed with excitement. And fear.

“Put them down. You will not collect payment from Snook if you are dead.”

With synchronized shouts, Rico and Python John rushed me from both sides. They each attempted to capture one of my wrists with their free hand and stab my exposed side with the other.

I moved with blurring speed, utilizing the Hive implants that pulsed with power just beneath my skin. I was not human, nor was I Atlan. I was more. And less. I was contaminated. A beast.

A predator with a barely controlled monster inside me. My beast recognized the threat and demanded to taste their blood. He pushed at the edges of my control, his rage complete. Total. Consuming.

Fuck.

Fuck.They slashed at my sides, each one scoring a thin slice through skin where they’d hoped to stab deep.

The crowd screamed with excitement as my blood dripped to the floor of the cage for the first time. Red, just like a human’s. The sight appeared to cause mayhem. Chaos. A frenzy.

Animals. Humans were animals.

The cuts were shallow, mere annoyances. I would not bleed to death, but I would require the use of a ReGen wand after this fight. I’d paid well to have one of the Atlan guards at the Interstellar Brides Processing Center smuggle the device to me, along with a pair of mating cuffs. I would not have opportunity to use either if I lost focus and allowed these two fools to kill me.

Rico and Python John regrouped on the opposite side of the cage as the rest of the humans screamed for more. More blood. More pain. More. More. More.

“Put the blades down and you have my word I will not kill you.”

“f**k you, Wolf. You aren’t in any position to make deals,” Python John snarled.

I sighed. Python John had no idea exactly how wrong he was.

The two men rushed me again. With a roar, I moved like lightning to wrap a hand around each of my opponents’ necks. Grip harsh, I squeezed until both men’s faces turned red, then purple. They swung their limbs wildly, trying to reach me with fists and feet.

They looked ridiculous, like children swinging at a statue.

The crowd went eerily silent, waiting to see what I would do.

The quiet didn’t last long as one loud voice yelled from somewhere in the crowd. “Kill them!”

Chaos erupted as every human in the club seemed to lose control of their emotions, their minds. They screamed and shoved like wild animals fighting over a carcass.

Disgusted, I lifted both men a bit higher, onto the tips of their toes and found Snook in his seat, watching. Waiting.

Bastard. f*****g, c**k-sucking bastard.

When he met my gaze, he was smiling in triumph. I had refused to fight to the death. He had ensured I must. f*****g asshole. I was like a dog in the pit now. Nothing more than an animal to him. An investment. Fight or die.

Fury ripped through me. I was a warlord, a male of honor. I would not kill at the behest of this monstrous human. My beast, however, did not mind in the least. He was hungry for blood. For victory. For any kind of release. We had not seen true battle in months. Nor f****d a female.

Disgusted, I threw the two humans to the far side of the cage where they both rolled onto their hands and knees.

“Stay down!” I bellowed at the two fighters.

Light reflected off metal. I turned, prepared to face another attack of some kind. But the flash was not from a weapon, but from a naming badge an older male wore on his shirt as he walked the edge of the fighting cage. Watching us.

The other humans seemed to know who he was, for they moved back without instruction, making way for him to pass.

Who was he? And what the f**k was he doing?

Distracted, I focused my attention on him, read his name from the badge. Wayne. He wore a uniform, not for battle, more like what I had seen human firefighters wear. His hair was completely gray, his face lined. But his eyes were sharp. Assessing.

Wayne.And he smelled like…her.

herMy beast exploded into my mind like a separate entity, pushing and clawing to reach the human male. Heat burned through my gaze and I closed my eyes, afraid they would glow and give me away. Reveal that I was not human.

The thud of two feet pounding on the cage’s mat floor had me turning. I opened my eyes. Python John was charging me, knife held low.

I allowed him to get close. Closer.

With a bellow I hoped sounded human, I lifted him over my head and tossed his body like a sack of grain, up and over the top of the cage.

He fell, his torso crashing into the few spectators too slow, or too drunk, to get out of the f*****g way.

Wayne, the human I needed to follow, raised his brow, and looked up at me.

I stared back. He knew where she was. My mate.

With a sideways glance at Python John, who was staggering to his feet with the help of a few men, Wayne watched until Python John was upright then looked back to me. The elder human shook his head like a disapproving father and turned to walk away.

Fuck. I didn’t have time for this s**t.

Where was Rico?

As if on cue, Rico appeared before me. He tossed his knife between his palms. Was that supposed to intimidate me?

“End this,” I ordered.

Rico didn’t need further encouragement.

I threw him even farther than his friend.

The crowd was frantic. Screaming. Chanting my name.

I scanned for Wayne, found him just as he disappeared through the locked metal door that was a shortcut to the parking area.

Fuck.

I didn’t wait for Snook’s people to unlock the fighting cage. I climbed up and over, jumping to land on the ground next to where Python John had smashed into the spectators.

Wayne was getting away.

Mate!

Mate!My beast had a one track f*****g mind, as did I.

I took three steps toward the door before Snook stood in my path.

“Get the f**k out of my way.”

“You should have killed them.”

Completely out of patience, I lifted the human by his shoulders and set him aside. My beast had even less patience than I and there was only one thing he cared about at the moment.

Mate. Mine.

Mate. Mine.