Claiming His Chance (3 page)

M
ate
…mate…mine.
I stood frozen in place, those words on repeat in my head. I hadn’t expected this, hadn’t been prepared, but there he was—my
mate
—in all his half-naked glory. His eyes were locked on mine, the huge man in the ring staring so hard I could almost feel his gaze on my body. And he was huge. From a distance, he’d seemed smaller, but he had to be well over six feet tall, and while not bulky, he was definitely made of solid muscle. Solid muscle barely contained behind a pair of loose gray athletic shorts and practically glistening under the lights. By the gods, the man was…so much more than I’d thought.

I’d also been wrong about him being a tornado in the ring. He was more like a river, weaving its way around the rock in front of it as if in surrender. When really, it was slowly cutting through everything in front of it. A true force of nature. I knew he’d win the fight, knew he’d conquer that rock at some point, but I wasn’t ready for him to spin and strike the way he did. I gasped as my mate hit the smaller man in the ring. So brutal, so vicious. So oddly sexual and repulsive at the same time.

Blood sprayed into the air, the smell making me sick to my stomach. The sight making me want to run away and hide. But I wouldn’t, not from him. He was meant to be mine. No matter his faults, no matter his flaws, the fates had linked us together in some haphazard way. And as much as I hated the idea of falling for a man who liked to fight, there was no stopping my attraction to him. No way to quell the inferno waiting to burn me alive.

“Hope I don’t get the new guy next time,” Piers said, chuckling. “That’ll be a quick, boring fight.”

I frowned, staring at the back of my mate, too sick to worry about matchups and skill levels. Too obsessed to tear my eyes away.

“Hey, Tidal,” a trainer yelled. “How about you keep that mate of yours tied up in your bed, yeah? She’s upsetting the hormones of the new guys.”

I cringed, wishing I could disappear as shifters around the room laughed out loud. I hated being singled out, hated how they stared and undressed me with their eyes. Hated that there was nothing I could do about it without revealing our lies to the world. But this was what we’d agreed to do, and so I fought the urge to run away and hide. Piers promised me his reputation would keep me safe, so I deferred to his plans.

Two more fights.

“Can we go now?” I asked as Piers waved his hand at the trainer in a “Yeah, yeah…working on it” sort of way.

“That might be a good idea.” Piers ushered me away from the ring, leading the way to our room.
Our
room…
shit
. This was going to get messy. “You’d better toughen up a bit, Trin. Can’t have you fainting just because of a little blood and some good-natured ribbing.”

“I didn’t faint,” I snarled. I stayed close to his side, almost afraid to look back. My mate would see us together, he would think…
double shit
. If he said a word about what just happened, Piers and I would be in a heap of trouble. A thought that nearly made my blood run cold and my knees go weak. Something that couldn’t happen out here, not yet. Not with witnesses.

“Close enough.” Piers directed me around the middle set of rings. “Your whole body was stiff. I thought for sure you were going down.”

Going down…yes, yes, I was. Going down a path that we’d never discussed. A dangerous one neither of us was ready for. But there was nothing I could do, nothing I could say yet. I needed to feel out this new guy, see if he could keep a secret. See if I could trust him with Piers’ life.

Shaking off the fear crawling up my spine as best I could, I lifted my chin and rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t anywhere close to fainting. Besides, that was a rough hit. Even you have to agree.”

“True. A hit like that to the chest could kill a shifter. We may heal quickly, but a stopped heart means no blood flow, and no blood means lights-out for good.”

Piers paused to watch another pair spar in a corner ring, his eyes tracking each move. Learning. Looking for weakness. He was good at this life, and he seemed to like the skills he learned here, something I couldn’t grasp. I clung to his arm, willing him to keep moving, desperate for a place to hide. For quiet.

He didn’t take my hint. “The bosses want me to make my fights last longer.”

“I remember.”

“It’d be easy with that kid who just got knocked out, you know? I could fake taking a few hits, dance around a bit, then knock him on his ass. Easy win.” Piers leaned over, bringing his lips to my cheek, whispering softly for only me to hear. “But that other guy? He’d be harder to beat while putting on a show. That’d be a true fight, one I’d need to totally focus on. I think I could take him, but it’d be tough. He’s a smart fighter; I might not win.”

I nodded, understanding. If he didn’t win, he might not walk out of the ring. Hell, he’d won his earlier match and had still ended up in the medical wing. Shifters were rough, tough fighters. Even an easy win could cause physical damage. Plus, an easy win wouldn’t make the bosses happy, and if the bosses weren’t happy, the money could stop.

We needed that cash.

Piers pulled away, watching the fighters again, that analytical expression back in place. Unable to resist, I peeked over my shoulder to the ring where my mate still stood. He was looking back at me, his eyes hard, his entire body exuding a tension that spoke of pure rage. He scared me, there was no denying that, but he also intrigued me. He’d seemed so calm in the ring, so comfortable. He hadn’t just attacked the kid as some of the others would have. He’d hung back, let the kid take him on, had seemed smart and calm. But then he’d flipped some sort of switch, and the vicious blow had been the result. What had made him react like that? What had caused him to lose his cool?

“C’mon, Trin,” Piers said, pulling me mentally and physically away from the ring. “Let’s grab something to eat.”

I kept my eyes on my mate for as long as I could, letting Piers lead me where he wanted me to go, unable to look away from the statue in the ring. Terrified and turned on all at once for a man I hadn’t met yet.

A
t sunrise
, I took off on my own for a stroll through the woods. I needed fresh air. I’d been cooped up with Piers all night, keeping an eye on his injuries, making sure he rested, hiding in the room we shared so as not to have to deal with the secrets eating away at me. I couldn’t tell him, not yet, not until I figured out a plan. Until I knew what was best for all of us.

