I had no illusions about how this would end if I won.
Wyatt had said he’d let us go if I fought him, no matter what the outcome was, but I, the bikers, Sheila, Jessica, Lacy—we all knew that was pure USDA grade A bullshit. They had no intention of letting me walk if I beat Wyatt in a fair fight. This was just so he could try and regain some honor in front of his men. But, if I lost, maybe I’d have a chance. Maybe this wouldn’t devolve into the kind of bloodshed I was worried about. I really didn’t want a dozen men on my conscience, or even a chance at some kind of feud between myself and the Skull and Bones.
I’d had enough killing during the war.
What I needed to do, though, was stall for time so the women could get away in the woods, in case I either accidentally won or he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain.
Wyatt and I circled each other, naked from the waist up, our eyes locked on one another for battle. “Just wanna be clear,” I called loudly enough that I was sure my pack would hear me where they crouched low and motionless on the fringes of the clearing, “if I win, you leave. You win, you still leave. You just want a fight, right? That’s all this is about.”
“That’s all,” Wyatt replied. “Just here to see who the better man really is, is all.”
“Then let’s do this,” I said, bringing my fists up in front of my face.
I gave Wyatt a clear opening in the hopes he’d swing first, and he delivered with a slow and clumsy opening right hook.
I fought my natural inclination to dodge or block it, and made sure he hit me right on the chin, even angling my face to fix his aim. Pain blossomed through my face, sending me staggering back. He might have been slow and inaccurate, but his fists still hit like a Mac truck, knocking the sense right out of my head and sending me into one of the Bonesmen surrounding us.
The bikers all cheered for their president, their rowdy voices making them sound like there were ten times their actual numbers. “Don’t quit now!” the biker yelled as he flung me back into the circle.
I stumbled forward, the coppery, metallic taste of blood filling my mouth as I exaggerated how much I was feeling the punch. I needed to make this look good, after all. He’d know if I made the fight too easy on him. I swung wildly, a haymaker that was clumsy and off balance.
He danced right underneath it and jabbed me twice in the stomach as he came around.
The wind was knocked right out of me, and I almost took a knee. Instead, I tightened my arms around my torso and blocked as he came on again like a devil, battering me with almost half a dozen more hits.
He danced back, lighter on his feet than I remembered, thumbing his nose at me. He came back at me with a right jab.
I easily knocked it aside with my forearm, and bullied my way back in. I delivered a set of jabs to his chest and gut, knocking the wind from him again. “See how that feels,” I yelled, backing away from him as he stumbled back into the arms of his buddies, a set of boos and murmurs coming from the assembled men.
The bikers around him helped him back up and righted him. Wyatt grinned wide, showing me his row of rotten teeth. “You in the game now?” he crowed. “Huh? You taking this seriously yet?”
I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. I held it back, just like I was holding back the urge to just shift and tear his throat out for even thinking to threaten my mate and Lacy. Instead, I flew into him, releasing my frustration in two quick jabs to his face.
He partially blocked both, but my fists still slipped through. His head snapped back with each blow, his eyes wide with shock as I bloodied his nose like earlier in the day, sending streams of crimson and gore down his face onto his chest. Wyatt stumbled back into the men, and they roared their disapproval as he shook his head and clamored back into his stance.
“Think you’re hot shit?” he asked in a nasally voice, circling around me. His nose was broken, I could tell, but it apparently wasn’t slowing him down this time around. “Think you’re real fucking hot shit, don’t you?”
“Shut up and fight,” I said.
He growled deep in his chest, a guttural noise like an animal, and came at me again, his fists a flurry. I blocked a couple of them, but let the rest slip through, his bare knuckles connecting with my nose and cheek bone, splitting my skin and snapping my head back.
My vision went dark for a second, punctuated only by white fireworks of surprise and pain as I stumbled back onto my ass. I tried to get back up, to buy the girls more time, but my body was weary. I could feel the toll the fight was taking on me, on my endurance, and I had to struggle to my feet. Who knew being a punching back was so exhausting?
“Had enough?” Wyatt asked in that same nasal tone.
I shook my head, trying to get my senses focused again.“Not yet,” I replied. “Gimme me a couple more shots.” I took a step towards him.
He laughed as I stumbled, my ankle twisting a little in the gravel of the drive. He slashed me with a left hook and followed it up with a right jab.
My headed rocketed back again, his bloodied knuckles leaving a trail over my bruised and broken skin. I grunted as his jab sent me back into the crowd again, my arms pinwheeling a little.
“How about now?” Wyatt asked, still fresh as a daisy.
I licked my split lip, tasting more blood. I wiped the back of a balled fist across the blood, smearing it over my chin and mouth. “One more,” I said as I lunged forward, jabbing him with a surprise left that I pulled at the last moment.
“Getting weak there, Murdoch,” he said as he recovered. Then, surprisingly, he lunged at me again, his fists flying at me faster than I thought he could muster.
I went to block them, intentionally being clumsy and weak, and let most of his punches through. It was time to end this, to let Wyatt have his way, no matter how much I hated having to give him even a fake victory. My body was like a mass of pain already, and the punches just seemed like more acute points of it spreading throughout my body, like when your hands are cold already and you decide to grip an ice cube. The world darkened for a brief moment, and I fell back to the ground, blinking. I stayed that way for a moment, hoping this would all just be over soon so Wyatt could crawl back beneath his rock and I’d be done with the whole charade. Around me the bikers cheered, hooting and hollering and slapping their boss on his naked, sweaty back. “Way to go, Wyatt!” one man called.
“Pull ‘em to his feet, boys,” Wyatt Axelrod called after a moment, “that way we can show him what happens to people who fuck with Skull and Bones.”
Just a little more, I figured as the bikers dragged me to my feet. Hopefully the girls were gone by now, into the woods like I’d told them to. I couldn’t smell any of them, not even Jessica, because of the hits my nose had taken. After this, they’d let me go. And, if they didn’t…well, the pack was here.
Wyatt, a big, lopsided, evil grin plastered to his lips and his eyes fixated on me, put his hand back over his shoulder. I watched through heavily lidded, swollen eyes as one of the bikers slapped that big chrome revolver back into his hand. “Gonna find out what happens when you fuck with Skull and Bones, Murdoch.”
Stupid Wyatt. I’d given him an out! A way to avoid what was coming, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I shook my head and coughed so hard my body wracked itself painfully. “So what?” I asked. “You going back out on our deal? Kill me anyways?”
He walked slowly up to me, closing the distance in twice the time it normally would have taken, each boot crunching in the gravel loudly as he crossed the circle. “We ain’t just gonna kill you, Murdoch. We’re gonna find your women-folk out in the trees, too, and we’re gonna have a little party in this cabin here. Don’t worry, though, we’ll put you in a shallow grave out back so the girls ain’t gotta smell you while we’re having our fun. Wouldn’t wanna ruin the mood and all.”
I growled and narrowed my eyes at him, struggling against the men holding me. “Fuck you, Axelrod. Fuck you and your stupid fucking gang. You’re all a bunch of fucking bitches.”
“Ain’t my fault you brought fists to a gunfight,” he said with a wicked grin, swinging the gun down in front of him and pressing the barrel to my forehead. “Bye bye, Mr. Murdoch. Been real shit knowing you.”
“No!” a woman’s voice screamed from beside the cabin. “Don’t you dare! Fuck you, you lying pussies!”
My heart dropped. “Jessica!” I shouted. “No! I told you to run! Stay back!”
Wyatt didn’t even flinch at her shouts, though. He just grinned more widely. “Bye bye, now.”
He did flinch, though, when I began to shift.