*Rhys*

The sun scorched the arena, hot and bright and unforgiving. The air was thick with anticipation. The hunger for violence had spread from the competitors to the gathered crowd. It clung to my skin like the sweat on my brow.

They wanted a spectacle, and I, Rhys Crimson, heir to the throne of the wolf shifters, was to be the center of it all.

After everything I had done for these people, for Egoren, this was how they had chosen to repay me.

"Look at ...