Page 125 of Cavern of Silence
Her body flies backward and blood bursts everywhere.
The beast in me comes out, and the two men no longer can restrain me. I run to her and hold her in my arms. Her nose is broken, and she trembles.
But there is nowhere to go, and when Jonas puts his gun to my head and another of his thugs puts one to hers, I have no choice.
"Release her now, or she gets the first bullet," Jonas instructs.
"I'm sorry, baby." I kiss her head and let her go then yell, "Don't touch her."
I'm dragged into the ring, and the other prisoner is brought out.
"This man, you all know. He tried to cheat me."
The crowd yells their obscenities, and Jonas holds up his hands again. "Place your bets."
"Ryker, no." Julieta sobs. She gets up and pleads with Jonas again. "Let him go. Kill me."
He smacks her face, and I start to go after him again. But this time, Jonas's two men hold me back and put a knife to my throat. The gun goes to Julieta's head again.
"I'll do whatever you want. Stop hurting her," I growl.
Jonas steps forward so we're face-to-face. "You'll do whatever I want, regardless."
I try to go free so I can rip his face off, but the grip on me is too solid.
He laughs, steps back, claps his hands three times in the air, and the night air fills with cheers. "Fight," Jonas screams.
My arms are released, and the prisoner barrels at me. I duck, and he flies past me and into the ropes but turns around and comes right back, landing a punch in my gut.
The wind is knocked out of me, and I fall to the ground. I catch Julieta's eyes, and when she yells, "Ryker," the beast I thought I was doesn't exist—that monster is tame compared to who shows up.
Any previous training I've had to kill, I use, and within a few minutes, I have the man in a headlock. Instead of slowly suffocating him, I snap his neck.
He falls to the ground, lifeless.
A thug grabs my arm and holds it in the air, but I'm not able to contain my rage. In three moves, I twist his neck as well.
One of Jonas's men points a gun at my head, and the crowd turns silent. Jonas steps forward, gazes at his dead man and then me.
Breathing hard, I stare past him at Julieta. Her shaking hand covers her blood-filled mouth.
"You killed one of my men," Jonas barks.
I continue to watch Julieta, wishing she was anywhere but here.
"Look at me," Jonas yells and points his gun at my head, too.
I clench my jaw and turn toward him.
"You kill another one of my men tonight, she dies. Do you understand?"
Get yourself under control. You can't kill all of his men. There is no way out of this. You need to get Julieta out of here.
"Her death won't be painless, do you understand?"
"Leave her alone."
Jonas turns to a few of his men and points to the two corpses on the ground. "Get them out of here."
