Chapter 14

Fourteen

It's hopeless.

I stare at the page in front of me, my eyes dry from reading the same few lines over and over and over again.

The dragon heir's life-mate will be chosen by the council. In order to be considered a viable female, the dragon heir's life-mate's magic level should match or surpass that of the dragon heir himself. Once mated, the dragon heir will take up the mantle of the head of the dragon clans as dragon king until such time the next dragon heir is declared and comes of age.

The only positive part of everything I read in the Dragon Shifter Law book was that the law didn't explicitly state that the dragon heirs had to be mated to be a dragon shifter. It seems magic trumps species, and as long as the female promised to Becks is powerful enough, it won't matter if she is fae, vampire, or another type of shifter. But no matter how many times I read through the pages about the laws surrounding the dragon heir, unless the dragon council changes their mind I can't find one single thing that gives me hope Becks can somehow get out of his arranged life-mating.

In fact, now that I know more about the laws surrounding the dragon heir, I realize just how tightly bound Becks is. He did a decent job downplaying just how little control he has over the rest of his life this past year, but that bud of hope I had before I dove into dragon shifter law had long since withered and died.

I snap the book shut, pounding my fist on the cover for good measure. Do I want Becks to be free to choose his own life-mate for selfish reasons? Sure . But this isn't even about me anymore. Besides any romantic feelings I've developed for Becks over the years, he is first and foremost one of my best friends. Now that I understand just how trapped he is, my heart cries out for him. It isn't fair that he has to give up so much for a title and role he never even wanted to begin with.

The search for Becks' life-mate won't be contained to our school alone. Becks isn't just the dragon heir of Everton, he's the dragon heir and will someday become the dragon king. Any female on the planet of marriageable age is going to be considered, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about the most powerful females at our school as potentials for Becks.

Unfortunately, my nemesis Jules would probably make that list of potentials. She might be as dumb as a pile of rocks, but she's a powerful wolf shifter and power seems to be the only thing dragon shifters value. Vega, a particularly strong fae whose small stature hides the fact that she's a magical powerhouse, would be another prospect for him. I haven't had much interaction with her over the years, but now I instantly hate her.

Another possibility would be Sienna, the redheaded vampire whose soul is as black as her raven hair. I've tried my best to steer clear of Sienna over the years because she always gives off an unhinged vibe. She's the type of girl I'd expect to hide desiccated animal carcasses under her bed and keep pin-filled voodoo dolls of her ex-boyfriends in her closet. I cringe to think of Becks being tied to someone like that for the rest of his life, and then circle back to where I started, with the realization that short of a miracle where I come into my powers overnight, I'll never be able to be in Becks' life how I truly want to be.

Unless I can win Shadow Striker.

If these are the thoughts going through my head, what must it be like for Becks right now? He must be driving himself half mad with the possibilities of how this life-mating can go wrong for him.

Okay, so the laws are a dead end, but there has to be another way. I'm not giving up on going after Shadow Striker in order to become powerful enough to be in the contention for Becks, but I'm also not willing to risk Becks' future on a longshot.

Think, Locklyn. Think.

But it's late and my brain doesn't want to cooperate.

There's a buzz and I pick up my phone to check it, but the screen is dark. That's weird . With the phone still in my hand, I hear the buzz again and realize it's coming from my bag. Digging around in the pack, my fingers brush over the smooth surface of the Chaos tracker just as it starts to vibrate.

My heart rate stumbles as I pull it out and find the screen lit with words and numbers. A date, a time, an address, and numbers that I'm assuming are coordinates. It must be for the next trial, which according to the information will happen on Thursday, three days from now.

My stomach drops. That's so soon.

Twisting in my chair to face my computer, I type the coordinates into a search. A part of town I don't venture into very often pops up, but I recognize where it is because my parents' warehouse isn't far from there. It's an industrial area that isn't known to be the safest. Even though our warehouse is on a slightly safer street, my father doesn't ever let my mom venture there alone.

