A booming roar, even louder than the one he’d issued when he climaxed, ripped through the arena, silencing everyone in its wake.

“The Breeder is mine! My mate! I have claimed her for all to see. She is under my protection, now and forevermore!”

“We recognize your claim. Now and forevermore, brother,” Maell replied. “Take your mate to the victor’s chambers—you have both earned your rest.”

Kain bent to pick Selma up, holding her to his chest as gently as if she were a child before he began walking.

She cracked her eyes open and looked up at the man who’d made her his in an effort to save her. His brow was furrowed and his soft lips pressed into a thin line in an expression she couldn’t interpret.

“What happens now?” she mumbled.

His black eyes shifted down to her, and his features softened in a way that made her chest feel light. “Now, you rest, my little one.”

That sounded like a pretty great idea. Exhaustion tore at her mind now that she was safe in his arms again and no longer in the middle of the group of monsters leering over her naked form.

Content that he would protect her, she closed her eyes again and let his steady gait and the thrumming of his heart against her ear lull her to sleep.

15

Selma

It was the first time in what felt like a very long time that Selma woke up without need burning in her blood.

Sun bathed her face when she sluggishly cracked her eyelids, but the pleasant warmth penetrating all the way into her bones didn’t come from its rays. Instead it came from the big man who’d curled his massive body around hers while she’d slept.

Kain.

She remembered everything from that horrible auction, remembered her fear and the forced lust for every man who’d come close enough for her to smell him. And she remembered Kain winning the rights to mount her after bidding an outrageous amount of money.

A faint blush touched her cheeks at the thought of his claiming.

The last time she’d woken up in his arms they’d done pretty much everything but full intercourse, and at the time he’d been a stranger to her, but now… This time had been about so much more than sating the cruel ring.

She was his—and he was hers. The things he’d done to her to prove that fact made her toes curl.