Page 29 of Bratva Butcher

She glowered at me. “That was luck.”

“No, it wasn’t. Your form needs work. You drop your guard on your left side when you kick from the right.”

Her mouth dropped open in outrage as if I’d just gravely insulted her. I supposed I had. There was nothing more insulting than telling a fighter their form sucked. “I do not!”

“Yes, you do.”

“Yeah? Well…your eyebrows crease right before you throw out a combo, making them super easy to avoid.”

I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t know I did that. I had been wondering how she was able to avoid them so easily.

So, not only was she quick on her feet, efficient at fighting and mentally and physically strong, but she was also extremely observant.

A deadly combination.

I should have just killed her then, partnership be damned.

“No one’s explained what’s going on to you?” Rebecca asked, breaking the glare-down between us.

“No,” Autumn answered. She touched her throat lightly, wincing. A nasty bruise was already starting to form in the shape of a handprint.

“We’ve been brought here to fight against each other to the death. The person you’re sharing a cell with is your partner in the games. It’s two vs two. The winning pair earns their freedom. Someone should have explained it all to you after your match-ups?”

Sure enough, a few hours later, a guard came by with our food rations and explained everything. The games. The rules. Even a more detailed account of the collars around our necks. That if we even tried to leave our cell, they would automatically detonate and blow our entire fucking heads off.

They were fitted with sensors that were rigged to explode if we tried to escape. They even had anti-tampering devices, prohibiting us from trying to remove them ourselves.

Smart. Annoyingly smart.

“I want a different partner!” Autumn demanded after the guard finished talking.

“Not possible. The pairings have already been decided and cannot be changed.”

“Sure they can. Just get on the horn with the boss and tell him. I can’t work with that asshole.” She pointed at me, sitting on my cot.

I snorted out a laugh. “That’s something I’m sure Talon is counting on.”

The guard frowned as he pushed the last plate of food through the small gap at the bottom of the cell. He was probably wondering how I knew Talon’s name. I moved and picked up the plate. It was a generous helping of lamb chops, potatoes, vegetables and gravy. My stomachrumbled. I couldn’t evenremember the last time I’d eaten. It had to have been days before.

I didn’t eat on the plane because I thought perhaps Talon might have laced the food with something. That was no longer a concern. He had his fighters. Poisoning them when he needed them to fight didn’t make much sense.

“What do you mean by that?” Autumn asked.

We weren’t given any cutlery, so I picked up one of the pieces of lamb with my fingers. “Our animosity isn’t exactly a secret. It’s plainly obvious,” I said in between bites. “My guess is, Talon is hoping our hatred for one another will hinder our ability to work together effectively. In a pairs fight, it’s crucial to have a good relationship with your partner. Trust. Communication. Without that, you might as well get on your knees and let them kill you.”

Chapter Eleven

Autumn DeValos

Iate my foodquietly, pondering Dimitri’s last words. He sat across from me on his own cot, focused entirely on the plate in his lap.

I was still reeling from everything that had happened, so the moment to gather my thoughts was a welcome one. I studied him covertly out of the corner of my eye as I ate. My body zinged to life.

Jesus fucking Christ. I had to be the most idiotic person on the planet. The man had literally been a heartbeat away from killing me, and yet I wanted to jump on his cock and ride him while he had one of my tits in his mouth.

He was just so…powerful. He was doing nothing but sitting there eating, his back leaning against the cell bars, one knee hiked up, completely at ease but somehow radiating a dark, dangerous vibe that made shivers dance down my spine. It wasjusthim. The way he was. Masculine energy literally dripped off him, vibrated around him—the kind of energy that warned you not to get too close to him. That he had the power to snap your neck with his bare fucking hands, which I knew to be completely true. I’d seen it with my own eyes.

I picked up one of the roasted potatoes and popped it into my mouth, silently berating myself. It wasn’t the time to let my libido take the reins. I had to get a fucking grip, get my hormones under control and start thinking logically.

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