“I fucking told you Stevens couldn’t do it,” Liev slaps lumberjack on the back, a huge grin on his face.

They rib each other back and forth, and a few shifters around us get in on the teasing and shit talking. A deep voice calls for any other challengers, and I’m up and over the barrier before the announcer finishes his sentence. Jeering and catcalls take over the arena, and small plumes of dust accentuate each step I take toward Torrez and the ref.

I stop a couple of feet away, and Torrez’s nostrils flare. His eyes narrow slightly, and he scoffs.

“Lost little witch?” he asks.

“Nope, I know exactly where I am, and exactly what I’m here to do.”

“And what’s that, princess?”

“Fuck up your undefeated record, of course.”

Torrez laughs a full, deep, and rounded belly laugh and snickers move like the wave throughout the bleachers.

“Well aren’t you cute. Stupid as fuck and delusional, but really fucking cute,” Torrez gives me an appraising look and licks his lips. His nostrils flare again, and I have no idea what he’s sniffing for, fear maybe, or attraction. Sniff away wolf-man you’re not going to find either.

“Oh, come on now Torrez, you know it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”

“True, but you’re confusing your witch for bitch, you’re no shifter. Why do you want to make me mess up that perfect face?”

His shit talking game is on point, and I can’t help but appreciate it. I smirk, and he scents the air again. Can shifters smell emotion? If they can, then he has to know that I need this fight more than I need my next breath. My unsatisfied bloodlust is tearing me apart, and this is the only way to excise all the rage and hurt festering inside of me.

“In or out wolf?” I ask, stone-faced. If he’s not interested, then I’ll find someone else to pick a fight with.

Torrez rakes his dark brown eyes over me one more time, and shrugs. “In, witch.”

I’m pretty sure these shifters expect me to have a problem with their use of the word witch, but I couldn’t care less: caster, witch, freak, it’s all the same to me.

The ref steps forward. “What are your terms? Shifter form, magic, what’s allowed and what’s not?” He looks at both of us.

“Wolf or man, I have no problem with either.”

“She can use whatever magic she has. She’s gonna need it.”

The ref nods and announces the terms to the crowd, even though I’m pretty sure they have super hearing and already know what the deal is. The ref raises both his hands and I stretch out my neck while I keep my eyes fixed on Torrez. My magic sparks awake inside of me and the tingle of bloodlust floods my limbs.

The ref drops his hands and Torrez is inches away from me in a blink. Fuck he’s fast! He’s still a man when he tackles me at the waist and tries to muscle me onto my back. I slam my elbow where his neck meets his shoulder, twice, before my back hits the dirt. I use Torrez’s momentum against him, and I kick him off of me instead of letting myself get pinned.

I use the runes on my legs to give myself extra power, and he flies five feet away from me before he hits the ground. I flip back up, and I land a roundhouse kick to his head before he can get all the way up on his feet. He grabs my foot as he falls back to the dirt and yanks me off balance.

Fuck, he’s strong too. I stumble but somehow manage to stay on my feet. Torrez rolls away from me and pops back up. He lets out a deep growl and wipes a trickle of blood from his bottom lip. His eyes flare with promises of pain and the tip of his hands elongate with claws.

He slashes out at me, and I dodge and weave out of his reach. He lunges in frustration, and I spin clipping my elbow against his cheek. Claws sink into my side as he falters, and we both step away from each other to recover. Torrez shakes his head in an effort to clear it, and I look down at my shredded shirt, my black sports bra peeking through the rips in the fabric.

I rip off the tattered garment and use it to swipe at the blood slowly dripping down my side. Wolf whistles and howls sound off around the arena. I look up, and Torrez steps out of his shorts. He stands there for a minute like somehow his dick is going to send me running.

I smile.“Cold?”

My smirk falls when Torrez morphs into his massive gray wolf. He apparently doesn’t find my dick joke as funny as I did because he growls at me and then charges.

“Vinna!”

My head snaps in the direction of Ryker’s voice. What the fuck is he doing here? The weight of a truck slams into me and teeth sink into my shoulder. I call on my runes for power, and I start punching the wolf in the face. His weight forces me to my back. When my spine touches the packed dirt of the arena, Torrez releases my shoulder and goes for my neck.

