by Tracy Wolff
“You mean that’s still a thing?” I ask. I vaguely remember Amka mentioning something about how Ludares originally wasn’t a game but a trial to end up on the Circle, but to be honest, I haven’t thought much about it. “You play a game to become a Circle member? What if you suck at sports?”
Jaxon chuckles. “Ludares started out as a competition for the strongest mated pairs. If you survived the test, you earned a seat on the Circle.”
Mekhi smiles. “Can you imagine how brutal it was? One mated pair against eight kick-ass opponents? I would have loved to have seen Jaxon’s or Flint’s parents compete to be on the Circle. It must have been wild.”
Umm, yeah, so not my idea of a good time. At all. “So only mated pairs can sit on the Circle, then?” I didn’t expect that, but I probably should have, considering both of Jaxon’s and Flint’s parents are on it.
Jaxon nods. “Pretty much—it takes at least two people to survive the Trial, or so they say.” He squeezes my hand, his gaze holding mine. “I keep thinking we should do it one day. The Circle needs someone to lead it who won’t let that happen.”
“Us? Why? I thought you hated all the prince stuff?” I mean, being queen certainly isn’t on my agenda. I’m more interested in art school, even if I have to do a gap year because of the whole “trapped as a gargoyle for four months” mess that screwed up college apps and everything else in my life, apparently.
“I do,” he assures me. “But there’s been a Third Great War brewing for a long time, and Hudson only exacerbated it with the shit he pulled before he died.”
“Yes, let’s blame me for the fact that Dad and the wolves are teaming up with made vampires so they can wipe everyone else out of existence.” Hudson rolls his eyes. “What a wanker.”
“What does that have to do with us being the head of the Circle?” I ask Jaxon, though I definitely want to follow up on Hudson’s comment later, because it sounded very different from anything else I’ve heard.
“Gargoyles are peacekeepers,” Mekhi interjects. “If you and Jaxon take his parents’ place, you have a much better chance of keeping shit under control. Between Jaxon’s power and your ability to chill things out—”
“I can do that?” I interrupt.
“That’s what the old stories all say,” Rafael tells me. “Gargoyles were created to keep the balance among the factions.”
“Exactly. So when my parents abdicate, we can take their place and get things going back in the right direction,” Jaxon says seriously. “Which definitely includes avoiding war.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” Hudson rolls his eyes. “First of all, the only way dear old Dad would abdicate is if you severed his head from his body and then burned him, twice. And even then I’m not so sure. And secondly, who says sitting on the Circle is a good thing anyway? Jaxon may suddenly have this starry-eyed vision of how easy it will be to stop a war, but the truth is, it’s hard and it’s bloody brutal.” He speaks with assurance, like he knows what he’s talking about.
“Besides, it’s not like being on the Circle is such a good thing. I’d rather stay off the damn council and keep my mate safe than be on it and always have to worry about someone trying to kill her to take our place. Trust Jaxon to not give a shit about that part.”
“What if someone’s mate dies?” I ask. “How does that work?”
“Usually, that only happens if someone murders them,” Macy says. “Vampires are the only immortal creatures, but the rest of us tend to live a really long time.”
“You wouldn’t have to worry about that,” Jaxon insists. “No one will ever try to touch you once we lead the Circle. No one would dare.”
I don’t know how I feel about any of this, including the fact that Jaxon has apparently been making plans in his head for our future without consulting me at all. And the fact that he seems to think it’s going to be his job to take care of me for the rest of our lives. I mean, I’m okay with taking care of each other, but I’m not okay with being some kind of burden he’s responsible for.
No effing way. I’ll just have to double my efforts researching gargoyles. I don’t want to be anyone’s burden. I want to take care of myself.
Jaxon turns to discuss some particularly cool strategy with Mekhi, and I can’t stop my gaze from seeking out Hudson’s to see if he agrees with Jaxon that I need protecting.
