Layne

After lunch Sam leaves me with the laptop and tells me he needs to run another errand. At first, I’m thrilled to be left with my research. Feeling only marginally guilty, I upload it to a cloud drive I can access later from anywhere. Sam promised a compromise, and I do believe him, but my research is my entire life.

While it’s loading, a niggling of foreboding creeps in. The sun slants through the windows. It’s getting late.

Where the hell is Sam?

A knock on the door makes me start.

“Layne? It’s m-m-m-me,” Laurie calls. When I open the door, the tall man smiles sheepishly, holding up a white deli bag. “I brought you some food.”

“Thanks,” I say, but don’t take the bag. Something’s not right here. Sam is gone and Laurie won’t meet my eyes.

“Well, I’ll j-j-just leave you—”

“Where’s Sam?”

The man’s eyes go wide. “Um—”

I shake my head. “I knew it. He’s up to something.”

The tall man blinks at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing furiously.

I push up onto tiptoes, gaining every inch of my height. “Where is he, Laurie?”

The twitchy shifter wilts. “He didn’t want to tell you… he’s at the Pit. He and Nash are going to fight.”

As soon as Laurie pulls the car into the parking lot, I’m out and stomping to the door.

“W-w-wait!” Laurie calls. With his long legs, he catches up to me.

“Don’t even try to stop me,” I snap. A few bikers turn, probably wondering why a human is on the premises, but species of every kind recognize a pissed off female, and they immediately go back to minding their own business.

“Hold up there, lovey,” Declan appears in the door, a hand out to stop my forward march. “Lass, I don’t think—”

“I’m not leaving until I see Sam,” I hiss, and tug my collar to the side where Sam’s bite shows up against my neck, red and livid.

“Is that—” Declan trails off, eyes fixed to the scar. His nostrils flare.

“The mating bite,” Laurie murmurs. His long fingers smooth my collar aside so he can examine it more closely. “Oh Layne. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” I blink back a rush of emotion. Sam has friends in the shifter community, stronger ties than he realizes. “You have to let me in there. I need to stop him.”

“It’s crazy in there,” Declan tells me. “Crazier than last time. Sam wouldn’t want you hurt.”

“Especially when you’re his mate,” Laurie adds.

The only thing scarier than an angry female is a crying one. I think of what Sam and I shared last night, and then imagine him down and bleeding on the floor of the Pit like the last fighter to face Nash.

“Oh no,” Declan’s eyes widen almost as big as Laurie’s. “Don’t get upset. Sam will kill me.”

“Please let me through,” I say, and they finally step out of my way.

The two hover at my back as I descend into the basement. The place is packed wall to wall. “Human,” someone hisses at me, but I ignore them, heading straight to the cage where the two fighters face each other.

Declan and Laurie help me push through the thick bodies but I reach the chain link fence just in time for Parker to finish announcing the start of the fight.

I’m too late.

Sam

The crowd’s cries fade to a dull roar as Nash and I circle each other.

Nash’s eyes are always bright with the lion. Up close, no one would mistake him for a sane shifter.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he tells me.

“You’re right.” I put up my fists. He blinks but automatically balances his weight, readying himself for the fight.

“We’re the same, you and I,” I say, ducking his first punch. I may not have much weight behind me, but it makes me fast in a fight.

“Do I know you?”

“No. But you should. We have the same mission.” I take a half-hearted swipe at him, because the crowd is yelling at us to get on with it.

His brow furrows as that sinks in. “You’re special forces?”

“No. I’m taking down Data-X.”

Something flashes through his eyes and then it’s gone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

For a second I believe him. It’s possible he suffered so much trauma that he doesn’t remember.

“I was there the night you escaped. Another wolf shifter let you out. Remember?”

Nash doesn’t say anything but his lips curl up in a snarl. If he doesn’t remember the Alpha Project, his lion does. He comes after me, punching.

“It’s gone.” I retreat, ducking and slipping behind him. The crowd mocks me.

“What?” Nash’s voice is mostly a growl.

“The Data-X compound. Well, that one. The cell where they kept you and every piece of equipment. It’s gone. Wiped off the face of the earth.” I manage to land a punch in his side before he hits my jaw with a right hook that sends me flying back up against the cage.

“How do you know?” He lunges for me, fist cocked.

I duck and roll, pop up behind him. “I’m the one who set the bombs.”