Fangs flash towards my face. I grip the snarling jaws and fight to keep them from closing around my head and neck. Saliva drips down on me, and claw-covered paws dig into my torso. I push Torrez’s wolf jaws apart, calling on every ounce of power and strength my runes can give me.

The bottom of his mouth snaps and a ripping and cracking sound fills my ears. Torrez yelps in pain and scrambles away from me. The bottom of his muzzle hangs loose and canine cries leak out of his open maw. Torrez lays on his side panting, and the wolf blinks out leaving a man in its wake.

The ref rushes to him, and I slowly get up, wincing as the movement tugs at my wounds. I’m bleeding steadily from the bite wound on my shoulder and the gouges on my side. I’m covered in varying depths of oozing scratches, and my fingers are torn up and bloody from my efforts to keep fangs out of my face.

I’m sore and gloriously drained. Man, that was a good fucking fight. The ref calls to men standing just outside of the arena. They jog to him and help Torrez stand up. They sling his arms around their necks, and half carry him toward the exit.

The ref approaches me. “Torrez is too injured to continue. You’ve won.”

I give him a nod and watch as Torrez is assisted out of the arena. “Is he going to be ok?”

“His jaw is severely broken. It will heal, painfully, but he’ll be fine in a couple of weeks. Would you like me to call a healer for you?”

I look out into the mumbling crowd and find Ryker. I’m not at all shocked to see Knox, Bastien, Valen, and Sabin standing at his side. Fucking magical LoJack.

“No, thanks for the offer. I’ll be fine.”

The ref looks at me quizzically for a minute, before giving me an accepting nod and walking off in the direction that they took Torrez. I walk over to my shredded shirt and snatch it up off the ground. I scan the crowd one last time until I find lumberjack and Liev. I take in their shocked faces and give them a wink.

Five furious faces take me in as I casually make my way to the guys.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Bastien scolds me.

“What does it look like I’m doing here.”

“It looks like you’re being torn to shreds.” Sabin snaps.

“Hop down from your high horse Sabin. It’s fucking up your view because that’s what winning looks like.”

I gesture over my shoulder to the blood-spattered ring. Knox snorts out a laugh, but he coughs it out when four pairs of angry eyes turn on him.

“Don’t encourage her Knox,” Valen chastises.

“Why not? She’s right, she won, and I think it’s hilarious when she calls Sabin out on his shit.”

I smile at him, and he winks at me. Knox is so gung-ho for battle and glory, and I seriously love it. Nothing seems to phase him at all. He should be crowned the king of rolling with the punches.

“Did Lachlan tell you guys where to find me?” I ask, curious as to why Lachlan sent them instead of one of the paladin to collect me.

“No, I doubt he even knows you’re gone,” Bastien tells me.

“Well, what the hell are you doing here then? You guys come to fights, and you’ve never told me about it?”

“No, we tracked my car here.”

I stare at Ryker confused.

“You stole my car. I went to leave tonight, and it was missing. When we pulled up here, it was obvious who had taken it and what you were up to. How’d you even find this place?”

“Fate,” I say with a smile.

Knox snorts again, and Bastien starts to chuckle with him. Valen rubs a hand over his face in exasperation. Something about this situation suddenly seems funny to me, and I start to snicker. I suspect I’m a little slap-happy from the adrenaline rush I’m currently coming down from.

“Well as much fun as it is to watch the three of you giggle at each other, we should go. I don’t like how some of these shifters are looking at her,” Sabin declares.

I look up, taking in the faces all around us. I meet a lot of intense stares, but none of them feel threatening. Valen grabs my bloody hand, and I wince at the pain that shoots through my shoulder. I sway ever so slightly before my feet start cooperating and I’m led out into the parking lot. I stop at the back of the white Range Rover I stole earlier, and I direct Sabin to the wheel well I hid the keys in.

Ryker pulls up the back door. “Vinna, sit before you pass out from blood loss.”

