Watching one of the crew set the large lock on the door of the cage, reality sank in like a knife through Maggie’s skin. Cage was in there and he was going to stay there until this was over.

And how long that was going to take, Maggie didn’t know.

She couldn’t even seem to form the words.

The two men were a study of contrasts. The other fighter was all flash and dancing feet, swiping fists, and snarling teeth flashed as he trotted around the ring.

And Cage. He just stood there.

Even when the other fighter stepped behind him, Cage didn’t move. He was like an immoveable object, his feet planted right through the concrete rather than on the floor of the caged ring.

Maggie sucked in a breath as the other man swung a fist at the back of Cage’s head. It was a feint. Not a real strike, but the crowd went wild. The shouts and screams flew through the air and so did the beer, splashing out of solo cups.

It was going to make the floor sticky. She’d cleaned up her share of spilled beer off a floor, but that wasn’t what had her terrified.

Cage. Damn it, Cage.

She heard the taunts that were thrown at the ring by the spectators and then she heard another voice above the rest.

Truck touched her arm and she barely kept herself from calling out in fear. “Hey, it’s okay,” he told her.

“Why is he so loud?”

He gestured at a point above the stage and she fixated on it to keep from looking at the fighters in the cage. There was a dark microphone cluster hung above the stage.

“Oh good,” she sighed, “at least we have it in stereo. How long do one of these matches- oh God!”

She dug her fingertips into Truck’s arm and heard a grunt from him as the other fighter flew at Cage.

But just as quick as he moved, he was down, his back hitting the floor with a heavy thump.

The crowd jumped to its feet again, whistles and rough shouts filled the air. Other fighters would have been celebrating the first take-down she presumed, but Cage kept his gaze on the man, his steps measured as he walked around him.

“Just get this over with,” she whispered, knowing he couldn’t hear a word she said. “Please, Cage, be careful.”

She saw a certain stillness move over him as if the cage was some kind of time warp, slowing things down. And as her heart seemed to pound against the wall of her chest, threatening to break straight out of her ribs, she saw Cage turn and look straight at her.

In the dark.

Behind over a hundred screaming spectators.

He saw her, and he winked.

And time sped up to normal and she felt her knees go weak.

The man on the ground kicked at Cage, tangling their legs together, bringing them both down to the ground.

“No!”

Maggie took one lunging step forward and then she stopped. She felt hands on her shoulders, someone holding her back.

Truck.

“Just hold tight, Miss Fordice. Hold tight.”

“No, no… make it stop!” She turned toward Truck, struggling against his huge hands. “Get him out of there! Please.”

“Just watch. He’s good.” Truck’s chuckle was deep, resonant. “He’s real good.”

She didn’t know why she did it, but she dragged her eyes back to the ring and looked into the bright white lights. Cage was up and, on his feet, along with the other fighter. They were taking shots at each other.

Chest. Gut. Head, Kidneys.

“Is nothing off limits?”

Truck leaned close again. “They’re shifters, we can take worse. Much worse.”

The other fighter got in a punch that threw Cage up against the chain link fence.

“Please tell me when this gets better.”

“I dunno about better,” Truck’s voice was filled with humor, “but things are about to change… right about… now.”

Maggie’s throat started to ache. “What do you mean?”

Truck folded his arms over his chest and nodded at the ring.

Maggie felt the energy in the room shift. She had no idea how many shifters were in the room watching the fight, but all of a sudden she could feel their power as if she was standing beside a live wire or one of those electrified fences about to overload.

It was like a hum. A vibration with a mind of its own, reaching out and arcing from one person to another like a flame catching through tinder in a box of dry wood.

She could almost feel the hunger in her own body. The thirst for blood.

And somewhere underneath it all, a call from something primal inside dying to get out.

Then, as if a door had been opened in the room, the air rushed in and the heat caught flame and there in the cage… a grizzly bear and a jaguar rushed at each other.

She’d never actually seen Cage, or any other shifter, change their shape before, but she doubted she’d ever see anything like this ever again. There was nothing to compare it to. She’d seen horrible thunder storms where the air seemed to shimmer with sparks.

She’d seen any number of crazy things in her head when she was suffering through detox.

But nothing seemed to equal the rush of energy that surged over her. Through her.

And when the grizzly reached out a broad paw and took a swipe, she saw the jaguar leap and twist into the air, his own claws extended.

With a howl, the bear recoiled and stumbled back, red blood matting his chest. The sleek lines of the jaguar dashed past her vision and she followed him with her eyes and the wild beating of her heart.

