Jaz gritted her teeth, trying to drown out Alf's commentary as she watched Nik hobble towards the cage.
One guard on each side of the cage opened a door. Kain went through the furthest one, Nik through his. They stood at opposite ends, sizing each other up.
Then one of the judges, a middle-aged man with big teeth and dark wispy hair caked in half a tub of hair gel, announced, “For the fourth round, the judges have decided that the two opponents must face each other in their Beast form, starting now!”
The crowd drowned out his rumbling voice and went manic.
Jaz stared in disgusted awe as Kain's body contorted and twisted and crunched until he turned into a Beast. His roars and howls were spine-chilling, sending shivers through every inch of her. But she realized her reaction wasn't because of him.
Something was wrong with Nik.
“Why isn't he Changing?” Alf barked. “Why the fuck isn't he Changing?!”
Jaz gaped at Nik who was standing completely still. Kain's spine cracked and dark brown hair began pushing through his skin, covering his Changing body. His jaw crunched as it lengthened.
“He can't Change,” she uttered in a low voice, mostly to herself. The air in her lungs suddenly felt like a ball coated in spikes.
“He can't bloody Change! He must be too weak!” She clamped her hands to her mouth just as Kain lunged straight for Nik.
Before she knew what she was doing, she jumped forward, tripping over the thigh-high barrier. She felt Alf's hand whip past her, missing a grip on her arm before she saw the sand floor of the arena below her, rushing towards her. She held out her hands just in time to try to soften the fall before she slammed into the ground; the wind was knocked out of her and she grunted.
Half the crowd turned in her direction, some pointing at her, the other half who hadn't yet seen her still had their eyes glued to the cage. She cocked her head up, saw the Beast's teeth about to shred Nik's shielding arm to pieces, when her view was blocked by someone's back as they pounded towards the cage. One by one, five more Weres jumped down from behind her, dodging her as they raced towards the metal dome. She stared in bewilderment as two more sprang out from the barrier containing the pulsing crowd on the other side. The increase of Weres on the arena floor caused an uproar in the crowd and Judges Stand.
Jaz saw the two cage guards knocked out on the floor just before she felt an arm around her, yanking her to her feet. She wheeled round to face the cold, beautiful eyes of her enemy.
“Fraya!” she barked, teeth bared. Njord's note had confirmed the feeling in her gut that the cold-hearted bitch standing in front of her had killed Lora and her unborn child. Jaz wanted to squeeze the life out of her and enjoy watching it. But the guilt-stricken look in Fraya's eyes stopped her.
“Need a hand?” Fraya offered.
Jaz studied her suspiciously but urgency kicked her into action. She pushed her emotions aside, ignoring Fraya as she bolted across the sand floor, sprinting over and around Weres fighting and throwing punches at each other. She couldn't tell who was with her or against her. She didn't care. She just needed to see if Nik was alive.
Beast Kain was roaming around the cage, pacing back and forth. Nik was in the middle still standing and Jaz exhaled with relief. Alf was pushing others back from the cage. The wispy-haired judge was screeching into his microphone, calling for order.
It was then that the balls of fire shot out of nowhere.
Jaz screamed as one hurled in her direction. Those in front of her path ducked, and she dived to the side just in time. Then there was another from a different direction, coming from her left this time. She ran forward. Then came another, and another all being shot from guns fixed into the stone barrier just below the crowd. Jaz spotted square holes that had been opened for the guns to fire through, before she had to dive again.
The heat of the balls turned the arena into Hell itself. She ran towards the cage but was stopped in her path as more fireballs in quicker succession exploded out into the arena. The fireballs bounced off the wall of glass protecting the crowd. Jaz had no idea when or how the glass wall had appeared.
As she ducked down on the ground she noticed the balls of fire seemed to purposely miss the cage, aiming only at those who'd disrupted the fight. Some of the people dispersed as quickly as they could. But others weren't so lucky.