“Okay, Sam are you coming with us or not? Because I have Tyson, I don’t necessarily need you as well.” I pushed myself up from the floor and started toward the bedroom to find clothes.
“Oh, please,” the snake hissed as he slid from the chair and crossed the room to me. “As if that overgrown pussycat will be able to keep a moron like you safe.”
I paused and leant down to put my arm closer to the ground. Still muttering obscenities too quietly for me to hear, Sam coiled the first foot or so of his body around my forearm and then disappeared with a sparkle of magic, settling into my new ink.
It was a strange sensation, carrying both Tyson and Sam with me. But no more strange than feeling the bonds with my guardians when I allowed those walls down. I just hoped Sam wasn’t going to call me a moron for this entire trip.
“If you stopped doing moronic things, like getting kidnapped or taking jewelry from strangers, I wouldn’t need to.” His snarky voice sounded inside my head, and I groaned. No wonder Caleb had been a bit less cheery lately. I could only imagine how shitty I was going to be with Sam’s sassiness in my head twenty-four seven.
I dressed quickly, then dragged my suitcase back to the sitting area where the guys were all deep in discussion.
“Ready,” I announced with a false smile. Wesley needed this trip, needed to get a handle on his magic and hopefully work out exactly what he was. I couldn’t let my own fears interrupt that, but I also couldn’t let him go without me. Something told me that I had to take this trip with him, and I was really trying to trust my instincts a little more.
6
COLE
My mind still reeled as the fight commentator called out my name. I made my way out of the makeshift dressing room. The events of the day had my head in a spin, and I knew I needed to shake it off to focus on this fight.
But what the fuck? Bridget had somehow convinced Vixen to put on a magical bracelet, and none of us even knew? It couldn’t have been for any good reason either, or else why cloak it and erase the memories?
No, I had a pretty strong feeling it had something to do with Vixen’s powers being iced. Hopefully Caleb could track that slippery bitch down and work out what the fuck we did next because if I got my hands on her...
“You ready, brother?” Vali asked quietly, clapping me on the shoulder as he walked with me through the noisy crowd to reach the octagon.
I gave him a snarl, and he smirked back at me. He knew I was telling him not to fucking call me “brother;” we weren’t there yet. Not by a long shot.
“Just remember,” Vali continued, brushing off my unspoken warning. “We’re here to gain their trust, not to kill them all.”
“I remember,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m not a fucking moron. But it also needs to be believable.”
Vali gusted out a long breath, but we’d almost reached the octagon and he had no time to give me a lecture on acceptable levels of bodily harm. Besides, he’d already gone over it about a million times on our way to this fight, so it just wasn’t necessary to hear it again.
“Fine,” he clapped me on the shoulder. “Just keep them alive long enough to talk later, all right?”
I gave him a short head bob of acknowledgement, then ducked through the low cage door and into the fight ring. Vali disappeared back into the crowd, but I knew he’d be watching closely while maintaining his image.
It had been his money and connections that had gotten us an introduction to this club, and an easy matter of showing off an eye shift to gain admission into this secret circle. The fighting event was what we’d begun tracking in Mexico—an underground shifter fight club, and by the looks of the crowd... they weren’t too concerned with keeping their existence quiet anymore.
My opponent was already in the ring, whooping and hollering to whip the crowd up into a frenzy. I didn’t get it. Who gave a shit what the crowd thought, so long as you won? Seemed like a big waste of energy as far as I was concerned.
Whatever. I shrugged to myself. Just makes it easier for me to kick this poser’s ass.
Prowling a little closer to the excited fool, I took a sniff of his odor to get a handle on what I was up against. Not that it mattered, seeing as I could probably beat him without my dragon strength, but he had that wet cat kind of smell about him which indicated some form of feline. It was a smell I’d grown well accustomed to, having Tyson around so much.
My lip curled, and I let out a rumbling snarl at the kitty shifter who was to be my opponent. Dragons weren’t overly fond of cats in general, or so I’d found. Like chalk and cheese. The only reason Vali and I tolerated Tyson was because Vixen liked him so much. Otherwise... Bengal tiger shish kebabs would have been on the menu weeks ago.
“What the fuck are you?” the bouncy feline demanded with all the arrogance I couldn’t wait to knock clean out of him. He took a sniff in my direction and only looked more confused. Guess he’d never encountered a dragon before.
“A bunny rabbit,” I replied with a snicker. “You scared now, pussycat?”
The guy narrowed his eyes at me in confusion, and I just shrugged. Fuck him, I won’t even need to shift for this crap, so no sense in showing my cards, right?
The commentator started rattling off shit that I wasn’t listening to. Instead I eyed up the little punk I was brought here to fight. He was all movement, bouncing up and down on his toes to the point he was starting to look a little twitchy.
I heard the bell chime, and that was all the encouragement I needed to begin the fight. Vali had asked me to make it at least seem like an entertaining match, so I really had to pull my first punch in order to not knock this kid’s head off with that first hit.
Still, it sent him flying, and his back smashed into the cage wall while the crowd went mental. Bloodthirsty motherfuckers, they made me sick. Every last one of them. How anyone could enjoy watching two people beat the shit out of one another, I would never understand.
Regardless of having fought professionally for several years, I’d never done it for love of the sport. It was simply all I had known then.
My opponent recovered quickly and shifted forms as he pushed off the cage and flew at me with claws extended. Judging by the flash of sandy-colored fur, I’d say he was a cougar or some sort of mountain cat. Whatever he was, he took my fist across the snout all the same.
Drool flew in an arc across the space as the big cat’s head snapped to the side, and I snarled at the little nick his tooth had opened across my knuckles. Rookie error on my part; I should have scaled my fists before hitting a shifter cat in the mouth, but I’ll blame that on the lack of a How to Dragon handbook.
I shot a quick glance into the crowd and found Vali. He gave me a hand signal that clearly told me to keep it going for a little longer, to which I groaned. This was straight up boring. I’d had more challenging fights from humans, for fuck’s sake.
The cat leapt back at me, and I let him connect, dropping me to the ground. Then I flipped him over and grabbed him in a choke hold. Big animals really weren’t that different from humans, so long as you kept watch for claws and teeth.
He thrashed in my grip, but I tightened my arm across his throat. Soon his huge form sagged into dead weight on top of me as he passed out. Oops.
I heaved him off me and stood up casually as the stunned commentator announced me the winner of the fight. The crowd was still going wild, but I barely stayed long enough to give them a quick nod before exiting the ring and making my way back to the dressing rooms where a furious looking Vali was waiting for me.
“What?” I demanded, seeing his scowl.
“This,” he said, repeating the hand gesture he’d given me, “means keep going. Not end it, you fucking idiot.”
“I know,” I snapped, dragging off my tank top and pulling on a clean black T-shirt.