by Ivy Sinclair
Kyle shook his head with a sigh. “Shit. So it’s like that. That might be worse.”
“If, by that, you mean that my bear is saying she’s my mate, then yes.” It felt good finally to say the words out loud.
“You don’t ever think the bear might be wrong?” Kyle asked.
“If you believe the shit they tell us when we grow up, the animal is never wrong. Not about stuff like that.” Billy wondered if Kyle was asking for a specific reason or just simple curiosity. “You upped security like I asked?”
“Yes,” Kyle said. “Everyone who buys a ticket is going to have to have their fingerprint scanned for all known clan alliances. We’re not letting in anyone who has an Osten clan association, save for any that might come with Joshua.”
“I ought to just pick off his ass before the fight even starts,” Billy said.
“And lose face for yourself and your alpha in front of four hundred shifters? That seems unwise.”
“This whole honor code that happens between clans is a tradition that I think we should all agree that we can lose,” Billy said.
Kyle shrugged. “That’s part of what we’re trying to do here. We don’t want to abide by the old ways. I think we’ve made that pretty apparent.”
“Some rules are worth keeping,” Billy replied. He had to admit that he was curious about this particular Urban Dweller more than the others. Kyle had enrolled in the Army and was drafted just a few weeks after graduating from prep school. Billy knew that it wasn’t that strange. Kyle’s father had been a five-star admiral and served a top post in the recent administration. What was odd was thinking how a man who had come from that kind of background and spent fifteen years in service to the country, had come home and gotten tangled up with Eric and Tony in their illegal dealings.
“It just goes to show that we need to make new ones that make sense for the way the world is now,” Kyle said. “We don’t need to join forces. We need to just understand the rules of engagement. Lukas has nothing to fear from us if he’d just leave us be.”
“I don’t think he’ll be able to do that,” Billy said.
“Then, at some point, things will end up being less than friendly.” Kyle’s response had a note of finality to it that Billy had feared ever since booking his ticket to Copper City.
“Okay. I guess that’s that,” Billy said.
Kyle gave him a brisk nod. There was a knock on the door, and Tony entered the room. He looked out of place in his three-piece suit. Tony would likely follow in his father’s footsteps one day. Tony’s father was a senator who was serving his tenth term in the administration.
“People are starting to arrive,” Tony said.
Kyle pulled out a roll of boxing tape, and Billy held out his hands. As Kyle began to wrap them, Tony started to give Billy the rundown.
“I’ve watched footage from the last four fights that had shifters who we believe were related in one way or another to the Osten clan,” Tony said. He saw Billy’s raised eyebrows. “We tape all the matches. Sometimes we’ve found that a day or two later, a sore loser will try to challenge the match. That stopped pretty quickly once they realized that we catch it all on video. Usually, they tried to do something dirty, and they get called on it. Automatic disqualification from any future shifter matches here at Urban Dwellers.”
“You run a first-rate operation here,” Billy said, not able to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“I’m surprised you’re interested in any tips at all. From what I know, you’ve fought more than your fair share of shifters. In fact, I’d say the wolf was your most common opponent. You didn’t have any problems then. Of course, you didn’t have the Greyelf legacy bloodline to worry about then, did you?”
Billy wasn’t surprised that the men knew about his past. It wasn’t something that he had exactly tried to keep hidden, but it wasn’t anything he publicized either. It was something that a man like Sheriff Monroe had considered an asset. But before he had been able to take the council member job, Markus had sat him down and had a long talk about his past before affirming his appointment. Billy understood then why Sheriff Monroe had been so insistent about therapy. It proved to Markus that he was a changed man.
“It’s been quite a while since I’ve done anything like this. I’m rusty,” he said.
“And Joshua is new,” Tony said. “The earliest read I can get on when he made his transition was a little more than six months ago. He’s going to be brash and excitable. Think about how you were six months after your first phase, and multiply that by psychotic.”
“You don’t need to remind me,” Billy said grimly. “So any idea who sired him?”
“There are more than a few old-timers out there who probably would have done it for him at the word Greyelf,” Tony said. “The Osten clan isn’t as well-organized as it used to be. I think since Lukas came out with his kumbaya ‘all shifters love each other, come join me’ bullshit, a lot of the newer generation have been moving toward him.”
“Maybe some more good will come out of this then.”
“That doesn’t help you at the moment. You know now the effect that a scratch can have. You need to do everything you can to avoid his teeth,” Kyle said.
One of the bindings bit into his skin harder than he expected, and Billy let out a low growl of pain. “Easy does it, there,” he said.
“It’s not like they’re going to be in place for long,” Kyle said. “But maybe it can save you from anything more than a couple more flesh wounds. You don’t have the luxury of time or trying to wear him down. You have to go for the clincher, and shut him down at your earliest opportunity.”
“Got that,” Billy said.
“Our security check should be able to keep out any lurkers from the Osten Clan. We’re going to offer them free drinks in the VIP lounge if they show up,” Tony said.
Billy looked at him with another raised eyebrow. “You really think that’s a good idea? How do you know that isn’t their plan all along? Get a nice big group together and then storm the arena?”
