What in the ever-loving fuck is going on right now?
Hypnotising blue eyes were currently locked on me, burning with so much heat that I thought it would sear me. Swimming with what I could have sworn was lust.
Who would have thought? His Royal Grouchiness was capable of feeling something towards me other than exasperation and irritation.
I’d have betted it was killing him.
There was no denying the man was hotter than sin. You’d have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see it. Not to notice all that raw sex appeal. Feel all that pure, masculine energy. The man practically oozed sex. From that handsome, sculpted face to the broad shoulders and muscular body… He was what every woman pictured when reading about the male character in a raunchy romance novel.
I’d just ignored it, because hello, the guy was an ass. But this? This was hard to ignore. I had over 6’5 feet of hard, masculine man towering over me, looking at me with this dark, predatory edge.
I wasn’t sure what it was that set him off. It was like the flip of a switch. One second, he was glaring at me with disdain and contempt, and the next, he was staring at me like he wanted to rip my damn clothes off.
It couldn’t have been the little fly away comment I’d made about sex. That shit was tamed compared to what I’d heard mafia men like him were into.
I was really regretting not digging more into Dimitri’s history. When I’d accepted the contract on his brother, I hadn’t bothered to look extensively into his family. I didn’t see the point. It was Dominik’s routine and structure I had to learn.
I’d just acquired the basics.
But suddenly, I wished that I had, if only so I could have an upperhand in our interactions.
Dimitri was still staring at me. His eyes moved to my mouth.
What are you going to do, Butcher?
If he tried to kiss me, I was inclined to let him. Yeah, I had the overwhelming urge to strangle him until he stopped breathing, but like I said, the man was hot, and I very well might die in that place. One last romp didn’t sound that bad, even if it was with someone I despised.
Maybe—
“You can’t keep us locked up like this!”
Our locked gaze broke at that loud, frightened voice, the spell that had momentarily taken over us evaporating into thin air. He stepped back, moving away from me quickly.
We both looked to see what was going on. One of the other prisoners—a well-built man with dark, shoulder-length hair and a goatee—was yelling at a guard, one of the swords in his hands, the tip pointed right at the man’s chest.
“This should be interesting,” I muttered under my breath.
Dimitri said nothing. Didn’t look at me. Didn’t acknowledge me. The shutters were back down, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking or feeling. Whatever had taken over him was well and truly gone, like it had never been there in the first place. He was back to being hard and stoic. The Dimitri I knew.
“Let me go! Let me go right now, or I swear I’ll kill—”
There was a small click, and then his head just exploded.
Blood rained down like confetti. Someone—actually, several people—screamed. Half the prisoners lost their shit, wailing in horror, their hands grasping at the sides of their heads as they crumbled to their knees. The other half simply studied the scene with mild interest.
So that’s what happened when the collars went off. It was interesting to see.
“As previously stated, your life shall be forfeited if you threaten any of the guards,” a booming male voice declared over the speakers on the walls. “You have two hours and forty-seven minutes left remaining in this training session.” Then, the voice disappeared.
No one moved to collect the headless body. It stayed right where it was, staining the sand a deep, dark red.
Some of the prisoners went back to what they were doing; talking, practicing light hand-to-hand combat in their designated pairings.
“Alright, back to what we were talking about,” I said, lowering my voice. “Explain the games to me.”
“To put it simply, the Til Death Games is an event held once a year,” Dimitri replied gruffly, his posture stiff and uncomfortable. He’d moved even further away from me some time during the mayhem, creating a very noticeable distance between us.
Whatever.
“It’s a gladiator-style tournament where people fight to the death as a source of entertainment for those in attendance.”
Okay. So many questions. Where to start?
“How is it I’ve never heard of this before? And don’t say it’s because of my net worth,” I snapped when Dimitri opened his mouth, no doubt to say that very thing. “I mean it as in, how is this shit not front page fucking news? How has the FBI or CIA or some other police organisation not found out about what’s going on here and put a stop to it? How has Talon gotten away with being in operation for so long?”
