Zeth’s hand brushed my elbow, grounding and infuriating at the same time. My head snapped toward him, his clenched jaw and those worried Caribbean-tide eyes seeing far too much. I yanked my arm free with a tight smile, covering the slip.
“Just taking my time. Don’t want my ears bleeding later because I chose the wrong one.”
I spun back fast, as if I could outrun his suspicion, only to collide with those golden eyes again. They weren’t just on me; they wereinme. The words left my lips before I thought better of it. Chin lifted, I pointed.
“That one.”
Shading his eyes with his hand, Hime squinted. “You want to stake a bet on a turned wolf?”
His disbelief wasn’t unfounded. Turned wolves were slower, weaker, fragile in comparison to bloodline-born, but those eyes—gods, those eyes—held a determination that dared me not to trust it. He had pain buried deep, but it was burning hot enough to ignite and win. That man would survive if he wanted to… and that seemed like the best bet for me. High risk but high reward.
“Yep.” I popped my hip and turned to Hime, arching my brow in practiced defiance. “So, really, you have no excuse not to win, right?”
The look Hime shot me said he knew I was pulling something, but he didn’t know exactly what.
“Nash! Nick! Get in the pit!” he barked. Eyeing me again, he huffed, “We’ll see, Boss. We’ll see.”
Those piercing, molten yellow eyes—Nick’seyes—never left mine. Even as he moved forward, even as a lock of raven-black hair slid into his face. My breath caught when he dragged off his dark grey shirt, the fabric clinging until the last second before baring a body cut from years of training and control.
If I were anyone else, I’d be fanning myself. If Niyah were here, she’d be hooting and demanding he strip off the rest.
Nick. So, that’s his name. I’ll remember that.
The same chill from before ran down my spine, electric and unsettling, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the thrill of the fight about to start… or because ofhim.
I forced my gaze off him and onto his opponent, the vampire, and gripped my arms hard. He looked like he’d crawledstraight out of a war zone. Scars webbed across his face and body, catching the light in jagged slashes. That alone told me something. Vampires weren’t supposed to keep scars unless they deliberately stunted their healing, which meant this male carried his damage like a badge.
His muscles swelled under his skin as if they wanted to break free, his dark eyes narrow, head shaved clean. Grim Reaper, that was the vibe. For half a second, I almost worried for Nick.Almost. Then the ref’s whistle blew.
The scarred vampire lunged, slamming his shoulder into Nick’s face. The crack of bone made me wince, and the thud of his body hitting the floor shook through me. The vampire straddled him and started hammering blows with no hesitation. Nick covered his face, weathering it like a shield wall, but it wasn’t a good look.
I nearly opened my mouth to call it, to tell Hime he won and to end it, but something stopped me cold. The air shifted. Down in the pit, the vampire started showboating, throwing in unnecessary flourishes between strikes. That arrogance was his mistake.
Nick had been waiting for his perfect time to strike. One second, the vampire was pointing to another fighter, and the next, Nick’s legs snaked around the vampire’s ankles, twisting with sharp, brutal efficiency, and rolling him to the side. In a blink, he had the upper hand. My chest jolted so hard I thought it might crack my ribs. He shifted his hands into claws, slowly, deliberately, then raked them across the vampire’s face. Flesh tore. Blood sprayed, but not once did Nick hesitate. He just kept going.
Nick was measured and steady, almost restrained, and obviously trained in combat… until he struck like lightning. It was the stuff of nightmares and dreams. I’d owned plenty of gyms all overthe United States, but I’d never seen a supe male fight like this before. Elusive. Controlled. Under that calm, the killer was alive and hunting.
The vampire managed to buck him off eventually, but it didn’t matter. The damage was done. His body slowed, but not in a calculating way, more like he was unraveling.
“What the fuck?” Zeth barked, his voice cracking. Beside me, Hime’s arms were folded taut, eyes locked on the pit, and I saw it. He finally recognized the potential I’d spotted from the start.
The vampire fought like any other supe, using raw speed and brute strength. Nick fought like something else entirely. His dodges were slick, his footwork deceptive, like the way he slid behind an opponent like smoke then punished them with precision.
When the final countdown hit, he unleashed. Kicks, strikes, every blow landed, every dodge clean, and when the whistle blew, he finished with a savage uppercut that rattled the vampire’s teeth. The body hit the ground hard. The crowd along the edges roared, fighters pounding his back. The winner was obvious.
I turned to Hime, arms crossed, a sharp smile cutting across my face. I flicked my tongue over a fang I’d let slide out, long and thin, a flash of my savage side. “Told you.”
“Fucking fine,” Hime grumbled. “You win. Don’t get a big head about it.”
Too late. That giddy rush burned through me, hot and electric. I glanced back down at Nick, who was already looking up at me. Our eyes caught, held, before I blew him a kiss and winked. A promise. He’d be mine.
“Good job, Hime,” I said briskly, looking down at my watch to see whether we needed to head out to the next spot. “We’ve got to split, but make sure Nick’s name is on my winners roster tonight.”
“You got it, princesa,” he muttered, trying for good sportsmanship.
I hugged him quickly, but my eyes betrayed me, darting back to that wide, sweat-slick, toned back in the pit. My lip caught between my teeth before I could stop it, a thought burning hot in my mind. What would it feel like to touch him? To dig my nails into that muscle and feel it flex beneath me?
“Nova!” Zeth’s bark snapped me back, pulling me toward the door.