“We’ve got other measures in place if something like that were to happen. Don’t sweat it,” Tony said with a smirk as he and Kyle exchanged a look.
There was something that Billy was missing, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. He was starting to feel the effects of whatever it was that Kyle had given him. It felt as if he had an ice bath dumped into his veins, which normally would have freaked him out, but in this instance it took the boil in his blood down to a controllable level.
“Has Joshua gotten here yet?” Billy asked. He wondered if the first time he was going to see the man again would be in the ring.
“He sent very explicit arrival instructions,” Tony said. “He knows about our garage that is normally reserved only for top level VIPs who want to enter and exit the building without anyone seeing them. He’s going to come in through that entrance.”
“Why don’t we just grab him in the garage?” Billy asked.
“He’s prepared for that.” Tony pulled out his phone and pulled up something on the display. Then he turned it so that Billy could see it.
It was a close-up of Joshua’s face with the play symbol covering it. Tony hit the button so that the video played.
“My name is Joshua Bailey. I’m a wolf shifter, and I was recently attacked and wrongly accused by Sheriff William Miller of the Greyelf Grizzly Clan. I’ve challenged the sheriff to a shifter fight at Urban Dwellers tonight to clear my name once and for all. The match will be broadcast live, and if I don’t make it to the ring, you’ll know why. The sheriff and his alpha Lukas Kasper, have harassed me and smeared my name so nowhere I go is safe. But none of what they say about me is true, and I’m tired of hiding in the shadows. I hope you’ll watch me take matters into my own hands. I refuse to kowtow to a society that doesn’t fit with what shifters believe anymore. Join me, and all of the new Alpha Dogs Clan, tonight as we send a message to Lukas Kasper, and everyone in the world.”
“Are you fucking
kidding me?” Billy said.
“I think the more relevant thing here is that he named his newly formed clan, Alpha Dogs,” Eric sneered as he walked into the room without knocking. “Yep, we’ve been forced into a live broadcast feed of the match on the internet. This shit has already gone viral.”
“Shifter matches are illegal,” Billy sputtered.
“An hour ago, my father called me to let me know that legislation was introduced to legalize shifter matches across the country as a newly recognized sport,” Tony said. “They’re using this supposed smear campaign as their platform for being able to fight back against all the existing clans that they’re saying have been trying to snuff those that oppose them out of existence.”
“Has the world gone crazy?” Kyle asked.
“No, it’s all being driven by one man,” Billy said.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Tony said. “This guy has some pretty powerful allies if he was able to pull these kinds of strings.”
“He was nothing more than the puppet the last time,” Billy said. He stood up. “Well, I guess that means pouncing on him before he enters the ring is off the table.”
“If it was ever really on the table,” Kyle said.
“Then let’s get this show on the road,” Billy said. He looked at Kyle. “You going to be my second?” Every shifter match gave the opponents the option to have a second outside the ring to offer tips and guidance and patch up any wounds that were more serious in-between rounds.
“I can do that,” Kyle said. “We should finish getting you ready.”
“Eric, a word?” Billy asked. He cocked his head toward the corner of the room. Eric looked annoyed but moved toward the place where Billy indicated.
“What?” Eric said. “You going to tell me that my stepsister is your fated mate now?”
Billy blinked and decided that it wasn’t the best time to broach that particular topic. “Thea told me she wants to sit ringside.”
“Over my dead body,” Eric said. “She’ll sit in the suite with Alex.”
“I told her the same thing, but she was rather insistent,” Billy said.
“I can stay with Alex in the suite,” Tony said. Billy wanted to roll his eyes. It was impossible to have a private conversation in a small room filled with a bunch of shifters. “You can sit with her ringside, Eric.”
Eric growled. “I have no idea what the fuck she sees in you.”
“That’s progress, at least,” Billy said with a smirk. Then his voice turned serious. “If something happens to me, just don’t let her watch. Okay? I don’t think I could stand that.”
He thought he saw something soften in Eric’s expression, but then it was gone. He gave a curt nod and then he strode out of the room. Billy motioned to Kyle to keep adding the binding to his hands. He needed every bit of advantage he could get to keep away from Joshua’s teeth.
Thirty minutes later, the volume outside the room had increased to the point where Kyle and Billy had to raise their voices to talk to each other. Luckily, Kyle wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, and Billy didn’t have anything to say. His nerves had ratcheted up several notches, and he just hoped that the additional security precautions they had taken were enough to keep Thea and Alex out of harm’s way.
There was a knock on the door just as a light above the door flickered to green.
“It’s time,” Kyle said. “Are you ready?”
“Ready for the fight of my life? Every day,” Billy said. He felt the adrenaline begin to flow through his body. His bear was just below the surface, having been awakened by all the noise in the arena outside.
“Ready or not, here comes the bear.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
The roar of the crowd around her was so much louder than what she remembered during her last and only visit to the arena. Eric had showed her the video that Joshua loaded to the internet, and she knew now how the assembled crowd had managed to find out about the match so fast. There had been a part of her that thought if no one showed up, that Joshua would simply go away.
No such luck.
