by May Dawson
"We should have carpooled," I said.
"That might be awkward." Levi said.
The four of us walked in. This time there was a ring etched in the floor. The flooring had been ripped up in jagged strips by whatever they had used to mark the floor, and a powerful chemical stench hung in the air.
The Council waited for us, standing on one side of the circle. Before we reached them, the guards stepped up to search us again. I raised my hands as the guard searched me with quick, rough hands. His touch through my clothes made me recoil, but I endured.
Levi rested his hand on my shoulder as we walked toward the bottom of the circle. I glanced up at him. Typical Levi that he would comfort me, even though he was the one whose mind must be preoccupied with the fight. I didn't know how he could be so cool, acting like this was nothing.
Levi squeezed my shoulder gently and then kicked off his motorcycle boots, leaving them at the edge of the circle. Of course, being Levi he placed them neatly together, his socks folded together and tucked inside one.
He pulled his t-shirt over his head in one swift motion. I reached out to take it from him.
"Levi Alexander will be our champion," Jacob said.
"Good." Calla said. "There's one matter to attend to before the mediation can begin."
I'd had about enough of them using the word mediation non-ironically when they meant a fight.
Calla gestured Levi up to the council. He glanced back at us over his broad, naked shoulder as he stepped into the circle, but then he went up to them without hesitating.
"In the interest of fairness," Calla said, "We can't let you fight with your powers."
Jacob cursed/ I could feel the tension in his body as he stood next to me. They were springing surprises on us. He would never have let Levi be the one to fight if he had known he could fight despite his Nephilim powers.
Two of the guards seized Levi. I felt Ryker and Jacob both strain forward and stop themselves, barely able to contain themselves from going to Levi's rescue.
Levi glanced at the guards holding his arms tightly with amusement, as if they were ridiculous. His posture seemed to remind them that he was fighting willingly; he wasn't going to struggle against whatever restrictions the Council imposed.
Calla stepped forward, carrying a bowl. Tanner lodged his finger in Levi’s long hair and shoved Levi's head down roughly. Calla poured out the bowl into his hair, wetting it to his head.
When he released Levi's head, Levi looked up, his teeth gritted, and even from here I could see his chest inflate wildly as if he could scream in pain.
Levi swallowed hard and shook his shoulders out. He smiled coolly at Calla. "It sure would be good manners to tell someone what spell you're using on them."
"Your powers will return to you in time," she promised.
Levi shook his shoulders out again, and glanced toward us. The guards holding him finally released his arms.
I met his eyes steadily, even at this distance, hoping to send him strength. How could he not be rattled by this? It was so unfair. They hadn't prepared us ahead of time for what they were going to do to him.
Levi nodded to us and stepped back into the circle.
I hadn't even noticed them step up beside us, but Yale called out, "Our champion is Nash McKenna."
Calla nodded. "Step into the ring, Nash McKenna."
Nash stripped off his shirt and, wearing only his jeans, he too stepped into the ring. His body was broad and heavily muscled. Black runes were tattooed across his shoulders and back and ran down his narrow waist.
Nash nodded to Levi, who nodded back. Levi pushed his wet hair back with his hands, then pulled a band out of his jeans pocket and quickly knotted his hair back into a bun. As worried as I was for him, I couldn’t help noticing he looked sexy as hell.
"Step into the ring, Yale McKenna." Calla called, her voice loud in the cavernous factory. "Step into the ring, Zane McKenna."
Yale and Zane looked at each other, as if they were perplexed. When they didn't move, a guard behind us asked, "Was something unclear?"
Ryker's jaw was set. I looked up at him, perplexed, as Yale and Zane too began to strip. "What's going on?" I asked softly, resting my hand on his hard forearm as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"The Council is giving them every chance to take Levi down," Ryker said.
I didn't understand why the Council would be biased, and then Jacob said, "They're punishing us. For Nimshi."
My heart lurched in my chest. Whatever happened next was my fault. I was the one who had forced Nimshi on my boys. I knew I’d been right—Nim was one of us, he belonged with us—and yet I also knew that my actions had started all this.
