by Lea Jade
“Am I?” she says. “You feel it too.”
My wolf bays to get out, clawing at the mental hold I have on him.
Mine.
“Fuck, Jess,” I croak, taking a step back and then another. I can’t be this close to her right now.
“Why fight it?” She goes to take a step and I shake my head.
“Jess,” I hiss. “I am this close to shifting. You don’t want to be in the same room as horny wolf. Do not tempt me, omega. Not today.”
She scowls. “That’s why you need to claim me. You won’t last the fight if you go in there like you are now. You’re not healing, your wolf is unstable… Claim me and you’ll be stronger for the fight. There’s no denying it’s the only way.”
“No, we’re not doing this.” I shake my head.
She narrows her eyes and edges closer, offering me her neck like she did the first time in the clinic. I wet my lips unable to tear my eyes away from the pulse of her throat. I can practically taste her. “You don’t get to decide. This is my body.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I do. I wasn’t lying when told you I’ve wanted you my whole life.” Her voice cracks, like it’s hard to speak.
“If I don’t survive tonight, neither will you…”
She comes closer until she’s pressed up against me again, head bent over to one side offering me the creamy slope of her shoulder. The anger in her seems to have evaporated. She looks up at me with wide, moist eyes and the saddest smile. “I believe in you, Jake.”
Two dragons, she wants me to fight and kill two black dragons, because that’s the only way they’ll let us go—if I destroy them. I exhale and close my eyes, breathing in the scent of her, brushing my lips over her sweet skin. My throat is dry as hell and all I can think about is sinking my jaws into her, claiming her, taking her.
“Why on earth would you?”
“Because, I love you,” she says softly.
“Oh, Jess,” I say quietly as I sigh into her shoulder. My hands wrap around her waist and I pull her into a solid embrace. “You don’t know what you’re asking…”
Chapter 13
Jess
A bang at the door breaks the spell—and us—apart. Jake looks at me with relief, eyes and heart closing down. I see him lock his beast deep somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine and throw away the key.
“Just ignore whoever it is,” I say as the door bangs again.
Jake firms his jaw and turns heel, leaving me abruptly while he answers the door.
The ache of him shutting down rips through me.
How can he do this after…
Coward! I yell it my mind, if only he could hear me. But, oh no, he can’t because he didn’t claim me. I watch him as he opens the door amid banging, and Nadine stumbles inside. She looks surprised, like she really didn’t expect me to be here. And from the look on Jake’s face, he wasn’t expecting her either.
Nadine is fast becoming my least favorite cockblock.
“Come in, why don’t you?” Jake exhales as she storms past him. She’s dressed immaculately; a crisp white shirt tucked into a belted, long and flowing blue skirt complete with kitten-heeled cowboy boots, but unlike the times I’ve seen her before, she seems flustered.
“Jess, finally, I’ve found you. You need to come with me.” In her hand she holds up a key. Eric’s key.
I feel my face form a frown. “How did you? Oh, never mind.”
“It was on the floor in the penthouse after you both left. Eric was totally out of it when I meet him up there. He’s in a terrible rage this morning by the way. Hungover, if you can imagine that.”
“Nadine, why are you here?” Jake asks, arms folded.
She ignores Jake, focusing on me. “I need you to help me one last time.”
“Nadine, it’s over. My brother…”
“Is here, in the building!”
My eyes widen as a flare of hope sparks inside of me. “Where?”
Jakes comes to stand between me and Nadine. He looks at her and then me with suspicious eyes. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
When I don’t say anything, Nadine starts to explain to Jake what she suspects the twins of while I stand there with my arms crossed. Childish, I know, but I’m tired and Jake being a stubborn ass is making me feel hot and bothered.
He was never going do it. I offered myself on a plate and he just shut me down.
It takes me several minutes to calm myself enough to think rationally what to do next. The fight is in seven hours... seven hours! I need to find Dylan before then. If Nadine knows where he is, then I’m going with her.
I stand up and catch Nadine’s eye mid-sentence. “Are we going then? I’m done here.”
“Yes, yes, let’s go.”
“Jess, you’re not going with her. This feels wrong. If the twins find out what you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to save my brother, that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Why does she need you? What’s in it for her? This makes no sense.”
“Needing me makes no sense? Fuck you, Jake Cabot. I might be an omega but I’m not entirely useless.” And with that, I grab my abandoned killer heels and walk out the door. I don’t bother to look back.
Nadine appears beside me a few steps later, her boots clattering on the concrete as she catches up.
“That was awkward. No better than my brother then?”
I chew my lower lip and shake my head, still scowling.
“No, he’s worse.”
After I’ve showered and changed into a spare set of clothes in the Pit female changing rooms, Nadine explains how she overheard Xavier talking Eric down from killing someone called Hunter this morning, since she spent the night at the club. She’s also shown me a copy of all the evidence she has against Eric and Xavier swindling their family’s company. Mostly, it’s all Eric. Xavier seems to be tarred with the same brush just for being his twin. But however much she has, it’s not enough to get them kicked off the board of the dragon dynasty trust. Not yet anyway.
