His brother roared at him, flying back up to his feet to attack.
Xander deftly dodged out of the way.
Bartley shoved him back, but Xander stalked him like an animal until his brother was forced to back up. There wasn't much fighting space here, which was probably why Bartley made a move for the emergency stairs.
"Come back here!"
Xander flew after him, not about to let him get away, to get to a window where he could jump out into the open.
Bartley was fast, too fast. Xander chased him down the stairs, naked, enraged, claws at the ready as he reached out and grabbed onto Bartley's shoulder.
The man roared, grabbed hard onto Xander's legs and threw him through the door on the very next floor.
He burst through it. Xander hardly felt a thing
His heart slammed. He focused his strength and attention on remaining calm as he pushed himself to his feet. "I'll kill you."
Bartley growled at him, still backing up. "You wish you could kill me."
"Xander!"
Xander paused. His heart actually stopped in his chest. Andrea's voice. Fuck, he'd left her upstairs, with his enemy.
He was going to have to trust that Awnyay wouldn't do anything to her. Awnyay wasn't the sort of woman to do anything to someone outside the clan.
"You want to run back to your girlfriend?"
"Least I can get one. Are you still a virgin, you ugly motherfucker?"
Bartley shrieked and flew his fists out again. The claws at the end of his fingers let Xander know his brother didn’t simply want to knock him out, but not a single one of Bartley’s hits landed.
Xander could not help but smile. “Are you getting angry? You can’t seem to hit me.”
Making an enemy enraged to the point of distraction was one of the first lessons he’d learned when he began taking his studies seriously, when he began to train not simply to do his own stunts, but to actually fight and defend himself and his loved ones if it ever came down to it again.
It seemed to work. Bartley, who was the most intense of his family, who was known for his abilities in hand-to-hand battle, shrieked as though he had been lit on fire before he thrust into the thick of things. He sung wildly, madly. It was impossible to avoid all his blows when there was no reason or rhythm to them, but Bartley had become so focused on simply landing any strike at all that he hardly put any effort behind them. He swung his fists with the intent to simply land a hit, not to throw as much damage as he could at his opponent.
For that, Xander could handle the blows that did hit. They alone would have been enough to break any of the bones in Andrea’s smaller body, but for himself, he could take them and keep on his feet; he could continue to enrage his brother.
Funny. He had never wanted to be a warrior, but after being attacked that time in a dark alley, after being unable to defend the woman he loved, or himself, it had been the fire lit under his ass that his family had been waiting for, for as long as Xander had been alive.
It only took them mutilating his face in front of Andrea before it happened, and now that Xander had the control in this situation, he understood why his family, why dragons in general, enjoyed the fight so much.
When they were on the winning side, the feeling was similar to being on the red carpet, cameras flashing, people wanting his attention, desperate to give him their love.
Exhilarating. Adrenaline pumping. Possibly even orgasm inducing. The hard, painful smack of flesh against his knuckles sent all kinds of signals to his brain that shut everything off except for the desire to do more of that. To hear that crunching of another man’s nose against his fist. Or maybe that was the bones in his hand making that sound. He didn’t know and he couldn’t care less as the animal inside him took over.
He could get used to this.
Bartley fought back. The first time they’d fought, Xander had felt each blow from the man. He hadn’t known how to separate his mind from the pain that had been striking him so forcefully. He hadn’t known how to take the hits. He knew now. He’d prepared for this. He’d worked for this, and every time Bartley’s fist struck his cheek, Xander absorbed the pain, taking it into himself and letting it spread and vanish throughout the rest of his body.
It let him keep going. It allowed him to fight, to attack, and to take all the hits being given.
Bartley roared. He came at Xander with as much or even more than what he’d used to give Xander his scars, and Xander didn’t stop. He was alive. He was powerful. And he was going to rip Bartley’s face off and eat it in font of the other man when he had the first chance.
But that wouldn’t be today. He had other things to do, namely to defend his woman and his honor, and he was damn well going to do it. To do that, he needed to come back to his senses. He couldn’t simply let himself fall into the role of attacker. He had to bring back some of his rational thought.
Difficult. So difficult. The next blow hurt, spreading white pain through his face because he was allowing himself to focus more on it, to pull his inner dragon back just enough so he could better think about something other than the fight.
He could now hear the shouting. Not just from his sister and the other dragons she and Bartley had brought with her, but occasionally from other patrons of the hotel as they came out of their doors, caught sight of what was going on outside, and then promptly slammed their doors shut again, locking them as they spotted the bloodshed.
Xander could only imagine the mess he would be leaving behind for the staff to clean up. He was going to have to leave behind one hell of a tip for the trouble he was leaving them with.
Andrea shouted and screamed for the fighting to stop. Xander couldn’t stop. Even through the pain, as Bartley began to hit him more and more, Xander couldn’t stop.
“This is what you respect, isn’t it?” Xander asked. He panted for breath. He hadn’t noticed that before but Bartley was tiring him out. Xander launched his fist again to prove he wasn’t tired enough to stop going, hitting his brother square in the nose, hearing the bones crunch, and watching as blood spilled freely from his nostrils. “You respect warriors. Dragons who fight.”
