Page 48 of The Enemy to the Living
He doesn’t follow. No one does, as far as I can tell, though I’m half expecting to turn at any moment and find Asher on my trail.
He has to know who he’s looking for. He’sseenBryn. I led him to Mischief & Mayhem last time; he knows I can do that again.
But there’s no sign of him, and I don’t know if it’s down to Celyn’s stone or just that he’s busy elsewhere. Maybe he doesn’t know about Bryn at all. Maybe Deacon’s kept it among the wolves.
Either way, the crowd is lively when I arrive half an hour before I’m due to fight. I don’t hang around in the back room, and the fae seem to pick up on my tension. Or maybe they’re just wondering where Bryn is. No one asks; we all know better.
There’s a short break before I’m called up into the cage, and I pace as I wait for my opponent, the thundering of my pulse in my ears drowning out the fierce crowd. Every time my thoughts veer back to Asher or Drew, I drag them forcibly back. I can’t afford to be distracted. My deal with the twins might be to simply show up for fights, but what if they change things again?
I should have asked Sparrow more questions before I came here. I should have been more prepared.
No changing things now, I suppose.
My first opponent is a troll I’ve fought before. He grimaces when he sees me—I beat him last time, and I plan to do so again.
He gets a few hits in of his own. I taste blood when he breaks my nose and growl, dancing back so I can shove the bone back into place. He swipes at me again and bares his teeth.
I slip around him and deliver a punch to his side, just under his ribs, and then his kidneys. Well, where I assume kidneys might be. Either way, it hurts; he bends over with a low growl and I take the opportunity to sweep his feet out from under him, sending him to the mats.
He snarls up at me and I punch him again to keep him down. The kelpie running things calls it and I move back to the opposite side of the cage as the troll gets clumsily to his feet and stumbles out.
My muscles burn, every place where I took a hit still smarting, but my mind is quiet and clear. Focused. The smell of blood and sweat tickles my nose. I’m itching to fight again. No point worrying about anything else while I’m in this cage.
I don’t turn my gaze on the crowds, and I beat my next opponent, and the next. The kelpie calls it just before midnight. My legs feel like jelly, but I growl all the same. I’ve got another fight in me.
Doesn’t matter. I’m ushered out, some other fae taking my place, and the crowd parts to let me through. For the first time,I don’t feel the immediate urge to run home. There’s still an itch under my skin, though it won’t be long before that subsides.
A troll—one of the twins’ bodyguards—materialises out of the crowd in front of me. “They want to see you.”
I’m still breathing hard and though the air in this room is humid, sweat is beginning to cool on my skin. “Can’t I just—”
“Now.”
I nod and follow him back through the crowd and over to their shadowed booth in the corner. The looks I’m getting from the fae now aren’t all as hostile as they were even last night. Someone reaches out and runs a clawed hand down my arm. I growl in the back of my throat and jerk away.
“Well, it seems you are a favourite tonight,” Sorrel says when I slip into the booth. “Who knew that all you needed to fight better was a littlemotivation?”
This growl, I bite back. I breathe through my nose. “What can I do for you?”
Sorrel shrugs carelessly. Celyn’s eyes are fixed on the fight that has just begun.
“Nothing tonight. Six fights down, little wolf. Being as we were so generous with you yesterday.”
Sorrel’s flat gaze holds a challenge. Danger. Like I don’t know how to counter that. I lower my eyes to the tabletop between us and even out my breathing.
“Thank you,” I say, and I can’t feel my wolf—I still can’t—but I fancy he’s as furious about the submission as I am.
“Perhaps we will have other uses for you once this deal is done,” Celyn says absently. When I don’t respond, he turns his gaze from the fight and to me.
“I don’t want another deal,” I say. “This one isn’t even finished.”
Celyn’s lips twitch in a smirk. “You will. There is always something people want. Often more desperately than even they realise.”
I swallow the argument. There’s nothing.Nothing.
Unless Asher can’t help me with my wolf. Unless he won’t, for whatever reason. If the twins offer to give me my wolf back…
Celyn is already watching the fight again, but Sorrel’s smile widens like he knows what I’m thinking. He holds my gaze for a beat too long, then jerks his head in the direction of the back room. “Off you go, little wolf. We’ll see you at your next fight.”