Riled, the bear pushed away from the wall and lunged again at the big cat and came up empty.

With a swish of his tail, the jaguar turned a hard right and with his paws on the chain link, he flew at the back of the bear and knocked him down onto all four legs.

The bear howled his outrage and turned on his side, lifting a paw up into the air, he caught the jaguar under his chin.

The crowd surged toward the ring and security had to forcibly push people away.

Maggie could only stand there in horrified silence.

Please. Please.

The words echoed in her head.

A quick swipe of a paw opened the bear’s cheek, spraying the floor of the ring with warm red blood.

Maggie was dizzy, breathless. “Tell me he’s going to win.”

Truck took hold of her arms and pulled her up against his side. “He’ll be just fine.”

She wished she had his faith. Cage was amazing, with his rock-hard muscles and near legendary, if secret, service record, but she was sure that nothing like this happened during his training.

The violence grew in speed as well as viciousness after that. Claws flew, teeth flashed and just when Maggie felt as if she would run screaming from the room, it was over.

The grizzly, nearly twice the size of the larger than normal jaguar, was rolled onto his back, his chest heaving from exertion. And the jaguar, rose to his feet, swaying the littlest bit before he rebounded and crouched down.

One of the security guards tossed something over the fence and into the ring and as she watched, the jaguar, bleeding from tears in his flesh, shifted. Cage was suddenly there, crouched in the same place, blood coating the same places where the jaguar had been injured. He had something in his hand and as he shrugged it on she saw that the security guard had thrown him a robe.

Another guard tossed a second robe to Cage and he dropped it over the bear before waving in medical staff to see to the other shifter.

Cage walked to the gate and waited for the staff to unlock it and let him out. He stepped aside at the bottom and let the staff in and continued through the crowd.

People jostled to touch him, to pat him on the back, some even tried to hand him a cup. He just kept walking.

Walking straight towards her.

And damn if he didn’t look amazing. His eyes were bright, the look in them both intent and wild at the same time. He drew closer and closer, and Maggie managed to stand still and wait because she was stuck between running the hell away from him or jumping into his arms.

Truck stepped away when Cage got within arm’s reach. He wasn’t the only one who heard the warning growl in Cage’s throat. Some of the rowdy patrons stepped away from their corner of the room as if they could feel something dangerous in the air.

“Hey,” Cage looked down at her, his shoulders and chest heaving with each breath.

“Uh, hi,” Maggie’s eyes moved over his face and his shoulders in a rapid assessment, “you still in one piece?”

“All better.” His mouth curled up in a slow, predatory grin. “If you want, I’ll let you check me all over.” His hands reached down, and she followed his movements with her eyes. Those hands, wow, big palms and thick fingers, working at the ties of his robe.

“Wait.”

She reached out and covered his hands with hers… well, as much as she could cover.

“Not here.” She should have said ‘not now,’ but she had already realized that now was going to happen.

“Then where?”

She guessed she was just easy to read, but at that very moment, she didn’t care.

“My place,” she couldn’t help but drag her gaze all the way up his amazing chest and somehow made it to his eyes, “now.”

* * *

She would have time later to consider how crazy it was to walk across the street with Cage while he was still in his robe, but all she could really concentrate on was his warm hand in hers and the visible puff of his breath in the cool evening air.

Keys turned, and the door was locked as soon as they were on the other side.

“Shower.”

She pointed out the bathroom and he walked straight in, pulling her along with him.

The robe fell outside the door, leaving him completely bare before her as he stepped inside. He didn’t seem to be concerned at all, then again, if she had a body as flawless as his, she wouldn’t have an issue walking around naked either.

Cage made quick work of the knobs on the wall and a blast of near-scalding water rushed over him.

And all she could see beyond the spray was the toned curve of his backside. No, she changed her mind. Backside was a name too staid and polite for what he had. What he had was an ass. Perfectly shaped and hard enough to-

“Are you going to stand there watching me?”

“Well, I… I mean-”

“Well,” he mocked her stuttered answer and pushed the door open wider with his foot, letting out a whole bunch of water onto the floor, “you’re going to have to make a decision.”

Another one? “What decision?”

Turning around, Cage reached out to the soap dish and picked up the cake that was laying there and held it out to her. “Are you going to wash my back or my front?”

Deep in her mind she knew what the answer was, but wasn’t quite sure that she should say it. Her heart and the aching need deep inside of her blurted out the truth.

“Both.”