For a second Nash just stares at me. I get that reaction a lot, when I admit to blowing things up.

“You’re not lying,” he murmurs.

“I stole their data too. Research files, everything—wiped from their system.”

He shakes his head. “Kid… you’re crazy.”

“Smash him,” someone shrieks in the crowd. They’re here for a fight. They want more blood.

Nash seems to remember where he is. He shifts his weight between the balls of his feet. Something in his eyes alerts me a second before his fist snaps out.

I dodge it but just barely. I can’t stop my smile. If Nash really wanted to hit me, he’d hit me. This is all for show.

I jab at him, dancing out of the way when he comes after me. For a few seconds, we spar. A couple punches land, but nothing serious.

“Is this why you challenged me? To tell me all this?”

“And ask you to help me. I’m going to take them down. I need your help to fight them.”

Nash sucks in a breath. The light in his eyes flares bright, then dies. “I can’t. My lion won’t let me.”

“No, your lion wants to. You’re holding him back.” I jab my fists at him, and twist out of reach. When I come back, I’m not facing Nash.

I’m facing the lion.

Layne

The crowd murmurs around us. Something is wrong. Nash and Sam move around the cage, almost mock fighting. They’re talking, but I can’t hear what they’re saying.

Then, it all changes.

Nash’s fist flies out, catching Sam’s jaw. I wince as Sam goes flying and crashes into the opposite wall.

The Pit shakes with the crowd’s gleeful roar.

“Feck,” Declan mutters.

I fight forward until I’m gripping the chain links of the cage. Sam is back on his feet, dodging and weaving as Nash pounds on him. Blood spurts from his broken nose after a massive punch.

“We have to stop this,” I cry.

“Too late, lass. Just pray when Sam goes down, he stays down.”

Sam

Vision blurring, I swipe sweat from my eyes. My jaw throbs, body aching. Shifters regenerate pretty quickly, but pain is pain. Punches still hurt.

And if Nash lands enough of them in a row, I’ll eventually fall. My skin will knit together, but recovering from a blow to the head can take time.

I need Nash to look at the footage and tell me what he knows. I’m out of leads on Data-X. He’s my one shot to get Smyth.

I’ve gotta win this.

Nash slams another punch to my head. I move in time for it to hit, but not knock me out. I get in a few jabs of my own—feeble punches compared to Nash’s crippling haymaker.

But I’ve got one more card to play.

“I saw her,” I pant when Nash and I have gone back to circling each other, staying close to the corners. “The lioness they put in the cell with you.”

“One of many.” Behind his blank expression, his eyes are sad.

I shake my head. “Not this one. This one was special. Her name was Denali.”

Nash blinks, going still. He drops his fighter’s stance as his eyes flare bright. He remembers.

“That’s right,” I say softly. “You remember her, don’t you? Even if you don’t, your lion does.”

“They made me.” His breath comes rapidly. “They put females in the cell and they made me—”

“She was more than that to you.” I press on, even though Nash’s shoulders hunch, his body reacting to protect him from the memory. “That’s why you remember her. Denali.”

“No,” he growls. “Don’t say her name.”

“I saw the footage, Nash. I know who she was to you. So does your lion, even though you’re struggling to forget.”

“She was just another one of them,” Nash bursts out. “Another female meant for me to breed. We had one night.”

“One night is enough,” I say softly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a familiar face. Layne. She’s pressed up against the bars, mouthing my name. Nash is dangerous, unstable. A bomb about to blow. But I’m so close.

I take a deep breath, and light the fuse. “You didn’t just breed her, Nash. You marked her.”

Layne

“No!” The cry rings around the Pit, a howl of anguish that silences the crowd.

A lion bursts from Nash’s skin and slams into Sam. The place erupts.

“I don’t believe it. He won,” Parker breathes.

“On a technicality, sure, but a win is a win,” Declan shakes his head.

“What?” I push up to tiptoes.

“He got Nash to shift,” Laurie murmurs.

“Oh my God,” I cry. The lion crouches, his claws impaled in Sam’s chest. “I grab Parker’s arm. “Help him!”

Declan and Parker are already moving, scrambling for the cage with me on their heels.

“We gotta get Nash off him,” I scream.

“Feck!” Declan curses. “If the claws are in his heart, he can’t regenerate.”

