Page 74 of I Am Lioness

I nodded. “I'm good, just thinking about tomorrow night.”

“Are you nervous?”

“For you I am.” I admitted.

“Why for me?”

“Because the finals are different, Knox.”

“How so?” He asked, pivoting me in his embrace.

I shrugged noncommittally. “No rules, anything goes.”

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then his lips thinned harshly. “Explain, Hazel. Now.” His tone was no nonsense.

Sighing, I ran my hands up the length of his arms, the tips of my fingers tracing along different outlines of his ink. “It'sonelong round. There's no ref, no clock, and we’re only allotted three timeouts. It’s either submit or lights out.”

I paused when I felt him stand a little taller and square his shoulders. He clenched his teeth together. “Go on.”

I gulped under his scrutiny and took a deep breath. “Panterra and I go hard in that cage every year and it always ends in a bloodied mess. After last night I'm sure it's going to be infinitely worse this year.”

Knox’s entire frame went completely rigid. I felt the muscles of his arms tense beneath my touch, his abdomen clenching into stone. “So you're saying there's a possibility she can really fuck you up.”

Fisting the front of his tee, I pulled him closer and peeked up at his less than amused expression. “There's always a possibility for that any time I step into the ring but yes, The Finals more specifically hold a larger threat.”

His arms tightened around me, his head dropping to the crook of my neck. Silence fell upon us and we stood like that for quite a while, unmoving, no words exchanged.

“I can take her, baby.” I said finally, in attempt to break the ice.

Knox squeezed me harder still, his throat bobbing through a deep swallow as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

“Hey, look at me.”

He shook his head and turned away, his jaw clenched tightly, brows bunched together.

I caught his chin, forcing our eyes to connect. “I've done this for three years. I can do it again.”

With those blue eyes still regarding me, burning me, he dropped his forehead to mine. “I just don't want her to hurt you.” He rasped.

“She’s going to, in one way or another. I'm fast but no rules takes the fight to a completely different level. I can take her though, I promise.”

He pulled himself free from myself embrace and stepped back to put some space between us. “How do you expect me to let you walk into that cage now knowing it's a bloodbath waiting to happen?”

“You have to trust me, Knox. I can do this.”

“I know you can do it but knowing there’s nothing to keep her from murdering you doesn’t sit well with me. How can they allow that?”

“Because it's the Underground. That's how it works. The Finals have always been brutal and it'll stay that way as long as the League exists.”

“I don't like it.” He gritted out, looking off to the darkened horizon. “But I don't have much of a say. Just promise me you'll stay focused.”

He sounded so similar to Bernie, my heart clenched and a shiver rattled me down to my bones, blanketing my skin with a thick layer of goosebumps.

“Don’t I always?” I asked the same question I’d thrown at my old man many a times before.

Knox turned back to me, anxiety and unease apparent in his expression. “Yes, but I mean really focus. You go in there with that ferocity that took me by storm the first night I ever saw you fight and you show Panterra no mercy. No fucking mercy, do you hear me?”

I closed the distance between us and slipped my arms around his neck, holding his intense stare. “No mercy, Coach Carr. I got it. Don’t you worry, Lioness is going to dominate in that cage tomorrow night.”

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