I didn’t care.

“Let me out,” I snarled. He shook his head, rocking nervously on his feet.

I could hear the distant sound of the crowd and knew I had slept long enough that the tournament had started. I was due to fight today if I wanted to get to the final. I squeezed my eyes shut when another harsh throb pounded my temples.

Incensed at the thought of where Inessa was, at what Master had been doing to her, I shook the cell doors. “Let me the fuck out!” I screamed.

The guard paled but otherwise didn’t move.

I broke.

Bellow after bellow left my mouth. Even low on energy, I shook the bars until chips of stone began to break away above. I didn’t stop. I kept going and going, until I saw another Wraith, one unfamiliar to this cell, put his hand on the other guard’s shoulder.

“Go,” he ordered. “I’ve been sent to cover these quarters. You are to go to the pit.”

The guard that I had been screaming at relaxed. “Thank Christ!” he said in relief, and nodded his head toward me. “He’s insane. Master took his slut. He’s just woken up and he’s pissed.” The other guard looked my way and nodded.

The previous guard left, and I began where I had left off. I shook the bars of the cell. “Inessa! Inessa. GET ME THE FUCK TO INESSA!” I screamed relentlessly. The sound of footsteps approached, and I raised my voice as loud as I could. The bars creaked under the pressure of my strength.

The guard before me didn’t show any emotion. Suddenly, people moved before me, and I growled louder seeing it was the fighters from the pit. The blond was in the lead, led by their short trainer. The long-haired Georgian followed behind, and the scarred Russian took up the rear.

They were dripping with sweat and coated in blood. Each held his weapons in his hands. They had been fighting today. I understood why they were here—they had made the final.

I had to make the final. It was my only way to him.

“Let me out!” I boomed out to the guard. The males stopped to watch me. 194 glared at me through the bars, and I saw scars on his face. My stomach lurched when I thought of Inessa and how she had said she dreamed of someone with scars. How this fighter reminded her of the male in her head.

I physically shook with rage and I roared, “Inessa! GET ME TO INESSA!”

The males that had commenced walking to their cells suddenly turned to stare at me. I noticed them from the corner of my eye, then looked at the guard. “Inessa! INESSA!”

I saw the males muttering to one another. When I screamed for Inessa again, 194 suddenly ran to my cell door and stared me down. “Who are you calling for, hui?”

My muscles tensed and my neck ached in his presence. He had called me a dick in Russian.

“Get out of my way,” I warned.

He laughed coldly but lost that laugh when I screamed, “Inessa!”

At the call of Inessa’s name, he slammed his hands against the cell, rocking the loosening metal. “I said why are you calling for her?”

I gritted my teeth, then noticed that the new guard wasn’t doing anything to stop this piece of shit. He was watching the hallway like he was making sure no one was approaching.

194 slammed his hands against the cell door again. “Answer me, fucker! Or I’ll tear your arms from their sockets right here, right now!”

Rage took hold. I was about to strike out when the blond Russian called, “Valentin, calm the hell down!”

My fist, which had been raised, ready to strike this asshole through the bars, stilled. My eyes collided with his … blue eyes … blue eyes the exact color of …

“Inessa,” I whispered, and my heart began pounding too hard and too fast. 194 flinched like I had gone through with the threatened punch. Instead, I lowered my hand and dropped it to my side.

My eyes found the guard again. He was still not reacting. I watched as the trainer walked over to him and whispered something in his ear. The guard nodded. Heat rushed through my veins when the guard smiled back.

He was with them? A Wraith was under their command?

“Why did you say her name? That name?” I stared at 194’s heavily scarred face and shorn black hair as he hissed out his harsh question.

“Valentin?” I questioned, but the male didn’t react.

I met the blond Russian’s eyes. “His name is Valentin?”

He folded his muscled arms over his chest. “Why? Why do you want to know?”

It was … it couldn’t be …

Valentin pushed his broad chest against the bars and hissed, “Tell me why you said her name? Don’t, and I’ll kill you.” He pointed to the guard. “He’s with us and won’t stop me from slaughtering you slowly, painfully, until you’ve been stripped of your flesh.”

The blond pressed his hand on Valentin’s shoulder and then looked at me. “Answer him. He’ll do what he promises. And I won’t stop him if you don’t speak.”

I walked back to the bars. The long-haired Georgian moved closer, extra protection for the two males already confronting me.

I met Valentin’s eyes and asked, “You are Valentin Belrov?”

His eyes widened a fraction before he asked, “Why?”

I inhaled deeply, then said, “Inessa is my female. Inessa Belrova.”

“You lie,” he snarled. His hard grip caused his palms to creak on the metal bars.

“I do not,” I replied just as coldly. I pounded my hand over my chest. “Master needed to bring me under his control, so he gave me his High Mona. I didn’t want her at first, but then…” I shook my head, unable to find the words to confess what Inessa meant to me.

“But you fell in love with her.”

My head lifted as 818 spoke. I frowned. “Love?”

A flash of sympathy flooded his expression, when he explained, “You feel her in your heart. It hurts when you are away from her and you need her with you always.”

The male perfectly described the feeling. I nodded. “Yes,” I rasped. “Then I am in … love … with her.”

“Where is she?” the Georgian asked from behind. I stared at the dark male with long black hair and replied, “Master forbade her to see me anymore, but Inessa came to me last night. I was wounded from the fight. Master killed a champion’s mona and he attacked. So did 140, the other champion. They charged at Master in the stands, killing some of his guests. I was in the waiting cell and tried to fight alongside them.”