"Levi's tough," Jacob promised me.
"Is that what you would say if you weren't trying to comfort me?" My voice came out sharp.
"It is," Jacob said evenly. "If anyone can face three Hunters without his powers, it's Levi."
"But he shouldn't have to." Ryker swore. "This is so fucked up."
"Whoever wins the fight has been justified in his cause," Calla said. "Since Nimshi is dead, the charges against him have been dropped. There will be no legal outcome. The losers will admit fault, and winners and losers will be reconciled as Hunters."
"Sure." Levi stretched, making fists of his hands and then releasing them as if he were trying to stay lose.
"Two Hunter families like yours should not remain at odds," Calla said. "It is regrettable that mediation by combat became necessary. Fight well, allow yourselves to be reconciled, and do not fall victim again to your egos."
"Fall victim to your egos," Jacob murmured. "You can tell she deals with a lot of Hunters."
"And…fight," Calla called.
The ring in front of us suddenly caught fire. I took a quick step back, startled. Jacob put his hand on my shoulder to steady me. The flames flared high at first and then burnt lower, as high as my knees, marking the edges of the ring.
The three McKennas seemed to hang back for a second, as if they were reluctant to join a fight that was three-against-one.
Levi gave them a nod that seemed like half-encouragement.
Good god. He was even a nice guy in a fight.
Jacob raked a hand over his head, as if he realized the same thing about Levi, and it drove him to despair.
Levi and Nash closed up, trading punches, as Zane tried to slip around behind. Yale hung back, waiting for his turn.
Zane hesitated, though, as Levi and Nash traded punches, until Levi got in a strong right hook that knocked Nash hard to the ground. Nash tried to get back up and groaned, holding his jaw.
Zane tackled Levi hard around the waist. The two of them fell to the ground. They scrambled to get a hold on each other. When Levi got Zane into a choke, Yale went after him. Yale tried to kick Levi, but Levi pulled Zane into the path of his leg. Zane grunted as Yale kicked him across the abs.
I glanced up at Jacob and Ryker, whose eyes were intent on the fight. It seemed to me like even without his powers, Levi was killing it. But they were still tense and anxious.
"They have time to recover. He doesn’t," Jacob said, his voice soft, making sure the words wouldn't carry to Levi.
"He's got it," Ryker said, but he didn't sound as confident as I would have expected.
Zane slumped over. Levi quickly let him fall to one side and tried to jump to his feet. But before he could, Yale punched him hard across the jaw. Yale followed him down as Levi stumbled back, trying to break his fall. Before Levi could get his legs under him and his arms back up, Yale punched him again.
Levi got his legs between him and Yale. He kicked Yale hard, making Yale stumble.
Levi got heavily to his feet, shaking his head as if it were hard for him to keep moving. He was bleeding, his cheek cut alongside his eye. Ryker saw the blood at the same time I did, and drew in a quick horrified breath.
"Blood’s not in his eyes yet," Jacob said. “He’s still got a chance.”
I crossed my
arms over my chest, trying to hold myself together. It was almost unendurable to watch Levi in this impossible, unwinnable fight where his opponents would always have the chance to recover while he fought the next.
Nash was up again now, and both Nash and Yale closed around him. As if, by silent agreement, they'd decided to end this now.
Levi elbowed Yale in the face, then grabbed him for balance as he kicked Nash in the chest. For a second, I thought Levi had them.
Yale went down as Levi let go of him, but as he did, Nash stumbled forward into him and the two of them fell heavily to the ground. Nash and Levi scrambled to be on top, trading punches and looking for weaknesses.
Suddenly, Nash was the one on top of Levi. There was blood in Levi's eyes and he was fighting blind now; I saw his nostrils flare as he breathed in some of his own blood from the wound.
"Yield," Nash said.
Levi was still fighting, looking for a way out. Nash hesitated and then punched him across the side of the face. His knuckles hit the split corner of Levi's eyes, and the gash widened, opening up toward his ear.
