Chapter 15

Destiny

The bastard bucks his hips and sends me forward. I tuck and roll quickly jumping to my feet so I'm not at a disadvantage. His nose is fucked, blood is smeared over his face from my hits. I smirk at the size of the large lump on the side of his bald head from my kick.

"I'm gonna break your fucking neck," he vows.

I lift my hand and wave him toward me mockingly. "Come at me, big boy," I taunt. He releases an ear piercing roar before he runs at full speed toward me, there is no way I would be able to take a full-forced shoulder blast from him. I force myself to remain planted where I am, I can see the gleeful look in his eyes as he gets closer thinking he has this fight in the bag. A fraction of a second before he can make contact, I take a step to the side and drop down doing a leg sweep, taking his legs out from under him. He hits the ground hard with a loud grunt and skids along the dirt. I press forward and jump on his back but the fucker shifts at the last second. Panic thrums through me when he takes me to the ground.

I force all my fears to the back of my mind and allow my instincts to take over. I feel like I black out for a second when his fist clips me across the cheek. Before the pain has a chance to register, I shift beneath him and get my arm around the back of his neck and throw all my weight backward as I get him in a guillotine choke hold. It takes every ounce of my strength to keep this hold on him. He pushes up from his knees and uses his upper body to slam me back into the ground, using every ounce of strength he has.

They might not be paid fighters like you but these people have no choice but to win, learn from their determination and watch how they push the limits to win. They will sacrifice anything to win because their life depends on it. Yours doesn't, keep that shit in mind.

Taylan's words from earlier play out in my mind. This is life or death, if I slip or release him there is no doubt in my mind he will kill me. If the sacrifice I have to make is my humanity, then so be it, I will not allow this bastard the satisfaction of taking my life from me. I close my eyes and release a scream so feral a wild animal would be proud of me. My hold on him tightens. I can feel his strength depleting as I continue to cut off his oxygen supply. I see the faces of the men I killed flash behind my closed lids and pray to anyone who is listening that I don't have to add this juice head's face to the list I see when I close my eyes.

"Slayer!" Taylan's voice sounds so far away, I can't let him distract me. Another wild scream tears from me.

"Tap out!" I scream.

"He is! Let him go, baby." I feel hands gripping my cheeks. I snap my arms open to see worried blue eyes peering down at me. "He's tapping, baby, let him go." I frown for a minute until I feel the weak tap of a hand on my back. My eyes widened in horror. I release him and crab crawl backward away from the juice head. He coughs and gasps for air as he flops forward against the ground. I sit here staring at him, I made him tap.

I made him tap out!

"Slayer?" I look at Taylan who is looking at me with worry in his eyes. "Come on," he prompts. I look to his outstretched hand and hesitantly take it, letting him help me to my feet. I sway slightly. He pulls me against him wrapping his arms around me. "Deep breaths, take a second to ground yourself."

I take his advice and breath in and out allowing the rush of the fight to work its way out of my system. I always get worked up when I fight but I have never in my life felt this powerful. Whenever I fight I always go in with a clear, level head but at some point through the fight I black out and this other person takes over. My dad says I have an alter ego and gave her a name.

The very name Taylan calls me.

"I'm okay," I say after a minute and push back from him. He runs his gaze over me, then reaches up and brushes his fingertips over my cheek. His eyes darken, then he pulls back ready to go beat Kevin again but I reach out and pull him back by his arm. "Take me home," I say quietly. I see him warring within himself, he wants to oblige me but that caveman part of him wants to beat the shit out of Kevin for laying his hands on me.

"You never come back here, am I clear?" He's voiced it as a question but he and I both know he isn't asking me, he's telling me.

"Okay." At my agreement he interlocks our fingers and walks us toward Riley. When I see all the phones with their flashlights on, I cringe. There is no doubt that they are posting that fight, I would guesstimate I have at least an hour tops before my dad is blowing up my phone. Taylan stops in front of Riley who hands us our things. Taylan never releases my hand.

"You ever let her in that ring again and I'll snap your fucking neck and deliver your head to your mother." Riley's face pales, he swallows loudly and nods.

I feel bad for the guy so I cut in. "It wasn't him who helped me strap my hands." Taylan frowns, I flick my gaze to the group standing behind him. He spins around and I watch as all the muscles in his back tense in anticipation.

"Ohhhhh, you are my new favorite because you have so pissed my dad and grandpa off without even trying," London singsongs. Royal, Chaos, Sin, Kacey, Artemis, Cronos and London all stand there staring at Taylan, all of them except for London and Sin look like they are ready to break every bone in Taylan's body. I move forward so I'm standing beside him, ready to protect him against my family if I need to.