We enter the cage, and Parker and Declan slow at the scene—the huge lion turns his head and snarls at us. My legs turn to jelly.

“Nash, let him go,” Parker calls, but neither he or Declan get any closer.

Sam gasps, blood gurgling out.

“Get off,” I shriek, rushing at the beast. “Get off him.”

The giant head turns to me, crazy golden eyes skewering me where I stand.

“You can’t kill him.” I tug at my shirt showing the red wound, already half healed and scabbed. “He marked me, see? He’s my mate. My mate.”

For a horrible second I wait for the lion to open his lethal jaw and devour me. Instead, the great head twitches. The eyes dull to a normal light. The lion retreats, leaving Sam convulsing on the floor. A bright red stream spurts from his chest. I throw myself to my knees, pressing my hands to his chest to stop the flow.

“Oh please, Oh please.”

“Use this.” Laurie kneels beside me, offering his own shirt. The tall man is thin, too thin for a shifter, his body showing scars. In a flash I memorize his chest in exact detail. The world is slowing, the crowd outside the cage fading away. Nothing matters but the man dying under my hands.

“You can’t die,” I tell Sam. It’s just like my mom. I watched her go. I couldn’t save her.

“Layne.” Someone is calling my name.

“Layne,” Parker repeats, crouching next to me. “The wounds can close.” Parker says. “He’s a wolf. He should be able to heal.”

“If he dies, I’ll never forgive you,” I snap at the grey haired shifter.

“If he dies, we won’t forgive ourselves.” Declan kneels on the other side of Sam, helping staunch the wounds.

Sam shudders under my hands, coughing up blood.

“That’s it, wolfie, let it out,” Declan and Laurie help support Sam.

“Don’t move him—” I start, but Parker holds me back.

“No, it’s okay. The claws are out, the healing’s begun.”

Sam sags, the color coming back into his face. His body’s covered in blood.

“Gave us a scare, wolf boy,” Declan says. “Nash tried to shish-kebab ya.”

Sam smiles weakly. “I’ve had worse.”

I don’t know whether to laugh, burst into tears, or punch them all.

“What happened?” Sam rasps.

“You won. You got Nash to shift. And then you almost died,” Laurie explains. “Nash wouldn’t let you go. Layne got him off you.”

“Never seen anything like it. She faced the King of the Beasts,” Declan says.

“You... let her?” Sam struggles to draw breath.

I tear free of Parker and press my fingers to Sam’s bloodied lips to silence him. “They couldn’t stop me.”

“Ladies and gentleman,” Parker announces. “I give you the winner of this fight—Sam Smith!”

The crowd erupts in a mix of cheers and boos.

“You guys better get him out of here,” Parker says. “Lotta people lost bets when Sam won over Nash.”

Laurie and Declan exchange glances.

“We better go too,” the Irishman says.

“Careful,” I murmur, as Declan and Laurie lift Sam in their arms. Already Sam looks better, which is good.

Because when I get him alone, I’m going to kill him.

Sam

Parker hustles us out of the cage, calling for the sexy leopard skin girls to come and dance. Laurie, Declan, and Layne press around me, pushing through the crowd. There are snarling, hostile faces everywhere I look.

“Run,” Declan advises, and we jog the rest of the way to the back door—the one the fighters use. Four big bouncers close behind us, stopping the mob from attacking us.

“This way,” Parker leads us back to a locker room. He opens one locker and pulls out a med kit, tossing it on the bench. “Lay him out, bandage him up.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” I bat at Laurie’s hands.

Layne pushes Laurie aside and gets in my face. “You are not fine,” she grinds out. “You nearly died.”

“I’m healing,” I tell her softly, but she ignores me, snapping on gloves and grabbing a hot pink colored bandage.

“I’ll get you some meat,” Parker disappears.

Declan and Laurie stand back as Layne starts to work.

“I’ve never had a doctor fetish before,” Declan starts.

“You better not be getting one now,” I growl, and flinch as Layne tugs the bandage around me with a sharp movement. It’s going to take a lot of flowers and chocolate to earn her forgiveness. Still, I can’t help the giddy pleasure of having a mate who cares.

“Give us a moment, guys,” Layne orders, and they amble off in the direction Parker took.