“You could kick all our asses, Grace.” Hudson’s fathomless blue eyes never leave mine. “And then some.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. I don’t believe him even a little, but the tightness in my chest eases a little bit, anyway. I mean, if Hudson thinks I’m kick-ass, that’s gotta count for something, right?
“Damn straight it does.” Hudson grins at me, and I realize I’ve missed it in the time he’s been so quiet.
Before I can think much about that, though, Macy complains about a wolf she wants to teach a lesson. When she doesn’t elaborate, I remember she never answered my earlier question. “Macy? You’re not really competing, are you?”
Macy’s whole face lights up. “Of course I’m competing! This is the first year I can compete, and I can’t effing wait!”
“You go, girl,” Flint says as he drops down onto a chair at the end of the table beside Hudson, who gets up and leans against a nearby wall. “This year’s tournament is going to be epic.”
Flint holds a hand out for a fist bump, and Macy nearly swallows her tongue. Right before she bumps his fist hard enough to give herself a bruise. Apparently, some things never change…
“Completely epic,” Jaxon agrees. “When do we need to register our team by?”
“This Wednesday,” Flint says. He waits for a few seconds, then says oh so casually but not actually casually at all, “Do you guys have your team together yet, Jaxon?”
Jaxon eyes him for a few seconds, and at first I’m confused by what’s going on—if Jaxon is going to do this, isn’t he going to compete with the Order? But then I remember what Hudson told me yesterday about how the game fosters interspecies relationships…and injuries, apparently.
“You want to team up?” Jaxon asks, just as casually but not really.
“I was thinking about it. Eden and I were going to partner up with Xavier, but we still need to add some vamps and witches.” He looks at me. “And maybe a gargoyle?”
When hell freezes over.
48
Win, Lose, or Die
“What? Me?” I ask, my eyes going huge. “I mean…I don’t think… Can gargoyles really compete?” I know Amka said I could, but I thought she was just teasing me.
And, by the way, please let the answer be no. Please let the answer be no. I’m not fabulous at sports to begin with, let alone paranormal sports where the goal is not to die, but there is no guarantee. Not to mention the fact that I have no idea what my powers are yet… I mean, besides turning to stone, which doesn’t seem very helpful in a game anyway.
“Ludares is open to every junior and senior in the school,” Flint tells me. “So, hell yeah, you can compete. Plus, I’m totally down with having a gargoyle on my team. Who knows what you can do?”
“Nothing,” I answer. “I can do nothing. That’s the problem.”
“That’s not true,” Hudson tells me from where he’s still leaning against the wall. “You can do things. You just don’t know what they are yet.”
“How do you know?” Equal parts terror and excitement thrum through me as I lean forward. “Did you see me do something when we were together?”
The whole table is staring at me again. I ignore them because apparently this is my life for now. I hadn’t meant to ask the question out loud, but sometimes I get so caught up or invested in the conversation that I don’t realize what I’m doing.
I vaguely register Macy telling everyone that I can see and talk to Hudson—at least I think that’s what she says because suddenly
everyone in the Order tenses up and turns to Jaxon, who just shrugs. Which is fine with me, since right now I’m more interested in hearing what Hudson has to say than I am worried about Jaxon’s friends staring at me.
“You mean besides keeping me trapped in stone with you for nearly three and a half months?” He raises one brow.
I sigh and throw my hands up. Because I already know that. “Yeah, that’s basically my point. I can’t imagine being much help on a team when all I can do is turn to stone. It’s kind of easy to catch me that way.”
Hudson chuckles. “There’s more, you know. Like, the wings aren’t for decoration only—you just need to figure out how to use them.”
That’s true. And Flint did offer to teach me—maybe I should take him up on those flying lessons sooner rather than later. I mean, if I can even turn back into a gargoyle again. I haven’t felt so much as a tingling over the last four days.