“They must have forgotten I was in the next room. Hunter is your brother right?”
Eric was going to kill him?
I can’t help but clench and unclench my fists, just hearing his name so casually on her lips has me on edge. “So, he’s here, in the warehouse, you just don’t know where exactly?”
“Either the warehouse or their apartment next door. It sounded like he was close.”
“Okay, so how do we find him?” I ask, unable to hide the exasperation in my voice. Any minute now, I’m going to start pacing the room.
Nadine grins at me and hold up the key. “We break into the main office. They’ll have some evidence somewhere.”
“We can’t just break in.”
“Eric and Xavier are at an emergency meeting with the board. This is our only chance. If we leave it any later this place is going to be swarming.”
She goes to hand me the key and what Jake said comes back to haunt me. Why does she need me?
“Jake is right, you could just break in by yourself. Get your evidence. Why are you helping me?”
Her brow creases as she tilts her head to look at me. “I assumed we were friends. Are we not?”
“I hardly know you,” I say honestly.
“Look, you’ve every right to be cautious. I’m only giving you a chance to find your brother. You helped get the key, after all. This is your win too. If you don’t want it…” She pulls back the key.
“No. I want it. I just don’t understand why I’m the one breaking into the office.”
She frowns and tilts her head. “Because I’m the one who has a psychic connection to both Eric and Xavier remember? If they sense me at all while I’m in there, it will all be over. I need you because you’re not family.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that.” As the air leaves my lungs, I absently rub at my temples. “Sorry, I just feel like I shouldn’t be trusting anyone r
ight now.”
Nadine melts into a smile. “Oh, hush, I would be asking the same questions given everything that’s happened. Now, are you in or not.”
“I’m in,” I say, holding my hand out for the key.
She places it in my palm along with a flash drive of some sort. “Copy everything you can onto this while the fight is happening, and then call me. I’ll come and get you.” She looks at her watch. “Now I must go, I’ve got a board meeting to gatecrash,” she says, eyes sparkling like she’s enjoying this whole thing.
I watch her disappear down the tunnel and when I’m certain she’s gone, I dig in my bag for my own keys to the clinic and open up. On the back of the chair is my white coat, still in the place I left it. I walk over and slip my hands in the pocket feeling for my own evidence. My hands close on cold enamel and I pull out the item, inspecting it before popping it into my bag and taking out my phone.
Before I can even release a breath, I’m calling the only person I can think who can fix all this.
It rings, once, twice, a dozen times.
I’m just about to hang up when he answers.
“Hello?”
I take a deep breath and try to calm my stupid, thumping-all-over-the-place heart with a count to three. “We need to talk.”
Chapter 14
Jake
My wolf is antsy tonight.
I can feel him pacing the mental cage I keep him in. Occasionally he surges to the fore, changing my eyes, taking over my senses. The crowd swells around me. Spotlights burn, the heat of them slashing across my bare chest. As the announcer’s voice rings out, the music kicks in, and I walk out to the cage alone.
I always walk out alone. It’s my thing or was my thing. The lone wolf.
I can’t help but scan the chaos and the crowd even though it’s apparent she isn’t here. I’ve honestly never felt loss so acutely until now. She didn’t even give me a chance to ask about her brother being Alpha of her pack. For reasons unknown, that little fact niggles me.
After Jess stormed out, the day passed in the blink of an eye until there was nothing left to do but prepare for the fight. Some feral part of me retaliated by screwing up; heading straight to gym, pushing myself harder than I would before a match. I’m tired, beaten down, and ready for this to be over… not the greatest mentality for someone about to try and take out two dragons.
I get to my corner—if there could be a corner in an octagon—slip off my robe and hand it to one of the trainers. He takes it and leaves after a quick check my wraps. He knows well enough now than to wait around. I shut my eyes and allow myself to think of nothing but Jess. The girl who stole my heart and claimed my soul, who just hours ago told me that she loved me. The girl who isn’t here.
Why couldn’t I say it back?
The music starts again, darker this time. For a moment nothing happens, then a figure appears on the catwalk above. Eric in a black silk robe edged with red. The audience hushes as he outstretches his arms to quieten them.
Finally, he jumps onto the catwalk rails and drops his robe. Two black-webbed dragon wings spring out from each of his shoulder blades, blocking out the light. Then he steps off the catwalk as if falling, only to land on his feet with a massive boom in the center of the cage. His entrance shakes foundation of the ring and jars the metal, and everyone around us roars to life screaming for more.
I’ve got to admit, the guy knows how to make an entrance.
“AND NOW… Ladies and gentlemen, the ultimate fight of the year, the one battle you’ve been dying to see. Introducing deadliest, one of a kind fighter to ever grace this fight club…”
With no sigh of Xavier yet, confusion must show on my face and everyone else’s.
As the announcer carries on, Eric smirks at me from across the cage, retracting his wings and stretching his deltoids. My wolf rears up, suddenly alive, snarling inside my head.
Fuck. I should have kept my eyes closed. Now I’m going to have to fight this douchebag and fight to contain my wolf.
