Page 28

The crowd behind me started to shout and whistle as the announcer counted down from ten, some of them counting down with him.

The doors behind the fighters closed at the five count, just as one of them had turned to presumably run.

Someone behind me chuckled at the poor woman’s tears as the others glared at her, smelling blood in the water.

When the countdown was done, a horn blared and all hell broke loose. If Zephyr hadn’t been enough of a draw to warrant the attention of the cameras, I doubted I’d be able keep track of her in the melee of bodies.

She came out swinging and slammed her baton into the face of the first opponent that came at her. The woman went down in a spray of blood and saliva but was quickly replaced by another.

Zephyr ducked under this one’s attack and tackled her to the ground, ending up high on her chest, baton on her throat. Someone else came up to her, and a shining stave swung directly at Zephyr’s head.

I swallowed a useless shout of warning that Zephyr didn’t need anyway. She ducked under it at the last minute, and rolled off the warrior she’d been strangling.

The one with the stave came at her again, stabbing down with the end of it. Zephyr rolled in the packed sand to avoid it and scissored her legs to jump up. Using the momentum, she swung her baton at the fighter’s knees, delivering three quick strikes that left the woman clutching her leg in agony.

On and on it went.

Zephyr taking down one and another taking their place in seconds. Every time, she triumphed and every time I thought I was going to have a heart attack watching her.

She was beautiful, powerful. Her body flowed like water in a dance with her opponents that was both brutal and elegant. I could’ve watched her for hours if this hadn’t been a dangerous situation.

Within the longest three minutes of my life, half the fighters were on the ground and the cameras showed them in varying states of bruised and bleeding. Several had appendages bent at wrong angles.

Zephyr was among the remaining ten, not a hair out of place. I breathed a small sigh of relief and ran for the door.

A cart was waiting to take the managers to the remaining fighters and I jumped in as it sped down the hallways to the arena. I leaped out before it had stopped fully and tried to look calm and collected as I approached Zephyr, a smile on my face.

“I knew you’d make us proud,” I said, the persona of an oily, self-involved manager setting on me like something rotten. “Well done!”

I leaned in as if I were kissing her cheek and whispered, “How are you?”

“Fine,” she whispered back.

There was a bit of blood on her, but none of it appeared to be hers. I took a wet cloth from the small case of supplies and wiped it off her, then offered her a small amount of water.

“Any advice on who to take on?” she whispered.

“No, but you don’t need to make a splash. If I’m hearing correctly, you’re already a favorite among the high rollers and the syndicate members. The cameras were on you the whole time.”

She gave a slight nod.

“But it would push me over the top to take on a tough opponent.”

“Zephyr—”

“What would you say if it wasn’t me?” she asked, looking me square in the eyes.

I clenched my jaw and looked away.

“That’s what I thought,” she continued. “So who is it?”

“The one with the teeth filed into fangs,” I slid my eyes to the right, “she’s called the Vixen, the leading favorite until you got here.”

“So she has an ax to grind.”

“She’s a killer, more than any of the others. You don’t need to face her right now.”

“But—”

“Trust me. You will face her, but draw it out, let people foam at the mouth for it. Understand?”

Zephyr gave me a short nod.

“And if she comes at me?”

“Try to get another fighter between the two of you as if you’re going for them. If you can’t do that, keep her on the defense as long as you can until there are five down. She isn’t supposed to attack after the horn blows.”

She cursed under her breath in Talosian and I chuckled.

“I taught you that one.”

She snorted and shook her head, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

“Fighters to positions!” the announcer yelled.

“Zelena will take you to the room to change and clean up after, I’ve got to stay and schmooze.”

“Right.”

“Kick their ass.”

Now she did smile at me and my knees nearly went out from under me. She was lethal and sexy as fuck. I wondered if she was aggressive in the sack too, or if I had to draw it out of her.

“Managers to your seats!” the announcer called.

I walked back with leaden feet, worried that she would do the exact opposite of my advice.

The second half of the match was starting as I made it back to my spot in the booth.

The fighters were once again around the perimeter of the arena, and when the horn blasted, they ran with a purpose that was missing from the last round.

This was calculated for all of them. They’d singled out their choice of opponent and my heart lurched as Vixen faced off against Zephyr.