Grabbing my phone, I type out a group message letting Becks and Ensley know about the message. Becks' reply comes instantly. "Okay. I'll be there." Ensley's comes a few minutes later and with lots of crying emojis. Apparently her band has a gig that night so she won't be able to make it. She says she's going to see if they can get a replacement for her, but I know they won't be able to because she not only sings lead vocals but also plays the bass, so I tell her not to worry about it. Becks chimes in with, "Don't worry. I've got her." I know he doesn't mean anything deep by that, but it still makes my heart beat a little faster.

I don't sleep much the following days. If I'm not trying to keep my nerves tamped down about Chaos, I'm stressing about Becks' arranged life-mating. Fortunately, Becks finally confides in Ensley, and when she finds out she's livid at the council and goes directly to her parents to give them hell for backing them. Unfortunately, with or without their parents' approval, the council is going forward with their plans to mate Becks off in the next half year.

Before I know it, it's the evening of the second trial. Becks picks me up in his truck and we drive to the warehouse district in silence. My knee bounces up and down the whole way until Becks reaches over and sets his hand on it, settling me and offering silent comfort.

Cars line the usually desolate streets as we look for parking. It doesn't take long to find a spot, but it's several blocks from the coordinates. The strain of what's to come is all over Becks' face when we get out of the truck and start the short walk to the warehouse. We're not alone as we walk, but our quiet somberness is at odds with the party atmosphere around us. It's not until we're about to push through the doors to the warehouse when Becks stops me, pulling me to the side.

He turns me toward him with warm hands on my biceps. "Are you sure about this?"

I want to shake my head because now that I'm about to enter another Chaos trial my nerves are wreaking havoc on me, but I know that if I give Becks any indication that I'm not one hundred percent confident in my decision, I'll be over his shoulder as he sprints me away in less than two seconds flat. So I force a smile that I hope isn't wobbly.

"Yeah. I've got this," I say with false confidence.

He searches my gaze, and I'm pretty sure he reads the truth in my eyes, but he gives a resigned nod.

"Okay, let's do this, then."

I like the way he included himself in that statement, like we were really doing this together.

My knees are a little shaky as we approach the door, but I force steel into my spine. The same shimmer that covered the mouth of the cavern blankets the industrial warehouse as well. I don't let myself pause as I walk through the magical barrier and push open the doors. Just like at the Chaos party, I'm assaulted by noise and lights the moment we enter the space.

Bass thumps in my chest, and it takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the flashing lights, but when they do I focus in on two square cages set in the middle of a ring of bleachers. Half the stands are already full of spectators, and some of the Chaos competitors, blocking a clear view of the cages, but as we near I note that they are roughly the size of a sparring ring, which is somewhat comforting since the sparring ring at Peet's Gym is practically my second home. But unlike the ring I'm used to, the floor is rough concrete and the bars along the cage are lined with two-inch metal spikes, making it so that if someone slams into them they'll get seriously hurt.

Becks shifts closer, putting a protective hand on the small of my back, and I have to stop myself from melting into him. When I glance over, his face is leached of color and his eyes are wide as they run over the cages. It doesn't take a genius to realize I'm going to have to get in one of those at least once tonight.

Someone shouts Becks' name and we both turn, spotting some of his fellow dragon shifters mid-way up the bleachers waving us over. Taking my hand, Becks leads me to where they're sitting, letting go to greet some of them with fist bumps and high fives. I sit down on the cool metal bleacher a few feet away from where Becks is catching up with the shifters, my eyes on the spiked steel bars of the cages below.

"You're Locklyn, right?" comes a voice next to me, and I look over to see a girl I recognize from Nightlark but never had any interaction with. I think she might be a year or two younger than me and a shifter of some sort.

"Yeah," I say with a nod, having to raise my voice over the EDM music pumping through the cavernous space.

