Chapter 4

Zirah

King Zeke prowls over to me, and I stiffen, my eyes darting to the woman beside me, but she’s gone. All of them are. They’re pressed against the far wall in fear of the three monstrous kings who have entered. He circles me, sizing me up, a bottle of liquor dangling between two fingers. While I watch the menacing man behind him, he tugs at my dress and flicks my hair.

“Where are the men?” The man who entered last demands, turning to look at Malachi.

“I’m sorry, King Regan, your father has changed plans. He has new intentions for the maze this year,” Malachi answers, unfazed by the deadly lilt in his tone.

“What intentions?” the man asks.

“You’ll have to take it up with your father. I am not at liberty to tell you,” Malachi answers.

I’m so focused on the terrifying man with black eyes that when I feel fingers grip my chin, I slap the hand that touches me without thinking. Within seconds, the man’s fingers are locked around my throat.

“You dare slap a king?” All smiles and drunken ganders are gone, now replaced with an ice-cold tone. The maids back away, and I choke as his grip tightens. I can feel the blood rushing to my head as my lips part in shock.

“Zeke, let the bitch go. She will be dead in a few hours anyway,” King Regan snarls.

His brother, however, doesn’t listen. Instead, King Zeke’s grip grows tighter as he crushes my windpipe. “Mind your manners, or next time, I’ll beat them into you,” he snarls before shoving me away. The backs of my feet hit something, and I tumble backward, landing on my ass. I glare at the king with as much venom as I can muster. All while biting back the urge to swallow, feeling like something is lodged in my crushed windpipe.

“She is a feisty bitch. I can’t wait for our wolves to rip her apart,” King Zeke announces, swigging from his bottle.

He then turns on his heel and nudges his other brother. “Come, Lyon, let’s go see what the old bastard is up to now,” Zeke tells him, storming out of the stables. Well, at least I now know the names of the men who will make me meet my end. Zeke, Lyon, and Regan.

When I try to stand, using my hands to push up off the ground, a foot slams down on my hand, crushing my fingers and making me halt. Lifting my head, I meet King Regan’s cold stare. He glares at me intently, tilting his head to the side.

“Is everything alright, My King?” Malachi asks in a bored tone. King Regan grips my face, turning it this way and that. His brows furrow as he leans closer, and he sniffs me before pulling away with a look of confusion on his face, which he quickly masks.

“Where did you find this one?” he questions, not taking his eyes off me. “The North Mountain, sir,” Malachi answers him simply.

King Regan tilts my face higher, his grip becoming harsher as he examines my face as if he is trying to burn it into his memory. His teeth protrude slightly from his lips, razor-sharp canines barely visible. “She is an interesting one. Did she put up a fight?”

“Not much of one, but she did kick me when I tried to grab her out of the tunnel,” Malachi states.

“But she tried to run?” Regan asks, looking over his shoulder. Malachi nods once to him, and the king scoffs . “Well, the feisty ones always scream the loudest, and I can’t wait to hear the chorus you’ll sing.”

Once again, my mouth-to-brain filter shows it is in need of repair. “Don’t bet on it.” The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. He quirks an eyebrow at me, his lips tugging in the corners.

“We’ll see,” he says. His thumb brushes across my lips. “If by some miracle you survive, I’ll keep you as my whore. Despite the vileness of your ego, you are a pretty little thing, and I would love to watch you choke on my cock,” he snarls, letting me go and rising back to his feet. I glare at him, and he smiles cruelly, flashing his deadly teeth before turning his attention to Malachi.

“Get them to the maze while I go see why my father has changed this year’s games.” Regan turns on his heel and stalks out of the stables, nodding once when Malachi agrees.

Malachi glances at me nervously, and as I get to my feet, he ushers all of us to follow him. The moment we step out into the night, one of the women takes off. She is running for her life, heading toward the surrounding forest. She barely makes it fifty feet away when King Regan grabs her. He shoves her back toward the stables, and she lands on her stomach in the grass. The other women behind me talk in hushed murmurs, yet my eyes are on the woman as she crawls to her feet. It is the same young girl the vampire wanted to feed on earlier.

Before she has the chance to get up, King Regan seizes her arm, and my breath lodges in my throat as his face twists and morphs into an angry sneer. His features are no longer human as he fights the urge to shift between forms in his anger. The woman lashes out, and the collective gasp rings out from everyone. The sound stops his brothers on the hill when she manages to hit him in the face.

The resounding clap of her palm on his face echoes, and he growls. The sound ticking loudly from the back of his throat. Within seconds, his hands wrap around her throat, and she claws at his wrists as his grip tightens. Her face turns purple, and her lips part. I see his brothers slowly walking back to watch the scene play out with avid fascination.

My mind screams at me to do something.

She can’t breathe. She can’t breathe.

Out of all the horrors I have seen before, even after watching Granny toss herself off the cliff, for some reason, this sight triggers something inside me, or maybe because I remember the feeling from earlier when King Zeke grabbed me. I can’t explain it, but a jolt of panic shoots through me, and that panic makes my feet move.

Stupidly, I run toward her, not even realizing what I am doing. Malachi’s fingers skim the back of my dress as he tries to yank me back into line with the other women. I tackle the king, though tackle isn’t the right word because the force nearly knocks me out. His body is as hard as a rock as I collide with it before bouncing off.

Yet my lame attempt at tackling seems to work because he lets her go. She hits the ground, and King Regan turns on me. The woman yanks my arm from where she fell beside me, and we scoot back on our hands and feet, trying to get away from the monster that is now stalking both of us.

“Kill her,” the king commands one of the guards. “Not her, the other one. This one is mine,” he snarls, reaching for me.