“… Eric ‘THE RIPPER’ Lexington, THE Black-Hearted Dragon!”
Out of habit I look up to the viewing platform.
Where the fuck is Xavier? Does Eric think he can take me alone?
“And for the first time ever as our challenger, the reigning champion of the East Side Pit. The bare-knuckle wonder, JAKE CABOT, The Raging Wolf!”
Challenger? What happened to Defender?
Still, the crowd goes insanely wild, cheering much louder for me than they did for Eric. My opponent scowls from across the ring, holding up a hand until, as if my magic, the noise around us stops.
Silence.
With the lights glaring, it’s almost like it’s just the two of us.
Eric surveys the crowd slowly. And then finally he speaks, raising his dragon voice until it booms across the hushed arena.
“Ladies and gentlemen! My brother has been detained and will not be joining us, however…” Someone has the balls to boo in the back, but Eric whips his head and glares until it dies out. “However! We don’t need a slaughter here, we need a fight, and what better fight than one between two evenly matched, undefeated reigning champions who will fight for your pleasure to the death? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a lone wolf against a single black dragon, the Ultimate Spectacle, the Fight of the Century…!”
He pauses.
Then. “Are You Ready Tooo Ruumble?!”
The crowd erupts into an explosive cheer, but still Eric re-raises his hand, cutting them off. I’ve no idea why he wants silence but I’m happy to go with it.
As though suddenly realizing I’m here, Eric cocks his head and looks over at me with an amused smile. “Cabot, not Archer?” His voice is at a normal level again, no longer enhanced by his beast.
“Yes, Cabot, I was never an Archer.”
“So, you know… well, good for you,”
“Where’s your shadow? Xavier chickened out?”
“One of us is enough to tear you from limb to limb, Cabot.” Eric says, starting to circle me.
“Oh, so do you think you can take me alone?” I ask, circling him back. Again, not my usual technique. I’m getting sloppy, letting this dickhead get to me.
“You got lucky the other day, and every other day after that, but unfortunately your luck’s about to run out.”
“Did you learn that comeback in Villain 101?” I sneer, as the ref comes between us.
The bell rings.
And we’re on.
We stay in human form for the first two rounds, and I go in hard and fast, jabbing, aiming for the head. If I can get a blow to his skull while he’s in human form, I might stand a chance. At first, I keep up the tempo, chipping away, and whenever I get chance, I look for Jess. She’s nowhere to be seen.
Something must have happened to her.
The thought makes my blood boil and my imagination run wild with possibilities. As Eric slams a hook into my face, jarring me back into the fight, I grab onto him and hold on.
This close, my beast rages to rip his head off, but if I shift so will Eric and then I’m a dead wolf. I’m a good fighter but I’m no match for a dragon in animal form.
“Where is she?” I shout, over the jeers of the audience. Since we started to fight, the audience have started up again. The sound of them actually soothes my beast. It’s strange how you get used to something, night after night. This could be like any other night, except…
Except, I’m losing.
Eric laughs as he rams me up against the metal and razes me over it, then slashes me with his claws. I try to block but the bastard gets under it with those black-curled talons of his. Claws already? You fucker.
Raw pain erupts in my side, taking my breath away. The smell and taste of blood burns the back of my throat.
“Your white wolf is keeping my brother company,” Eric shouts, as he slams into me again. I retaliate with a super-fast blow to the head, but he sprouts wings and flies out of harms’ way. Blood is running down
my face from a gash above my eye. Every punch I throw misses and every blow my opponent lands hits hard.
I’m not healing either and Eric is mending as fast as I can blink.
Fuck, I’m going to die.
Chapter 15
Jess
“Do you think Eric bought it?” I ask Xavier. Being here with me, taking me to my brother was one of the conditions of our agreement.
The dragon twin nods as we walk through the dim tunnels of the old factory vaults. “My brother thinks I’m kidnapping you. He’ll enjoy the pain it will give your wolf, and the prestige of facing the champion and bringing him down alone. Even though he’s my brother he doesn’t like to share much.”
I roll my eyes and grimace. Eric not sharing is the whole reason we’re in this mess.
As much as that aches me to leave Jake to fight Eric right now, one twin is better than two. It’s the most I could do for him while I rescue Dylan.
After Nadine left, I called Zac and told him where I was. He’ll be outside with our pack in about twenty minutes, ready to tear this place apart at my mother’s command. When Eric appointed her Alpha, he assumed she’d fold. He assumed wrong. She’s been planning this revenge for years.
I then called Xavier and told him what Nadine had been up to and what I wanted in return for his brother’s life. It took a lot to convince my mother to abort her revenge plan and rescue Dylan and Jake instead, but if anyone has her ear... it’s Zac.
“What are you going to do after?”
Xavier looks over at me, grey eyes clouding like a storm about to hit. “After this or after the fight?”
“Both.” I shrug.
He sighs. “My brother is in over his head, has been for a long time. Everyone in the family knows about his penchant for stealing from the family trust to fuel his addictions, most of us choose to turn a blind eye. I’ve been covering for him for as long as I can remember. He’ll have to curtail his addiction or face the consequences.”
