Hell's Menagerie Read Online Free

lives as anything else; they were desensitized to it. All great and good for them. Not so much for Emma. Rex had assumed these types of matches would be relegated to the match tent, but apparently even the performance-going folks liked a good mauling every once in a while. He’d thought the pups might be part of the show, something fun and cute for the crowd—how wrong he’d been.
    The problem was that when they tried to leave before the performance was over, the three jinn warriors who stood guard at the exit to Baasîl’s private box prevented them. So they sat back down, Emma tucked next to Rex and Brim on her other side. “Don’t look,” he told her. And she didn’t. But the crowd, the screams . . . There was no way to avoid those. He knew she’d never forget those.
    The performance finally drew to an end with trained moon snakes dancing to an otherworldly tune.
    Rex breathed a sigh of relief and Emma’s tense body went softas the crowd filed out of the tent. But their guards remained, beefy arms crossed over their chests, huge linebackers’ bodies that would’ve been intimidating had Rex not been one of them once. As it was, it irritated the shit out of him and he had a really bad feeling that letting Emma talk him into “just checking out the carnival” for the pups had turned into something else entirely.
    The ringmaster walked into the arena.
    Emma slipped her hand into Rex’s. He squeezed and bumped her shoulder with his own. “Let me do the talking. Just keep Brim under control.”
    Rex stood just as two attendants closed the flaps to the tent’s exit and stood guard. Quiet settled inside of the tent, accentuated by the murmur of the crowd outside.
    â€œEnjoy the show?” Baasîl walked toward them, leapt onto the wall, and slipped his long bony fingers through the chain links.
    â€œWhat do you want, Baasîl?”
    A gleam appeared in the ringmaster’s eyes. A deep growl rumbled in Brim’s chest. Baasîl turned his attention to Emma, his strange mauve eyes narrowing. “He’s a magnificent beast, you know. Big for his breed. Intimidating. There are those who would pay dearly for him.”
    â€œHe’s not for sale,” Em bit out.
    â€œNo, I didn’t think he would be. And that, you see, is the problem. How about we make a deal, you and me?”
    Rex started to speak, but the ringmaster interrupted him, telling Emma, “One second.” He nodded to the jinn behind them. Before she could react, Rex was struck with a tranquilizer tag.
    â€”
    â€œREX!” EMMA REACHED for Rex as he fell over, his body draped along the bench, the side of his face squished against the wood.
    Oh God.
    Electric fear slid into her, from her scalp all the way to her toes. Her pulse hammered through her eardrums. She swallowed, her mind racing. Stay calm. Don’t panic. Her mom had schooled her in those very things—how to stay calm and smart in dangerous situations. After her kidnapping, Emma had taken those talks, those self-defense lessons, to heart . . .
    Swallowing down the mushrooming panic, she straightened her spine, drew in a deep breath, and looked the ringmaster square in the eyes. He hurt Rex. He. Hurt. Rex. And that made her mad. Mad was better than scared. A smart mad was better than a rash one—her mom had taught her that, too.
    â€œNow that that’s taken care of,” Baasîl said as the jinn lifted Rex and took him away, “we can deal.”
    She wouldn’t cry, wouldn’t call after Rex, wouldn’t freak out because she was now alone. No, not alone. Brim was by her side. Brim would always be by her side. He leaned into her, sensing her emotions.
    Rex was dumped by the tent’s exit as Baasîl crawled over the top of the chain-link fence like a spider. Then he was down on her side. In her box. In her space, sitting down on the bench in front of