I laughed at the mental image of Mattie going all nuclear on my opponent. "It'll be easy," I promised her. "If Rafe and Jordan aren't fighting me—or Nolan, either, I guess—then I seriously doubt there will be many other fighters who can kick my ass."
Mattie grinned wide. "Confident. I like it. Well then, I can't freaking wait. What do I wear, though? Fucking hell, we need the whole afternoon to sort out outfits. Wait, do you even still have your costume? And where's your blade?"
I smiled at her fussing. "All safe in my room, I checked last week. Good thing I didn't have my weapon on me at the Spring Ball or it'd be long gone now. Don't worry about what to wear, though. You'll see."
* * *
Mattie mutteredcurses under her breath the whole way through the hidden tunnels, and it did nothing but amuse the rest of us.
"Seriously, you guys," she spoke up just before we reached the fight arena, "how come I couldn't wear a cute outfit like Vi? She looks hot as fuck, like spontaneous combustion hot. And I'm stuffed in this fucking ski mask like some kind of—"
"Like everyone elsenotfighting tonight?" Nolan replied with an eye roll. "That's the point, Matisse. Anonymity."
Mattie grumbled some more. "It's unsexy, that's what it is."
I just shared a grin with my guys. Mattie was adorable as hell, and we all knew she was worried about not looking cute in front of Zach. And that saideverythingabout how much he was under her skin.
The fights this time were in a completely different section of the hidden passages that I hadn’t been to before. This part almost looked like it had been an underground railway at some point, with huge train tracks we had to walk over to get to the main space.
“I’m digging this fucking vibe,” Mattie said, head tilted up as she stared at the heavy beams crisscrossing the stone walls. Hundreds of years ago, there would have been shop fronts or ticket windows but now they were nothing more than relics of a time long passed.
“Is the secrecy thing a moot point now?” I asked, noticing no one was trying to shut Mattie up. “Or is it just a waste of time trying to keep her quiet?”
Nolan snorted. “A little of both. And you can’t talk. Your first time here you asked me about a million questions in eighteen seconds.”
I nailed him with a deadpan stare. “That is legitimately not even possible. Asshole.”
Nolan reached out and brushed a hand across my cheek. “You’re cute when you get feisty.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t show him just how feisty I could be because we were right in the midst of the crowd. The atmosphere was a little different tonight; for some reason it felt lighter, less cloak and dagger. Maybe it was that my purple outfit was covered in a robe, so fewer eyeballs were on me, or maybe it was that the news of the successful vote had already reached the resis—Societywho ran these underground fights.
Either way, I was loving the new feel, and it sent trills of excitement through me. This was often how I felt just before a fight, and… it was fucking addictive.
“Welcome to fight niiiiiight” The announcer’s voice blasted through the room as everyone started to move toward the four square-shaped fight zones. There was more space in this section and judging by the additional marked off areas it looked like tonight was going to have a lot of fights.
Mattie started to bounce on her toes. “I can’t believe I’m here. This is not even remotely as grungy and gangland as I was expecting.”
A few faces turned our way at her loud exclamation, but a swift stare from Fallen Angel sent them right back to minding their own business.
“Fighters, make your way to the cordoned-off area,” the announcer continued. “We will announce the draw as soon as we have all of you checked in.”
“I’m going to keep an eye on Mattie,” Nolan said. “You all do me proud tonight, or I’m going to cancel our ugly Christmas sweater card this year. Winners get ugly sweaters, alright? Just winners.”
Jordan and Rafe punched their friend on the shoulder, and Mattie gave me a quick hug.
“Kick ass, bitch,” she said as she pulled away. “I’m gonna bet on you, and then we can use that money for booze and strippers.”
“Not a fucking chance,” Rafe growled before he and Jordan dragged me away toward the fighter’s special location.
Chapter 34
“How are you feeling?” Jordan asked as we stood a little to the side of the fighters. “Feeling in the zone? Not tired?”
I laughed at his cute worrying. “I feel great! I’m so ready for this fight… It’s exactly what I need after that stressful vote.”
“You’ll fight twice,” Rafe said. “The three of us all have two fights tonight, actually.”
Somehow Rafe always knew these things even though they were supposed to be secret.