I took the path leading deep into the woods, along the backside of the rock face the building nestled against. There was a small river back there, one no one else was able to frequent. Really, the entire area outside the gym was off-limits to the fighters. Something that worked in my favor as it was the only place I could get away from the noise and the stress, the only place I could truly be alone. The only place I felt safe.

I loved to explore the hills out here, to traipse between the trees on two legs. My wolf longed for release, but that wasn’t possible. Not until we left this place. I couldn’t imagine staying human for as long as some of the fighters did, though from what Piers told me, the owners demanded the men not shift to keep their animal sides on edge. Caged. Ready to blow.

Dangerous.

When I reached my favorite tree, I sat against it and settled in to watch the world go by. I itched to shift to my wolf, but I knew better. It wasn’t just because of the rules of the club owners, either. In a world run by men, it was better to be safe than sorry. There was only one other female I knew of within the training facility—a doctor. Women spectators came into the building, but none was allowed in the back. Our shifters were too animalistic, too hyped-up on hormones. A human woman in close proximity would be an easy target, a female in wolf form would drive them positively over the edge. It was why Piers and I stayed so close, why I rarely left his side. Why I loved taking to the woods to escape the toxic testosterone of the world I was currently stuck in while the men worked with their trainers. While they were too distracted to notice me missing.

The deliberate crack of a twig broke the silence and caused me to flush with irritation. Only Piers would be dumb enough to leave the gym during training time.
He’s going to get himself kicked out
. “I can be alone out here you know, Piers. It’s safe.”

“My name’s not Piers.”

I spun, totally alert, my body responding immediately to the unfamiliar voice. Hot, thick, deep…definitely not Piers. The man from the ring, my mate, stood before me in jeans and a dark shirt that only highlighted the muscles beneath it. I didn’t stand, couldn’t, seeing as how my legs refused to cooperate with my brain. Holy shit, he was handsome. Large and obviously powerful, he towered over me, yet I wasn’t afraid. He had an air about him, an inherent gentleness that his physical appearance belied. Plus, he was my mate. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

“You’re not supposed to leave the building.”

He shrugged, the picture of casual confidence. “Some rules are meant to be broken. It’s too pretty out here not to take advantage of the view.”

His eyes danced along my body in a way that made my heart race faster. My wolf practically preened under his gaze, wanting me to move closer.

“Appalachia, yes?”

He smiled, charming and sweet. “Only in the ring. My name’s Cahill. May I join you?”

“Yes, of course.”

He sat on a patch of grass, keeping a few feet between us. Giving me space, something I much appreciated. I sat with my back against the tree and waited for…something. The silence stretched, turning awkward. A weight against me. I searched my mind for anything to say, some witty remark to make. When nothing came, I resorted to commenting on the obvious.

“You’re a fighter here.”

He cocked his head. “Yes, or I soon will be.”

I nodded, unable to hold his gaze for long. He made me feel bared to him, stripped down in some way, and I kind of liked it. The heavy silence returned. I tapped my fingers against the ground, looking around desperately for something to inspire more conversation. Cahill appeared calm as he watched me. His face turned slightly into the rising sun, his dirty-blond hair almost glowing in the light, his lips quirked up into a subtle smile.

Finally, I let my mind and my eyes wander, hoping for inspiration. Strong chin, long neck, thick shoulders, arms that—

“How’d you get those?” I asked, pointing to the scars on his forearm. The same scars I’d noticed the day before from far away. The ones that looked like a messy handprint had been branded onto his skin.

Cahill glanced at the marks. “Got in a bit of a scuffle with a fire witch.”

“Really? That’s sort of…not wise.”

He shrugged, his brow furrowing, a sense of sadness rolling off him. “It was my fault. I was being a judgmental ass when I shouldn’t have been. She did the right thing by reminding me of her power.”

A sharp snarl escaped me. Cahill’s eyebrows rose in response, and I coughed to cover up the flaring of my sudden protective instinct. My mate had been close enough to a witch to have handprints scarred into his flesh. That thought both terrified and infuriated me. While human me oscillated from fear to rage, my wolf was solid in her opinion of his statement. How dare they touch what was hers?

“So she burned you to teach you a lesson?” My lips pursed as all the rotten things I’d learned about witches flitted through my mind. Things I’d never been able to confirm myself. “From what I know about witches, that sounds like something they would do.”

“She burned me to defend herself and a human kid.” His eyes met mine, fierce and bright. Honest. “She was right to fight me, and I was lucky this was the only mark she left behind. I can’t blame her being a witch for
my
ignorance.”

I sat back, not having realized I’d been leaning toward him. Ready to jump, to defend. But he didn’t look like a man who needed protecting. He looked like a man who’d lost a friend somehow. “You have an interesting take on witches.”

“The fire witch’s sister saved my life in a fight they didn’t need to be at.” He cocked his head, looking me over in a way that made me shiver. “They defended the leader of the North American Lycan Brotherhood alongside us, and they lost one of their sisters protecting a fellow shifter.”

“I’ve never heard of shifters and witches fighting together.”

He chuckled harshly. “Neither had I, but then we did, and it was great. They changed my entire view on other supernatural beings that day. I’ve learned to be much more accepting—” he paused, frowning “—or at least, I’m trying to. I don’t want to be that hothead kid who was too arrogant to do anything but strike out at those who are different. I want more calm around me, more quiet. I’ve seen enough violence for three lifetimes.”

My heart leaped in my chest. I struggled to keep words from tumbling from my mouth, to keep my smile from breaking free. I wanted to hug him, to pull him close and say
me too
. Maybe, just maybe, the fates knew what they were doing after all.

“That’s good,” I whispered, my smile unstoppable. “Quiet and calm is…really, really good.”