Sadie glanced over at me with a wide smile like she was having fun.
I grimaced back.
She wiggled her chest in what was supposed to be a shimmy but came across as an uncontrollable tick.
Competitors glanced over at her with raised eyebrows.
“Stop it,” I mouthed.
Sadie shimmied faster and mimed thrusting her hips sexually in my direction.
I pinched the top of my nose and pretended that the lunatic woman with white hair wasn’t gyrating in my direction.
Her mate Cobra wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He pressed her against his side to stop her movements.
She smirked at me, and I purposefully looked in the other direction.
Lothaire’s braid whipped in the wind. “Every team has been assigned an approved substitute. This person will be mandatorily subbed into a legion if a member becomes indisposed.”
Indisposed.
“Do you think he means dead?” John asked as he clapped his hand across my back like he always did.
Pain jolted down my spine, and I swallowed a scream. “One can hope.”
Lothaire gestured to his side. He waited for something.
CRACK.
Dick and Lyla appeared out of thin air.
The witch knelt on the grass. White runes glowed against her dark skin, and her green hair hung around her face in a sleek sheet. Not a single strand moved in the blustery wind.
An RJE device glowed in Lyla’s hand. Five people were linked, holding on to each other.
She looked up, and her eyes landed on me.
I averted my gaze.
Worry flared in my gut as I took in the monster who had tormented Sadie growing up. Lately, Dick seemed to follow everywhere we went, and I didn’t like it. Sadie claimed she had made her peace with him, but I didn’t know how that was possible.
“No,” Jax growled loudly to my right. His outburst was surprising because he was the most rational by far of all Sadie’s mates.
My stomach plummeted when I saw what had made him swear.
This wasn’t good.
“These are your substitutes,” Lothaire announced. “They will room with you and can assist in strategizing and health management when they’re not needed.”
Health management? He was choosing his words carefully.
Not good.
Lothaire pointed to the substitutes. “Join your lines.”
A tattooed man sauntered forward and stood with the devil legion. A black man with arching blue wings stood with the angel legion. A tiny pale woman with purple-streaked hair joined the assassin legion. A nondescript short man went over to the leviathan legion.
I ignored them all.
We stared at the last person in the line.
A short pale goblin child with black hair and the eyes of a psychopath sauntered forward to the shifter legion. As she walked by the angel legion, she glared at them with disgust. A ferret was draped across her shoulder.
Jinx was here.
The ferret was Warren, the omega shifter the don had gifted her as her personal bodyguard.
She shouldn’t be here.
The ferret really shouldn’t be here.
This was bad.
Sadie gasped, Cobra grinned, Ascher and Xerxes glowered, and Jax trembled with rage.
“She’s a child. There’s been a mistake!” Jax shouted over the wind at Lothaire.
Everyone on the field stared at the shifter with expressions of disbelief, as if they couldn’t believe someone had dared to challenge Lothaire. A couple men and women brimmed with excitement like they wanted to see bloodshed.
Lothaire turned toward Jax slowly and said, “She was the only person associated with your group that qualified.”
Jax roared like the bear he shifted into. “She’s only twelve!”
“I’m thirteen,” Jinx scoffed.
The leviathan legion laughed, and the devil legion cracked smiles.
Jax grabbed her arms. “What you are is a child who should be in school with your sisters. We made arrangements to keep you safe.”
His chest vibrated with a growl, and the sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
You didn’t mess with an angry bear.
Jinx rolled her eyes and said, “Plans change. We both know my talents were wasted at that childish institution.”
She studied her cuticles like she was bored, and my heart swelled with pride. Jinx had learned that mannerism from me.
Jax shook her and said, “It is the top university in the beast realm. I’m not arguing with you. You’re going back to stay with your sisters. Now!”
“No.” Jinx smirked and pointed at me. “If Aran can compete, then I’m more than qualified. Remember when she was afraid of our fireplace?”
Malum turned around in front of me and raised his brow questioningly as he glanced down at the red flames playing across his fingers.
Never mind, my heart was not swelling.
No pride.
Jinx looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You better pull yourself together for this competition. I don’t have time for your theatrics.”
A leviathan member made a strangled sound as he tried to conceal his laughter.
It was too bad that I was going to have to murder a child.
Jax pushed Jinx into Sadie’s arms and stomped out of line toward Lothaire. Warren licked his hairy armpit. All the legions stared with wide eyes and open mouths.
Jax shouted over the wind, “Send her back now or we’ll walk away!”
The psychotic vampyre I was allegedly related to （I had seen no proof, so I was pretending there was still a chance he was just a stranger）， pulled out his baton and smacked it against his hand.
Crack.
Sparks leaped.
I took a step forward to warn Jax, but John grabbed my arm and held me back.
We all knew intimately what happened when you messed with Lothaire and his baton.
You got your ass beat.
The gold jewelry in Jax’s long braids tinkled as he vibrated with rage. “If you don’t send her back this minute, then we refuse to compete. She will not be fighting in any war.”
Lothaire narrowed his single eye.
He said calmly, “If you walk away, then you’re signing your death warrant, and the gods will still make her compete. She’s destined to fight in the war. You have no choice. You’re not an individual with freedom of choice. You’re a legion that has been selected to represent the gods. Tread carefully.”
Jax’s gray eyes glowed signaling that he was close to shifting. “This is not fair. She’s my little sister. She’s just a child.”
Sadie nodded vehemently.
Lothaire glanced over at me, and something soft flashed across his face.
The expression disappeared.
Lothaire said harshly, “The gods don’t care about fairness. She’s qualified, so she’s your substitute. If you don’t want her to have to compete, then don’t become indisposed.” He cracked his baton against his hand. “Now get in line or the child you’re so worried about will have to watch you get beaten before she’s forced to take your place.”
Jax’s muscled body began to expand, and I held my breath.
Just when I thought violence would break out, Jax whirled around with a roar and stalked back to stand in line.
“Hold me back,” he said, and Sadie and Cobra immediately wrapped their arms around him.
The angel with heterochromia furled his lips as Jax was held back. You could feel the judgment radiating off him.