Shadow's Chosen (Dark World Mates Book 3) Read online

Bruce, now taped up on parts of his face, tugged on a padded armband. "Shark boy was beating up on one of the drogin. Felt I needed to step in."

  "And you honestly thought that was a good idea?" Elise asked as she flipped up her hair and tied it into a high ponytail.

  Bruce shrugged. "He was being a cocky little shit about it. I figured I'd teach him a lesson."

  "Yeah, well, lesson learned," Adrien said, adjusting a pad on his leg. "Now I have two beat up team members and possibly a couple more after this...whatever the hell this is that we are about to fight them in. You're lucky the drogin have amazing medical tools, or you'd be toast tomorrow. And for fuck's sake, don't let Helen see you tonight. She will lose it."

  "Got it," Reese muttered as he shoved on his padded boots. "Let's just kick their ass in this one match—"

  "—and be done with it," Jerico countered, eyeing him and Bruce. "Seriously, we don't need more enemies, especially ones we have to work with. Are we good?"

  The others nodded, though they might not have been so happy about it. Even Elise was wary of the thought that, come tomorrow, they would be working together with this team of hunters. Side by side with him. It left a sour taste in her mouth, but she kept her lips shut. Better to get all her anger out in this little game. Then maybe she'd wipe that nasty grin off his face.

  Once the team was geared up, they headed out of the changing room and toward the far side of the sparring room where the large metal door stood. Several drogin in uniform were talking amongst themselves, and the team of hunters were there waiting.

  "All right, here is how the mission arena works," said a drogin with cropped ears and slicked black hair. "Once each team enters the arena, the simulation will start. Inside, you will need to traverse the obstacle course laid out for your particular match. You will also choose one prop weapon to fight the various enemies you will face. Your goal is to get to the end of the course and take into your possession the key then activate it without taking too many hits. It must be activated before the time marker runs out. If you take too many hits, your armor will glow red, and you're done. Understood?"

  "Seems simple enough," said Jerico. The others nodded in agreement. Elise caught eyes with the lead hunter again, who gave her one of his devious smiles. Another alien, one with golden skin and a body that Elise could clearly identify as female, sauntered over and pressed close to him, giving Elise a fiery glare before reaching up and biting playfully at the hunter's neck. The hunter hissed then grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her in closer. The alien female whispered something in his ear, and they each laughed. Elise's jaw clenched as she felt her face heat, but she dared not turn away.

  "System ready," came a woman's voice over some unseen intercom. The door finally slid open, and they each entered.

  It was immensely dark at first. Then a few lights flickered on, and Elise caught a quick glimpse of a vast arena where the floor and inner walls moved and changed. Then the lights went out, and a wave of blue washed over everything, turning the arena into a simulated copy of the city, with buildings and alleyways, roads and walls. A maze cut from a small portion of what they would find outside the training hall. When the exterior of the simulation was complete, placing them in what looked to be a central square, Elise's eyes shot around and spotted several silhouettes along walls and around buildings holding weapons, aimed and ready. A set of racks rose from the floor displaying several shooters and blades. Elise approached and took up the gun she had chosen earlier in the shooting range. Her team chose theirs as well, and when she looked over, she saw the group of aliens picking theirs. Elise noted what they took. The large lion-looking one took a heavy-duty gun like Bruce had, while the shark and amphibious one took long range weapons; the golden woman took a set of blades, and the lizard took twin handguns. Their leader, Elise observed suspiciously, took nothing.

  Cocky bastard, Elise thought. But she would show him. She'd been trained at an early age to shoot and fight by her father. The alien might look intimidating and powerful, but Elise wasn't afraid. Nothing scared her, and this guy wasn't about to change that.

  "You will have thirty minutes to secure and activate the key," the woman's voice said, echoing over the city. "Ready positions."

  "We got this," Jerico whispered to Elise as they separated themselves from the other group to stand just before a set of alleyways. "You’re probably the fastest out of all of us, so just run for it, and I will cover you."

  Elise said nothing as she took a position beside him. She kept her eyes straight ahead, gun in hand, and didn't stir, even when she thought she heard a low laugh from the other end. A loud bell sounded, and they were off.

  Elise didn't hesitate. She made straight down one alleyway and immediately heard gunshots and saw the sparks of their light go off behind her. She saw one simulated drogin on the top of the wall at the end of the passage and took aim as she ran. The drogin saw her, but he wasn't quick enough, and she took him out before he could even aim his gun her way, hitting him with bright yellow light in the chest and head. His image crumbled into a thousand pieces and disappeared. Elise pushed herself into a sprint and leapt at the wall, digging her foot into its side and using the leverage to reach the top, grabbing hold of the ledge with one hand and lifting herself over. She rolled then fell to the other side. There, she was met with two more drogin, a roughed-up pair in patched clothing. She took them both out as they charged her, and she dashed past without even looking back.

  When she came to the end of the alley, she had the option to go left or right. She started for the left when she saw something leap over the building from above, making her stop.

