“Absolutely not!” Lincoln roared. The sound was made louder by the fact that we were in his tiny trailer. It was late, and I just wanted this shit storm of a day to be over, but I couldn’t lie to him. Besides, I would need his help.

“Babe.” I had never used the pet name before, but maybe it would help soften the blow now. “I’m doing it regardless. I’m just asking you to help train me for the fight.”

He looked furious. The veins in his neck were bulging, and his left eyelid was twitching. “You don’t even know if he’ll take the money!”

“He will,” Shea, who had been quiet while we fought, spoke up at that point. “He’s money motivated. I worked for him for nearly six years. If the Necro clinic isn’t making much, then he’ll see it as a fair payout for losing an employee. He’ll hire a new Necro, and be happy with the deal.”

Lincoln shot her a death glare. “Noah and I will fight,” he finally answered.

I winced and pointed to the flyer. “It says eighteen to twenty-one. You guys are twenty-three.” It was sweet of him to offer to fight for my mom though, which I would never forget.

His fingertips pressed against his temples, rubbing them. “Well, you’re not doing it. We’ll crowd fund or something.”

I barked out a laugh. “Crowd fund a million bucks? People don’t even like me! They think I’m evil. No one is going to pay to get my slave bound mom out of Demon City, Lincoln.”

He sighed. “Well, it’s a bad idea. You could die.”

I chewed my lip and stepped closer to him, reaching out to touch his arm. “It’s my mom, Lincoln. My flesh and blood. The woman who gave me life.” I saw the moment he admitted defeat.

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

I grinned. “So you’ll train me?”

Growling, he nodded. “Who’s your fighting partner?”

Shea stood, popping her knuckles. “Ghetto Tainted Academy bitches got nothing on me,” she stated matter-of-factly.

Lincoln sighed, looking at the ceiling as if it held some answers. “We’ll see about that. Meet me in the small gym every day after boot camp. Every. Day. Including weekends. And when school starts, I want you in there every day after school.”

Shea groaned, and his eyes flicked to hers with a glare. “Just kidding. Yay.” She fake-cheered.

Lincoln rubbed his temples. “Now go, before I change my mind.”

We turned to leave, and his hand snaked out and pulled me into him. The moment his lips touched mine, I felt all my worries melt away. Lincoln had my back. If he trained us, we could totally, probably, win this.

When he pulled back, his cobalt eyes bored into mine. “I love you, Brielle. But please stop trying to die,” he pleaded.

Giving him a thumbs-up, I smirked. “You got it. Just after this one thing.”

With a roll of his eyes, he chuckled. “Good night.” He kissed me one more time, making my knees go weak.

“Night.” I grinned.

* * *

As Shea and I headed for Mikey’s cottage to check on him, she gave me a side-glance. “We can do this, right? Fight the Demon City kids? I mean, they are hardcore there….”

I knew she’d had it rough in the short time she’d spent at Tainted Academy, but I couldn’t have her lose hope on me. Stopping to face her, I peered into her large brown eyes.

“We grew up in the same hood as they did. We know how to fight dirty, and we’ve gotten a much better education here. With Sera, and with your magic, I know we can win. For Mom.”

Shea never called her by the name ‘Mom,’ always Kate, but she was like Shea’s mother too.

“For Mom,” she agreed with a smile.

Family was family. Blood didn’t matter.

I gave her a hug, and then we walked briskly to the cottage where my brother was staying.

When we got to Mikey’s, I knocked loudly, only just wondering if he might still be drugged up.

“Come in!” he shouted groggily.

Shea and I walked in to see him lying in bed, scrolling through his phone. He set it down and sat up slowly as we entered, still clutching his ribs.

“Thanks for getting me this place.” He gestured to the room, but his face fell when his gaze landed on the piece of paper in my hands.

“Busted.” I held up the flyer. Even though he was only a year younger than me, I still mothered him.

Looking up at me, he sighed. The bruising on his face was intense, but at least his nose looked normal again.

“Is this why the kids jumped you?” Shea asked, crossing her arms.

The thought hadn’t even occurred to me.

He nodded. “I went to sign up. They said I was too much of a pussy and jumped me. Took my hundred bucks.”

Well shit. Now I felt really bad for him, and also completely enraged that some Tainted Academy assholes jumped my brother.

“Mikey, you can’t go doing this kind of shit! You gotta come to me first. Who were you going to fight with?” I asked, exasperated.

“Was gonna figure that out,” he answered with a shrug. “You aren’t around anymore, so you don’t know how bad it’s gotten on Mom. That asshole cuts her wages every week, says she doesn’t have enough business coming in. But she’s not a demon! She doesn’t have Burdock’s connections.”

Remorse flooded through me. I had no idea Lincoln killing Burdock would have such far-reaching consequences for my mom. Grim cut her wages every week? No wonder she’d rented out my room.

Oh God, now I was worried about my mom. Next paycheck, I was going to send her some money. If I had to, I’d force her to take it.

Shea’s arm wrapped around Mikey’s shoulders as she sat down. “Don’t worry. Bri and I are going to win the money and get your mom out.”

She was always so soft with him, cuddly. I just usually socked him in the shoulder, and told him to shut up.

He looked up at me with a grin. “For real?”

