Swallowing the nervous lump that had grown in my throat, I pulled the key from my leggings and walked up to Grayson. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes that bordered on dangerous.
“You better play fair,” I muttered under my breath, loud enough for him to hear.
“Are you telling me what to do?” Grayson asked, looking down at me. “Maybe if you asked nicely.”
He held his hand out towards me. I unlocked the cuff and took it from him carefully, not wanting to touch his bare skin. Erik had left a lasting impression, and he was all about love. I didn’t want to entertain the thought of what Grayson’s power might be capable of. What kind of awful things he could pull to the surface.
“Grayson,” I said seriously. “No one else can know.”
He was no longer looking at me. Instead, his focus zeroed in on Matthew.
“Grayson,” I said, trying to get him to listen to me, but it was pointless.
Sal ushered me out of the ring, and I stood as close as I could, prepared to watch the madness unfold.
It was amusing to see just how easy it was to get a rise out of Holden. His anger sat at the surface, bubbling beneath the paper-thin, nice boy exterior, and it took little coaxing to pull it out of him. Holden was a man who took things personally. He thought of himself as the typical alpha male and hated to be questioned or bested, and so, naturally, I’d done both.
What I hadn’t expected was for him to be pushed to where he’d agree to a physical fight. The moment Sal mentioned the ring, I was more than happy to oblige and show Holden why he shouldn’t have been so stupid. The moment he agreed, he confirmed the lack of functioning neural networks in the lump of grey that sat between his ears.
“You’ve made a grave mistake,” I told him, slipping a fresh mouth guard in.
Scott had taken the cuff from my wrist, and I pulled on some worn boxing gloves with disgust. How strange that mortals fought with their fists. No blazing colours of clashing auras as the Gods had.
“You shouldn’t have opened your mouth,” Holden hissed.
Wave after wave of nervous energy rolled in from Scott. She hovered directly beside the ring; her face peeking out between the canvas and lowest rope. It was good for her to lose control over situations. A harsh reminder that she wasn’t lord and master of her destiny.
Holden and I touched gloves at the centre of the ring, a symbol of respect that neither of us cared for.
I knew as much as the fact that Matthew Holden was an ignorant and arrogant man. He prayed to me regularly, folding his knees in the temple and at home over the pettiest things, and now that I stood before him, he believed he could take me on. For all the prayers answered, he had the audacity to turn against me.
There wasn’t a single thought that ran through his head that I couldn’t read, and as a result, I knew every move he planned to make.
Ducking and dodging, I fed off Holden’s anger and frustration, allowing it to make me sharper and stronger. When I swung for him, I tried to hold back my strength, but it still sent Holden stumbling back towards the ropes.
The mortal pushed himself back towards me and we went blow for blow. It took minimal effort on my part, barely breaking a sweat as I countered each punch that came my way. The longer the fight dragged on, the harder I found it to rein in my powers. There was too much to feed from. Anger, anxiety, chaos; it drove me, and if I wasn’t careful, I’d lose control over my aura.
A few more powerful punches, and Holden kissed the canvas. I felt my rage simmering at the surface as I towered over the man, but Sal pushed at my chest to get me away.
“Matt!”
Scott slid into the ring and kneeled beside her colleague. His face was red and already swelling. Holden would sport a beautiful bruise on his cheek to match the one on his neck.
He sat up slowly with her help, dazed from the bout.
“We are done here!” Scott yelled up at me.
By the time we arrived back at her house, Scott was so furious that she refused to look at or say a word to me. Holden had become her primary concern, as he refused to see a doctor, leaving Scott to play the role of his personal nurse. Her anger stretched to Holden as well, but she seemed to hold it back where the mortal was concerned.
Rather than sitting in silence, being public enemy number one, I changed my plans. Originally, I’d no intention of attending the council meeting today, still livid with the way they had conducted business to create this circus, but it was the more attractive option.
Hunter and Larkin lived at Gareth’s home, and they’d been granted the pleasure of using the house as a meeting spot. Wrapping my aura around me, I let it take me to the residence.
“We saved you a spot, Gray,” Sloan called over as I arrived in the garden where the rest of the elite were dotted.
I dropped into the seat beside Erik, who rubbed his wife’s bump gently. Sloan placed a hand over his and offered a smile. They were sickeningly sweet and if they weren’t my favourite people, I would have said something. Even if I had, they wouldn’t listen. Erik and Sloan were hard-wired to be openly affectionate.
Elva took the free seat to my left, and I took in a deep breath. She swept the long dark hair that fell like a curtain between us out of the way and wiggled her slender fingers.