She was boxed in with her back to another fighting pair with no way to distract Vixen. I could see her taking in the situation and the moment she made her decision.

“Shit,” I moaned.

“What is she doing?” Zelena hissed.

Zephyr charged for Vixen, who was a good foot and half taller than her.

It looked like she was going to jump up onto the fang toothed warrior when she hit her knees at the last minute and slid on the sand.

Vixen was fast, but also taken by surprise because when she tried to bend down and capture Zephyr, she got a baton to the face.

The crowds roared, both in the booth and outside of it. And no matter what was going on in the other fights, Vixen and Zephyr had the main cameras locked on them. Zelena brought up a secondary feed on her holo tablet.

“Two down,” she whispered. “Eight left. That was fast.”

Around me I could hear snippets of bets being placed, and more than a few enamored with Zephyr. If she made it to the last five…

When she makes it. When.

Zephyr was zipping around the part of the arena she and Vixen occupied, running and dodging in a seemingly nonsensical display of speed. But Vixen was getting tired, her body heaving in breath.

“Good girl, keep it up,” I said under my breath.

“Down to seven, they’re not charging Zephyr.”

“They don’t want to piss off Vixen. I’m guessing she staked her claim earlier.”

Zelena nodded.

Vixen got close enough to Zephyr to yank on her arm.

It stopped Zephyr so fast that she was jerked back and fell onto her back.

I could tell that she’d gotten the wind knocked out of her by the way she was coughing, her eyes blinking.

Her internal systems should be compensating and indeed, she did recover faster than a human would.

But by then, Vixen was on her, yanking her up by her throat and pulling her in toward her mouth.

Zephyr had one baton in hand, the other in the sand. She brought it up and pummeled Vixen’s face with it, breaking the woman’s nose. But even when Vixen loosened her hold and Zephyr fell to the sand, she didn’t let up.

My vicious little Daisy beat Vixen’s stomach relentlessly until the other woman folded over, then she hit her across the face again, sending a spray of saliva and blood onto the sand.

By now the audience was whipped up into a frenzy. It was so loud in the booth that I could barely hear Zelena.

“Down to six,” Zelena said. “Come on, Zephyr.”

Vixen fell to one knee with a blow to her back and there was agony written all over her face. Although Zephyr was bleeding from her mouth and a cut on her arm, she had the cold, calculating look of a warrior that was in the fighting zone, where everything faded away except one’s opponent.

She slipped behind Vixen and brought her baton against the other woman’s throat, pulling with both hands. Vixen’s eyes widened as she clawed at Zephyr’s hands.

The people in the booth clamored for Vixen’s demise as if this were a death match and I wondered if anyone would bother blowing the horn when it was time.

“That’s it, five,” Zelena said right as the horn finally blew.

I was worried that Zephyr might be too far gone with adrenaline to hear it, but she let go as soon as it sounded and stumbled back, chest heaving.

Vixen fell forward, propping herself up on one hand before turning toward Zephyr and launching herself forward.

Zephyr backed up further but there was no need.

The bracelets acted as a failsafe in cases like this when it wasn’t a death match.

Electricity coursed through Vixen and she convulsed before falling to the ground unconscious.

“Oh my!” the announcer shouted as the camera’s took in the five winners. “This was an incredible way to kick off our tournament wasn’t it? Behold, your champions!”

The crowd agreed, so raucous at this point that I saw several fights break out in the stands.

Adrenaline had been keeping me upright through it all, and the relief at seeing Zephyr safe had me slumping forward as my muscles started to tremble.

“She did great,” Zelena said, a hand on my shoulder. “I need to make sure she’s alright, we’ll join you at the gaming tables in an hour.”

“Zephyr doesn’t need to—”

“Sherrod, this is my specialty. I’ll have them panting after her, desperate to kiss her toes by the end of the night.”

“I’m not sure I like that.”

She chuckled.

“I know, but we need to make them so insatiable for her that they don’t notice anything else. Trust me, I won’t let anything happen to her.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off Zephyr as she walked a victory lap around the arena with the rest of the remaining fighters.

She was sweaty, and one of her buns was coming undone, there was blood on her skin and outfit but I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life.

This woman that Daisy had become was a fucking goddess, a warrior that I would follow into a supernova if she asked me to.