22
Raven
I balledmy hands into fists to keep from trembling, but I was sure they all knew how terrified I was. Lifting my chin high, I did my best to feign confidence as I stepped into the center of the circle.
There were twenty students in matching gym uniforms standing around me and all eyes were on me.
I glanced around, noting the different people. I’d gotten to know some of them during the last few weeks but it was mostly just introductions. Aside from Violet and Luka, there weren’t any I’d consider friends. Violet was a gym class only friend and Luka was a dream booty call.
The students seemed to watch me with a bored detachment. Most of them would pass for human at first glance, but a few of them were obviously not human. I suppose I should be lucky that it’s Luka I had to fight - at least I think this is a fight - rather than the kid with the spikes coming out of his head and mouth full of sharp fangs. In fact, there were at least six kids with visible fangs. And all of them were baring their teeth at me to show them off.
Coach Miller slithered closer to me and I shuddered. What the hell was he? I mean, a principal with the devil horns was the one thing but a snake man for a gym teacher was worse. Wasn’t gym class bad enough as it was? Why throw in a dude who looked like the Rock from the awfulScorpion Kingmovie? Except for this guy was half snake instead of half scorpion. It was enough to make you fight to hold down your lunch.
“Shirts or skins?” he asked. “Lady's choice.”
“What?” I asked, startled by the question. We weren’t playing basketball, and I obviously had breasts so why the hell would I take off my shirt? There were only two of us.
“She wants shirts,” Luka said. “Right?”
“Um, yeah,” I said, still in shock at the question.
“Next, choose your three,” the gym teacher said.
“My three what?” I asked.
“Do I have to spoon feed it to you?” he asked.
“It’s her first time,” Luka said.
“Well, we all know who’s trying to get into the new girls pants,” the teacher said.
My cheeks heated. “What the fuck? You can’t say shit like that. Besides, I’m not really new anymore.”
He laughed. “I can say whatever I want. And you know, for that outburst, I’m going to pick your three.”
“Give her a chance,” Luka said.
“One more word from you and it’s confinement,” Coach said. Then he turned to the circle of students and pointed to three kids in front of him. “Garcia, Smith, and Hunt, you’re with Ms. Winters.”
The three students, all female and all petite like me, moved into the center of the circle. I should have asked for Violet. At least I knew she liked me.
“Lowell, Keller, and Sanchez, you join the Incubus.”
Three huge boys moved into the circle. They looked at me as if they were starving and I was the main course. And not in a sexy way. In a they-were-going-to-kill-me way. “Fuck.”
“Yeah, thanks a lot stupid mage,” one girl behind me said.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, not willing to look back at them. We were screwed. “How do we do this? Is it like a point per touch or something?”
“This isn’t the human world, noob, it’s last person standing.”
Luka’s brow was furrowed, and he mouthed the word,sorryto me. I could feel the tears already brewing behind my eyes. I didn’t even know the rules but I had a feeling asking would be worse than just letting it happen, whatever it was.
Luka pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside. A warm flush rose through me and flutters filled my chest. I had almost forgotten how beautiful he was and how badly I wanted to finish what we had started in my dream. Did he remember that? Did he even care? Or was he visiting every woman he could find to fill his appetite?
I shook my head and forced the thought away. Now was not the time to focus on Luka’s body. His amazingly chiseled abs or his unrealistically sculpted six-pack. Fuck. I needed to focus. Why was I doing this? The three guys behind Luka fanned out behind him. All of them flexing their biceps as they got into what I could only describe as ready positions. Ready for what though, I had no idea. All I knew was that I should embrace myself for pain.
“Go,” the snake guy yelled.