Page 12 of Semi-Reckless

One corner of Levi’s mouth tipped up. “Deal.”

The rest of the wolves howled (literally) with excitement at the thought of new blood in their little fight club. Levi played into it by stepping into the circle and ripping his shirt in half like he was in the WWF. Idiot.

She took off her hoodie. “Relax,” she said to Roan. “I’ve got this.”

“I’ll kill them all if it looks like you don’t for even a second. You know that, right?”

She swallowed hard, almost forgetting that she was furious with him. Almost. Even though it irked the hell out of her, the fact that he was so worried about her safety was sweet…in a murder-y, unnecessarily violent kind of way. “It won’t come to that. I promise.”

“Hey, demon,” Levi yelled. “Think you’ll be able to sit this one out? Or do my boys have to restrain you?”

Roan crossed his arms over his chest and snorted. “If I choose to get involved, trust me: none of your boys will be able to stop me.”

The werewolves were too amped up to take Roan’s threat for what it was. They hooted and hollered like he couldn’t burn this entire camp to the ground with every one of them still in it.

Levi merely smirked at him. “Fair enough.”

Haven tossed her hoodie at Roan who caught it and tightened his fist around it like it had wronged him somehow. “Hang onto that for me, would you? This will only take a minute.”

Then she patted his cheek (more like a light slap, really), turned on her heel, and marched into the fighting circle.

Naturally falling into the fighting stance her aunt had taught her when she was barely old enough to walk, she faced her opponent and said, “Remember, you’re the one that asked for this.”

Haven tightened her clenched fists until her knuckles cracked as Levi danced around her like they were in a title fight on pay-per-view. What a fucking idiot.

She’d never truly sparred with her father because he was terrified of hurting her, but the one or two times he’d taught her self-defense moves, he’d told her something that always stuck with her, and that was the importance of not doing anything show-y in a fight. It was a waste of energy and strength, and the whole point in any real fight was to win—quick, dirty, and brutal.

Quick, dirty, and brutal was where her lessons with Aunt Seven began.

Something told her Levi hadn’t had her kind of training. He’d probably always relied solely on his shifter strength in fights, which she imagined would work just fine when he was fighting other werewolves, or maybe even young vampires. But a dhampyre like her?

Puh-lease. She could’ve beaten this guy when she was a preteen on skill alone.

Roan had obviously forgotten her skill level, though. He was pacing around the fighting pit like a nervous parent. She wasn’t sure whether she should be flattered or offended.

She was leaning toward offended.

Levi threw the weakest right hook she’d ever seen at her head. She slapped it away, then gave him a what the fuck gesture. “Don’t pull your punches with me, asshole,” she warned him. “You’ll regret it.”

And to prove her point, she nailed him in the nose with a short jab, then followed up with a swift roundhouse kick to his thigh. She’d backed both off to about fifty percent power. Just a warning. It apparently got his attention, though.

He swiped a hand under his nose and looked a little shocked when it came back covered in his own blood. Why did everyone seem so surprised that she could defend herself? For fuck’s sake, she’d trained for this shit her whole life!

Levi’s shock was short-lived, though. His eyes glowed yellow for a second, letting her know she’d definitely hit his rage button. About damn time someone started taking her seriously. She didn’t have all freakin’ night.

This time, Levi put his head down and charged her like a pissed off bear. She side stepped him, then stuck her foot out so that he tripped over it. On his way down, she gave him an extra shove.

He was fast, though. She’d give him that much. He was down on the ground for only a split second before he managed to sweep her legs out from under her. The whooshing noise she made when her back hit the dirt was not cute.

Roan’s roar of outrage shook the ground. Haven glanced over and saw every werewolf except Levi had surrounded him and was holding him back. There was not a trace of black in his eyes as he stared back at her.

It had all been consumed by fire.

He was ready to destroy them all. She shook her head, letting him know she was fine. It wasn’t the first time she’d been knocked on her ass and it wouldn’t be the last.

Levi was on her, trying to pin her down with his superior weight, before she was able to get back on her feet. He grinned down at her, eyes still blazing yellow. “I think I like having you in this position, little red.”

“Wouldn’t get used to it, pal,” she said through gritted teeth as she planted her hands on his chest and shoved him off her, using her full strength that time.

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