Four
Nikolai
Four Years Later
The smell of sweat and blood filled the air. The crowd was already packing into the warehouse, pressing up against the sides of the cage, yelling and jeering.
“You win this, kid,” Dimitri said, his hand clenching on my shoulder. It was an order, one he probably backed with thousands of dollars.
The bite of pain brought me back. I blinked once and nodded. He knew why today was worse. He was planning to profit off of it.
Today marked four years since Aries disappeared.
Four fucking years with no leads.
I was always searching, scouring the internet for clues, paying people to investigate, and yet no one had turned up a thing.
Twice a month, I religiously called the useless police department for updates, ensuring they could never forget that they failed her.
Failed all of us.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, my voice rough from disuse. I didn’t bother to talk much. Hell, I didn’t bother to live much, if I was being honest.
I had lost the one important person to me and everything else was just bullshit.
The feeling of someone’s eyes boring into me had me glancing up, scanning the crowd until my gaze landed on a man at the front. The way he watched me had me shifting uncomfortably, something about that gaze felt heavy.
Did he know her? I waited for someone to come out, to tell me to stop digging, to give me a direction, but it never came.
He didn’t look away from me once, simply cocked an eyebrow as if challenging me. I couldn’t make out any other features other than pink hair, it was too damn dark in this warehouse.
I wanted to move closer, to ask what his problem was, but it was too late. Silas was already stepping into the middle of the ring, announcing another fight in this godforsaken hellscape.
Dimitri had promised me a safe house, and despite losing everything, I’d taken him up on it. Somehow, I’d ended up fighting several nights a week, not just the designated two. It was one of the only ways I kept my wits about me, and when I wasn’t fighting, I was training.
Anything to exhaust my body enough that my mind was silent. I existed in that numb space just past exhaustion. The one where reality didn’t have any leverage.
Aries was the only reason I still woke up every day. She deserved to be found, and it had already been too long.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, shaking out my limbs and relaxing my body. This was the one place where I truly thrived, the only thing I had left.
My opponent, whose name I didn’t bother to learn, was grinning like a madman. He had several jagged teeth, others missing altogether. It marked him as a seasoned fighter and I knew his type. Cocky and thought their size was enough to defeat their opponents.
I’d made a reputation for myself here. I was known as the Hellhound. Unbreakable, undefeated, never letting an injury stop me. I had enough scars and barely healed bones to earn my reputation. Yet, men continued to fight me, eager to prove they could best the greatest.
They failed. Every time.
I circled the beast of an alpha, my eyes locked onto his, gauging every movement he made. Every shift of his muscled body was an indication of how he held himself and where his weaknesses were hidden away.
It didn’t take me long to spot it. He favored his right side, leaning heavily on it as he moved around me.
A feral grin lit my face like I’d already won. His eyes widened in response. Even if they thought they were the prime alpha in this world, they were truly prey.
It was our first time crossing paths, and he wasn’t scared enough yet. But he’d learn.
I hadn’t lost a match for a reason. Today wasn’t going to be the day I did, either. I’d fight until I couldn’t feel a thing anymore.
Thinking I was distracted, he launched forward, trying to jab me in the ribs and knock me off balance.
