Kate snorted. “Right. Okay. I mean, I appreciate the food, don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to not starve to death. But to be honest, it isn’t dying I’m afraid of. It’s living my whole life under this blasted regime.”
Otto’s anger flared. It had been a long night. Too long. The last thing he needed was some pathetic young panther shifter telling him what to do. It didn’t matter how pretty she was. He wasn’t in the mood to be bossed around and told that his resistance wasn’t doing enough. He was trying. But he wasn’t getting much help, and he had almost no resources to work with. Kate didn’t know what she was talking about. “Well, if you’re so willing to die, then you’re welcome to come on over to Gilt Hollow and set an example of what a ‘non-pathetic’ resistance force looks like.”
She grinned at him. “Maybe I will.”
Otto rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome to it. In the meantime, I would very much like to get back to enjoying my beer.”
In response, she leaned over and put her face inches away from his own. The effect was horribly distracting. She smelled sweet, like a lemon cake, and Otto wondered if there had been any lemon cakes in the shipment of food tonight. No one in Bear Hollow had the flour or sugar necessary for baking. But her sweet smell wasn’t the truly distracting thing. It was her porcelain skin. Creamy white and flawless, with cheeks that glowed rosy in the warmth of the bar, Otto was overcome by a strange urge to reach out and stroke that skin. He resisted the urge, and sat on his hands instead. Of course, this did nothing to stop him from having the urge to kiss her. The only thing more perfect than her soft skin was her soft, full lips pulled up into a slight smile.
“Listen, Otto. I know everyone here in town thinks you’re a hero and blah blah blah. And it’s true that you’ve done a lot. The tunnel you and the others built has kept the shifters in Bear Hollow alive this winter. But more needs to be done. Word on the street is that you’re too cautious, and won’t take any risks. If there’s really going to be a revolution, we’ve gotta take some risks.”
Otto scowled. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s easy to sit over here in Bear Hollow and say no one is taking risks. But if you lived in Gilt Hollow like I do, then you’d see that every little thing we do is a huge risk.”
Kate shrugged. “I get it. Anything that rubs the Gilt Hollow citizens the wrong way is a risk. But that doesn’t mean you should risk less. Our people can’t live like this forever, depending on food from a secret tunnel to stay alive. It’s time for a revolution, and that means we need to act, and act in a big way.”
Otto rolled his eyes. “I’ll take your words into consideration. It’s always nice to have the opinion of an expert.”
Kate didn’t even flinch at his sarcastic tone. She just shrugged again and smiled. “Make fun of me if you want. But I promise you that if I lived over in Gilt Hollow, I’d be taking a whole lot more risks.”
Otto’s only response was to turn his back on her. Luckily, she took the hint and didn’t bother him further. But she had already done a good job of souring his mood. Whatever happiness he had felt by being in the bar was ruined. He didn’t take enough risks? He’d almost been shot tonight, for crying out loud. Leo had been shot. And every time he crossed the secret tunnel to bring food over, he was gambling his life. If anyone from Gilt Hollow caught him, he’d be executed in a very public, very tortuous fashion.
And yet, part of why Kate had irked him so much was that she had echoed sentiments that many members of the resistance had spoken to him. The shifters he led over in Gilt Hollow were always pressing him to do more and take more chances. But no one seemed to understand the great responsibility that weighed on his shoulders. As the leader of this resistance movement, he felt responsible for protecting the lives of everyone involved. If anyone died, he would be at fault. He would have to answer to their families. So yes, of course he moved slowly and took great precautions. Better that then a bunch of shifters ending up dead.
But a bunch of shifters are going to end up dead if the resistance doesn’t hurry up and act. Otto could not fully escape that nagging voice in his head. The Gilt Hollow citizens had grown more and more oppressive over the last few months. They were raiding Bear Hollow frequently, demanding inspections to see whether anyone was hiding food in their home. The emperor had hoped to see the Bear Hollow shifters starving this winter, and was confused as to why that wasn’t happening. So far, the raids hadn’t uncovered anything, because the food Otto brought over from Gilt Hollow wasn’t enough to stockpile. It was only enough to fill everyone’s belly once. Sometimes not even that. It kept the shifters alive, but no one was feasting every day. Still, Otto worried that the Gilt Hollow citizens would start punishing people, even when they didn’t find any “evidence” of a reason to do so. They loved to do things like that, and the angrier they were, the higher the chances of random punishments.
