“Oh, she’s cocky,” I say.
“Thirsty,” she corrects me.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m on it. Race you to see who’s back first?”
“These things shouldn’t be rushed, babe.”
Rolling my eyes, I hop off the platform and muscle my way through the crowd to the bar. One guy grabs my ass, and I breakthree of his fingers. His scream of pain throws some attention my way, but what am I supposed to do? Low profile can’t mean doormat, at least not for me.
I pay for my beer and Imani’s, surprised to find our platform unoccupied when I get back. Hopping up, I use the height advantage to find her. She’s got a drink in one hand, the other buried in the blonde’s hair. Their lips are tightly fused.
Raising both beers to her, I clink the glass bottles together and take a sip. With Imani busy, I can get a closer view of the action. We can always meet up later, but with the way their hands are wandering, I don’t see that happening. I fire off a text letting her know where I’m going in case she needs to find me.
Abandoning the platform, I head toward the ring. It’s harder to get through this section of the crowd. They’re actively trying to hold their spots, but I’m determined. I’m also not above using flirtation and violence to get my way. Most people move if they think it will earn them an orgasm or keep them from ending their night with a fractured toe.
Eventually, I’ve made it to the base of the cage. I was right—it’s much bigger, but I misjudged the height. At 5’8”, I don’t often feel short, but I’m right below eye level of the floor of the new ring. I’ll have to crane my neck if I want to see anything but feet.
I turn around and consider my odds of making it back to my usual platform without getting into a fight. The crowd is shoulder to shoulder now, screaming for violence. I groan under my breath. I’m better off staying put. A salmon can only swim upstream so many times before she gets bloody.
Alistair appears suddenly on my right, knocking a smaller guy flat on his ass in the process. He scrambles to his feet, glancing left and right. His hands curl into fists, but he seems too unsure about who knocked him over to risk starting something.
“Do you need a lift, angel?” Alistair asks, his voice awfully calm for someone who just sliced through the crowd like amachete. His dark hair hangs loose tonight, curling around his ears and neck.
My lips twitch at his audacity. Alistair is plenty tall enough to see over the cage floor. I do my best not to hold that against him.
“Amazing how you managed to pop up next to me in a crowd this big,” I drawl. “I don’t think I’m going to ask how you managed it.”
“Smart lady.” Alistair grins, his fangs poking roguishly over his lower lip. “Why question fate when you could thank her for her blessings instead?”
I shake my head, refusing to be charmed by his dubious pickup lines, then crane my neck as the bell rings. I’m determined to see as much of the fight as possible. It only takes thirty seconds for me to realize I can’t see shit. I can hear the punches, but all I can see is a flash here and there of hairy toes and burly calves. I grit my teeth.
“Just this once,” I huff, draining the rest of my beer and starting in on the one I bought for Imani.
“What was that, Celine?” Alistair jostles into me as the crowd presses forward. He bares his fangs at the guy behind us, his eyes flashing blood red. The stranger stumbles over himself to back away.
I shudder, steadying Alistair with a hand on his arm. Those eyes . . . I’m acutely aware of the leashed violence behind them. I should be afraid of him. I’m not.Maybe I’m losing it, but being with Alistair is exciting. The surrounding colors are brighter, the grunts from the fight louder. Shit, my beer even tastes colder. I feel alive.
“You can lift me,” I say loudly, drawing his intense red gaze to me. I study the ruby orbs with interest until they fade back to the cozy blue denim I’m used to.
“With pleasure,” Alistair says, bending too quickly for me to track the movement. His hands grip my waist, my vision warps,and I find myself perched on his shoulders a fraction of a second later. He was so graceful about it, I didn’t even spill my drink.
Blinking, I grin as one fighter lands a haymaker on the other’s chin.This. This is exactly what I wanted.Since I can be generous when the situation calls for it, I pass what’s left of Imani’s beer to Alistair as payment for the ride. He takes a swig, his grip on my calf firm.
With a perfect view of the action, I lose myself in the fight as the shifters exchange brutal blows in both their human and animal forms. When the bear’s partial shift takes too long, the wolf takes the opportunity to bite him, gouging deeply into his flank. The wolf comes away with a mouthful of flesh that he slings at the side of the cage, splattering blood on me and a couple of other spectators in the process.
I laugh, rattling the cage with both hands and screaming for the wolf to press his advantage. He does. The fight doesn’t last long after that. The wolf is simply too fast for the bear to keep up with. The bigger shifter taps out before he can end up with a hole in his throat, and the emcee shouts that there will be a half hour break between fights.
Alistair reaches up to help me, his fingers grazing my inner thigh and sending a bolt of awareness through my body. I bat his hands away, grabbing the cage in front of me and using it to climb down. Once I’m on the ground, I spin triumphantly, a wide smile on my face.
“That was a great fight,” I say, my heart pounding as I relive the best moments. Alistair stares at me, his expression oddly tight. I raise my eyebrows. “What, no quip?”
He shakes his head. “You look even lovelier with a blood-splattered face than I could have imagined.”
I bring my fingers up to my cheeks, and sure enough, I feel drying blood smeared there. I wince, but Alistair is already reaching out with a linen handkerchief that looks like somethingstraight out of a Regency movie. Dropping my hand, I allow him to clean my face. His touch is confident. Thorough. His blue eyes dip to my lips as he finishes, a faint pink tinge crowding the edges.
“There,” he says. “Flawless once more.”
And for the life of me, I can’t help myself—I swallow his charm, hook, line, and sinker. My stomach buzzes as a hundred butterflies take flight.Just this once.I repeat my earlier promise to myself and smile up at him.Just this once.
