I swallowed loudly as guards ran to our cage. They carried a sort of pole with a fizzing end, lightning in stick form.
Micah grinned at me. “They never learn.”
The first guard jabbed the stick through the bars. The end rammed into Micah’s thigh, and I heard a loud buzzing. He gritted his teeth, and the muscles on his face tightened. Another guard jabbed Micah’s lower back. He jerked against the bars like he was being struck by lightning. Still he held me.
“Let go.” I tried to rip loose. “What are you doing? Let go, and they’ll stop!”
He huffed out a laugh as his body convulsed, another jab. “Gotta…reel…them in.”
Without warning, he spun, grabbing two of the poles and yanking them closer. The guards didn’t have the foresight to let go, not wanting their weapons stolen. They held on, their arms ramming against the cage as Micah released the poles and reached through the bars. He grabbed them by their throats, his large hands reaching more than halfway around each. His hands squeezed as he bent, cutting off their air.
The guards dropped their poles and grabbed Micah’s wrists, trying to wrench away. They gaped like fish, their faces turning red.
Other guards rushed closer, but they’d wised up enough not to get too close. They darted in to jab Micah and then quickly away again, afraid he might drop his current victims and go for them. He dealt with the prodding, keeping his grip on the guards’ necks. They struggled, twisted, and thrashed, but could not break free. Finally, their breath all dried up, they went limp in his hold.
“I didn’t see you trying to free your men, Govam,” Micah said in his deep baritone, shoving the guards away. They dropped to the floor, unmoving. The others half danced outside of the cage, their poles in hand and their expressions wary.
“I know better.” Govam made a signal, and the guards pushed back.
“And yet you send your men in…”
“I also know better than to go against protocol.” He waited until the limp guards were carted away before turning and heading back to the corner.
Breathing heavily, clearly fired up, Micah stared after them for a moment. Loud laughter drifted across the shocked silence of the ballroom.
“Another few notches for your wall, Micah,” Vemar called out, waving a hand.
A small group opened up, and I caught sight of Dolion on the other side of the room. He hadn’t donned a human glamor like the others, so he stuck out among this crowd with his blue skin and horns. A small smile graced his face, and his eyes sparkled. He’d liked that showing. He’d liked seeing evidence of our ferocity.
I drifted back to the center of my cage, thinking, wondering what Dolion was getting out of us losing our tempers.
“That Govam is a slick one,” Micah said softly, watching the last captain standing take up residence in his corner.
“He says he knows dragons.”
“He really does. It’s infuriating. I’ve been trying to kill him for years.” He sucked in a breath and noticed the crowd of demons nervously smiling his way. “Looks like I’ll fetch the king a good few pennies tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
He glanced my way before shifting his attention back to the room. “We’re up for auction. This is the preshow. They’ll bid on us before too long. The winner takes their choice. A sex demon gets us in the mood, and then…”
“Shame fucking.”
A crooked smile worked up his face, and he glanced at me again. “I remember you saying that. It doesn’t sound quite so bad when you give it such a succinct label.”
“I learned from the best.”
My anger fanned higher. My dragon still sat right near the surface.
“So that’s why Dolion is pleased,” I murmured, watching him work the room, saying a few things to each guest before moving on. Laughter and pleased smiles followed in his wake. “He’s making money off us.”
“Of course. His officers get power, and he gets paid.”
I reached out and grabbed one of the bars. “I still can’t believe this goes on. That no one does anything about it!”
“How would anyone know?”
I widened my eyes and indicated everyone in the huge room.
“People who are willing to pay for the privilege of fucking a shifter are hardly going to tattle on the people who provide them their entertainment,” Micah said. “They wouldn’t want to get implicated in all this.”
I ran my lip through my teeth, power still pumping through and around me. My desire to do something violent ate at me.
“If you get me off this island, Finley…” Micah said in a low, rough voice. “If you can somehow get me home, I will personally make sure you have a dragon army at your back. As the goddess looks down, I will help you.”
I nodded slowly, watching the clusters of demons as they drifted past us. Watching the people in blue move among them, unhappy to do so. Watching Jedrek do the same, only with smug smiles and his infallible swagger. The injustice of it all choked me, bled away my reasoning until rage ate me from the inside out.
“You’re scaring away your suitors.” Micah chuckled darkly. “They aren’t amused by the way you’re enhancing that claiming scent.”
“Enhancing? What do you mean?”
He gave me another funny look before shaking his head and looking away. “It blows my mind how little you know about what you are.”
“You’re powerful. Why aren’t they worried about your scent?”
“Because mine isn’t a claiming scent blasting off a powerful female who doesn’t wish to be approached. Don’t get me wrong, they wouldn’t be eager to meet me without this cage, but a claiming scent is different. Quite a bit different. It warns them that your big, tough mate will kill them if they touch you…”
I’ve been thinking that, so…you’re welcome, my dragon thought.
Not my unconscious warning, then. My dragon’s.
Thank you, I thought, and then, Keep doing it.
“I don’t think you’ll get many bids,” Micah said, leaning on the bars near me. “Unless Dolion assures them that the smell will come off.”
“Which…it won’t.”
“Right. Maybe he’ll just say you’re off-limits because you’re his. That’ll make them interested. Still…he’d need to get that smell off to do anything with you.”
“And…he won’t.”
Micah laughed. “Let’s hope not, for your sake.”
“But not for yours,” I said, laughing.
“For mine too, I suppose, until we get out of here and I convince you that there are better alphas in the sea.”
My stomach fluttered, although I wasn’t sure why. I ignored it.
He pushed off the bars. “You’ve got company.”
A woman in a blue robe wandered near us before stopping and bending to her foot. She adjusted the strap on her sandal, then straightened up slowly, looking out at the sea of happy faces.
“You have the guests nervous,” the woman said, facing the crowd. I could just see her pointed ears peeking out of her soft brown hair. A faerie.
“It’s my dad jokes,” I told her, lounging against the bars like Micah was doing.