Otto frowned down at his now-empty beer mug, then stood to leave the bar. He needed to get back to Gilt Hollow. The longer he was gone, the more the chances of someone discovering he was gone from his room. And he needed sleep. Training was going to be rough tomorrow.
Zora caught his eye from across the room and waved at him, and he waved back with a sad sigh. She was another example of a risk he hadn’t wanted to take. When Oskar and Leo had insisted that Zora could be trusted even though she was a Gilt Hollow citizen, Otto had balked. He hadn’t believed that any Gilt Hollow citizen would truly want to help the resistance, especially not a Gilt Hollow citizen who belonged to one of the prominent noble houses. But Zora had proven her loyalty, and had proven to be a valuable asset.
Otto felt his shoulders slumping. He had made a mistake, yes. But better to be overcautious than not cautious enough, right? Otto was beginning to wonder. But then, he saw Kate staring at him from a table near the door, and he hardened his face into an expressionless mask. Without looking at anyone else, he stormed out of the bar.
No one here seemed to understand how difficult it was to head up a resistance. He was doing what he had to do to protect the shifters in Gilt Hollow while still fighting for the shifters in Bear Hollow. He didn’t need anyone giving him unsolicited advice on how to handle things, especially not Kate.
No matter how damn gorgeous she was.
Chapter Three
Otto felt hung-over the next day, even though he’d only had two beers—which was nothing for a wolf shifter like him. But the stress and lack of sleep from the night before had affected him more than he’d thought it would, and the idea of going to training felt like torture. But Otto didn’t dare try to beg off and say that he was sick. News of the sighting of two rogue shifters in the forest was already spreading through Gilt Hollow, and Otto didn’t want to give anyone a reason to a point a finger at him. Better to lie as low as possible, and that meant going to training without complaining.
And they say I’m not taking enough risks. Every day is a risk for me.
Otto threw himself into training with gusto, and he found that after the initial pain of getting started, the physical activity actually helped him feel better. He hated training, and the Shifter Games, but being able to fight and get some of his aggression out today felt good.
“Whoa, Otto. You’re on fire today,” one of the trainers remarked. Otto merely grunted in response, and continued on with his training. He never did much to acknowledge the trainers’ remarks, whether those remarks were positive or negative. He did what he was asked to do and that was it. He refused to act all buddy-buddy with the trainers, no matter how nice they tried to be to him. Nice or not, they were still Gilt Hollow citizens. They still supported the Shifter Games.
They were still the enemies.
Otto had been around longer than almost any of the other Shifter Games’ participants. He’d barely been more than a boy when he was dragged into this circus, against his will. The Gilt Hollow citizens pretended that every shifter who fought in the Games had volunteered, but the shifters all knew that wasn’t true. The
Gilt Hollow nobles would go to Bear Hollow and threaten to kill off a shifter’s family and friends unless that shifter “volunteered” for the Games. Otto had been so angry when he was forced to move to Gilt Hollow that he had formed the resistance. That had been almost two decades ago, and progress had been slow, but steady. Otto dreamed of the day when no shifter would be forced into the Games ever again. He dreamed of the day when the Games would cease altogether. His own parents had passed away by now, and he had no siblings, which meant he could have refused to continue in the Games. He would be killed off, then, but at least he had no family left in Bear Hollow for them to kill off. And yet, Otto stayed. He stayed because he had found a purpose here, in fighting to end the Games.
Otto had achieved a bit of fame as a frequent Shifter Games champion, but that only made him hate the Games more, not less. Nothing felt more dehumanizing than being forced to shift into wolf form and fight a wild animal in front of an Arena full of screaming full humans who thought shifters themselves were only animals. The gambling, drinking, and general merriment surrounding the Games only added to the insult.
