Winning the Legend by B. Kristin McMichael Page B

It was
growing harder to stay in control and let things work out the way
Thomas planned, but Andrew couldn’t even think about Arianna ending
up with another man without wanting to punch something.
    On the final morning, Arianna reluctantly
went to join the competitors. She had known who would be eliminated
for the current round after the last person had come back from the
run, but even she’d been hoping that someone would break and either
attack, or sneak blood from, a day human at the estate. She was
only planning to let two go for this round, but wouldn’t mind
getting rid of the more violent ones that couldn’t control
themselves.
    Each clan kept mostly to themselves; so
while they had intel on the other clans, there was no way of
confirming their exact skills. Arianna needed to keep them around
to have a display of their night human skills. They would never be
able to win against everyone unless she knew what they were capable
of and what their best skills were. It was also a chance for Devin
to check everything he knew about the opponents, as the last test
would be one-on-one fights. Devin’s greatest strength came from his
knowledge, and the training that used his knowledge to make him not
the better, but the smarter fighter. Devin was trained far beyond
any of them, even those twice his age. Arianna was depending on
that to keep her freedom, and from having to marry any of the other
competitors.
    Arianna arrived first and made sure that
everyone in the room serving the group was a day human. Every
worker there knew exactly what the danger was to be around hungry
night humans, but they were all loyal to Arianna. None of them
wanted these men to move into the Randolph estate and become their
new leader. Some of the younger girls even purposely left buttons
undone on the tops of their dresses. Arianna’s own thirst was
becoming more of an issue, but she refused to admit it to anyone.
She had been without blood for weeks before they even arrived. It
wasn’t ideal, but she couldn’t risk Andrew’s strength for her own.
At least no one beyond Andrew sitting next to her smelled anywhere
near edible.
    Arianna sat at a table alone with Andrew and
watched each competitor as they arrived. Rhys arrived first. It was
as if he knew exactly where Arianna was, and knew when to show up
to see her before everyone else. He gave a small nod before filling
his plate beside his retainer. His retainer also nodded to Arianna
before they found their own table. One by one the other men
arrived. Manuel was the last and obviously suffering the most. As
he passed each young girl, he visibly paused to refrain from
following his instincts.
    ‘He is going to attack
someone,’ Molina commented, closely
tailing him.
    ‘And when he does, he’s
out,’ Arianna replied while nodding to
Andrew. Andrew stood and joined Molina. They figured someone
attacking was inevitable, but they didn’t want them to actually
kill any of their staff.
    Arianna ate deliberately slow. Most of the
men finished before she did and just sat around waiting with their
retainers. Arianna stretched and slowly began to walk to the
training room. Manuel still had not tried anything. Nelson and
Nixon flanked her sides as she walked away, leaving Andrew to exit
the room last. As they all filed into the training room, the men
lined up and waited for her to speak. Again she waited. All eyes
were on her as she watched the door for Andrew, who entered last
while holding Manuel. All the men abruptly turned to watch Andrew
walk into the room. Manuel had tried to bite someone as soon as the
rest of the people were out of the room. He had been careless and
didn’t even notice Andrew staying behind.
    “Disqualified,” Andrew stated to the men who
all wanted to question, but didn’t know what to do. Molina followed
behind Andrew, helping a young maid who was applying pressure to
her arm. Molina lifted the girl’s arm to show teeth marks. No one
disputed it.
    Several