Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) by Angela White

into death in order to send food and medical credits to your family? That was as wrong as it got.
    I ignored the Den Mother observing these thoughts spread across my face, but when I asked her a single question, she was ready.
    “Can I count on you in the future?”
    “Yes. You'll try to kill her?”
    I returned her look, giving this strange woman my promise. “I’ll do better than try.”
    I turned to the door. My family and I had connections to be called upon, methods at our disposal that no one, not even the Network, knew of. And until then, I had a prize to claim…. an untouched male who would stay that way.
    I opened the door, hoping I had even half the control Candice had shown by not hurting Daniel when he hadn’t recognized her.
     
     
    Jason
    I stared at her in horror, my new owner. She was streaked in blood, clenched fists leaving crimson splatters. Without the usual cloak, her sleeveless shirt and thick, bare arms were also covered in red sprays. Under all that gore were tattoos and muscles in equal amounts.
    Pink turned to crimson as she scented me. She was wound too tightly from keeping control and the brutal cage match hadn’t been enough to quell it. This was my end of the deal now, to offer the relief she needed, and I was terrified.
    I wanted to warn the rebels, to be free of this place for the first time in fifteen years… but it was my home, too. Faced with this brutal Changeling, warning the rebels that the Network knew where the Safe Zone was, suddenly seemed trivial compared to surviving what I’d willingly agreed to. And Rankin? Why had I feared her? This was the one who might kill me.
    Now that the deed was done, my future set, I couldn’t move. I could talk, though, and I forced my submission out through quivering lips. “Anything you want.”
    I could see the heavy strain she was under as her eyes blazed red, the way she’d been keeping her needs caged. With the Change, that was dangerous, and I dropped to my knees, waiting for the snap.
     
     
    Angelica
    “Anything you want.”
    The feeling slammed through my head, driving the heat back up. I’d won him. He was mine...
    No, he wasn’t.
    The rage increased, threatening to flip me back into an animal in my grief, and I moved for the washroom at a quick clip. I wasn’t safe right now, and he couldn’t help.
    I slammed the door, turned the flimsy lock. I now had a mate who didn’t want me. What the hell had I gone through all of that for?
    My heart clenched and I dropped to sit on the floor, shivering in torment. I’d won the game, but lost myself. All I could feel was need and hurt, and I stayed where I was as it burned through me like flames racing across dry grass.
     
     
    Jason
    I was safe with her.
    The stories about these strange Pruett women were true and I was delighted to discover it. I wouldn’t be hurt… but she would be. I’d tricked her, drawn her to my scent with no thought for her pain, and honor wouldn’t even let her accept the service I’d been trained to deliver.
    I waited for the sound of water or any noise, but there was only a tense silence that had me worrying. She was suffering and I had a low tolerance for that. Hadn’t Rankin’s begging broken me as much as her anger? Last night had been no different. She’d taken me to the brink and then held me there until I was the one pleading for relief… At least I hadn’t bled this time. I suspected the Network was to thank for that. They hadn’t liked being embarrassed on live waves.
    Silence…
    I looked around. All three rooms of the winner’s apartment were barren, covered in only the most basic of drab brown furnishings. The walls appeared wooden, but I was sure it was something more durable to survive so long. They were smooth and neat, and didn’t appear to have much wear and tear. I’d often wondered how the Network managed that without constantly having a construction crew up here. Changelings were notoriously violent.
    More silence…
    Against