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A pause and she considered if she should bluff. But she couldn’t. It was just the two of them, exactly how Min preferred. She was ready for this showdown, whatever happened.

“Come get me.”

CHAPTER21

HAYDEN

“Come get me.”

Hayden felt a hum under his skin at her words, at her dark as sin voice practically purring at him through his headset. It didn’t matter that they were doing this in public, didn’t matter that millions of people were streaming and watching them. This was how they had started, this was how they met. And as far as Hayden was concerned, this is who they were.

And now they were going to prove who was the best.

He ducked behind a short wall for cover and rechecked his weapons. He had his usual favorite machine gun, as well as a few smoke bombs. His Beretta was low on ammo thanks to Teddy, but it would do if he was in a pinch. He reloaded the machine gun with a button, then turned back to the room… it was time to find Min.

He had his avatar peek around the cover to where he knew she had been, only to find the room now empty.Fuck.Hayden spun his camera, searching for movement, but he couldn’t spot her. The room itself had half a dozen exits—she could be anywhere, especially if she found stealth armor. He switched over to his heat signature goggles for a scan, just in case.

“You went all silent on me, DeathsHead. Are you giving up?”

Hayden pushed his avatar to stay undercover, sneaking toward the first door he could reach. Most likely she had left through the far door, but Hayden was betting on all the exits connecting somewhere.

“I would never give up on you, Flame.” He heard her quick intake of breath. Hayden hadn’t thought about the words before he said them, but he knew they were true. And he suddenly, very fiercely, hoped she knew that as well.

“You better not be getting sappy on me now. I’m getting really tired of men and their sensitive feelings.”

His doorway had led to a hallway, and Hayden would bet money the hall wrapped all the way around the large room he had just exited. Several doors lined the hall, and Hayden ducked into the first one, scanning for Min and finding it empty. He went back out in the hall. He needed to get his head fully in the game, needed to focus. Which meant he needed Min to be a lot more worried than she currently sounded.

“I’ve been considering the best way to kill you, Flame.”

“You and your unrealistic fantasies.”

Hayden let his chuckle fill the space, the arena.

“I’m just saying, we’ve been here before, several times. How are we going to top ourselves?”

“Well, I’m going to crush you beneath my boot, so that will be nice.”

“Now who’s talking about unrealistic fantasies?”

Hayden ducked into the next room, something made to look like an old pantry and was about to exit it empty-handed when he saw the marker. He spun his camera to get a better angle, and almost lost his breath as the crowd in the stadium started cheering, able to see exactly what he saw.

A grenade launcher.

Hayden quickly picked up the weapon, checking the data. It only had one round loaded, which meant he had one chance to use it on Min. He’d have to lure her somewhere to get the shot. He didn’t have to be exact, but still. Min was smart, and after the stunt Alex pulled with the med kit, she was going to be wary of another item trap like that.

As Hayden tried to plan, the crowd started cheering again, louder than when he found the grenade launcher, and Hayden grinned.

“Find something good, Flame?”

“Not sure what you mean, Death. I’m just a lonely, defenseless girl trapped in this castle. How ever will I survive against such a strong, Alpha male as yourself?”Her voice dripped with derision, and Hayden knew she must have either found a good item or was setting a trap for him. The question was what, and how was she going to use it.

And just as the thought registered, he heard a growl behind him.

“Fuck.”

“Sounds like you got company.”

Hayden quickly equipped his machine gun and spun just in time to see the zombie, dressed in rotted and rusted armor, push a large shelf out of the way and enter the once empty room. For a second Hayden had almost forgotten the game wasn’t just about defeating each other. He also had to survive the damn zombies.

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