I do as I’m told. Ryker starts gently wiping away blood, in search of its source, and his hands warm up when he begins to heal me. My pants have long tears in them, I’m guessing from claws, and one strap of my sports bra is hanging by a thread. My shirt is a lost cause and judging by the amount of--wipe away the blood and then heal the source--that’s going on right now, my body doesn’t look much better than my clothing.

Oh well, it was worth it.

The guys all watch with the same intensity they had the first time Ryker healed me, and it sends shivers up my spine. Ryker tears away the mangled strap of my sports bra, to give himself better access to the bite on my shoulder. The motion sends a zing straight to my clit, and I have to force myself to stop thinking about how hot it is to have Ryker tearing off my clothes.

“Fuck, I know I did this to you, and I’m so sorry. I just saw that big ass wolf charging you, and I freaked out.”

For a minute I thought Ryker was apologizing for getting me wet, and it takes me a second to process what he said. He starts to heal the bite and relief from the pain floods me.

“Yeah, distractions during a fight are never a good thing. Try to remember that for next time,” I tease.

“There, won’t be--”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, Bastien. I promise you’re not going to like what happens if you do.”

“Bruiser--”

“No, I’m serious. You get no say in what I do. You haven’t earned that privilege, and let’s get one thing straight right now. There will always be a next time because it’s part of who I am. I was made for this, and if you can’t handle that, then fuck off.”

Bastien and I glare at each other both of us breathing heavy with anger. Ryker cups my cheeks and forces my eyes from Bastien’s stormy gaze, to his warm expression.

“We get it. It took us by surprise to see you out there and none of us like seeing you hurt. Which is why some of us are saying some dumb shit right now, but I promise you we get it. You get hurt all you want, and I swear I’ll always be here to heal it.”

His thumbs stroke both of my cheeks. His earnest gaze reaches into me and forces me to see him, and what he could mean to me if I let it happen. I lean into his palm ever so slightly and close my eyes. I don’t let myself stay there for long, and I definitely don’t allow myself to hope that I will ever be able to keep this. But I take a couple of seconds and let myself get lost in this fleeting moment.

“Alright, let’s rinse off as much blood as we can, and get a move on.”

Valen hands me his wet t-shirt, and I use it to wipe myself down as much as possible, while I count his abs and try not to stare at his hard nipples. When I’m done Sabin and Valen load up in an old Bronco, and the rest of us pile into Ryker’s SUV. Ryker starts the car and “All My Life” by the Foo Fighters blasts through the speakers, scaring the shit out of everyone.

He scrambles to get the volume down and turns to me in the back seat. I scrunch my nose sheepishly.

“Sorry, I was kind of jamming when I pulled in here. You have really good music,” I offer, as consolation for the ruptured eardrums I just gave everyone.

He shakes his head, and a smile grows across his full lips. “I love music.”

“He’s an incredible guitar player,” Bastien informs me. “And Knox can sing the panties off anyone.”

Ryker and Knox chuckle.

“We’ll have to go camping, or do a bonfire night, then you guys can show Vinna what you can do,” Bastien decides.

“I’ll be sure to bring extra panties,” I tease.

Bastien turns around in the passenger seat and gives me a big smile. “Does that mean you are going to stop avoiding us now?”

The easy happiness I was feeling blinks out, and I sigh.“No.”

Bastien’s smile dims, and I hate that he looks sad. I feel like I just kicked a puppy, but I can’t get sucked back into this...thing that happens when I’m around them.

“I’m just here to learn about magic. I shouldn’t be focusing on anything beyond that. The paladin aren’t teaching me shit, and reading only goes so far. When I’m with you guys, it’s easy to forget that my life right now is a drama-filled suckfest.

“I don’t want to add fighting with Sabin, and you guys fighting each other, to my suckfest. I’d love to say we can just keep it friendly, but if I’m being honest with myself, that’s not going to work for me either. So, avoiding you is the best plan I can come up with right now.”

Bastien watches me for a minute and then silently turns to face the front of the car. I stare at the back of his head and his milk-chocolate wavy brown hair, for way longer than is healthy. The silence in the car feels wrong. I want to take everything I just said and shove it back in my mouth, but it wouldn’t change our reality. Everything about this sucks, but that’s the story of my life these days.