  Smart.

  Thinking quickly, she looked around and saw a rusted ladder to one side of the building in front of her. Putting the handle of the gun between her teeth, she started up the ladder. When she stepped over onto the roof, another rogue drogin was waiting for her.

  Too close to shoot him, Elise took the gun out of her mouth and struck him with it instead. The drogin's head knocked back, and Elise kicked his legs out under him before hitting him again on the head as his back hit the ground.

  Two things happened as the simulated drogin turned to dust. One: she heard someone shout in the distance and two: she caught a shadow leaping over her.

  Elise rolled to the side just as a blade came down where she had been standing. The golden woman bared her teeth in a cat-like snarl as Elise shot to her feet to meet her. The alien lunged forward, and Elise just barely dodged in time, missing a cut to her stomach. The woman hissed and struck fast, but Elise kept her distance each time. She blocked a few of her blows and got out of the way of others, but Elise could tell the woman was well-trained, and her chances of taking her down were slim. She couldn't play defense forever, and time was running out.

  As she leapt away once more, Elise caught sight of another drogin across the other building with his back turned. He had yet to notice them. Elise glanced at him then to the woman. She took up her gun and shot over the alien's shoulder as she leapt at Elise once more. Elise took a strike to the chest, which knocked her on her ass. Her armor pulsated, and the mark of the hit lay across her chest in a glowing red slash. The woman stood above her, smiling.

  "Not bad for..." something, something, the woman said, but Elise couldn't understand. She lifted her blade to strike Elise square in the stomach, only to be knocked forward as several blasts of white light hit her back. Elise rolled to the side as the woman went down, and she saw the drogin blasting away in their direction. Elise took the chance and skirted out of his line of sight before dropping down to the roof of a smaller building. She ran across it, parallel to two other buildings until she clambered down to the street below with gun still in hand.

  She ran on again, feeling a slight burn in her arms and legs and lungs, but that didn't stop her. As she ran along the street, she heard another shout from far away followed by the sounds of gunfire everywhere. She still didn't dare stop. Even as a bomb went off close b
y and—though it didn't scorch her or truly harm her—knocked her off her feet momentarily, she was up again and sprinting down another road.

  She leapt and rolled over another wall and skirted around a set of blown-out buildings, only slowing for a moment to sneak around a gang of drogin hanging around nearby. As she came to a bridge, she hesitated. She looked around and saw another bridge down a ways along the same river-crossing not far from her own. No one was there that she could tell, so she started forward.

  Midway across, she felt something whoosh over her head. She ducked down and pushed her legs to move faster as she looked over in time to see a flash of blue and green light strike the pavement right in front of her. Cursing, she slid to a halt and hunkered down against the bridge wall as more and more shots flew inches past her. She crouched and waited until, eventually, they stopped, and she slowly crawled her way across. She heard shots go off again, but this time, she saw no sparks of green and blue stopping her. Elise dared to peek over the wall and saw from the other bridge Bruce running across, his armor already hit several times along his back and front. He roared as he ran, his face going beet red as he shot aimlessly up toward the buildings above him. But as he came near to the end of the bridge, the blue and green lights hit him in the back, and he went down, his armor now glowing bright red.

  He was out. And judging by the shouts she had heard, so were a couple others already. She cursed again and made a break for the end of the bridge. Shots fired her way, one catching at her leg. She barked out another curse but didn't falter. She leapt for the nearest building and made it just inside, blocking the fire that rained in on her. Elise slunk down for a mere second to catch her breath. She didn't know how many more strikes she could take before she was out, but judging by how many she saw on Bruce, she liked to think she could take a few more before she was done. She forced herself back up and made her way out the other side of the building and onto the next street.

  She took out two more drogin and went over one more wall until she found herself within a large open square. Only a fountain took up the center, dried up and crumbled. At the back was a wide building with thick rows of pillars. Leading to the building was a set of steps where a pedestal sat. On top of the pedestal was a glowing red ball.

  Elise could only assume the ball was the key.

  She took one step and then instantly jumped back as gunshots rang out close by. Jerico came into the square and hunkered down near the fountain. He had a few marks on him, but he was still going. The lion-like alien came into view and began shooting his way in, firing endlessly, lighting up the square. Elise watched as the fountain became rubble, and Jerico was forced out from behind it. He fired back and hit the lion once but not before taking several hits himself. His armor went red, and he went down. He wasn't dead, Elise knew, only what looked to be knocked out. The drogin wanted to make sure no one cheated and kept going even after they lost.

  The lion pushed Jerico's body out of the way and went for the steps, only to take fire at his back. He, too, went down, and Adrien came into view, taking his place. He was breathless and sweating and looked to be only one mark away from knockout, but he went for the ball without glancing back and didn't see the shark-like alien hunkering down on top of a wall. Elise took aim and fired, hitting the shark across the chest. He went down, dropping on the other side of the wall. Adrien swerved around as she stepped into the square with him.

  "Stirling, you made it," he panted.