“Simple.” He shrugged. “He’s incredibly selective about who he chooses to invite, and his security protocols are through the roof. I also suspect he has those very organisations in his back pocket. He doesn’t take chances. As frustrating as it is for me to admit, the systems Talon has in place are foolproof. I’ve been trying to circumvent them for years with no luck.”
“You seem to have a pretty extensive history with this guy.”
Dimitri narrowed his eyes. “My history with Talon is none of your business.”
“I beg to differ. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you two have it out for each other. He made you fight ten extra people in that ring before letting you be declared the winner. That tells me he plans to make things a lot harder for you than everyone else, and since my fate is firmly tied up with yours, I have a right to know.”
He said nothing, neither confirming or denying if I was right. I didn’t need him to. I knew he knew I was right. Asshole was just too stubborn to admit it.
“Whatever. We’ll circle back to that later.” I rubbed my forearms because I was wearing next to nothing, and it was fucking cold down there. “So, I’m guessing that, since this place is so hard to find, we can’t expect some miraculous rescue from your people?”
“No,” he replied flatly.
“Okay. The only way we’ll be getting out of here alive, then, is if we win the games.”
I hadn’t phrased it like a question, but he answered anyway with a gruff, “Yes.”
My bullshit radar went off like an alarm inside my head. He didn’t look any different. There was no nervous twitching. No avoiding eye contact. Nothing to indicate he was being deceitful in any way, and yet, I’d sensed it.
Call it a woman’s intuition.
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“A lot of things. Like how it’s taking a great conscious effort for me not to kill you right now.” The look in his eyes told me he was being one hundred percent serious, and honestly, I felt the same way. I was getting a little sick and tired of his whole deflecting tactic.
“Trust me, the feeling is fucking mutual, Butcher,” I hissed, aggravated. It was like the fucker wanted to be at a disadvantage. “Just watch the other prisoners,” I snapped, turning to plaster my back to the wall, crossing my arms over my chest. “We need to figure out who the biggest threat is and watch them closely for weaknesses since your buddy will most likely pair us up against the strongest fighters here.”
“Fine.”
“Fine,” I snapped again.
He looked at me, smirking condescendingly. “Fine.”
I will not kill my partner. I will not kill my partner.
“Son of a bitch!” Pain exploded across my face from Dimitri’s fist, his knuckles plowing into my cheekbone with zero hesitation.
I jumped back, narrowly avoiding another strike, and went on the offensive.
I know what you’re thinking, and no, we weren’t trying to kill each other. It would be a fair assumption, though, so I don’t blame you for assuming.
We were training.
Mr Paranoid over there said he didn’t want to train in front of the other prisoners. Didn’t want to show them what he was capable of or what our game plan for the fights were so they couldn’t prepare for it.
So, there we were, trying to fight each other in the fucking dark.
We’d spent both the morning and afternoon training sessions studying our opponents. The way they moved. If they favored their right side or left side. Trying to gather as much information as we could on them.
“This is ridiculous,” I hissed, blocking blow after blow. “I can’t see shit in the dark.”
“Neither can anyone else,” Dimitri replied, swinging again.
I ducked, blocked another strike with my forearm and then lashed out with a kick. My eyes had adjusted to the lack of light enough that I could see the outline of Dimitri’s body. See his face shrouded in shadows.
He was intent on training when everyone else was asleep. That way, no one could see our moves. I didn’t see the point in it, to be honest. Half the people in the room had been present when we’d both fought for our place in the games. Most of them already knew what we could do and how big of a threat we were. I suspected it was why we were getting eye-balled in the training area.
But still, I agreed anyway because I had to pick my battles with a man like him. Conceding to such a small thing would be more beneficial for me in the long run.
I’d hoped.
“They’re most likely going to try and split us up. Separate us. Get us one on one. It’s important to remember that if that happens, we need to keep an eye on each other. If one of us is in trouble, the other needs to be able to render assistance.” Dimitri front-kicked, and the impact of stopping it made me wince. The dude wasn’t holding back in the slightest. Most men would pull their punches when fighting a woman, knowing they were likely stronger than them and could cause a fuckton of damage, but Dimitri had no inclination to do that. He was going as hard as he would if he was fighting a male, and it was actually refreshing. I hated being babied because I was a woman.