“I think I’ll sit the game out,” I say to the table at large, who are all still gaping at me—well, except for Flint and Macy, who are reminiscing about past Ludares tournaments. “I mean, you make it sound like so much fun, but—”
“No way!” Flint pauses with his fork in midair. “You have to play. Besides, your uncle mentioned that the prize this year is kick-ass.”
“Oh yeah?” Macy bounces excitedly. “What is it? He hasn’t even told me yet.”
“I was in his office when he got the call yesterday; that’s the only reason I know,” Flint tells her. “It looks like Byron’s parents have decided to donate the prize this year.”
“Really?” Mekhi looks surprised.
Actually, everyone at the table does. I remember Jaxon telling me Byron was the Order member whose mate was killed by a few members of Cole’s pack. Though, for a while at least, Byron seemed to think Hudson had somehow influenced the wolves to do what they did.
Hudson raises his brows. “Do I just get blamed for everyone’s deaths now?” He clenches his jaw and turns to read tomorrow’s menu posted on the wall.
“Stop taunting us and just tell us what the prize is, Flint.” Macy’s voice—a little whiny and a little annoyed—is what draws my attention back to the conversation this time.
Well, that and Jaxon shifting so that he’s pressed against my back, his chin resting on my shoulder.
I turn my face to the left so I can smile at him, and he winks back, then gives me a sexy little eyebrow raise that makes me think all kinds of things I shouldn’t be thinking about in the middle of the cafeteria—especially not when Jaxon’s brother is in my head, watching the whole thing.
“I’m not taunting you!” Flint sounds indignant now. “You guys are the ones who wouldn’t stop talking long enough for me to tell you.”
“Well, we’ve stopped talking now,” Luca says. “So spill it.”
“Byron’s parents have decided to donate…” He does a little drumroll on the dining table. “A bloodstone! And not just any bloodstone. It’s one of the queen’s favorites, from the royal collection, that she gifted his parents on the eve of his mate’s death.”
Everything inside me stills as I remember the Bloodletter telling us that she would take care of getting the bloodstone to us. This must be what she meant. A glance at Jaxon’s face tells me he thinks so, too—and that he isn’t the least bit surprised by this bit of news, either. He obviously had a good idea what the Bloodletter would do.
Which also makes his interest in playing Ludares right now—in the middle of everything we have going on—make so much more sense. If the only way to get the bloodstone is to win the tournament, then it looks like hell really has frozen over.
I just need to figure out how not to be a total burden—and, oh yeah, how not to be the first death—on the Ludares field in the history of Katmere.
49
Teamwork Makes
the Dream Work…
(or it Gives You
Nightmares)
“Hey, Jaxon, wait up.” Flint jogs up behind Jaxon, Macy, and me as we walk out of the cafeteria.
Jaxon turns, brows raised. “What’s up?”
“I was just wondering…” Flint trails off, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he was panicking, though I don’t know why. I do know that he’s floundering, though, mouth opening and closing like he’s searching for words but has forgotten how to actually make sounds.
“Are you okay?” I ask, leaning forward to rest a hand on his arm. “You don’t look so good.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine.” Flint focuses on me for a beat, seems to catch his breath. Then says, “Sorry. Too many thoughts going through my brain at the same time.” He shoots me his ten-thousand-kilowatt grin.
I smile back—it’s impossible not to when Flint gives you that look—and tell him, “Yeah, that happens to me, too, sometimes. So what do you need?”
“Oh, right. I was just wondering if you wanted to spend some time practicing for Ludares today?” he says to Jaxon, then turns to me again. “We could even get that flying lesson in, New Girl.”
“Flying lesson?” Jaxon repeats, looking like he wants to say something.
“If it doesn’t get me punched this time, I thought I’d take New Girl up, show her some moves,” Flint tells him with a shit-eating grin. “Plus we still have that project for Mr. Damasen to finish.”
“And by moves, you mean how not to die in the air, right?” Jaxon gives him a look that’s half funny and half very definitely not.