Eric kept a hand tight on her elbow as he led her through a small tunnel and onto the main floor. He had insisted that she remain out of sight until the match was ready to start. She was pretty sure that if he had his way, he would be stuck to her like glue for the rest of the night. Normally, that would have pissed her off, but as she took in the hundreds of faces all around the arena, she was suddenly glad that Eric was there.
On her other side, Cal cleared people out of the way so that they could move smoothly to the front row. Naturally, because Eric was one of the owners of the club, he had the best seats in the house. Thea could see that the ring was still empty. Her heart was beating painfully against her chest. She could feel tears of worry burning in the corners of her eyes.
“He’ll be fine,” Eric said as he leaned down close to her ear. “He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s a good fighter. He’s tough.”
Thea almost fell over at Eric’s surprisingly kind words. She looked up at him gratefully and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks,” she said. His sentiment was exactly what she needed to hear. She had to be strong for Billy. She couldn’t let him see any doubt on her face.
She heard the roar of the crowd suddenly get louder, which she wouldn’t have thought possible. That was when she realized that the fighters were moving toward the center of the room to enter the ring.
Thea saw Joshua coming out of the tunnel first off to her left. His face was up on the jumbotron for everyone to see. If he was the slightest bit anxious or nervous, it didn’t show on his face. If anything, Thea would have said that he looked excited.
She moved to look around Eric’s broad form toward the tunnel on her right. A moment later, he appeared. Billy looked calm and confident. As he exited the tunnel, their eyes met, and the corner of his mouth tugged upward. It was as if something passed between them then. Thea felt his energy, and she was sure then that he could do it. He could win, and everything would be all right.
She started to clap wildly and called out his name even though she knew there was no way that he could hear her. She heard other women catcalling from the stands, and she felt a rush of pride. Billy was hers. It was a totally new sensation, but one she found that she welcomed. His half smile turned into a full grin, and then his arms shot into the air as he began to wave to the crowd.
“He doesn’t need to ham it up. He’s not supposed to like this stuff,” Eric said gruffly.
“He can feed off the crowd’s energy,” Thea said. She wasn’t sure if Eric could even hear her since he had straightened after his last remark. If she were to allow herself to admit it, Billy looked phenomenal.
He wore only a pair of baggy red athletic shorts. She understood that wearing clothes into a shifter fighting ring was almost an oxymoron. Once the match moved to the fighters shifting into their animal forms, it wouldn’t matter if they wore any clothes. They would be ripped to shreds. Billy’s muscles in his chest and arms rippled in the hot lights from overhead. He looked as if he had been born to do this. Thea saw the small white scars that covered his chest that she had noticed earlier. Of course, they had come from his previous matches. It all made sense now, but the scars only served to make him look that much sexier. She was sure that her panties weren’t the only ones in the arena that were suddenly damp.
She cheered louder as Billy climbed the stairs to the ring. He locked eyes with Joshua, and Billy’s opponent’s grin widened. Joshua had been looking forward to this; that much seemed obvious. Joshua pointed at Billy and then back at himself before he pulled a thumb in a kill gesture across his throat. Billy looked unfazed.
Thea wasn’t sure how he could remain so calm. Between the roar of the crowd and the intensity of the moment, she was practically jumping out of her skin.
The referee stepped into the center of the ring. A microphone dropped from the ceiling, and the referee took it. He motioned for the crowd to quiet down, and sh
ockingly, the room went practically silent.
“Before we begin, I want to remind the opponents of the rules. There is but one. Inside the ring, once the bars lock down, there are no rules,” the referee said. The crowd cheered in response. He put up his hands again for silence. “There will be three rounds of five minutes each. If either opponent becomes incapacitated at any point and is unable to continue the match, he will forfeit. The opponent left standing at the end of the three rounds who has the best fight as decided by our judges will be named the victor. Good luck, gentleman.”
The microphone disappeared back up into the rafters, and the referee left the ring. Joshua and Billy each took their positions in opposite corners. Then the clank and grinding of metal caught everyone’s attention, and all eyes turned upward to the area above the ring. The metal grates began their slow descent to move down and around each side of the ring.
Thea knew that each side was over ten feet tall. It was impossible for anyone to leap over them, although more than a few had tried. It was a way to gain height on a fighter who was larger, though, and the cage walls were often used for climbing and pouncing. But that wasn’t really want the crowd wanted to see. They wanted to see the hand to hand, claw to claw, tooth to tooth combat of a closed-cage match. They wanted to see blood.
Her stomach flopped as Thea thought about what would happen if Joshua managed to bite Billy again. He needed to deliver a knockout punch or swing and take Joshua out as quickly as possible. It was a simple strategy, but Thea knew it would probably be far harder to actually execute it.
As the bars settled into place, Eric gripped her elbow again.
“Here we go,” she heard him say just before it seemed as if all hell broke loose inside the ring.
Billy and Joshua both charged forward, although Joshua led with his head, and Billy had his arms up in a stiff arm stance. They connected at the center of the ring, and Thea thought she heard the crack of bone.
The crowd went wild. Billy gripped Joshua’s shoulders just long enough to twist him over and slam him down onto the mat. Then he was up again before dropping his full weight into his elbow to land heavily on the center of Joshua’s chest. The other man howled.
