It wanted to take away the female in the cage.
But I protected the feeling I got when I thought about her, and kept my eyes trained on the shifter walking ahead of me.
“Hand to hand battle only. You may use magic. And whoever loses…” The demon overseeing the fights trailed off, but it appeared the crowd understood what he meant.
So did the shifter, because she tensed under the scrutiny of his gaze and the looks of the others.
When she stopped in the centre of the ring, I joined her. Something flashed in her eyes, something I didn’t recognise. I couldn’t pull her face from any memories; she wasn’t someone I’d interacted with before, though I couldn’t be sure. I wish I’d taken the chance to check with the vampire. He would have given away if she were someone to watch out for.
“Let the fight begin!” Over the roar of the crowd, I listened to the thundering beat of my heart. My opponent bowed her head, eyes flickering behind me towards the soldiers gathered for their chance in the ring. Irritation flared in her glowing eyes, but the moment they snapped back to mine, she struck.
I had no time to think; she was swift and agile, slamming her foot into my stomach before spinning out of my grasp. The air left me in a huff, the pain dull. It wasn’t enough to bring the clarity again.
She stalked me as I let my wings free. I turned in a slow circle, keeping her in my line of sight, feeling the pull of air at my fingertips. But I didn’t use it.
The female bared her teeth. “Attack,” she said, voice lowering into a growl.
I gritted my teeth, pushed into the air, and threw myself at her. The shifter coiled her arms around me as we hit the ground. I brought my wings in before they could be broken bythe impact, groaning at the force of them snapping into my body.
We rolled, dirt rising around us. The dull hum of the crowd turned to a roar of sound and chaos as we came to a stop with her hovering above me.
For a split moment, she glanced away, eyes darting up to the crowd. From my position below, I couldn’t tell where she was looking, but the darkening of her eyes made my stomach clench. But she hesitated when our eyes connected again.
The beast wasn’t present anymore, and she was in full control of herself and her creature. Either that was going to serve me well, or it was going to make this more difficult.
“Hit me,” I growled, slamming my hand into her forearm, which was giving her the stability to hover over me. “Fight.”
Her lip curled in a snarl. “You’re waking up.”
Those three words caught me by surprise, but so did the twist of her lips as she smiled. I let my hand fall from her forearm as she leaned closer, voice lowering so much it was almost inaudible over the shouts of the guards.
“You want out? You do as I say,” she said, eyes flashing with a fire I’d never seen from the other creatures working for the king. “You aren’t his lackey anymore.”
I felt that familiar sensation in the back of my mind again, but when the icy fingers inched closer to my consciousness, I shoved it back forcefully.
“Fight me,” was all I could manage, gritting my teeth as the pressure intensified.
Without another word, she slammed her fist into my chin. The hit had me biting down on my tongue, splitting the inside of my cheek. Blood filled my mouth, and I spat onto the dirt with a cough.
But that one hit forced the icy fingers away from my memories. For a moment, the darkness peeled back to reveal a memory that’d been only a flash of familiarity before. The emotions that rose with it took my breath away.
“Ivy, you need to release it,” I’d growled, absolutely terrified, because I knew if she gave into the power building inside her, itwould claim her—maybe even kill her. “You need to give them the magic. Please, just release the fucking magic.”
I’d never felt so much fear before for any other living creature. But somehow, I’d been terrified forher.
I sucked in a breath as the female above me hit me again. “Make this look real, Nash. Otherwise, we’re both dead,” she hissed.
That was the only warning I got before she moved to strike again. This time, I batted her arm away and shoved her off me.
All at once, the sound of the crowd hit me, the rush of noise ringing in my ears. The light above us made my vision swim for a moment, and I had to blink hard against the glare burning my eyes.
It didn’t stop the shifter from striking at me with a hand partially clawed. Out of instinct, I went to step away from the hit and the pain that would come with it. But at the last second, I hesitated, and made a half-assed attempt to get away, letting her claws dig into my side.
The claws ripped through my abdomen, sending my blood flying across the dirt. In the distance, I heard shouts that were unlike the others. Warnings played in my mind. Darkness swam at the edges of my vision—not from the pain, but from something else.
Again, I sawher. Green dress hugging her curved figure, the sight of her in it my complete undoing.
Observing her on a sofa with a blonde female at her side, both laughing, sitting together without a care in the world.