  Elise's eyebrows rose. "You're surprised?"

  He laughed softly through his breaths then gestured for her to stand by him and watch the buildings. "They’re good. Not that that's a surprise. One took Reese out almost right away. Amy not long after." He pointed to her chest. "Who got you?"

  "Goldie. She almost got me on one of the roofs, but I outsmarted her."

  "Really?"

  Elise shrugged.

  "Pretty sure it's just you and me now," Adrien said, backing up. Elise did with him. They each eyed the square with guns raised. "But there's at least two of them. Go for the key. I'll cover you."

  Elise lowered her gun an inch as she did as commanded and creeped over to the pedestal. Carefully, she reached out for the key and took it up in one hand. No trap sprung, no hoards of drogin came. She eyed Adrien, who merely nodded. With her gun still raised in one hand, she crept back down the steps and stood with Adrien in the square.

  "Guess the others were too slow." He smiled and put out his hand. Elise placed the key in his palm. He gripped it tight. "Better luck next—"

  He went down. The ball dropped from his hand and rolled out into the middle of the square, hitting the pile of rubble that had been a fountain. Elise blinked, confused.

  "What...?"

  "Better luck next time."

  Elise swerved around and saw the lead hunter standing above her on the steps. She let out a hiss of breath and took a step back. Slowly, he made his way down, watching her before eyeing Adrien on the ground. The alien nudged him roughly with his boot and made a clicking sound with his tongue. Elise backed away as he stepped over Adrien and stood before her. He tilted his head, studying her closely. She didn't care for the heat in his eyes. Nor did she like how they sparked with amusement.

  She noticed he had no hits to his armor. In fact, he looked the same as he had at the start of the match. He hadn't even broken a sweat, if he even sweat at all. She looked down at her fallen teammate with a deep frown. She hadn't even seen him get hit, nor was there any weapon in the alien's hands to blame.

  The alien moved closer, and Elise felt her muscles tighten, ready to flee or fight. She heard movement behind her and turned to see the green amphibian pointing his gun straight at her. Elise raised hers when she heard a raspy sort of snicker behind her.

  Damn it.

  She looked back, and sure enough, the lead hunter was laughing. He gestured quickly to his teammate, who lowered his gun and backed away.

  Ah, so he wants to play.

  "Just you and me, huh?" Elise said in her own tongue. She chucked her gun aside then raised her hands into fists, planting her feet firmly. The leader stopped laughing, but his smile never faded.

  "You're bold for a soft-skin. I like that," he said. Or something along those lines. Some of the words were off, but his drogin was improving already. He took a stance if not in a mocking sort of way, and they each stood their ground. Elise knew he was waiting for her to strike first. She took a deep breath then moved.

  Not toward him but away. Dashing toward the crumbled fountain, reaching for the key.

  She was only a few steps away from grabbing it when she was promptly pulled backward and dropped to the ground, landing square on her back. The alien leader stood above her like a tall, ominous shadow. Elise rolled back onto her feet as he circled her. He laughed again.

  "Clever little thing too. I like that."

  Elise growled and moved again, this time toward him. She swung out one fist then the other, but he blocked both with ease. He was shockingly quick, dodging her strikes with little effort. Elise had always prided herself on her swiftness, but he was undoubtedly faster, more agile. Frustration rose in her, and she pushed herself, attempting to land a punch or kick any way she could but was unsuccessful. And all he did was laugh.

  Crying out in anger, Elise swung her leg up high, hoping to catch him in the head. Not only did he block that too, he also caught her leg and swung her around. Elise went flying, yelping in surprise as she fell on her hands and knees. She fumbled back onto her feet, and he was right on her. Only by sheer luck did she block his first blow but not the second which caught her in the stomach. Even with the pads, it knocked the wind out of her. She stumbled back as she choked for air and tried to take a defensive stance, backing away quickly from his attacks. She swiped at him like a damn cat as he came at her, and in turn, he caught her wrist, swinging her around until her back was against his chest.

  Elise felt her heart jolt as his arm came around her in a steel grip, crushing her
close to him.

  "You’re fun to fight, I'll give you that." His other hand came around and gripped her hip. "Though you could learn a thing or two."

  Elise clawed at his arm, but he didn't budge. "Screw you," she hissed.

  She felt his breath on her neck and could practically hear him grin. "That can be arranged," he said, gripping her harder, making her gasp. A sharpness, like a blade, grazed her ear, and Elise panicked. She simultaneously dropped her weight and elbowed him hard in the lower stomach. He let her go, causing her to nearly fall forward. She swerved on him, fists at the ready, when she felt something wet trickle down her ear. She touched at the spot and found blood on her fingers. The bastard had bitten her.

  "You are a fucking fiend," she spat.

  The alien eyed the blood on her fingers. He took a step toward her, and she instantly stepped back. The amusement in him was gone now. His eyes darkened, and he came at her once more.

  Elise tried to back up, but he seemed finished with this game. When she thought for sure he was going to knock her out and end it, he went around her instead and picked up the key.