He let out an animalistic growl as he swiped at me with both arms, one after the other, to try and force his dominance and push me off guard. I blocked each blow, feeling more and more power behind each strike.
While I was trying to figure out his next move, he did something unexpected and jumped, rolling in the air as he landed behind me. I only had enough time to see him coming down at my back with both sais, and I shoved my sword behind me at an angle, catching the sais between the long and short blades. It stopped his descent but also trapped my weapon in his.
My dad pushed harder with his weapons, causing my wrist to wrench in pain as he leaned close enough to whisper, “Why, Rayla? Why do you care about this so much?” He spat out, “It makes no sense.” Then he shoved me down with all his might.
I didn’t want my wrist to break, so I fell, positioned myself on my back, and let my sword drop right next to me. I could always get back up, always gain back my position, but if he broke a body part, it would be infinitely harder, even with vampire healing, because he would still be in perfect condition and could attack that weakness.
He gazed down at me, then to my hand without a weapon, and triumph lined his eyes as he jumped forward, sais raised to hand me the final blow. Once he was in range, I lifted my legs and shoved them at his chest. As soon as my feet landed, his mouth dropped as his eyes widened, and I shoved him across the room as hard as I could.
He flew in the air and smacked into a mirror with a loud thud. The crashing echoed in the room, shards raining down on him, making little slices all over his skin as he slid to the floor. Blood from the back of his head ran down the wall. I rose and grabbed my sword like I planned.
“You want to know why, Father?” He grunted as I sped up to him, taking advantage of the seconds he was down. I grabbed at the scraps of his shirt. “It’s because of you.” I lifted him and threw him across the room.
He finally got up, only one sai in hand as I advanced on him. This time with fire in my belly and something to prove. “You were the one who taught me.” I swung at him as he let out a manic laugh, but I kept going forward and swinging with precision and might.
I huffed out—angry, tired, mad, sad, proud, all those feelings bled out of me as I advanced on him. “The Syndicate is everything. The men in this room are theonlypeople who truly matter in this world.Thatis what you taught me. What you engraved into the inside of my skull, branded into my skin, carved into the depths of my heart, and burned into the center of my soul. The Syndicate is what Iliveandbreathe.” My dad’s eyes widened as my words sunk in. Emotions flooded them, but I didn’t have time to concern myself with that. We were not done yet, and, in this room, under these rules, I needed to take him down to win. To have my chance to fix the wrongs laid against Lex, and I would not lose.
I took advantage of him being distracted by my declaration and dropped then spun around as I swept my leg against his, and he fell to his back. Then I jumped on top of him. My heart beat a million miles a minute as adrenaline raced through my veins. I pointed my sword toward his neck—my victory seconds away.
His sai blocked my blade in the nick of time. I grunted in frustration as I pushed down, growling in his face like a beast. “And you have the gall to ask me why? Why I would want to help one of our own? Why I would move the sky to bring him back into the fold? If you want to know why, then look at yourself.” I yelled the last part, spitting as much venom from my soul as I had at him doubting my decision, my dedication.
The vow in my heart spilled out of my mouth, steady and true. “I will bring Lex Devil back where he belongs, with or without your help.”
With vampire speed, he lifted his free hand, too fast for me to catch, and ran the pad of his finger down the side of my face like I was the most precious thing in this world to him. I stiffened at the pride and love in his eyes that smacked me in the face as he said, “There she is. The boss that won’t let anyone stop her from getting what she wants. Won’t let anyone stand in her way. Not even her old man.”
He looked at me for another second as if he was trying to memorize every detail of this moment to keep it in his mind for the rest of his life. “I yield.” He let go of his sai, bringing both hands up in surrender and grinned like he was the one that had won.
“Shit,” someone whispered in a husky voice on the sideline, but I didn’t take my eyes off my dad as I stabbed my sword into the mat next to his head, stood up, and put my hand out to help him up.
“Do they figure out all of their disagreements like this?” Easton balked. I envisioned him studying us with a critical eye, pinpointing our weaknesses just to exploit them.
“I don’t know, but, next time, I’m putting my money on that little rapscallion of his,” Syris whispered, his tone making me imagine money signs in his eyes as he rubbed his hands together at the idea.
“She has the heart of a warrior but the mind of a boss. It’s a good mix,” Manic proclaimed, and I almost smiled at the compliment, but I felt like that would be too touchy-feely for this group.
I stalked over to the metal cooler, my cheeks burning from all the attention, and focused on getting replenished after the fight that took a lot out of me. When both of us go all out, we sure like to put a lot of power into it. I opened the cooler and grabbed a few bags. I turned back around to my dad on the mat standing still, smiling, and laughing up at the ceiling as he whispered, “Jenny. She’s more than we ever dreamed.”
I looked down as tears clouded my eyes. He only speaks to Mom when he really feels like he needs to tell her something, when his emotions run so high he just can’t help but talk to her.
“Get off the mat, you loon. It makes you look even more crazy when you do that shit.” Syris and the other bosses made jabs at him losing as they walked over to him. I shoved those tears deep down, sucking them back up like they never existed, and tore into the bag with my teeth, drawing as much of the crimson liquid as I could to settle myself.
I hollered at my dad, “Oy! Catch.” His head turned as his hand came up, and I threw him a bag of blood. He had a little more class than me and took off the top and drank the liquid down, not leaving behind a single drop.
Cosmo slid up to my side, not saying a word, just being there for me, like always. I wanted to turn to him, to wrap my arms around him and squeeze him tight. For him to tell me I kicked ass and I was the most amazing person he had ever known. I wanted him to whisper these things against my ear, run his nose along my neck, and make me feel things a sister shouldn’t.
“That was crazy! I now know why you wanted to be called a fierce girl all those years ago.” I shook my head of my earlier thoughts and saw that the other heirs had made their way over to me. Avery’s words made me smile, and his eyes lit up as he stepped forward, grabbing my hand and laying a quick peck there. “You definitely are something else.”
Falcon took a different approach as he looked around. “I like the clean set up of a training room like this. As you were fighting, I had a few ideas to upgrade it if you want to talk about that later.” The small sliver of hope in his eyes interested me, and I nodded.
“Of course. You know I love your inventions. Don’t think I forgot that you owe me one of those sick ass magic guns.” I pointed to him, and his ears turned red as he kept his face still. I was learning that him being so stiff and rigid meant he was working very hard not to show emotions, so it made me want to see it more and more.
“I told you. Once it’s done, I will let you know when we have a list.” The sly bastard would run a hard bargain for it, but I would find something he wanted soon enough. I could wait him out.
“Now I want to fight you. I want to see what kind of a bloody mess we could make.” Everyone stopped talking, turned to the grinning wolf that only had eyes for me, and frowned. I laughed, knowing exactly how he felt.
I let my eyes turn sultry as my smile turned naughty. “Any time, any place. You know where I live.”
He growled, adjusting his pants as his eyes never left me. Avery rolled his eyes at Ax while Falcon ignored him. Cosmo was the only one that inched closer like he wanted to save me from the horny wolf with everything he had. I patted Cosmo’s back, telling him to stand down.
