My eyes drift around the crowd, searching for an officer who might intervene. I finally spot a handful in the corner of the ring, placing bets on Damian to kick my ass. A pit drops in my stomach.
He doesn’t look that tough, but I should keep my guard up.
I watch a few faces in the audience flash with worry, some even looking away like they can’t bear to watch what will unfold. Doubt starts to grip my mind. My eyes flash to Cameron’s. His face is impassive and cold. I doubt he cares much about what happens in this fight.
Damian lunges toward me while I’m still looking away and hooks my foot before I can evade him. He takes me to the ground in one single movement. His eyes flash with wild ferocity, pinning my chest to the floor with his calloused hand and pressing hard against my sternum.
A gasp escapes me as the air is forced out. Damian’s lips curve with a cocky-ass smile.He thinks he’s won already.
His other hand is against the floor near my head, a foolish move. I lift my chin and turn, sinking my teeth into his arm before he has the chance to do anything else. If he wants to fight dirty, I’ll fight dirty.
“What the fuck!” he yelps, instinctively releasing me and pulling away.
I twist my body violently to throw him to the side. While he’s stunned, I crawl on top of him and pin his arms down with my knees.
He recovers quickly and bucks his hips into me. I wasn’t expecting him to have so much power behind it. My eyes are wide as I sail over his head.
We’re both back to our feet in a matter of seconds, breaths labored and shoulders trembling.
His eyes skirt down to his arm, assessing the bite momentarily before looking back at me. I didn’t break his skin, but there’s already evidence that it will bruise terribly. The bandage on his neck peeled up a little on the edges in the scuffle.I should hit him there.
His hair is disheveled from our strife. “I was going to go easy on you since it’s your first day down here. But I forget sometimes that even the pretty ones have done something heinous in society to end up here in the Under,” he says gruffly. His eyes darken and he charges at me again, but this time he isn’t trying to pin me to the ground. I can see it in his glare that he wants to hurt me and make an example out of me.
Damian throws a punch to my stomach. I barely block it in time with my forearm, but he was anticipating it and strikes me across the left side of my face with the back of his fist. His knuckles crack against my cheekbone and pain bursts from my mouth to my ear. The taste of blood spreads across my tongue.I manage to shift my foot to prevent being sent straight to the ground.
He’s probably expecting me to cry.
I whirl on him, decking him right between the eyes. His straight, perfect nose that will now have a bump in the bridge. He grunts at the impact, but proceeds to let out a manic, unsettling laugh.
“I’m going to fucking kill you.” He fists my hair and tears my head back, exposing the soft part of my neck to him. Terror races through my veins as my hands fly to his tight grip on my hair.
Damian tugs harder and a scream is torn out of my lungs. Fire spreads over my scalp and tears prickle in my eyes. I struggle with every ounce of fight I have in my body until I feel the press of cold steel against my throat. My body freezes and the only sound in the arena is that of my labored breaths. Pain spreads across my trembling knees as I slacken my weight on them.
Of course, he has a knife on him. I’m not sure why I expected this fight to be fair.
A malicious laugh escapes him as my legs buckle and he guides me to the ground, still fisting my hair and pressing his blade further into my neck. His face enters my view, and I can’t look away from the awful set of his gaze, promising me that this isn’t over between us. “And that’s how you establish dominance,” he says loud enough for everyone to hear. The other cadets cheer and laugh, and some even encourage him to cut my throat.
I’ve trained thousands of times on how to get out of this hold, but I decide to let the fight end here. If he thinks this is all I have, then I can catch him and others off guard later.Never show them everything.I take a calming breath.
Damian’s smile only grows with amusement.
“Did you forget I was next?” Cameron says mundanely as he grips Damian’s wrist, forcing him to let go of my hair. I stand quickly and rub the back of my scalp. Cameron’s eyes meet mine before he jerks his head to the side, motioning me to get back.
I’ve already made an ass out of myself, why not add Cameron’s indifferent treatment to further bruise my ego? I move back to the circle of cadets and turn to watch the next sparring match with little energy to spare. All I want is a hot shower and to go to sleep.
Cameron keeps his hands in his pockets, if nothing but to taunt Damian.
It works.
Damian’s face turns red and he curses, swinging at Cameron with his knife. Cameron evades it effortlessly and plants his boot in the center of Damian’s spine as he’s passing, sending him to his hands and knees. The knife spins across the floor.
“Come on, I thought you weresoconfident about showing dominance?” Cameron’s voice is low and the sarcasm dripping from his tone sends chills up my back. “Should I show you howIestablish dominance?” He moves to Damian’s side as he’s still trying to get up and kicks him in the face.
An audible gasp rolls through the cadets before silence follows.
Damian collapses to his side, spitting up blood and choking on a few of his teeth. He’s left sputtering for words. My throat knots with the grotesque red chunks he spits up onto the floor between desperate gasps.
Cameron smiles widely, and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. He lowers himself on Damian’s back, finally pulling his hands from his pockets and clutching one over Damian’s jaw. The other pulling his hair until Damian’s looking straight at me.