I heard myself scream. Jacob grabbed me around the waist, pulling me tight against his body, as if he were afraid I'd run into the circle myself. God only knew what fresh Hell we’d create if we broke the Council’s rules.
"Come on!" Nash said to Levi, sounding furious and desperate.
I remembered what Levi had told me when we were last in this awful, cold room. "It doesn't have to be lethal as long as someone yields."
Come on, Levi. Just yield. Let's just say we were wrong to shelter Nimshi; it doesn't change what we did, or who we are, or what we are going to do to save him.
But we needed Levi. Alive and well and not half-beaten-to-death. I needed Levi.
"Come on!" Ryker yelled, echoing Nash. "Levi! Don't be a hero!"
Jacob shook his head slightly, and I knew what he was thinking. You couldn't ask that of Levi. He was who he was.
And even though Levi was the cool-headed, easy-going one of my boys, that didn't mean that he didn't have his impossible side too.
"Yield," Nash said again. Levi got an arm loose and punched Nash, although Nash canted to one side slightly, half-ducking the blow. The punch was sloppy, weak, anyway. Levi had been fighting for a long time now, and he was fighting blind, and he had to have a concussion from the head punches he’d taken.
Nash swore and punched Levi again, this time across the jaw. "Come on!"
Levi's face was covered in blood now.
Nash swore again. He looked down at Levi as if he didn't know what to do, as if he didn't have it in him to hit Levi one more time.
Nash glanced up at Zane and Yale, and I followed his gaze; I hadn't realized they were both back on their feet.
Yale nodded.
Nash sighed heavily. "Yield," he said again, but not as if he expected Levi to actually yield this time. "I yield."
"You yield, Nash McKenna?" Calla sounded as surprised as I felt. My surge of relief was replaced by the fear that she wouldn't let him, that she would make Nash kill Levi if Levi wouldn't yield.
"We yield," Nash said. He slid off Levi, offering him a hand up.
"We yield," Yale said.
"We yield," Zane echoed.
"Very well," Calla said, as Nash pulled a bloodied Levi up. Levi seemed to weave unsteadily on his bare feet.
She seemed like she had more she wanted to say—a speech she had prepared for the losers she expected us to be—but instead she said, "What friendships have been forged in blood and kept through blood should not be surrendered. I don't want to meet with any of you again."
"No ma'am," came a chorus from my boys and the McKennas.
She shook her head, as if she were exasperated with all of us, and then she and the Council and their guards turned and walked out of the room.
The eight of us were left alone. The flames died.
Levi sat heavily on the ground, just this side of collapsing.
I jumped over the last flickering flames and rushed to grab Levi. I fell to my knees beside him, sliding my arm across his shoulders. "What the hell were you thinking?"
Levi grinned, revealing bloody teeth. "Hey there, sweet girl."
"Do not sweet-girl me." I took his face in my hands, pressing my lips just above his swollen and bloodied eye. "You could have died."
"Nah," he said. One eye was already swelling shut, but he looked with the other piercing blue eyes toward Nash. "Like I said when I argued I should be champion. I know these guys. I know how they fight, and..."
"You know how to get in my head." Nash shook his head. "You fucking asshole, Levi."
Levi grinned wider, and then touched his fingers to his lip as if that had hurt.
"Let's get home," Ryker said.
Olivia hesitated, crossing her arms over her chest, looking at her brothers.
"Do you want to come home with us, sis?" Nash asked roughly. "Even though we're also a bunch of fucking assholes?"
"We have stuff to talk about," Olivia said.
"Come back and see us," Jacob said quietly to Olivia. We all took his meaning; if Olivia didn't come back to our house, we could assume her brothers had tried again to keep her from us, even if it meant against her will.
"We're done fighting," Yale promised. "Except for vamps and geists."
"Good," Ryker said. He offered Nash his hand, and Nash grabbed his forearm, stepping in to give him a hug instead. Ryker clapped Nash on the back.
