Page 8 of The Oath

“You have three rounds. Nothing is off limits, and there are no timeouts,” Hunter explains. I already know the drill; I’ve done this before. He looks toward the asshole, and he nods his head as he clenches his fists.

I raise my hands and ready myself for the fight. One of the Gods rings the bell, and we square up. We circle each other in the ring, but I know he isn’t going to throw the first punch, so I do. I move in quickly and get out just as fast. The shot landed, knocking his head to the side. Blood runs from his lip, and he spits it on the mat.

We keep going, throwing some good punches at each other. I can feel the blood leaking from my eye. I reach up and wipe it away before moving back in. My fist collides with his temple, and he hits the mat hard.

“Get the fuck up!” I growl at him. He shakes his head and stands back to his feet, coming at me quickly, but I dodge him.

“You’re going to die. You already know that,” I taunt. He growls and comes at me, but I land a punch to his ribs. He grunts but comes back at me full force. He tackles me to the mat and gets a few blows in. I can hear Silas cheering me on when I buck my hips and flip the bastard off me. I roll over quickly and straddle him, punches raining down on his face.

His head snaps from side to side, and I know he’s dead. That doesn’t stop me from taking all my anger and fury out on him. I keep punching until my knuckles hurt. I don’t stop until Silas pries me off him.

When I stand, I look down at the motherfucker before I spit my blood on him.

“Piece of shit,” I hiss as Hunter and his guys clap for me.

“Nice work, Ry,” Hunter tells me.

“It’s always nice to beat those motherfuckers to death.”

“Yeah, I get that. Hey, are you coming to the Halloween party?” he asks. Now I look at him like he’s insane.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“We’re throwing a little party here at Chaos. By then, everything will be taken care of, and the other two will be dead,” he replies.

“You’ve never had a party before. Who said it was okay?”

“Your dad, for one. All the leaders said it would be fine as long as we didn’t get too crazy.” Now I laugh.

“We kill people in the ring. How are you not going to get crazy?” I ask him. He shrugs, and I shake my head.

“Yeah. Fuck it. I’ll be here.” We bump our fists together before I turn and head for the changing room. I step inside, and I quickly change when Levi comes to unwrap my hands.

“Fuck, Ry. You really did a number on your knuckles.” I glance down at them and shrug.

“Not the worst I’ve seen,” I remind him.

“That’s true. You calm your ass down now?” I nod my head and shake out my arms before pulling my hoodie back on.

“Yeah, I’m good. What I’m wondering is how the fuck the Gods are going to get the goddamn scent of blood out of here for a party.”

“No, shit. The place reeks of it.”

“There is no masking that shit,” I tell him. We turn and head out the door, meeting Silas and Hunter. We stop next to them and wait while they finish their conversation.

“So the princesses will be here for Halloween,” Hunter informs us.

“And? You’re not allowed to touch them,” I remind him. He nods. “But we did just brand a new little whore if you want her to come.”

“Seriously? Who is it?” I shrug when Silas chimes in.

“Bethany Parks.”

“What the hell? How did that happen?” Hunter asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“She was in the wrong place at the right time.”

“This have anything to do with Jasper being killed?” I figured everyone probably already knew about that shit by now, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to me.

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