Page 93

LUNA: Well, he didn’t hesitate to hurt me today.

ALLORA: My advice is this: He’s about to fight in public for the first time in like, five years. Let this go until after the fight. Then you sit him down and tell him exactly how he hurt you.

LUNA: I know you’re right.

ALLORA: He’s not perfect, not by a long shot, but he and Landon are two of the best men I’ve ever known. Strong, capable and loyal to a fault. I mean, he knocked the snot out of that Bronco asshole for what he said.

I manage a wry smile even though she can’t see it.

LUNA: That he did.

ALLORA: He loves you, Luna. It’s going to be okay.

LUNA: He’s never said those words, though.

ALLORA: It doesn’t matter. Actions speak louder than words—and I’m talking about both how he treats you AND the stupid thing he said when you argued.

LUNA: Thanks for listening.

ALLORA: Text me during the fight—we can ‘watch’ it together. I’ll have it on here.

LUNA: Will do. Talk later.

ALLORA: Chin up—everything is going to be okay.

I don’t feel nearly as hopeful as she does.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Rage

The crowd is loud. Just as loud as any sanctioned fight I ever participated in, and it temporarily throws me for a loop. For some reason, I didn’t think it would be like this. I’ve been somewhat minimizing the impact of the fight, but now that I’m here and it’s about to begin, I feel that familiar pull. The one that makes everything disappear, so that I’m completely immersed in the fight.

Except for the argument with Luna.

It wasn’t even an argument. I thought I was being patient, reminding her of what we talked about before, so that she doesn’t get overly anxious or stressed. Instead, it’s obvious I hurt her feelings. When I tried to back pedal, she told me she didn’t want to talk until after the fight.

I took her at her word, but now I’m beginning to second-guess myself.

I should have just apologized. Explained that I didn’t want her to be stressed—that stress could impact her ability to get pregnant almost as much as her hormones. Instead, I took a power nap while she did something on her phone. Then we left for the venue and she went in search of Candy.

After what happened at weigh-in, I decide to do the walk out on my own. No entourage, no fanfare. Just me walking out to the cage, where Grim and Metal will be waiting, and Luna will hopefully be in the front row, along with Daniil, Courtney, Eric, Delilah, and a handful of guys from the Renegade Demons. Everyone else had work commitments, which is fair, but it’ll be nice to have people out there cheering for me.

Especially Luna.

I don’t know why I reacted the way I did when she started talking about her face being plastered all over the internet.

She had a point.

And I ignored it.

Because I was trying to focus on the fight.

Because she has been hormonal and out of sorts lately.

Because I’ve never felt like this about anyone and it might be fucking with my head. So, instead of talking to her about how I feel, I lashed out at the worst possible time. It probably didn’t help that I was starving, but that’s no excuse.

Dammit.