17. ~Skylar~

The fight venue was buzzing.

The moment I'd walked in, a crowd of people had descended on me, cheering and then asking me tons of questions about the upcoming fight, congratulating me on defeating Vicars during the last one, wanting to know where I'd trained, where I'd suddenly come from, the whole nine.

Fortunately, Caleb and Bastian had managed to disburse them, and after the initial excitement they'd settled down and headed off to take a good spot around the ring.

I'd been concerned at Bastian and Caleb hanging around me out in public, but Caleb had informed me that no Luxe students were here, and we were just dealing with those on the periphery of society, those who had nothing to do with social media or the media in general. In fact, they hated all that shit, they were a different breed. And they respected the whole rule of not publicizing anything that happened at the fight club, knowing if they did, it would compromise it and ruin it for everyone.

When I'd asked Caleb and Bastian why no Luxe students had shown up, considering how into it they'd been last time, they'd just flashed me those devilish smirks of theirs. That had told me enough. They'd obviously done something to keep them away.

Although I'd wanted to know what that something was, I'd let it go, and focused on the awesome fact that we could actually be around each other in public. It transcended all the rest.

Including my nerves about entering the ring again and engaging in a brutal bout of violence.

"You've got this," Caleb said, interpreting my disposition well as he stood behind me rubbing my shoulders, while Bastian was wrapping my hands. It was strange. I'd never had anyone do it for me before. I didn't really know what to make of it. It was nice and sent a warmth through me, but there was also that part of me that worried I'd start to not just like it, but start to need it. Not just the wrapping thing, but everything else too. I'd already gotten close to both of them and it was only getting more intense as time went on.

In the few days since we'd fucked in the den, I'd seen them every day. Caleb had joined us on one of our picnics between classes, Bastian had met me with his Lexus on one of my motorcycle rides through the backroads, and then I'd spent one night at their mansion where we'd fooled around, and then actually done the whole dinner-and-a-movie thing, wherein the three of us had then fallen asleep together in each other's arms.

And now, here they were supporting me with my upcoming fight.

I was slated to fight a guy who'd trained in MMA, very close to my own training. According to the details Damien had relayed to me through a text to Bastian, my opponent was smaller than my last one, just under six-foot and more definition than mass. But he was fast and apparently a biter too. His moniker was Viper. Lovely. The guys hadn't taken well to that, but I'd shrugged it off. I'd already agreed to the fight and I wasn't about to back out over something like that. Over anything, really. I was amped for this and I needed it. I had to test myself where all that darkness was concerned. I needed to know I could control it fully.

The guys pulled away from me all of a sudden and a moment later, I looked to see Damien walking into the venue.

He wasn't wearing his pride-and-joy white and gold hoodie this time.

Instead, he was sporting a pair of crimson shorts and a black metallic t-shirt that was partially sheer.

"Fuck, I thought he said he wasn't coming," Bastian groused.

Caleb fired up a smoke and took a harsh drag. "That's what he texted me."

"Well, obviously it was bullshit," Bastian bit back at him.

I frowned. It wasn't the first time he'd bit Caleb's head off in the last few days. There'd definitely been some tension between them, but when I'd asked, they'd each brushed me off telling me it would pass, and that it wasn't a big deal.

Damien smirked at Bastian and Caleb who were now a good few feet from me.

And then he came over to me. "Looking forward to this, Bluebell?"

I nodded. "It should be a good one."

"Guaranteed."

His eyes darted behind me and he smirked again, then grabbed my right hand.

When I went to pull it away, he held fast. "Relax, this one is just a little loose," he said, gesturing at the wrap that Bastian hadn't been able to tie off before he'd had to scatter with Damien suddenly showing up. The last thing we needed was to give him any more ammunition, let alone confirmation of us truly being together. Like Bastian had said, he didn't have concrete proof, so we'd make sure it stayed that way. As much of a bitch that it was to fake it, especially tonight when it was supposed to have been okay to be around each other.

He finished tying it, then kissed it, making me shudder.

That just made him smile.

And then he turned on his heel and disappeared into the crowd.

I snuck a look at Bastian and Caleb and to say they didn't look happy was an understatement. They were both fuming, particularly Bastian, because his brother had touched me again.

