“I want you both to know,” King Carter said as he tossed the expensive shirt he’d been wearing to the ground on one side. “I will absolutely take great pleasure in what I am about to do here.”

Russel turned away from his father and stood facing Lola. She’d never seen him look that way before and it frightened her. It was a sadness and…

Resignation, she realized.

Knowing that made her heart sink. Whatever happened, Russel didn’t think he was going to make it through the fight alive. It was clear in his eyes. She could see it written there like the words in a book.

“This will most likely not go our way,” he said. “And if it does…”

He leaned in close and whispered directly into her ear.

“Run. As fast as you can for as long as you can. Try to get away.”

He pulled back but not before giving her one last, passionate kiss. When he broke away there were tears in his eyes.

“Survive,” he said.

Then he started to push her back and out of the way. She ended up standing on the opposite side of the throne room from his brothers. She had an up close and personal view of what was about to go down.

Not that she wanted to.

Russel’s father was a tall and impressively muscled man with silver-threaded hair and a perfectly trimmed and styled beard. He had, Lola realized, the same stormy blue eyes as Russel. But where his son’s eyes were filled with warmth, vitality, and genuine humanity, the father’s held nothing but greed, hunger, and murderous intent. They were the eyes of a monster.

A hunter.

“Quit stroking the feelings of your filthy human pet, my son. You have asked for the Blood Challenge and I am here to give you what you requested. I don’t have all day.” Carter flexed his muscles, his eyes flashing not with amber color like Russel’s but with a cold, eerie blue light. A broad grin spread across his face and as it did, each one of his squared-off, human teeth got pushed out and clinked to the stone floor. Replacing them were long, nastily pointed fangs ready to rip and tear at the flesh. Iron gray fur sprouted out of his skin and his already large frame started to double in size as his muscles expanded.

Russel slid out of his clothes and also started to change. While impressive, he was nowhere near the size of his father. The comparison between the two was so ridiculous that the other brothers started to snicker and laugh among themselves.

“Renege on the challenge, Russel,” Carter said. “This is your last chance to back down. Fall to your knees and beg forgiveness for your impudence.”

He looked up at Lola.

“The pet, of course, will still have to die.” A low rumbling growl rolled out the back of his throat. “You understand, right?”

Russel snarled, his skin full of fur and his fingers were tipped with claws. The glow of his eyes was like twin fires of golden light.

“Looks like you’ll be giving me at least a little bit of fun,” Carter growled. He cracked his neck loudly and flexed each one of his fingers. “Come on then, boy. Let’s see if any of your lessons got through that thick skull of yours.”

Russel let out a ferocious roar of challenge, every tendon and muscle in his body suddenly flexing as he prepared for the fight. Lola let out a frightened gasp and almost ran to interfere, her hand on the hilt of her sword. Before she could, two of Carter’s human servants dressed in leather armor surged forward, out of seemingly nowhere, and grabbed hold of her. They weren’t exactly rough but their fingers were firm as they dug into her shoulders.