Page 104 of Psycho Beasts

Molly casually threw another three-punch combo, which I barely dodged.

She said wisely, “You don’t solve a problem by causing another one.”

I mulled her words over in my head.

“You need to protect yourself.”

Molly swung a roundhouse kick, and I dropped to the mat to avoid her powerful thigh.

She stalked after me, and I rolled away across the mat of the fighting ring.

I flipped onto my feet, a move I’d learned in the fae gladiator ring, and dodged another powerful fist.

Molly smirked as she shook out her impressive biceps.

She was shirtless in only a sports bra and sweatpants, and her six-pack of muscles rippled as she floated gracefully back and forth.

Body goals.

Molly threw a lightning-fast punch that clipped my stomach.

As I keeled over, choking, she said, “To be an alpha in the Mafia is an honor you can’t even begin to understand as an outsider. But with anything that is an honor, you have to work to deserve it.”

Molly’s leg shot out impossibly fast, and I sprang into the air, easily jumping over it.

She paused for a moment, clearly surprised by my athleticism.

If I hadn’t known what my body could do while numb, I would have been surprised.

Impossibly fast. She slammed a fist into my arm and used her momentum to kick me into the rope along the side of the ring.

Molly spoke casually, like she hadn’t just almost killed me, “Every alpha in this room is the best of the best. In Serpentine City, either alphas are unstoppably strong, or they die in these trials. There is no in-between. That means your foes in the ring will do everything to break you. Mind games and cunning are commonplace, so you need to be prepared.”

I nodded shakily as I bounced more quickly back and forth on my toes.

Molly’s one-two punches moved in a blur around my body as I focused on regulating my breathing and dodging the avalanche of attacks.

The quicker I avoided her blows, the faster Molly punched.

Air vibrated around us with the screaming angst of the music, rattling the ring and shaking my toes.

I dodged faster.

Soon my mind blanked as the sensation of displaced air tickled my flesh in the spaces where I moved away from her fists.

Dodge, jump, move, shift right, shift left, flinch down, roll, step back, step back, duck right, duck left, stomach punch, jump back.

The conversation was over.

My heart rate slowed, and the more relaxed I became, the quicker I moved.

I dodged faster than I could while numb.

Empty static fizzled in my brain.

As I sank deeper into my defense, Molly clicked her attacks into higher and higher gears.

I distantly noted that her face was split in a massive grin, her eyes slightly unfocused, as she lost herself.

---