Top and pants ended up on the floor, keeping the water somewhat in check as she stepped into the shower with him. When she met his eyes, she could see the spark of laughter looking back at her.

“You’re still wearing clothes.”

She’d done it so she wouldn’t feel so exposed to him but standing there with the water turning her white cotton bra and panties sheer, it was almost worse.

But that was something she wasn’t going to admit, not to him. Not when she finally had her chance. She didn’t pluck the soap from his hand, no, she picked up her wash cloth and her bottle of body wash and squeezed a healthy dollop into the cloth.

“I hope that’s not going to make me smell like a girl,” his tone was deep, but his eyes told another story.

“If you’re going to complain then what will you do when all of me is rubbing over all of you. You’ll smell like me either way, don’t you think?”

“Fuck,” he wrapped his arms around her body and grabbed a hold of her backside, digging his fingers in as he pulled her flush against him, “I can’t wait.”

Before she could speak and drown in the hot water, he turned and she smiled against his chest, dropping the bottle onto the shelf behind him. And just as she felt his erection pressing hard against her belly she rubbed her wash cloth across his lower back and felt him press tighter against her.

“Trying to rub my skin right off, aren’t you?”

She enjoyed the next swipe up and over his shoulder blades. “Really? Here I thought you were a big bad fighter and you’re just a big baby.”

“I’m no baby,” he growled the words into her ear and scraped his teeth over her earlobe, “but if you want-”

She drew the wash cloth down over his spine and then the curve low on his back. “What I want is to get you all scrubbed clean, and then I’m taking you into my bedroom.”

When she scrubbed the wash cloth over his ass, he growled even louder, his hips bucking against her.

“Keep that up, Maggie, and I’ll take you right here in the shower.”

The thought had her body aching all over and her nipples tightening into hard peaks under the wet cotton bra against his chest.

“Like that, do you?”

One hand still covering her backside, fingers digging in and lifting her up to her tip-toes, he used his other hand to slide two fingers between her legs. One pushed the edge of her panties aside and the other, the other caressed the folds between her legs.

Sparks blossomed behind her eyes and she leaned forward to give him more access.

“You like that, don’t you, Maggie? You’re so wet for me.”

“Ho-how do you know, ah-” she edged forward as he slipped a finger deep inside her, “that… that it’s not the water.”

He turned, bringing her with him until his back was against the wall, and that’s when he lifted her higher, pressing her tight against him. She was tucked in between his erection and his hand, his cock nudging against her clit with his fingers buried inside of her. “I can feel you, Maggie. Tight and wet for me, just begging for more.”

She wasn’t able to answer him back. The friction of her cotton-covered nipples against the hard wall of his chest, his finger inside of her and his front, pressed so intimately against her, it was all a rush of feeling that had her floating as if she was cast upon a rushing river.

“Are you, Maggie?”

She could only pant out her breaths between her lips, barely able to open her eyes from time to time. Cage. She formed his name on her mute lips and tried to swallow the thick lump in her throat.

“Lost in the feeling, babe?”

Maggie felt his lips on her throat, the warm and rough sweep of his tongue against her pulse, but still she couldn’t speak, only nod her head.

The wash cloth dropped from her hand and she clutched at his shoulders, trying to hold on to her runaway feelings.

But Cage had other plans. A second finger joined the first and Maggie felt herself stretch over him and gasped in a breath that couldn’t quite fill her lungs.

She tried again and felt like the floor had disappeared under her very feet. Her head felt light, and something twisted up tight deep inside of her body.

He ground his hips closer, rubbing his heat against hers and when she cried out, a soft whimpering gasp, he swallowed the sound and gave her a growled oath, pulling her tighter.

Maggie felt like she wanted to split apart and faint dead away, but she also felt like she could climb a mountain, not that she could tell which way was up.

“Cage?” She managed the single word and then lost her voice again, panting with need.

“You’re almost there, Maggie, I can feel it. I can feel you, damn, I can feel you squeezing me tight.”

She cracked her eyes open and saw the dark midnight of his eyes gazing back at her. The intriguing sight set her blood boiling in her veins, brought her one step closer to the fall.

“Tell me, Maggie,” he urged her, “can you come for me? Give me everything in you, let me feel you break in my arms and I’ll hold you together. Give me that and I’ll- ah.”

She bit his lip, her teeth pinching at the smooth curve of his lower lip, sinking in on a groan as the twisting inside of her let go in a shuddering release. The only thing holding her together were Cage’s arms and the sound of his voice deep in her ears. “Hold on, Maggie, just hold on…”