Page 39 of Celestial Combat

“We never are.”

He narrowed his eyes but let it go, shifting back into older-brother mode for a second as he added,“You fought well tonight.”

I gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Text me you got home okay.” Trevor softly slapped my back as he walked past me. Natalia stopped to hug mebefore following close behind my brother, the heavy door clicking shut behind them.

And then it was just me and Zane.

I barely had a second to breathe before he was in my space, closing the distance between us like a storm rolling in – quick, inevitable, and charged with something dangerous.

“What kind of fucking game do you think you’re running on me?”

His voice was low, rough, barely restrained, but his presence was louder than anything in the room. His scent – clean, cologne, leather, something dark – lingered in the air between us. His hands at his sides, clenched tight, the muscles in his forearms taut beneath the ink crawling up his skin.

I stayed where I was, refusing to shrink back, refusing to let him see the way my pulse had started to hammer against my throat. I tilted my chin, my expression carefully blank.

“Huh?”

Zane’s jaw ticked. His black eyes flicked over my face, searching, looking for cracks in my facade.“You knew.”His voice was sharp.Accusing.“You knew about my business ties with your family. With your brother. And you still walked into my gym, pretending to be someone else.”

“I didn’t lie. I told you my fight name was Meisa. That’s all. Everything else, you assumed.”

Zane let out a sharp, humorless laugh, stepping even closer. “You thought I wouldn’t find out?”

“Took you long enough,” I drawled, my voice even. “And I actually didn’t think about you at all.”I said, each word slow, deliberate.“I came to Python for me. Not for you. Not for Trevor. Not for whatever business you have with my family. Don’t flatter yourself.”

Zane exhaled harshly, running a hand through his dark hair before taking another step forward, forcing me to tilt my head back slightly to meet his gaze. The space between us had vanished, his heat pressing into mine, the weight of his anger suffocating.

“I don’t believe you.”His voice was lower now, but somehow even more dangerous. “You cameherefor a reason. What do you want from me, Kali? Hm? Tell me.”

Heat rose up my spine. My fingers twitched at my sides. My body was still aching from my fight, but something sharper, hotter, coiled inside me now.

“Believe whatever the fuck you want,”I snapped.“You don’t know me.”

Zane smirked, but there was nothing amused about it.“That’s real cute, little killer. But it doesn’t change the fact thatyoucame here looking forme.”

Something snapped.

I moved before I thought, shoving him hard in the chest. Tried to.

I barely got my hands on him before he grabbed my wrists – his grip solid, strong, his skin burning against mine – and pulled me into him.

I sucked in a breath, glaring up at him, my pulse hammering in my ears.

“You don’t get to touch me,” I spat.

Zane’s expression darkened. “Don’t start fights with me you can’t finish.”

My chest heaved. My blood boiled. Every part of me screamed to rip my hands away, to punch him, to dosomething.

I yanked myself free, stepping back, fists clenched.

“I don’t owe you shit.”

I turned on my heel and stormed out before I did something I’d regret.

“Trevor’s dating someone,” I announced, flipping my curly black hair over the shoulder and pouring red wine in the glasses.

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