I nodded. “When do registrations close?”

His long finger pointed to the fine print at the bottom of the flyer—the day of the Awakening.

We had time. I was sooo winning this fight.

* * *

After interrogating Mikey for every last scrap of info on this Fight Night, I informed him that he was now the new groundskeeper. At least for the summer.

Once he got over the fact that he was going to have to actually do work to earn his keep, we all settled into a nice flow. He did the grounds keeping, and Shea and I trained our asses off. I told Raphael about the Tainted Army thing, but he didn’t seem surprised, only saddened.

Now we only had a few days left of summer, and the Awakening ceremony was tomorrow.

Shea stood in the gym, clutching her disc weapons, sweat dripping down her chest and a badass look in her eye. Lincoln stood before her, blue fiery sword held aloft.

“Cut me!” he roared, and Shea advanced. Her fists held the flat grips of the blades while the sharp semicircles lashed out, seeking to cut my man. Lincoln was a blur, so fast I could barely track him.

He and the boys had been training us hard. As I was distracted watching them, Noah kicked out my feet and suddenly I was falling. Next thing I knew, his blade was at my neck.

Frick.

He looked down at me, sweat glistening against his perfect porcelain skin. “When fighting two on two, you need to keep your eye on your own fight. Getting distracted with what Shea’s doing will only get you killed.”

He was right. When the time came, I needed to just worry about my own fight.

With a rapid spin, I turned out of reach of his sword and used my legs to scissor-kick him. As I connected with his legs, he came tumbling down, and I grappled to gain leverage, moving on top of him. As I was crawling up his body, in an effort to straddle him and try to pin him down, his hand shot out, chopping me in the throat.

Holy shitballs.

Pain exploded in my neck as I fought to breathe. A lump had formed in my throat, and I’d keeled over to the side in a weak defense.

Noah looked sideways at me. “That was a dirty move, and I feel really bad for using it, but the Tainted Academy kids are going to fight dirty like that, so you need to be prepared.”

With tears leaking out of the sides of my eyes, all I could do was nod. He was right. He was so right it hurt.

Lincoln and Shea had paused their fight and were taking a break.

“You’re right,” Lincoln said to Noah. “Which gives me an idea.”

“Oh no. I don’t like that face. You’re doing the face,” I told him.

He just grinned and then looked at Shea. “Okay, when are you calling him?”

Air blew through Shea’s full lips. “I dunno. Now-ish.”

We decided Shea would be the one to call Master Grim and ask his permission for us to enter Demon City to register for the fight contest, since I’d been the one to try and kill him and all.

Lincoln shook his head. “Okay, get three passes. I’m going with you girls.”

A frown pulled at Noah’s lips. “Hey, I’ve never been to Demon City. I want to go too.”

Shea’s conspiratorial look connected with his. “Trust me, you aren’t missing anything.”

“Just ask,” Lincoln told her, holding out her phone.

She chewed her bottom lip. “Man, I feel sick. What if he says no? All this time will have been wasted.”

“Don’t let him say no. You know him. Use everything you got,” I encouraged.

She took a deep breath and dialed his number on speakerphone, then started to pace.

“What do you want!” he barked the second he picked up. She’d worked for him for six years, so of course he’d have her number saved in his phone.

Shea stopped in her tracks and rubbed her sweaty palm on her pants leg. “To give you a million bucks for Kate Atwater’s demon contract,” she replied, voice as smooth as butter.

Grim laughed good-naturedly. “Don’t waste my time with fairy tales, angel lover,” he spat.

My bestie chewed her lip. “I’m not. I just need you to get me four passes into Demon City so I can sign up for Fight Night. When my team wins, I’ll give you the money. All of it. In return, you release Kate’s contract.”

Silence. Long-ass, terrifying silence. Did he hang up?

“You can’t win. You’ve no doubt gotten weak in Angel City. Don’t waste my time.” Then he hung up.

He freaking hung up.

“Bastard!” Shea screamed at the phone, then sat down on the floor, and started typing furiously on the keyboard.

Frowning, I walked over. “What are you…?” My question faded when I noticed she’d pulled up Grim’s picture from one of his strip club websites.

“I’ll show him who’s weak.” She started to rock back and forth, chanting and moving her hands left and right as dark blue magic leaked out, covering the phone.

“Is that light magic?” Lincoln’s voice held concern.

I raised an eyebrow, but Shea ignored his question.

“It’s, make his horns fall off, magic,” she declared, and I blanched.

“Shea—” Before I could talk her off the ledge, the phone lit up with a call from Pansy-Ass Boss Man.

Shea stopped her magic and grinned, answering with a purr, “Why, hello there?”

“What are you doing!” he roared. I could practically imagine the spittle flying from his mouth.

“Who’s weak now?” Shea sneered into the phone. “Two months ago, I helped kill four demons, so don’t tell me I can’t win. That million bucks is mine,” she growled.

Silence.

More silence.

“No, it’s mine. You’ve got a deal. Now, stop fucking with my horns,” he rumbled and hung up.

Shea smiled as we all looked at each other in shock and relief. Two minutes later, he texted her a one-hour travel pass for four people from Angel City.

“Let’s ride,” Lincoln called out.