The King (Zolan Book 3) ✓

16

VADNAR

My match with Hull leaves me unsatisfied. I should have made him unrecognizable for laying his hands on Dee. The smell of her fear still haunts me. She tries to be strong, but reality slips through the cracks of her smiles.

She walks quietly beside me as we head down a corridor. The emptiness makes the filth more stark. The cobblestones and walls are stained with dirt and suspicious stains.

The coliseum is quieter now that the audience left, but they'll return for the next gladiator match.

I wonder what Dee is thinking. A lot is happening to us, but the only truth I know is that I'll break every bone in my body in the arena to give her comfort. She'll eat, bathe, and rest. She won't be forced to pleasure me into the enraged state, although my cocks constantly ache for her.

"Here," the guard says as he pushes open a metal door. It leads down to the cells of the other gladiators. He looks irritated that he has to bring me here, but it was one of my requests as a prize for winning my match.

"Stay with her," I say, looking at the guard pointedly.

Dee looks troubled to be separated from me, but she must realize it's best if she doesn't capture the attention of the other gladiators. With her intriguing beauty, she would cause a stir. And I need these men to focus.

I go down the crooked steps, into another compartment of cells. Dee stays right by the door, just out of sight.

The guards and the prisoners are alerted of my presence instantly. I walk down the aisle with my hands bound, and I study every male in their cell.

They scowl at me. They're different in ages, heights, and wear their rags differently, but nonetheless ruthless gladiators. Prisoners, just like me. One day, we will all be free.

"Who in the rotten hell are you?" An older master asks, spitting on the ground and barely missing my foot.

I flash my teeth, asserting my stance. I am no pushover. "Meet me in the arena and find out."

"He's the bastard that cheated me," a younger master speaks. I remember fighting him in the arena. He's sitting on his bed, his hair rowdy and eyes crazy. There's something off putting about him.

Vaine. I think that's what his name is.

"Shut it, Vaine. He beat you fair and square," says Vaine's neighbor. His eyes find mine. He looks bored as he scribbles on the wall with a pebble. "Welcome to heaven, newbie," he says.

I scan the rest of the cells. Two are empty, one shelters a sleeping master, and in the very corner, I spot a dark, small figure.

Damn it all. It's Trey. He's here.

"Trey?" I say his name louder than I expected, and I instantly regret it when I hear Dee's light footsteps coming for me.

"Stop!" I yell, but she goes right past me and grabs onto the bars, peering into Trey's cell and speaking not him.

Murmurs fill the jail as the men notice her, study her. I feel as red as my skin as anger palpitates in me.

"Hey newbie, tell us about your sexy little friend," says Vaine. The others agree.

I need these gladiators to form a small army and fight our way to freedom, but I'm one comment away from abandoning that plan and murdering them all.

Dee is mine. They will respect that, they will respect her. She will be a queen one day.

Trey scrambles to the bars and speaks to Dee in their native tongue. I don't understand a word, but by the way he's grabbing onto her hands, he's overjoyed to see her.

He wraps his arms around her, and knowing how he hurt her, it infuriates me to see him lay his hands on her again.

I storm forward, but the guards have a different fucking idea. Three shove me against Vaine's cell as another grabs Dee and shoves her into the cell with the sleeping master.

I'm seething as I struggle, but the guards manage to shove me in Vaine's cell, away from Dee. I watch get from afar as she pulls the cell bars to escape.

This isn't how things were supposed to fucking go!

"What is this damn commotion!" A master's boom is heard over all others.

I grit my teeth as I watch the master that had been sleeping, the one sharing a cell with Dee, sit up from his slumber.

The guards are trying to organize themselves, planning on calling their ringleader, but my attention is locked on this new master. He's naked. Young, riddled with scars and a missing finger. He looks at a trembling Dee with indifference, which is a facade because Dee's appearance knocks the air out of any male that looks at her.

This bastard is competition. He's in a cell with my female, murmuring words to her I can't hear as he remains sitting with his naked thighs parted.

"Get me out, now!" I roar.

One of the guards is startled and insists on calling for their boss.

Vaine is sitting in his bed behind me, giggling.

"What's so damn funny?" I growl at him.

His eyes jump from one cell to another as he says, "the king's got your girl."

The king? That's what they call him?

"King of what?" I grit, my eyes locked on Dee. King of coffins? Because I'm about to put him in one.

"King of the Colosseum!" Vaine says.

So these men are already loyal to one another. They see him as their king.

Now it's my turn to chuckle. "Not so much of a king if all of you are still locked in here."

And based on the scribbles on their cell walls, they have been here for a long time.

"Dee?" I call for her, needing to know she's all right.

"I'm okay!" she yells back, staring at her cell mate with wide eyes.

"The boss is busy," one of the guards tells us. "All you prisoners stay put until he returns and decides what to do."

"That is unacceptable," I snap. "Return us to our cell."

"No, no," says the older master. "I'm now interested in you and the girl's story. Tell us, who are you?"

I grip the bars hard enough to make my knuckles crack as I answer, "I am the king."