“You’re not one of them.” Bartley’s low voice sounded more demonic than human. Even with the scales forming on his face and his nose in a place where it really shouldn’t have been, he was beginning to resemble a melted wax sculpture rather than a dragon or a human.
Bartley shoved his flat palms hard against Xander’s chest, pushing him back. He didn’t come at Xander the way Xander expected him to. Instead, he brought his hands up and righted his nose with a hard crunch and a deep flinch. He pressed his index finger hard against the side of his nose, keeping his eyes on Xander as he half turned and snorted something thick and red down onto the floor.
Xander’s face twisted. Even though he was beginning to feel the pain from how Bartley had been attacking him, and even though he had Andrea to worry about, the sight of something so vile still had its effects on him.
The way Bartley glared at him, even as he did that, as if he thought Xander was no better than the red wad of goop he launched from deep inside his nose, wasn’t as insulting as the fact that Bartley had still done it.
“Xander?” Andrea’s voice wobbled slightly. “Are you okay?”
He nearly made the mistake of turning back to the sound of her voice. He couldn’t. He remembered the words of his teacher. Turning his back on a standing enemy was as good as forfeiting the fight.
“I’m all right.”
Bartley’s smile was ugly, what with the way his face was twisted and messed up. “You think so, do you? We’ve got you outnumbered. We’ve got your woman.”
Xander’s hackles rose up high. “And you’re not going to lay a single finger on her, you piece of shit. This is about me. Not her.”
“I agree.”
Awnyay’s voice startled him so much that it yanked him out of the staring match of death with his brother. He still could not bring himself to face away f
rom Bartley. “You agree?” He would trust that like he would trust a scorpion trying to cross a river.
She might not physically harm Andrea, but Awnyay could be ruthless when she wanted to be.
Awnyay nodded. “I do.”
He wanted to look at her. He couldn’t not look back. Bartley wasn’t his only enemy here, and since Xander did technically have his back to the others who would easily see him dead, he needed to be able to see all of them.
He settled for a half turn. It allowed him to keep both Bartley, as well as his sister and the other dragons in sight.
He growled at the way Andrea’s arms were held on either side of her by two young dragons. Kids who had recently come of age and were probably only here to prove themselves.
He narrowed his eyes at them, letting the growl he felt come through his throat rumble with real heat for the two men. They glared back at him, defiance in their eyes, but also a touch of nervous tension.
There was nothing quite like staring at a bloody man after a fight, someone who wanted to hurt you, that let the uncertainty and fear build within. Xander knew this through experience.
“If she has nothing to do with it then you’ll have no trouble letting her go.”
The two dragons tensed, as if they honestly didn’t know what they were supposed to do. Their stance remained in fight mode, which Xander didn’t like or appreciate.
He growled lower. “I said let go of her.”
They did. Immediately and at the same time.
Awnyay smiled. Bartley growled, his horns popping out through his forehead and at the edges of his jaw. He hardly seemed pleased when the two dragons did as they were told.
Andrea kept standing there. She didn’t move. Her eyes stayed locked on Xander’s. “Andrea, get out of here.”
She shook her head. “No.”
He pressed his lips together. He couldn’t argue right now. He couldn’t afford to. Behind Andrea, and down the other end of the hall, Xander became aware of the people who had started poking their heads out of their doors. Those who weren’t feeling quite so brave eased their phones out. They were definitely recording this whole thing.
“You all need to get out of here. Too many people are watching this.”
“And why do we care what humans think?” Bartley snapped. “That’s on you, not us.”
“Uh huh, and if the cops get called down here to deal with you all? I know you can fly, but there’s not exactly much room to spread your wings in this hall if a slew of alphas wearing badges show up and tackle you to the floor.”
Bartley bared his teeth. Xander knew he had him, and he couldn’t help but smile.
“You fucking stupid idiots.” He laughed a little. “You all want to give me shit for being out in public, and you attacked us in one of the most public…you do realize there are cameras all over us right now, don’t you?”
Awnyay crossed her arms. If she was shocked, she didn’t show it. The two other dragons behind her glanced around, glowering nervously. They snapped their teeth at the nearest open door, but the kid standing there, a teenager with a man bun, didn’t back off. He just shut the door a little more and kept his phone in position.
It was the same for the other doors up and down the hall. Xander knew well enough to know that at least one of them had called the police.
If Andrea refused to leave, it was probably because she was also recording this somehow. Maybe getting the audio. She had always insisted that records needed to be kept of important events back when they’d been dating.
“You did this,” Bartley said. “You want to talk like a warrior, but you’re a little bitch. You do well on one fight and you think that makes you equal to us! You betrayed us.”
“And now you’re doing the same,” Xander said. “You’re out in the open. You’re on camera. You’re making a disgrace of the dragon name, and if any of those people are live streaming this then you’re doing it in front of the whole world.”