A smile curves her mouth that lights up her bright hazel eyes. Her skin is a beautiful rich brown color, and her hair falls down her back in hundreds of small teal and black braids. I don't know why she's talking to me right now, but I'm instantly wary.

"Wicked, I'm Shayla," she says, and holds out her hand for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you," I say lamely because I'm not sure what else to say.

"I was watching you during the last trial. You're really brave," she says, surprising me.

"Oh. Um. Thanks?"

Her smile widens and a dimple pops out in one cheek. "My boyfriend, Owen, entered the contest too but couldn't find a coin in time." She looks over and points out one of the beefy dragon shifters talking to Becks. He has shaggy brown hair and blue eyes. He's nice looking, but next to Becks he's just average. But that's how most everyone looks next to Becks.

Even Talon? my mind whispers, and I tell it to shut up.

"It was nerve racking watching him. I'm not sorry he was disqualified. I'm sure Becks was a mess as well."

"Oh. But Becks isn't . . . I mean he and I aren't?—"

She holds up her hands, a stricken look on her face. "Oh yeah, I know that. I just meant that everyone knows you guys are close, so it was probably hard for him to watch."

"Right. Yeah, he didn't love it."

I glance over at Becks to find him staring back at me, his gaze moving between me and Shayla questioningly. I give him a small smile to let him know that everything is okay.

"You guys have been friends a long time, right?" Shayla asks, cutting off the silent communication between me and Becks. When I look back at her she looks sincere, but I don't know if she's fishing for information or just making conversation.

"Since first grade," I confirm.

Shayla leans in. "Is it true—" she starts, but then just like back at the caverns the lights and music cut suddenly.

Unlike last time, hysteria doesn't hit the crowd because they know what's coming, but an excited buzz fills the space. Someone sits down next to me as faelights start appearing around the room.

"It's just me," Becks says in my ear, and goose bumps break out on my arms as his breath washes over my neck. He scoots over until his hip is pressed up against mine.

A spotlight appears in the space between the cages, illuminating the red-robed game master. His hood is once again hanging low over his face, hiding his identity.

"Tonight's trial will pit competitor against competitor in a hand-to-hand battle," he says, not wasting any time getting to the point.

A roar goes up from the crowd and Becks tenses next to me. I keep it together, at least on the outside. I knew this was coming the moment I laid eyes on those cages, and I remind myself that I know my way around a ring.

The game master goes on to explain how two battles, one in each cage, will be going on simultaneously. Each of the fights will last ten minutes, or until one of the competitors is unconscious. There's no tapping out. We're required to fight through broken bones or any other injuries that don't knock us out. We'll fight multiple times until we are ranked, and the bottom third of the competitors will be eliminated.

My chances of making it through this trial are going to depend on who I'm up against. Even without magic I'm confident I can beat some of the competitors in a hand-to-hand fight. I just have to hope that luck is on my side this evening.

"The overall winner of the battles will be given an advantage in the next trial," the game master says, and an excited murmur moves throughout the crowd. But I almost laugh out loud. Forget an advantage, I'm just hoping to make it through to the next round, preferably in one piece.

After that announcement, the game master calls the competitors forward and I stand to join the others, but Becks catches my wrist, stopping me before I can step away from him.

"You know how to fight. Use all your skills to protect yourself," he says.

"I will."

Rather than letting go, Becks just squeezes tighter. "Lock, this won't be like sparring at Peet's. This isn't going to be a fair fight. They're going to play dirty. You need to too." Becks' piercing green eyes stay locked on mine for another few seconds, before I gently tug against his hold.

I nod to let him know I heard him and then turn to leave. I size up the other competitors as I make my way to the front, noting there are probably around sixty of us left. We're told to head to the back of the warehouse to get ready, and I follow the group to two separate rooms in the back that are acting as makeshift locker rooms. Unfortunately, they haven't segregated the genders, only split us in half.