"You let her go out there against them?" he shouts, garnering the attention of the crowd around us. Chanel steps forward with a cold look on her face.

"She is a skilled fighter and can hold her own, did she not just prove that?" Her tone is laced with venom.

"She could have been killed! They are twice her fucking size," Taylan snaps back. London's face becomes a picture of outrage as she comes forward, stopping beside Sin.

"You think she's weak because she has a pussy?" The five guys groan and mutter between their breaths, they should all know by now that London has no filter and will say whatever is on her mind.

"I never said I thought she was weak," he says in a firm tone.

"The more important thing is why the fuck you brought her here?" Royal says in a deathly calm tone that is fooling no one.

"How did you even know about this place?" I ask my cousin.

He cuts his gaze to me for a second before looking back at Taylan. "Did it cross your mind that her car has a tracker on it?" I gape at my cousin.

"You put a fucking tracker on my car?" I yell.

"Yeah, I did," Chaos answers, giving no fucks that he just invaded my privacy.

"Stay the fuck out of my business!" I snarl.

"Let's move, too many eyes and ears," Kacey says. I look around and notice we have every single person's attention on us. No one argues as we follow Kacey, heading back the way we came. Taylan refuses to let my hand go when I try to pull it free. He shoots me a warning look that has me relenting and allowing him this small win. Royal, Kacey, Chaos and Sin lead the way while Cronos, Artemis, London, Taylan and I hang back a bit.

"Dad is so pissed off and it is fucking epic to see," London says happily. I shake my head, she is batshit crazy, there is no debating that.

"Does Uncle Bishop really know?" I ask her.

She smiles and shakes her head speaking low enough so only we can hear. "No, I just said that so I could blow my dad's bubble. He thinks Grandpa is on his way and it's pissing him off because he wanted to be the one to deal with this situation." I can't hide my smile.

"You're a little shit, you know that?" She beams at me and nods.

"Artemis loves it." The man himself wraps his arm around her shoulders and draws her into his side, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Yeah, I fucking do." I can't help the sigh that works its way past my lips, I envy what they have. I look back at Taylan to find his gaze laser focused on me, the look in his eyes has me turning away from him before he can see more than I am willing to share.

"Heads up," Artemis says ,drawing our attention to him as we near the edge of the woods. "Royal has no idea about who runs the underground."

Taylan's face is a mask of indifference. "And you do?" he claps back.

Artemis pins him with a dry stare. "I have my ways, your secret is safe with us but you better have a good fucking reason why you took her there." Our conversation comes to a halt when we break through the tree line. Three SUV's are parked by my car that I can't help but glare, I can't believe Chaos put a fucking tracker on my car. Taylan brings us to a stop a few feet away from my cousins. Chaos and Royal stand there with their arms crossed over their chests while Kacey stands behind Chanel with his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder.

Fuck, I never thought I would ever envy Chanel, but I do.

"Start explaining before I start tearing you apart," Royal threatens.

Taylan scoffs, earning a glare from the three guys while Chanel just smirks. "You could but we all know you won't do that because you would violate the treaty and that would start a war."

"Did you miss the part where you are here because we can't trust the RDS or the DCF?" I roll my eyes, the Re Della Strada and the Da Luca Crime Family have proven themselves trustworthy but my family has their heads up their asses and refuse to see that.

"Nope, but I got a tip that intel on the Russian fucks could be found here tonight so I put my feelers out." I whirl on Taylan staring up at him in outrage.

"Are you kidding?" My tone is layered with betrayal and anger.

He doesn't take his eyes off my cousins when he answers me. "No. I would never have brought you here otherwise but it's not like I would've left you behind." His words sting more than I want to admit.

"You could have called," Chaos says.

"Yeah, probably, but I was under the impression you all were supposed to be in Greece and Miami. I got skin in this game, I want that fucker more than your family does," he answers firmly. I admit I thought the same thing, I never expected to see them here tonight.

"Destiny is our family, we get those fuckers, not you," Chanel rebukes.

"She's my–mine to protect. I find them, I'm killing them. End of story. Now, if there's nothing else we're leaving." He doesn't wait for a response as he drags me toward my car. I look over my shoulder to see them all staring at us.

"We leave for Miami in two days, anything happens before then you call," Royal calls out. Taylan waves his hand over his shoulder, dismissing my cousin. I want to laugh but refrain, no one dismisses Royal Murdoch except for his father and mother.