"Good," I said. "Because that bitch wasn't wrong. You all should be friends."
I felt the tension ease slightly as they all laughed.
Chapter 18
Levi was leaning against the shower wall when I pulled aside the curtain. His head was under the water so that it streamed through his blond hair, turning it dark. His lashes rested against his broad, high cheekbones, as if he were exhausted.
Without opening his eyes, he said, "I had hoped you'd join me."
"I have a job to do."
His lips parted slightly, although he didn't move from under the spray. "A job, huh?"
"Well, it's kind of a hobby, too." I slipped my leather jacket off my shoulders and folded it onto the clean white counter. As I pulled my tank top over my head, Levi's good blue eye was open and watching me, his other eye a slit in the center of a bruise.
I unclasped my bra, which was black and practical—just in case we had to fight our way through the Council—and therefore nothing to make for a sexy strip tease. But Levi seemed intent on the view, anyway.
"You scared me in there," I said softly.
Levi took a step forward, running his hand through his wet hair to push it back from his face. "Sorry," he said shortly. "I knew Nash wouldn't have it in him. Not to kill me."
"Do you feel like your powers have come back?"
He leaned against the wall again, crossing those muscular arms across his long, leanly muscled torso. "Honestly? I'm so tired. I can't tell what's exhaustion and what's having my powers stripped and what's..."
"Getting your ass kicked?" I offered.
He quirked his lips to one side. God, he was sexy leaning against the wall like that. Even, or maybe especially, when I could feel the edge suddenly separating us, the way his eyebrows lifted just slightly, inviting me to explain myself.
"It was three against one and you're not used to fighting without your powers." I had the sense of having crossed a line. Even if Levi was not one to admit to that I'd hurt his feelings.
"Oh, I know," he said.
I bit down on my lip as if to shut myself up. Even though it was too late.
Thank God I had magical fated love on my side, given how socially awkward I was.
"So are you going to do anything about this ass-kicking I suffered?" One side of his lips turned up.
"I shouldn't have said that." I stepped into the tub with him, into the warm slickness of the tub. "You were brave and badass and I just talk too much and—"
He wrapped his arm around my
waist, his muscular forearm tight against the curve of my back, and pressed his lips to mine. I made a small sound of surprise into his mouth. I felt some of his tension release in the way his lips relaxed against mine, as if that sound amused him.
I traced my fingernails over his chiseled abs, feeling them contract slightly under my touch. His thighs were warm and muscled, and my fingertips drifted across them until I took him firmly in my hand, feeling his warmth and weight.
"I thought you were tired," I whispered, bobbing up on the tips of my toes to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. I felt his five o'clock shadow across my cheek when I pressed my cheek against his.
"You're like a few shots of espresso." He cupped my cheek with his hand, his touch familiar and sure.
"Or a Frappucino?"
He rolled his eyes. "Don't let me brothers fool you. Everyone loves a Frappucino."
"I do need to get down to the business of healing you."
He nodded. "Okay. Business first, I suppose. We have to be practical."
I touched a deep bruise on his shoulder, one that bloomed purple and black. "What happened here?"
"I don't remember," he said. "Adrenaline was up. I didn't feel much until the end."
I stroked my fingernails over the bruise. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You don't have to worry about that." He suddenly leaned forward, scooping me up and throwing me over his shoulder.
I laughed out loud in surprise as I reached out for the bathroom wall, trying to steady myself, as Levi stepped out of the shower. His bare feet squeaked across the tile floor and then the hardwood of his bedroom.
"Where are we going?" I pushed up off his broad shoulders, trying to see where we were going. He turned and I saw his bedroom window, the natural wood trim, the view of the pines.
"There's no way I have the energy for shower sex, I mean healing." He tossed me onto the bed. He certainly seemed to have plenty of energy.
I yanked one of the pillows against his headboard closer to me, pulling it under my head, as he climbed onto the bed. I tangled my fingers in my hair, arching my back slightly, smiling at him in invitation.