I don't see Talon in the room I'm ushered into, which means he must be in the other one. I do see a few other familiar faces I wish I hadn't, one of whom being Jules, who eyes me with a look of disdain. I avert my gaze and try to mind my own business. I know Jules isn't much of a fighter, but her powers render me almost useless every time we go up against each other. To win I'm going to need to be smarter and faster than my opponents.

At the back of the room is a bin of clothes, only shorts for the guys and shorts and sports bras for the girls. Without having to be told, the competitors dive in and look for their sizes. I wait until the crowd has thinned before searching for something to wear.

"Looking for a body bag?" comes Jules' voice behind me.

With my back still to her, I give a shake of my head. "I'm looking for a straitjacket for you. Sorry to say I don't see your size though." I straighten with a small pair of shorts and a sports bra in my hand and come face-to-face with her.

"You're going to get murdered out there," she says with glee.

I shrug, trying to look nonchalant, when in reality that's a very real possibility. All it will take is one spike to the head and I'll be a goner for sure. "I'm not worried," I lie, but she sees right through me, her smile oily and bloated with confidence.

"This is going to be awesome," she says with a laugh, and then walks off.

Guys are changing in the middle of the room without any regard for their nakedness, but some of the girls have constructed a privacy screen in the back corner. I go and wait my turn, keeping my gaze firmly off all the flashes of skin around me, and then change quickly when it's my turn. I'd be self-conscious about the amount of skin I have exposed after I emerge from behind the screen if I didn't have bigger things to stress about.

It's not another five minutes before I hear the game master's voice again, announcing the first two competitors to battle. I take a deep breath when they announce Talon and another name I don't recognize. Cheers sound as I assume Talon and his opponent emerge from the other room. I don't know what type of fighter Talon is, but I imagine he isn't feeling any of the trepidation I am right now.

The game master quiets everyone down and then announces the second pair. Jules' name is announced first, and I'm in the middle of thinking that it sucks for whoever is paired against her when my name is called as well.

The blood in my veins turns to ice and my body locks up.

"Get up," the girl next to me says. "You have to get out there."

She practically hauls me from my seat and shoves me out the door to where Jules is waiting with a smile on her face. I walk woodenly next to her toward one of the cages, my eyes finding Talon's halfway there and holding. He's staring at me with a frown, and his eyes filled with concern.

I bite my lip, ordering myself to suck it up. Jules has magic, but that's it. I've always thought even without magic I had a chance to take Jules down. I just have to be smart about it.

The game master offers a few more words to pump up the crowd. I'm only a handful of feet from him at this point and I still can't see his face. I realize it's because he's using magic to shadow his features. Talon edges toward the robed figure but suddenly stops, almost as if he can't get any closer, and I wonder if the game master is magically shielded. He sure is taking keeping his identity secret seriously.

When the game master finishes talking, the doors to the cages swing open. We're told to take off our shoes and enter the cage, which we do, and then the door clangs shut behind us.

"And there's one more thing," the game master says, and then goes over to Talon's cage and pushes a button I didn't notice was there. Talon and his opponent jolt and then they turn to the game master with matching frowns. When the game master pushes the button on our cage, Jules flinches as well, but I don't know why. I don't feel a thing.

Finally, the game master resumes his position between the fighting cages. "These matches will take place without the use of magic. May the best creature win."

My breath catches. With just one sentence my nightmare has turned into a wish granted: me and Jules in a one-on-one where she can't use her magic.

I turn toward Jules, and we start to circle each other, waiting for the countdown to begin. She's trying to keep it together, but I see the panic leaking into her. She's twitchy and the maniacal smile she wore just moments ago has morphed into a frown.

This is going to be fun.

A countdown from ten starts and I suddenly catch Becks' face in the crowd. He's moved to the front of the bleachers, his body tense and rigid as he stares back at me as the rest of the crowd goes wild.

