Page 90 of Knot Made to Break: Part One

Gio moved with the grace of a panther, ducking and weaving around his opponent’s strikes. Each blocked punch, each vicious counter-attack, made my heart leap into my throat.

“Come on,” I whispered, my nails digging into my palms.

A hit landed square to his jaw, and blood sprayed from his mouth. I gasped, the sound lost in the crowd’s roar. My stomach churned as he took two more hits in quick succession.

“He’ll be okay,” Dimitri murmured. “Gio is undefeated, remember?”

I nodded, but the reminder didn’t help. My anxiety was a beast threatening to consume me whole, because there was always a first for everything. No one could win one-hundred percent of the time, could they?

God, I hated this. My mate was bleeding, and every instinct in me screamed to protect him. The Omega in me felt nearly feral, wanting to leap into the cage and tear apart anyone who dared to hurt him.

The fight dragged on forever, each second an eternity. I held my breath, my fists clenched as the men traded blows. Finally, Gio’s opponent made a mistake. In his impatience for the win, he left himself open. With a vicious jab to the face, Gio sent the other fighter’s head snapping back. Time seemed to slow as the man fell, his body hitting the mat with a dull thud.

The crowd erupted, but all I could hear was the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

“Knockout!” the announcer shouted, climbing over the unconscious loser to raise Gio’s arm in victory.

A shaky breath blew past my lips, and I sagged with relief. But as I watched my Alpha, his body bruised and bloodied, my lungs refused to expand properly on the next drag of oxygen.

I was on my feet before I realized I’d moved, pushing through the crowd to reach his corner. He hopped down from the cage, pulling on his robe and popping up the hood. I was in his arms in an instant.

“You’re bleeding!” I cried, my hands fluttering over his face.

Gio grinned, that cocky smile that made my heart skip. “Most of it’s not mine, sweetness.”

“Is that supposed to be reassuring?” I demanded, but I couldn’t keep the relief from my voice. “That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

He pulled me flush against him, his hand warm on my lower back. “You worried about me?”

“Of course I am,” I breathed, losing myself in the heat of his gaze.

“I was always going to win,” he murmured, tilting my chin up.

A retort was on my lips when a voice cut through the air, cold and as sharp as a serrated blade—sawing, grating, and painful.

“Sounds like you’re getting cocky, Cristenello.”

My blood turned to ice.

I knew that voice.

It haunted my nightmares.

Rocco Valentino.

Four distinct growls tore through the warehouse, and suddenly my Alphas were surrounding me, their bodies forming a protective wall between me and our enemy. But I’d already seen enough—that masterful glint in Rocco’s eyes, the vicious tiltof his mouth that had always made me feel like a mouse trying to escape his maze.

My stomach churned violently, and I instinctively pressed myself against Gio’s broad back. My hands trembled as I gripped the fabric of his robe, desperate for an anchor. The edges of my vision blurred slightly, and I had to force myself to take deep breaths, fighting against the panic clawing its way up my throat.

Vincent was there too, just behind his brother, that cruel glare of his as unsettling as always. But it was the woman plastered to Rocco’s side that shocked me the most.

Jennica.

Her self-satisfied smirk sent a bolt of unease through me, and the sheer maliciousness in her gaze made my skin crawl. She looked at me like I was a toy she couldn’t wait to break.

Rocco’s dark eyes zeroed in on me. “Not going to say hello,pet? I taught you better than that. You remember what happens when you refuse to greet me properly, don’t you?”

Gio snarled, long, low, and menacing. He stalked forward, and I lost my grip on his robe as he got in Rocco’s face. “Do not fuckin’ talk to her.”

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