He moved quickly, darting around to my side to attack me again. I jumped away, rolled and sprung back to my feet just in time to see him rush me. He shoved me up against the cell bars with a forearm against my throat. “Dead,” he whispered, a smirk dancing on his lips, an almost playful expression on his face.
I’ll show that motherfucker “dead”.
I reached up between us and twisted his nipples. He whipped back in shock, eyes as wide as saucers. The unexpected move caused him to drop his guard, and I took full advantage…by punching him in his Adam’s apple.
He choked, stumbling back another few steps. I dropped, sweeping my leg out as I spun around quickly, knocking him off his feet. Pouncing on top of him, I rammed my forearm into his throat like he did me, and gave him a dazzling smile.
“Dead,” I mocked softly, breathing heavily, my heart pounding in my chest.
Heat flared in his eyes for the briefest moment before it morphed into frustration. “Nice move,” he grunted begrudgingly.
My smile widened, which just seemed to piss him off even more. “Must have absolutely killed you to say that to me.”
He grunted again. “Get off me.”
It was a lot harder to do that than I would have thought. He felt…good beneath me. My legs were either side of his body, my own body flushed right up against his. I could feel everything. He was all hard defined muscles. Pure masculine strength. All that power he had… There was no denying it was a massive fucking turn on.
It didn’t matter that he was an asshole of massive proportions. That he would kill me the first chance he got. Attraction was attraction. I didn’t have to like the dude to want to fuck him.
In saying that, though, I also wasn’t one to throw myself at someone who didn’t want me. Sure, there’d been a time or two where I’d glimpsed something in his eyes, something that could definitely be interpreted as attraction.
But then again, maybe not.
So, I pushed myself off him.
“Are we done?” I didn’t move far. Just shuffled a few feet over until my back hit the side of the cot so I could lean against it.
Dimitri did the same, dangling his arms over his bent knees, sitting directly across from me. “For now.”
We’d been sparring since lights out hours before, and I was exhausted, not that I’d ever admit it. What I couldn’t believe was that Dimitri looked no worse for wear. Meanwhile, I was trying to stop myself from huffing and puffing like I’d just run a fucking marathon.
I was in good shape—trained every day—and yet, I was finding it difficult to keep up with him. The guy had incredible stamina for someone his age, which, based on the information I’d gotten about his twin brother, I knew was fifty-four.
I stretched my legs out flat. “Tell me about Talon.”
Who are you to demand things of me, peasant?
“And what gave you the impression I will tell you anything?”
I internally scoffed. Close enough.
He said “you” with a layer of derision that spoke volumes about what he thought of me. Like I was nothing better than the dirt beneath his shoes.
“Must be that dazzling personality you have.” I blew out an irritated sigh. “Look, I’m tired, grumpy, haven’t had a shower in God knows how long—”
He grumbled, “Trust me, I know,” under his breath, which I chose to ignore.
“—and I’ve been having a very bad flare up from my endometriosis for the last hour. I’m not in the mood to play any more games. So, I’ll make you a deal. An answer for an answer. You answer my questions, and I’ll answer yours.”
“I have no interest in knowing anything about you.”
God, he was so fucking annoying.
“You owe me.”
“For what?” he barked out, aghast. “For pushing me down the stairs and almost breaking my goddamn neck when you tried to escape? For trying to strangle me to death several times? For—”
“Hey! I only did those things after you attacked me for no reason.”
“I had just passed out from enduring hours of torture at the hands of my sadistic twin brother when I felt someone standing over me. Excuse me for being a little defensive.”
“That could be used to excuse the first shot. Maybe even the second one. But that third one? No way in hell, mate.”
He was silent for a moment. “You have an accent.”
Shit.
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. And you hide it. Why?”
My smile was wide, like a Cheshire cat’s. “Thought you had no interest in knowing anything about me?”