Becks gives me a nod and a slow smile breaks over my face. I've got this .

A loud beep fills the air when the timer reaches zero and I snap my attention to Jules, who's shifting her weight back and forth on the other side of the cage, looking unsure of what to do, concern clearly shining from her eyes.

I jump into action. Reaching Jules quickly, I land the first blow with a jab right to the center of her face. My fist connects with her nose and her head snaps back. Blood immediately starts pouring from her now crooked nose, filling me with satisfaction. That hit was a long time coming, but it snaps Jules out of her funk, and she rushes me with a rage-filled scream.

It's immediately clear Jules doesn't have any real fighting skills, which is what happens when you get lazy and rely too heavily on your magic in a fight, but what she lacks in form she makes up for in pure unfiltered fury.

I duck her sloppy punches easily and practically dance around her as she comes at me with pinwheeled arms. The crowd starts screaming, which distracts me for a moment, and Jules lands her first hit, an open-handed slap to my cheek that leaves a sting. There's a small reaction from the crowd, but I'm assuming most of them are focused on whatever is going on over in Talon's cage, which is probably far more entertaining than watching me evade Jules' untrained attacks.

Landing a hit seems to give Jules some confidence. She starts trash talking me again, but her barbs don't find purchase. Little does she know I'm just wearing her out, biding my time, and it isn't long before she starts lagging.

A roar sounds from the spectators, but I learned my lesson the first time and it's Jules whose focus slips with the ruckus. I take the opportunity to kick out, landing a roundhouse kick to her face, which causes her to do a half-spin before hitting the concrete below us.

I should really follow up that hit with another, but instead I sneak a glance at the cage next to us to see how Talon's doing, which from the looks of it is well. Talon is hunched over his downed opponent, delivering a series of brutal punches as the crowd goes crazy. Once again, the distraction costs me and I don't even see Jules coming until she tackles me to the ground.

She has the upper hand and manages to get a couple of shots into my ribs before I buck her off. We grapple on the ground while I hear the crowd chanting, "Girl fight," over and over again.

I'm not used to matches in front of this big of a crowd and the distraction is hindering my performance. I force myself to shut out the noise and concentrate on Jules so that I don't end up knocked out, or worse.

The crowd erupts, and Talon gets declared the winner of his fight, but I'm finally focused on what I should be—my own match—so I only vaguely register the sound.

Jules manages to squirm out of my hold and we both pop to our feet. Sweat runs in rivulets down the sides of her face. Her nose is crooked, and her mouth and chin are covered in blood. One of her eyes is also swollen shut, but I'm hardly winded. Besides the slight sting on my cheek and a little tenderness around my ribs, I feel great.

With a shout of fury, Jules barrels at me, dropping her shoulder to catch me in the gut, but I twist out of the way and her momentum takes her past me, right toward the spiked bars. Without thinking, I reach out and grab what I can to keep her from face-planting into the spikes, and with a fistful of her ponytail and one strap of her sports bra, I yank her off course. She stumbles, falling and rolling into the bars. She screams and pulls away. When she stands, six puncture wounds dot her shoulder and arm, weeping blood, but she's lucky it wasn't her face.

Jules snarls at me, looking extra grotesque with the blood covering her face and teeth from her other injuries. "I'm going to rip you to shreds," she yells, but at this point the threat is laughable.

She's out of gas, so it's time to end this.

At the gym, we're not specifically taught how to knock an opponent out, because it's considered unsportsmanlike, but I know a hit to the temple or middle of the chin are the best options.

I come at Jules, not worrying about broadcasting my moves in the slightest anymore. I swing wide to build up power, hitting her in the temple with a cross, and then immediately follow up with an uppercut blow to her chin, nailing both vulnerable spots one after the other. I'm not leaving anything up to chance.

Jules' body folds like an accordion to the floor. Blood still drips from her nose as she lies on the gray concrete, out cold.