Otto had learned to play his part well, though. He worked for House Severson, and the Seversons cared more about having shifter champions than about anything else. Otto kept them happy by being a stoic, strong champion. The Seversons might have thought he was an oddball and a bit reserved, but they never suspected that he was leading the resistance right beneath their noses.
At least, he was trying to lead it. Apparently a lot of shifters in Bear Hollow thought he wasn’t doing all that great of a job. Otto took out his frustration on a punching bag, hitting it harder than he ever had before.
Punch, punch, punch.
Or perhaps only Kate thought he wasn’t doing enough. She was the only one who didn’t seem appreciative in Bear Hollow. True, the other shifters in Gilt Hollow sometimes gave him a hard time, but no one in Bear Hollow had ever criticized him, other than Kate.
Punch, punch punch.
Why did she get under his skin so much? She was only one shifter, and anyone in any sort of leadership position was bound to have people criticize them now and then. Otto frowned. He’d been criticized so many times here in Gilt Hollow.
But he’d never been criticized by someone so beautiful.
Punch, punch, punch.
He’d never been criticized by someone who made his insides twist up in funny, delightful ways, despite the fact that she was possibly one of the most obnoxious humans he’d ever met.
Punch, punch punch.
Shit. There was no way he was actually attracted to this girl, was there? Not that it mattered if he was. She might be attractive, but he would never attempt any sort of a relationship with someone as rude as her. Besides, even if he wanted to have a relationship, the fact that he lived in Gilt Hollow meant he couldn’t have a girlfriend in Bear Hollow. Technically, Otto was forbidden from visiting Bear Hollow. If the Seversons knew he was over there almost every week, thanks to a secret tunnel, they’d kill him. Literally.
Punch, punch, punch.
“Otto! Otto, do you have cotton in your ears today, damn it?”
Otto blinked and stopped his mad punching to look up at the trainer who was yelling at him. The trainer must have called for the shifters to stop beating up their punching bags, but Otto hadn’t heard it. He’d been too busy fuming over Kate.
“Sorry. I guess I got too into my work.”
“I’ll say,” the trainer said, raising an eyebrow. “Anyway, we’re done with our exercises for the day.”
“We are?” Otto glanced up at the clock in surprise. It was only four, and usually training went until five. Was he actually lucky enough that they were stopping early today for some reason?
“Yes, we are. But you’re not dismissed yet. I want you all to head into the actual Arena. Loki is there and wants a word with you.”
Otto resisted the urge to groan. Nope, he wasn’t lucky. The only thing worse than the Games themselves was Loki Severson. Loki was Zora’s brother, and he was the complete opposite of her. While Zora had cared about the shifters enough to stand up for them and leave Gilt Hollow behind, losing her life of comfort and ease as a nobleman’s daughter, Loki took every opportunity to degrade and yell at shifters. Otto would have bet that Loki didn’t just want to talk to the shifters. He wanted to yell at them. Most likely over the fact that two shifters had been wandering last night. Loki loved to remind all of the shifters that disobedience equaled death.
Otto followed the trainers from the training room toward the main Arena. The actual Games took place inside the giant Arena, but very little actual training was done there, which was fine by Otto. He hated the place, and all the bad memories he’d made there. He’d been forced to fight and kill innocent animals dozens of times, all so the Gilt Hollow citizens could be “entertained” by his wildness. Otto had sworn to himself that one day he would burn this place to the ground, or die trying.
The other shifters remained silent as the group walked toward the Arena. Otto was good friends with a few of them, but he never talked to them much during training. None of the shifters liked to talk in front of the trainers, or in front of any Gilt Hollow citizen for that matter. If you said the wrong thing and it got taken the wrong way, you’d be in big trouble. The Gilt Hollow citizens loved to punish the shifters for no reason, so the less you said around them the better.