Layne leans over me, her cheeks flushed. I watch her breasts shift under her thin shirt. As if they know I’m looking, her nipples pop up, visible under the bra and t-shirt. Adrenaline is pumping through me, and I know it’s gotta affect her.

“You know,” I say, running my hand up the back of her leg, “Some women get turned on by fighters.” It was a stupid move. Trying to flirt with an angry female is about as dumb as trying to flirt with one I’d just kidnapped. And it gets me about as far.

She removes her gloves and slaps me with them. “You are lucky I don’t rip your head off. What were you thinking, fighting Nash?”

I try to push up on my elbows, but she puts her hand on my sternum and presses me back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. It was the only thing I could think of to talk to him.”

She shakes her head and I cringe when I see tears swimming in her eyes. I’d rather have Nash stab my heart out again than live with hurting my female.

“Sam, I’m dying.” Fresh pain lances through my healing wounds. “I don’t know how long I have—a year until I lose significant body control? Another year after that until my brain degenerates and I become a vegetable? I watched my mom go through it, and it’s not a pretty sight.” She shakes her head. “I couldn’t ask you to go through that.”

“Layne, what are you saying?”

“I can’t do this. I can’t be in a relationship.”

Jesus Christ. She’s breaking up with me. Even though I have nothing to offer her, every organ in my body revolts, ready to stop functioning in protest of her leaving.

Except... she still looks mad. Which means I must have a chance here. A mad female is totally different than a resigned one. It means she cares.

She pokes a finger in the middle of my chest. “But you, you’re not dying, Sam Smith. You’re a smart, young, attractive, and extremely capable wolf with his whole life ahead of him. You do not get to throw your life away on this stupid quest of yours.”

I stare at her, unsure which part of her diatribe to pay attention to. Smart, young, attractive? My wolf wants to do a little puppy dance around her legs. But then I absorb the rest of it.

“It’s not a stupid quest.”

Dr. Layne Zhao can be stubborn. But she has no idea how single-minded I can be. I made a vow not to rest until I took Smyth down, and I intend to follow through.

The fight goes out of Layne and her shoulders sag, which is far, far worse than seeing her pissed off. “I didn’t mean it that way. I realize you’re trying to help people, too. You’re trying to prevent further injustice, and that’s a worthy cause, but at what cost?” She spreads her hands, gaze pleading. “It’s not worth giving your life for.”

There’s a brick-size block in my chest that won’t move, despite Layne’s words. Settling the score with Smyth is my life’s purpose. I don’t care if I die doing it. In fact, I always figured I would.

“Layne…” I rub my forehead. “I don’t have a life. I’m broken. Smyth broke me before I even became a man. You saw Declan and Laurie and Nash. They’re broken, too. I don’t have anything to live for—I never have. So, you and I, we’re the same. You’re using your last hours to further science and save lives. I’m using mine to finish this.”

A tear streaks down Layne’s face, but she smacks the unwounded side of my chest. “You’re wrong! You’re not broken, you’re just damaged. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned today, it’s that wolves heal. So heal yourself, dammit. You have friends who care about you. You have—” She stops and swallows. “You have me. Your mate.”

I swoop up and reach for her, gather her up against my chest. The scent of her tears has my wolf tearing his fur out to fix this. “Do I? I thought you were just trying to tell me goodbye.”

She slaps my chest again. “It will be goodbye if you ever pull a stunt like this again!” she cries through her tears.

“Baby.” I pull her even closer, stroke her ebony hair. “My beautiful doctor. I’m sorry I upset you.”

She tries to pull away. “Don’t say you’re sorry you upset me. Say you’ll stop. Say you’ll honor the life you have. If not for yourself, for me. Because I don’t get one.”

My throat closes and my eyes sting. I bury my face in her hair. “I promise,” I murmur gruffly.

Someone clears their throat. The guys have all returned. Declan and Laurie look a bit dazed by the sight of me and Layne. Parker marches forward with a battered cooler and sets it on the bench.

“Here,” he says. “Fresh meat. You need to replenish your blood.”

“Is it wise to eat now?” Layne looks appalled at the juicy cut of raw steak I lift out of the cooler.

“Oh yeah,” I moan, ripping into it. “Food of the gods.”

“Nash is gone,” Parker says. “He left some pretty big claw marks on the door, too. But he just texted me a place and time.”

“Does that mean—” Layne trails off.

Parker nods. “He’s willing to meet.”