“Absolutely. I’m not going to hurt her, Jaxon.” He holds Jaxon’s gaze as he says it, and his usual smile is completely MIA.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Jaxon shoots back.
“Stop it.” I bump him with my shoulder, even as I roll my eyes at Flint. “Ignore him. I’m really looking forward to learning to fly. But today we were going to do something different.”
“Oh yeah?” Flint looks interested. “Like what?”
“Nothing that requires an entourage,” Jaxon interjects.
“Who are you calling your entourage?” Flint demands with a wide grin. “Maybe you and Grace are Macy’s and my entourage. Right, Mace?”
For a minute, I think my cousin is going to swoon right here in the middle of the hallway. “Yeah, absolutely,” she tells him, and I swear the only thing more obvious than the stars in her eyes is the drool on her chin. “I think Jaxon would make a great entourage.”
Flint guffaws at that, even as Jaxon gives me a “what the fuck” look. I shrug back, because seriously, what is there to say? Except, “We’re going to the library to grab some info on gargoyle powers and the Dragon Boneyard. Then we thought we’d head up to Jaxon’s room and hang out as we research.”
“Oh, come on,” Hudson says, annoyance coloring every British syllable. “We don’t need Dragon Breath to find out what we need to know.”
Right. Because there’s no way an actual dragon might know anything about the Dragon Boneyard.
“The Dragon Boneyard?” Flint looks intrigued. “What do you want to know about it?”
“Everything,” I answer, linking one arm through Jaxon’s and the other through Flint’s. “So why don’t you come, too? You can help us figure out what we need to know.”
“Yeah, sure. What do you need?”
“We’ll tell you all about it when we get to Jaxon’s room,” I promise. Then I glance behind me at my cousin, who looks like she doesn’t know if she should follow us or not. “Come on, Mace. We need all the help we can get.”
“Awesome. Just let me text Gwen and tell her I’m not going to be able to hang out later.”
“Oh, never mind,” I tell her. “I forgot you had somewhere to be. Jaxon, Flint, and I can totally handle it.”
Macy shoots me a “stop talking now” look, then fires off a series of quick texts. “Too late,” she says, and then she’s darting in front of us to lead the way
to the library.
It doesn’t take us long to gather what we need, partly because Amka has the books ready for us—at Jaxon’s request—and partly because she’s willing to loan us two of the library laptops so we can access the magic databases from anywhere in the castle and not just the library.
Flint helps by grabbing a few books on dragons that he thinks will help, while Macy runs back down to the cafeteria to gather snacks for our “marathon research sesh,” as she keeps calling it. In the meantime, Hudson just lounges around on whatever open chair he can find, calling out book titles that he thinks might help us.
“Where was all this information last night?” I ask him after my third run to the stacks at the back of the library.
“Last night I was too busy—”
“Trying not to vomit,” I fill in for him. “Yeah, yeah, I know the routine by heart by now.”
“Just because I’ve used it a few times doesn’t make it any less true,” he tells me with a definite tone to his voice.
“True, but it does make it lose its impact. At the moment, I’m pretty convinced you have the weakest stomach of anyone I’ve ever met, which is particularly interesting considering you don’t even have a stomach.”
“Sure I do,” he responds, and to prove it, he lifts up his T-shirt, revealing—not going to lie—one of the best sets of abs I’ve ever seen. Seriously. Which…I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. I mean, it shouldn’t matter. And it doesn’t. But…wow. Just wow. I’d have to be blind not to notice.
Hudson shoots me a smug look but doesn’t say anything as he lets his shirt drop back down. Then again, he doesn’t have to. The argument over whether or not he has a stomach has most definitely been settled…and I most definitely lost.
“You ready?” Jaxon asks as he comes up behind me with a giant armful of books.
“Yeah, of course. Can I help carry some of those?”
“I’ve got them,” he says with a grin, and he does—at least partly because his abs absolutely give Hudson’s a run for their money.