Page 27

The audience is going wild, and I hear a person cursing my opponent. When people watch the fight, they often act like animals. They like the brutality, and occasionally their feelings get the best of them.
I’m glad Emily isn’t here to see the fight. I don’t like the notion of her being in the crowd. Not only is the battle violent, but so is the crowd.
I really don’t like the notion of her being here at Eagle Wings, even if I want her so badly that it makes me feel like an addict. Emily and danger shouldn’t be in the same location.
After I kick him down, the man gets up. I can tell he’s becoming furious by the way he breathes. He yells at me again, and this time the tips of his fingers almost touch my neck. My heart starts racing right away, and my eyes widen in disbelief. This guy wants to kill me by choking me while forcing me against the rope at the edge of the ring.
I move behind him and slide under his arm before he can grab my neck. I kick him in the back so hard that he falls forward against the ring’s rope.
As I gasp in disbelief, the audience cheers again. This isn’t right. This man seems a little strange.
He hit me like he wanted to kill me, like he really wanted to kill me.
I should have knocked him out with the force I used to kick him into the rope, but now I’m face to face with his anger again. When his body turns to me again, I can feel his penetrating stare on me, but I’m not going to give him a chance. I’m going to finish this battle right now.
It’s really excellent for their practice that one of them is so determined to beat me, but I have a feeling that something is wrong with this person.
I do it first so he can get his equilibrium back and storm at me again. We meet in the middle of the ring because we’re both moving quickly, but he’s not fast enough to get out of the path of my punch to his face since he’s still shaken from my attack.
I hear a loud crack when his jaw fractures. The audience cheers so loudly that it almost makes me deaf. My opponent falls to the ground again.
My jaw feels tight, and I’m breathing hard and fast.
Everyone is horrified that he is still attempting to get up. I can hear loud gasps in the basement, and I can even feel my heart rate go up.
He wants me that much, and I want to know who the hell he is.
I bend down to hit him one last time, but suddenly I feel pain in my upper arm. I moan loudly, and the audience gasps and swears back.
He stabbed me with a knife, for f**k’s sake.
I hiss in anguish. No one has ever stabbed me. I don’t know what gave him the courage to do it. I never let anyone bring weapons to a battle with me.
He could have stabbed me in the heart, but when I was ready to deliver him the ultimate blow, my thighs were holding the sides of his stomach and my arms were holding him in place. He could only aim the dagger at the flesh of my arm.
He hisses, “You deserve to die.” His whole body is shaking with wrath, not just his voice. “You should die, you bastard.”
He still maintains a firm hold on the knife that is stuck in my skin. I took a hesitant breath as my hand hovered over his to take the knife. When I finally wrap my fingers around the handle, I feel like I’m going to shatter his fingers.
I clenched my teeth and my body shook with anguish. I carefully draw the knife out of my body, using all the strength I can find to stop him from putting it back in. I look up at the ceiling and yell. After I take the knife out, it makes a noise on the bottom of the ring.
People are running into the ring to break us up. I hear him yell in rage as they pull him away from me.
“Stay away from her,” he yells.
I can feel my heart stop because I know who he’s talking about.
“Stay the f**k away from her,” he keeps yelling at me. “She’s too good for you. You can’t even protect her, and you never will be able to, you f*****g motherfucker.”
He is furious, and things are going crazy around us. I can hear his voice right now. I know what you mean.
“Come on, man.” You told her to go.
He was the one who yelled at me when I told my members beside the fountain that night that they were going to make Emily their slave.
“I beat you,” he yells. “I won. I got her. You promised me that. Now give her to me, you f*****g jerk.”
I pant and touch the cut on my arm as I hear my own heavy breathing.
“Are you okay, Liam?” people I don’t know keep asking me as they rush to me.
This is the first time a member has attacked a leader. I can see how shocked they would be.
“Please, wait,” someone pleads. “We’ll take you to the doctor as soon as we can.”
I close my eyes tightly, but not because I’m in agony.
Emily.
Why is this happening to her?
I can’t quit thinking about what he said.
You are not good enough for her.
You can’t even keep her safe.
A scared, frantic voice from my opponent’s side fills the air and says, “What the f**k did you just do?” A man is talking to my opponent. “F**k. Did you even know what you just did? Why did you hit Liam?”
“Because he deserved it—”
“Arthur,” the man says in a scared voice, “Stop.” They were afraid of the wrath and repercussions that would ensue if they attacked me, their monarch.
Arthur. I don’t know this name. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him, so I have no idea why he would do anything like that.
My gut tells me that he and Emily are friends. Based on how he talked about her and the fact that he was already interested in her the night they were bothering her, there is more to the tale.
“Don’t worry about it, Liam.” Someone crouches down next to me and brings me back to reality. “We’ll make sure he gets the punishment he deserves.”
There is only one penalty for treason, and it will be much harsher because he just assaulted me, their monarch.
Death. A death that hurts.
“No. Let him live.” I gritted my teeth.
I can picture the shock on the faces of the people around me when I say that.
“Put him in our jail, and don’t touch him until I talk to him.”
It is now morning.
While I’m sitting in the bathtub, I let Emily wipe my upper body with a wet towel. The water comes up to my hipbone, yet I’m not completely n**e. I’m still in my shorts.
She is helping me take a bath, and I really appreciate how carefully she massages the region around the wound. Her presence relaxes me.
At first, I thought she was really annoying. It was the denial that was talking to me.
The doctor told me not to worry about my arm. The stab wasn’t very deep, perhaps because Arthur was so tired from battling me, and it would heal well.
I turn my head towards my upper arm and feel Emily softly massaging my shoulder blade. She tucks a piece of my wet hair that is in my eye behind my ear, and I let out a trembling breath when her flesh touches my face.
She says, “I can’t believe someone did this to you.”
She has stated that a million times since yesterday night, and I still haven’t questioned her about Arthur.
I know I’m scared of what the response will be. What if Arthur is telling the truth?
I always knew I couldn’t keep her safe and that she would be too lovely to be true. That’s why I kept saying no to her at first. But then, saying no to an offer like that from paradise was too hard for someone like me who had gone through so much suffering, so I couldn’t resist Emily.