Thankfully, the call for the start of my fight sounded, and then I was making my way toward the ring.

The ref from last time in a velour suit made some room so I could slip inside the ring.

As I took position on the far side, I looked out to see Bastian and Caleb amongst the crowd. They'd pushed themselves right to the front near my end. I smiled as Bastian winked at me and Caleb gave me a thumbs-up.

I turned back, awaiting my opponent, and entering that combat headspace, clearing my mind of everything else.

It didn't take as long as last time for him to arrive, because this one didn't do a couple of showy laps around.

I watched him enter the ring, running his hand over his neon-green mohawk, then adjusting his shiny white shorts.

He turned his attention to me, then gnashed his teeth.

Lovely.

A commotion outside the ring had the both of us swinging our heads toward the entrance. And then the ref came in and grasped his shoulder, whispering something in his ear.

My opponent frowned, then uttered a curse.

He grinned at me and said, "Sorry, next time, sweet cakes."

And then he was walking out.

The crowd moved and then somebody else came into view.

What. The. Hell?

None other than Damien Thorn strode into the ring then. He ripped his shirt over his head and tossed it in the corner, baring his massively muscular physique.

He'd always worn that baggy hoodie, but nothing was hiding what a tank of a man he was now.

He bounced on the balls of his feet and licked his lips at me.

What was going on?

I discreetly looked over at Bastian and Caleb, but they were no longer there.

When movement in the crowd occurred again, I caught sight of them pushing toward the ring.

I couldn't follow their movements any further when the ref came in to start the fight.

As I walked over there and met Damien in the middle, I demanded, "What the hell are you doing?"

"You'll see."

I narrowed my eyes.

But then he bumped my fists and stepped back, getting into position.

I was so stunned by him taking the place of my opponent and the mind-fuck that the whole thing was that I didn't register the ref signaling the start of the fight.

Damien's fist slammed into my face like a block of freaking cement. I grunted as his knuckles scraped across my jaw and I stumbled straight into the chain-link.

Before I could recover or even turn around, he was there, digging his fingers into my shoulders and wrenching me off the wall.

Another fist to the face, then a brutal knee to the gut had me reeling, and then he hooked my knee and wrenched my leg out from under me.

I hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

He was on me in the next second, fisting my hair and wrenching my head back. "Let's have another taste, Bluebell."

He smashed his lips to mine, forcing a sloppy kiss all over my mouth, my jaw, my throat, before licking the length of my cheek.

"Damien!" I heard Bastian's voice roaring. "Don't fucking touch her!"

Damien heard him and laughed, then whispered at my ear. "Let's see what's so special about you, shall we?"

He grabbed my pussy through my pants and squeezed, forcing a grunt from me.

I slammed my elbow back, but he just laughed maniacally as it connected with his face.

"Stop!" I heard Bastian calling and I strained to look out.

There he was with Caleb fighting to get to the ring, but being held back by the crowds and a couple of refs, along with people who seemed to be Damien's supporters, as they were cheering and egging him on.

"Hmm, still not enough," I heard Damien say to himself.

The next thing I knew, he was shoving his hand down the front of my pants and into my panties, then dragging his rough fingers through my folds, making me shudder and twist in his grip in a bid to escape the torment.

He thrust a finger inside me. "Damn, so tight. Can you even take Seb's cock in this snug cunt?"

"Get the fuck off me," I seethed.

"That's up to Seb."

"What?"

"Wait for it," he said, before yanking his hand out of my panties, but keeping me down with a fist to my back. I strained to see him holding up his finger then making a show of licking it as he stared out at Bastian.

His eyes flamed with hellfire and then he was yanking at the chain-link savagely and roaring, "She's mine! She's fucking mine, motherfucker! Mine! I'll kill you! I'll rip your fucking dick off!"

"Ah, there it is," Damien said, chuckling to himself.

In his distracted state, I managed to hook my leg around his, then throw all my weight into it to shove him off me. I reared back, kicked him in the face, then somersaulted back to my feet.

Rage was burning through me—and fucking shame that he'd just put there after what he'd done, and my body was vibrating with it while I struggled to hold the animal at bay, to control it.

He threw another hit, but I dodged it, then assaulted him with a brutal uppercut to the underside of his chin that had him stumbling back.

