And she’d never get to see him again.

Her hormones and fear were way too overpowering to let her ponder on why the thought of never seeing him again filled her with even more dread than the idea of belonging to the brutal Prince. Yet as she clung to the cage in a desperate attempt to see the two contestants through the dark magic, she knew without a shred of doubt that she needed to be with him.

When the cloud finally cleared, both males were breathing raggedly from exhaustion, and blood was splattered over both their bare torsos.

Kain had a long, shallow gash running the length of his abs, and Naharan was bleeding heavily from his chest and a split eyebrow.

Growling menacingly, completely lost in primal fighting instincts, they circled each other, ready to leap at the first sign of weakness.

This time, it was Kain who attacked first. The blood from the Prince’s split eyebrow dripped down, making him blink—and that was all the advantage Kain needed.

Moving so swiftly Selma’s human eyes couldn’t follow, he threw himself at his opponent. Naharan failed to evade, and Kain struck hard enough they both toppled to the ground, the Lord Protector on top.

While Naharan fought to throw him off, Kain snarled viciously and brought both fists down hard over the other male’s face.

A sickening crunch echoed across the arena, followed by absolute stillness.

For a moment Selma thought he’d killed the Prince, but then she saw him move weakly in the sawdust. Blood covered his entire face.

“Kain wins!” Maell’s voice boomed through the silence.

At that, the Lord Protector got up from the ground, leaving his opponent in the sawdust before turning toward the cage—toward her.

His black eyes locked with hers through the bars, and though the wildness in them was clear, her body only responded with throbbing lust. There was no fear, no terror of what he was underneath the facade of strong muscles and angular features—only pure and overwhelming need.

Kain turned his head back to the crowd, cutting their eye contact and leaving her with a pathetic sense of longing. She needed him, needed his closeness, his touch, his hard body against and inside of her own.

“This Breeder is mine!” Kain’s deep voice boomed across the circular room. “Any of you step foot in this arena, and I will make sure you regret it!”

Maell, who’d managed to get Naharan up, moved toward the center of the arena again. “You certainly have made your interest in claiming her known, brother, but the auction isn’t over yet.”

Kain’s head whipped around, his profile pulling up in an animalistic snarl as he growled at the other demon and his shoulders tensing with unbridled fury.