Bartley’s eyes changed to a bright blood ruby red. “You little piece of—”
“Bartley, stop.”
Awnyay’s voice cut through the thick atmosphere. Bartley did stop, but it appeared almost against his will. Another two steps and Xander would have been throwing him around the hallway again.
“Why stop the fight, Awnyay?” Xander asked. “I’m all rested up. I can keep going.”
Bartley growled at him. “You think so, do you?”
“Oh, I know so.” That same adrenaline Xander had felt when he’d been slamming his knuckles into Bartley’s face and teeth returned. His body buzzed with the urge to do that again, to go at his enemy with everything he had and force the man to submit.
After Xander made him eat a fair amount of shit, of course. “I’ve been working for this day ever since you jumped me in that back alley. You want to talk about honor and discipline? Well it’s different to come at me when I’m ready for you, isn’t it, you fucking pussy.”
“Bartley,” Awnyay said, her tone one of warning when Bartley stepped forward again. “Leave it.”
“He hasn’t learned,” Bartley insisted. “He hasn’t learned a fucking thing! He makes a mockery of us and our people. He needs to learn!”
“He will learn,” Awnyay replied.
Xander looked right at her. He growled, letting his claws out. “You think I haven’t learned? Want me to prove it to you, too?”
Awnyay smiled at him. When did she become so confident? It almost appeared as if she was leading this team. That wouldn’t have been the case back when Xander had still been in the clan. Before he’d left, she hadn’t been so confident, and yet now he could sense the strength in her.
She’d apparently grown more than he thought she had in the time he’d been away.
Her eyes were cold as she looked him up and down, her lips pursing together before she turned back to Andrea.
Andrea tensed.
“Don’t go near her.”
“I won’t,” Awnyay said calmly, returning her attention back where it belonged. On him. “You can show me your strength properly at another time.”
Bartley sputtered. “Another time?”
Awnyay ignored him. She didn’t take her eyes away from Xander.
He narrowed his gaze at her. He didn’t understand, but he also knew better than to flat out admit to not understanding. “What are you doing? Fight me now.”
“No. You’re winded. I want a proper fight. Besides, as correct as Bartley is, you are a disappointment to the way of dragons, what’s done is done. You’re a public figure. You make a joke of your kind by prancing around in front of a camera, but at the same time…”
Awnyay glanced back at Andrea one last time. Andrea held her ground this time by glaring at her.
“I find it interesting that it took you finding a human woman before you were willing to study the ways of war. The battle you just had with Bartley was a great deal more impressive than the one you had, or didn’t have, I should say, when he bested you the last time.”
Xander grumbled. He didn’t like the reminder of that night, and though he could point out that part of the reason why he’d lost was because they had ganged up on him when he’d been drunk and not ready, he decided, for now, to let that go.
“You’re impressed with the skills I’ve gained, are you? Even though I only wanted them so I could keep, as you put it, prancing in front of a camera?”
“You and I both know that’s not the reason you learned to fight. Don’t disappoint your ancestors more than you already have by pretending it is.”
Xander clenched his fists. He didn’t get the chance to say anything more when the elevator doors suddenly parted, and a harsh voice called out to them.
“Police! Hands in the air!”
CHAPTER 8
A ndrea immediately threw her hands in the air. She supposed she was something of a coward like that, but it couldn’t be helped when she really didn’t like guns and really didn’t want to get shot, despite the fact th
at, as far as she could tell, no guns had yet been drawn.
“They were kidnapping us!” She yelled the words without thinking.
Probably not the best idea since the hallway was packed with dragon shifters and there was no way for the officers down the hall to really know who she was talking about when she shouted out to them.
In fact, her outburst was enough to make the guns come out. Andrea tensed.
Xander stepped in front of her. It was a slow move, but one that still risked his life.
“Don’t move!” shouted one of the officers, the weapon pointing straight at Xander now.
Xander’s family didn’t obey the command, which was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid on their part. They spread out like flies in the wind, each one of them finding a door and slamming their bodies through it.
“I said don’t move!”
Please don’t shoot anyone.
They didn’t. Andrea heard no sounds of gunfire, but she still held her breath as she heard the noises of their stomping feet as they chased down the dragons who started running.
A flurry of men in blue, screaming, shouting. Andrea didn’t like it, which was probably why she clutched so tightly to Xander’s shoulders as the cops chased down the dragons, and the guests whose rooms had been broken into screamed in a panic.
Then there was the sound of shattering glass.
“Don’t worry, it’s almost over,” Xander said softly.
Andrea nodded, but it didn’t seem like enough. She needed more than his words if she was going to calm down. She needed his arms around her. She needed him to tell her everything was going to be all right and she had nothing to fear.
She wasn’t going to get that, not right now, because just as he turned to face her, one of the officers came back.
“You all right, miss?”
Andrea looked up at the man. “I…”
An ongoing ringing noise sounded in her ears. She knew that sound well. It was the same noise that had drowned out her thoughts after she and Xander had been attacked that first time outside of the club, when they’d both been too drunk on fun and each other to know the attack was coming.
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