Otto walked onto the Arena floor with a sigh, bracing himself for the coming lecture about god only knew what. Loki loved to rant almost as much as he loved to drink. Perhaps the two activities were related. As a rich nobleman’s son, Loki could spend his time pursuing whatever idle, useless pastimes his heart desired. Today, his heart must have desired a good long yell at the shifters.
But when Otto looked up to the first row of the stands, where Loki always stood when he came into the Arena, Otto’s jaw dropped. Standing next to Loki was none other than Kate Strouse. Kate, who had been on his mind all day in the most irritating of ways. Kate, whom he had been trying to forget. Kate, who belonged back in Bear Hollow. What the hell was she doing here?
His heart twisted up in fear. Had the Gilt Hollow nobles raided Bear Hollow and taken her prisoner? Had they figured out that she knew something about the resistance, and tortured information out of her? Otto had tried to keep the information about the resistance as vague as possible, just in case something like that happened. He didn’t want the citizens of Bear Hollow to feel the pressure of denying that they knew information when they really did know something. But some things were impossible to hide. Everyone in Bear Hollow knew about the tunnel, and everyone knew that Otto was in charge of the resistance. Beyond that, Otto knew that rumors had flown like crazy. Some of what was talked about in Bear Hollow probably held a bit of truth, but a lot of it was wild exaggeration.
After the initial shock and worry of seeing Kate, though, Otto realized that she didn’t look like someone who had just been tortured. Her shiny black hair was pulled back into a neat, tight bun, and her face had a small smirk on it that he could see even from halfway across the Arena floor. Surely, she wasn’t happy to be here? His heart twisted up with a whole new set of fears. Had she herself turned into a traitor? Had she voluntarily come to tell the Gilt Hollow nobles about the resistance? A small, burning ball of rage rose within Otto’s core, but it died down almost as soon as it started.
No, that couldn’t be right. Kate was wearing the uniform that all of the shifters wore when they participated in Shifter Games and Shifter Games training. It looked like Kate had been recruited as a Shifter Games “volunteer.” But that couldn’t be right either. No woman had ever fought in the games, as far as he knew. And why would Loki go after a woman if he wanted a new fighter? The odds of a woman being strong enough to outfight any of the men were low. Sure, women could be tough, and Kate did look like she was strong. But biologically speaking…men had the advantage over women in the Arena. That’s why there were no women in the Arena. Until now.
“Hello, my friends,” Loki said, waving his hands wildly as though greeting a group of long lost buddies. Otto did his best not to cringe. He hated it when Loki called the shifter trainees friends. They weren’t friends. They were enemies, and Loki knew that. But Loki loved to act like he was somehow doing everyone a favor by existing.
“I’m sorry to end regular training a bit early today,” Loki continued. “But I have a very big announcement to make. We’ve had a new trainee join us today. She just arrived from Bear Hollow this morning, but she’s already eager to join you in training. May I introduce Kate Strouse.”
Kate smiled and made an exaggerated bow in the direction of the shifter trainees. A low murmur of disbelief rose up around Otto, but quickly died down. They all knew better than to say too much around Loki, who was starting to speak again anyway at this point.
“I know you are probably all a bit surprised by the fact that a woman will be joining you. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical myself when Kate first approached me and asked about joining the shifter trainees.”
Otto’s jaw did actually drop for a moment then. So Kate had actually volunteered. But why? Why in hell would any shifter in their right mind choose this life? Sure, over the years there had been one or two shifters here and there who were drawn by the money and couldn’t resist the chance to pull themselves up out of poverty. But those were few and far between, and were usually the absolute poorest of the poor in Bear Hollow. Otto knew for a fact that Kate’s family was better off than many of the families in Bear Hollow. Her father had been a known treasure hunter, talented at going into the Gilt Hollow markets and finding valuable items that had been left behind. It only took a fancy bit of jewelry here or a forgotten sack of juicy fresh fruit there, and Kate’s father had built up wealth by scrounging around.
The Rebel and the Wolf (The Shifter Games Book 2) Page 2