I leapt up into one of my spinning kicks and it smashed into his gut and slammed him into the chain-link.

I could feel that savage part of me right there at the surface.

But this time there was something else there too.

Something holding it at bay.

Some sort of barrier that hadn't been there before.

Damien roared and came at me.

But then he suddenly pulled up short as something in the crowds took his attention.

They had literally parted and somebody was gliding along the path that it had made.

My breath caught in my throat as I took him in.

Long, caramel hair was pulled back into a ponytail off his bare broad shoulders. And, hell, were they broad. His muscles rippled with his every step, he was beyond jacked. If I'd thought Damien was a tank of a man, this was another level. A vicious-looking wolf with blood dripping from its teeth and wearing a crown was tattooed over his heart. His abs looked like they were cut from marble, and a pair of black jeans hung low on his hips, straining to accommodate his muscular thighs.

Caspian King in the flesh.

He strode into the ring, the whole place falling silent in a mixture of awe and what had to be fear, judging by the wide-eyed looks coming his way.

The onlookers weren't the only ones. Damien looked like he was about to piss himself.

Ignoring him, King focused on me and approached.

He lightly grasped my shoulder with his big hand, then whispered at my ear, "Move back, love."

I was so entranced by yet another shocking turn of events, that I just did it, just moved into the far right corner.

His hazel eyes shone at me and he smiled kindly.

And then he spun back toward Damien.

"Did I not warn you?" he rumbled in a creepy tone he hadn't used with me.

Damien held up his hands. "King, wait, I—"

In two lightning-fast moves that I could barely even register, King had him ripped off his feet and under him on his back.

I'd seen a lot when it came to combat, to these sorts of brutal fights, but nothing quite like this. I'd never witnessed anyone take down an opponent so quickly.

"You can't own me on my own turf," Damien cried, and started to fight back.

King fell back.

Or so I thought, until I realized it had been strategic, when Damien jumped to his feet and came at him, and King brutally pummeled him into the chain-link, blood spurting from Damien's nose and mouth in moments.

King was there then, wrapping his hand around Damien's throat and pinning him there. "Rossun is my territory. Every inch of it," he growled. "Testing that was your mistake."

And then it continued, King beating on Damien and Damien failing to get in more than a couple of hits that didn't even seem to faze King at all.

Before long, Damien was on his knees, vomiting and choking up blood intermittently as King stood over him.

Jesus.

King fisted his hand in his hair and used it to wrench his head up. "Come at me and mine again and this will just be foreplay," he growled.

King released him and crooked his finger at me.

I walked forward, not sure what to make of any of this.

He obviously registered my hesitation, because he flashed me that smile just like earlier, then held out his hand.

I took it and he wrapped his arm around me, tucking me into his side.

The crowds parted again and as we made our way through, Bastian and Caleb broke through. Caleb tossed King a shirt and he fluidly pulled it on, the black long sleeve tee pulling taut across all that muscle. He tucked me back into his side as Caleb fell into step on King's left side, and Bastian on my right. He started fussing over me right away, stroking my cheek and hair as we walked, uttering a slew of apologies, so worried for me.

Caleb looked absolutely distraught, it was like he couldn't talk because of it, and King reached out and took his hand in a clear act of comfort.

"I'm okay," I managed to utter finally, just as we reached the exit and stepped out into the lot.

"No. No, you're not," Bastian gritted out, and the next thing I knew, he was moving to bolt back inside.

"Bastian," King rumbled in that firm, no-nonsense tone. "Stay your hand."

To my utter surprise, it actually had Bastian stopping in his tracks.

His hands were shaking with rage as he turned around with a curse and came back to us.

King released me and eased me to Bastian. "She doesn't need your rage right now."

Bastian nodded and tucked me into his side, and as I sank into him, King pulled a fob from his pocket, a high-pitched beep sounding a moment before a swanky silver Maserati pulled up right in front of us.

Whoa.

That was a neat trick.

Off my look, his lips quirked and he told me, "Next-gen King tech."

We were all piling into the car then, Bastian settling in the back with me and Caleb taking the front passenger seat, while King folded himself into the driver's seat with impressive grace, then fired up the car.

In the next moment, it was tearing out of the lot and leaving the place behind in the dust.