“Yeah, he does. He is so different from all the other beasties. Ten or eleven in one, but none of them either. I have a feeling that is what I struggle with the most.”
Lucian chuckled again. “Something tells me he will never lose that name.”
“Nope.”
“You ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
Lucian tapped his gel pad next to his temple, and I did the same.
The arena immediately turned into day, and the crowd cheered. The MC spoke, and the gate opened.
The Rubicon stepped out.
You can do this, Elena. You know what he is going to do. Just breathe.
My heart thumped inside my chest as I took a deep breath.
He walked closer. Tons of muscle and scales with tendrils bopped with every step. His eyes were blood red, and it sent a shiver down my throat. The beast walked closer and spoke in Latin. He didn’t do that last time.
Lucian answered him, and he gurgled.
“What is he saying?”
“Programmed a stupid thing in order to spike up my adrenaline.”
I laughed.
The Rubicon opened his mouth, and both Lucian and I ran in different directions. He followed Lucian as if I was invisible. I was grateful for that, as I saw Lucian move with the Rubicon.
He was fast for a lump of beast, and Lucian was a master with all his abilities. Not that he would receive them in reality. But he gave me a great visual of what it would be like for me.
I observed a lot and was ready to take a chance. The Rubicon turned his back. It was a great opportunity to jump and I did. The adrenaline actually did what it needed to do for the first time in my life.
I didn’t freeze and moved forward, pushed forward. I grabbed his tendrils and yanked as hard as I could.
I didn’t like the screech that came out of his lips and felt sorry for him. He went down and his eyes faded from red. The words Yield flashed in big gold letters in front of me, and Lucian hollered.
He disappeared, and I tapped on my pads and yanked the goggles off.
“He yielded,” I yelled and jumped into his arms.
“You did it. Wicked.”
I pushed my lips onto his. My stomach went crazy with the butterflies as his soft warm lips caressed mine. There was no buzzing coming from him the way it came from Blake, but it was magical.
Lucian pulled away. “I’m sorry, we can’t do this, Elena.”
He put me down.
The rejection from his words felt as if my insides shattered. “Yeah, I… I know, I’m sorry.” It barely came out as tears pricked my eyes. “Just forget it happened, please.” I ran to the stairs.
“Elena,” Lucian yelled, but I was too embarrassed to turn around.
He would always choose the Rubicon.
I went to my room and shut the door behind me.
