Even though I want to get flowery with my threats when a guy is touching me like this—like telling them to get their hands off before I twist off their nuts—that sort of thing doesn’t usually work for a crowd like this. Maybe on nights when no one really cares about the fights and they’re just here to get drunk. Thosenights, a lot of guys honestly think it’s funny to see the tiny, hot omega threaten them.
Tonight, something like that, with all the bloodlust in the air, could get me hurt.
Hell, by the way this guy’s face twists in anger at my basic request, I may still get hurt.
“Come on, a girl like you is for sale, ain’t ya?” he slurs.
“Like you could afford a girl like me. You know Dominic keeps his price sky high,” I huff, trying to push him away again, this time with a bit more real force.
I glance around nervously, trying to find one of the bouncers I know Frankie has floating around the place, but they’re nowhere to be found. Maybe they’re breaking up another fight somewhere else.
His lips pull back in a snarl, and he wraps his meaty hands around my neck, pulling me so close to his face, I can practically taste his disgusting breath.
I fight him in earnest, this time, his grip on my neck making it hard for me to breathe.
“Omega sluts like you need to know their fuckin’ place,” he growls, using his grip on my neck to throttle me.
I shove my heeled foot into his shin, making him stumble, but instead of getting him off of me, he just trips into me, shoving my back against the metal chain links of the cage.
That’s when the panic starts to set in. I’m trapped. There’s nowhere for me to go now. Why isn’t anyone fucking stopping this creep?
The crackle of the MC’s microphone plays over the speakers. “And the winner is—hey, wait, Obsidian where’re you going!”
There’s a shadow above me as someone vaults over the wall of the cage, and a split second later, the beta is ripped off of me.
Obsidian smashes his fist into the creep’s face. There’s a spray of blood on the concrete floor in front of me and I freeze,the memory of nightmares I try really fucking hard to bury creeping back in.
“Fuck off,” Obsidian growls, his dominance swirling around him. “Before I fucking kill you.”
The almost sheepish, teasing man I spoke with in the locker room is nowhere to be found. In his place is a fighting machine, his bloodlust nearly as thick as the bloodlust of the crowd.
The beta scrambles away, holding his face, and disappears into the crowd of people that’ve started watching us instead of the cage.
Obsidian steps close to me, seeming to try to shield me from the gazes of the people around us. His hand rests on the curve of my hip. His blood-covered hand. The white wraps he has around his knuckles are stained red.
My chest heaves as I struggle to breathe. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to shut out the memories of the first time I saw a fist covered in blood.
The blood of my first boyfriend. On Dominic’s fist.
“Are you okay?” Obsidian murmurs into my ear.
“Get your hand off of me,” I grit out.
He jerks his hand back like I burned him, or like he didn’t even realize he was touching me.
“Shit, sorry.” His hands come up like he’s trying to soothe a wild animal as he takes a step back.
I see the moment his eyes fall down to my neck. To where that beta probably smudged the foundation covering purple finger-shaped bruises. Older bruises.
His expression grows dark. “Those?—”
“Stop it,” I cut him off before he can start interrogating me. “Thanks for winning. And for saving me back there.”
I start shoving my way through the crowd, baring my teeth at anyone who looks like they are going to stop me and wrap my arms around myself. It’s probably the fact that Obsidian steppedin to save me that makes all the other men around me keep their distance, but I don’t care.
“Wait! Raine!” Obsidian calls.
Either he’s stuck in the crowd of people wanting to congratulate him on his fight or he doesn’t care enough to follow me, but I make it to Frankie’s office without any other incident.