Page 35 of The Gamma's Second Chance

“I’m one of our top warriors!”

Sebastian’s lip twitches as he glances at me from the corner of his eye. “I bet Cassandra can take you down without breaking a sweat,” he says, crossing his arms and widening his stance.

She clutches her chest. “That hurts even more!”

Reid shakes his head at them and points at Maddie in warning. “Don’t take that bet. Learn from my mistakes. Not you,” he adds, turning to Taryn before she can even speak. “You, Sour Patch,and Gummy Bear are not mistakes. You three are the only good things to come out of a bet with Seb.”

My brows furrow. “Sour Patch? Gummy Bear?”

“Gummy Bear is Reid’s nickname for this little guy,” Taryn says, rubbing her bump and smiling down at it. “Sour Patch was our daughter Savvy’s nickname.”

“Was?” Sebastian scoffs, shaking his head. “Pretty sure everyone still calls her Sour Patch most of the time.”

“You nicknamed both of your kids after candy?” I ask.

Taryn laughs and nods, shrugging one shoulder. “Reid has a bit of a sweet tooth.”

Reid’s eyebrows wag as he looks her up and down. “Damn straight I do.”

“Gross,” Maddie says, gagging. “I know all of you are as horny as rabbits, but I do NOT need to know the specifics of what my family members like to do with their mates.”

“So what do you say?” Sebastian asks, turning his attention back to Maddie. “Loser buys the winner’s gas for two weeks?”

Maddie’s mouth wiggles back and forth as she considers his offer, her hand cupping her jaw while she thinks. She glances at me, sizing me up as I wrap my hands in tape from the bag of supplies near the edge of the ring, then roll my shoulders, loosening out the remaining tension from my overexertion yesterday. I keep my face emotionless and my gaze on my hands, feigning nervousness and inexperience, letting her make assumptions about me based on my stature.

“You’re on, dickhead,” Maddie says, slapping Sebastian’s hand and shaking it once. “No offense,” she adds, peering around him towards me. “I’m not trying to imply I’m better than you or you suck. I just—”

“Don’t actually have enough money to cover my gas for two weeks?” Sebastian says with a laugh, finishing her sentence for her.

“No!” She crosses her arms, and as he turns to me again, she nods at me behind his back and mouths, “Yes!”

I bite back a laugh and shake my arms out, giving Sebastian a high five as I move towards the sparring ring.

“You should probably take that shirt off,” he says, grabbing my arm gently before I can get into position. “It’s loose and easy to grab,” he adds before I can ask him why, his eyes once again flicking to the forest and up the side of the mountain before returning to my face. “And I’m assuming you don’t want it to get ripped.”

I blink at him, and my eyes trace the same path as his, up the mountainside and through the trees, in the area where that overlook sits. To the spot where I know Nolan is. Or was. He may have left already.

My heart skips a beat in my chest as my head whips back around towards Sebastian, who wears a triumphant half smile on his face. He holds his hand out to me. “I’ll hold it for you,” he says, leaning close and keeping his voice low enough so only I hear him.

I swallow and yank it over my head, handing it to him and clenching my jaw to keep any emotion off my face and out of my voice. “Thanks.”

He nods and backs away to the edge of the ring, where Mason, Reid, Taryn, and my new wolf friend Cavalier all stand, waiting to watch us. Sebastian keeps that smirk on his face and crosses his arms, winking at me.

Cheeky bastard.

I knew others would read too much into me wearing Nolan’s shirt. Even with the faded scent and my sweat from my run on it, it’s still very obviously his shirt.

I push all that out of my mind, though, as I meet Maddie in the sparring ring, and we both crouch into our ready position. She grins at me, and Reid whistles, signaling the start of our match.

I fake to the front, like I’m going straight for the offensive, and Maddie falls for it, darting forward to match me. I almost feel bad for letting her underestimate me, but that goes away as soon as my fist connects with her wide-open throat, and my lycan perks up, soaking in the adrenaline from the fight.

She gags and blinks and whirls towards me, but I’m already gearing up for my next move. I duck under her swing—strong but wild as she tries to make up for the hit she already gave up, her training and focus going out the window momentarily. Her knees give out from under her as my foot connects with each, and she grunts, her irritation growing stronger by the second.

Our audience cheers and howls from the sidelines, but I tune it out as much as possible, zeroing in on Maddie and our match. She tries to straighten her legs and stand strong, but I kick out at her ankle. She yells and topples over, hands floundering as she tries to decide whether to soothe her ankle and knees or to right herself again and continue the match.

It doesn’t matter, though, because I’m already heading in for the pin. I tackle her with ease, one hand gripping her hands above her head and the other at her throat, claws partially extended and ready to strike, my lips curled into a snarl and my lycan growling softly in triumph.

“Yield! Yield!” Maddie says, laughing beneath me. “I yield.”

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