“Mommy?” Brianne yelled up to the woman who sat catatonic.
The sound roused the woman and she leaned over and stared at Brianne. “Bri?”
“Mommy!”
Despite my efforts to avoid it, I glanced at my father. He was a shell of the man I’d seen only a few months before. His hair was faded to white, his cheeks sunken, and his eyes bugged in his too-thin face. Something moved in my heart—sadness or regret, I didn’t know which. But I wished he weren’t here, for his sake and mine.
“It’s going to be okay, Annie. Don’t be scared.” Gavin called to his little sister, whose terrified eyes darted from him to Bob.
An attendant brought a chair to the top of the small platform, and Cal sat. He pulled me into his lap so I was angled sideways to him. Raising his hand, he pointed to the attendants stationed at the door where we’d entered the arena. They rushed out into the courtyard, batons at their sides.
“KO preferred. Incapacitation acceptable. If you don’t fight, we’ll hurt you and your family members. Red, give them a little taste so they know we aren’t just teasing.” Cal clicked the microphone off.
Red reared back and sank a fist in Brianne’s mother’s stomach. Brianne screamed. Bile rose in my throat as Cal dug in my hair and undid my bun, my hair falling messily down my back.
“Isn’t that better?” He stroked my hair as Brianne’s scream broke when one of the attendants cracked his baton across her back. She fell to her knees.
Cal clicked the microphone back on. “That’s enough. I think they’re ready.”
The attendants hurried back inside the wooden door as Brianne struggled to her feet.
Gavin was still consoling his little sister when Brianne launched herself onto his back.
“That’s more like it. Enjoy the show, folks.” Cal dropped the microphone and ran his hand along my thigh before peering at my neck. “What’s this here? Who bit you?”
I didn’t answer, only watched as Gavin yanked Brianne from his back and tossed her to the ground. She scrambled up and rushed him again, her blonde hair flying out behind her. He had at least fifty pounds on her. There was no way she could win. But she fought, screaming and clawing at him as he tried to ward her off.
“Something about you. The more I see you, the more I want you. I covet you. I’m not the only one, either. Why is that, do you think?” Cal’s voice slithered into my ear.
I kept my mouth clenched shut as Brianne kicked at Gavin’s shins. He yelled and shoved her back.
“I find myself wondering if your snatch is covered with the same color hair as this.” He twisted a lock between his fingers. “You were bare last time I saw you.”
I focused on Brianne and Gavin, analyzing their movements, looking for weaknesses. I could do it. I could fight and win. The only thing I couldn’t do was look at Gavin’s sister. Her frightened eyes were already etched in my mind, her youth ruined by this foul tournament.
“Hey.” He yanked my hair and moved his hand under my shirt. “I need your full attention. Gavin and Brianne can work out their differences without you.”
“You have it.” I darted my eyes over to Sin. He cut an imposing figure, standing completely still, his eyes on me.
“I don’t think I do.” He worked his hand up my shirt to my sports bra and pinched my nipple through the fabric. “But I know how to get it.”
I froze, humiliation washing over me at Cal’s unwanted touch. Even as Brianne screamed below, I met his eyes, the dark pupils wide.
“Was that so hard?” He eased up on my nipple and palmed my breast. “I just wanted to talk to you a little. I feel like I haven’t gotten to know you as well as Brianne.”
The crowd roared as Gavin let out a shriek, but I kept my eyes on Cal.
“Very good. See? You can be taught.” He pulled his hand out of my shirt and rested it on my thigh again.
I fought the urge to watch what was happening on the ground below. Think. I had to take this opportunity to learn what I could from Cal. “Dylan told me he owns me.”
“Ah.” His eyes went to the mark on my neck. “So I assume this is his handiwork?”
I nodded. “Sin owns me. Dylan owns me. You don’t. There’s no point coveting something you will never have.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. I’m still Sovereign for some time yet. Besides, ‘never’ is such a broad term, don’t you think?” He leaned over and licked along the bite mark. I bit my lip to keep from crying out at the sting.
Brianne’s shriek got her mother to her feet as the crowd laughed and jeered. I glanced down. She was on her stomach, crawling toward Gavin. Bloodied and grim, he backed away from her.