Emilio did as he was told, though he didn’t look too happy about it. He was obviously in pain and getting paler by the minute.
Ryan turned his attention on Tanner, pinning him with a look. “Here’s the deal. Emilio is going to stay down here with his gun pointed at the head of your freaky friend. If you try anything when Anton releases you, he’ll shoot your freaky friend in the head. If you try anything when we get upstairs, like decide not to fight, he’ll shoot your freaky friend in the head. And just in case you think it might help to take me out first, if I don’t call him every two minutes and let him know everything is going peachy, he’ll shoot your freaky friend in the head. Is there any part of that that doesn’t make sense to you?”
It was then Tanner realized he was actually looking forward to killing his old friend. He told himself it was his hybrid half putting those thoughts in his head, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was his subconscious trying to get him to accept there wasn’t much chance of this working out any other way.
Anton holstered his automatic and nervously unlocked the manacle around Tanner’s wrist, his eyes focused on him the entire time. When he was done, he quickly stepped back and pulled his weapon again as Tanner got to his feet.
“I know you, Tanner,” Ryan said as he led the way out of the room and headed down a brightly lit corridor that had been neatly carved from the very bedrock of the club’s foundation. Smaller tunnels branched off on either side of them, and Tanner could smell stale air coming from them. “You’re probably already trying to come up with some daring scheme to rescue yourself and your friends. I’m telling you now you can forget it. Between the club level and the cage level, I have more than twenty heavily armed security people. Anything you try will only get you and all your friends killed.”
“You have heavily armed security people?” Tanner asked as they approached a set of broad, smooth stone steps. “Or does Mr. Nguyen have them?”
Ryan glanced over his shoulder as he started up the steps, mouth twitching. “Does it really matter? You’ll be dead regardless.”
Tanner ignored him, focusing on the pair of heavy metal doors at the top of the stairs. He could already hear the muted cheering and applause coming from the other side. The sound by itself was enough to make his gums ache again. Behind him, Josh’s heart was beating like a drum along with the other two captives. The two men and the woman were terrified.
When they reached the landing, Ryan turned to look at him. “Before we go in there, let me give you some more advice, Ranger to Ranger. Don’t embarrass yourself. The moment we walk through those doors, every guard in the place is going to have eyes on you. You need to get into that ring and put on a good show for the crowd. And please, when you start getting your ass kicked, don’t expect me to step in and save you.”
Tanner glared at him. “Don’t worry. I no longer have any expectations when it comes to you. You’ve already shown me exactly what kind of dirtbag you really are.”
Ryan’s only answer was to laugh and shove open the heavy double doors.
Loud music and shouting slapped Tanner in the face, along with the acrid scents of sweat and blood and an almost tangible wave of excitement. His fangs elongated in response, and he felt the first twisting and tearing of muscles that came before a shift.
Shit.
He’d thought after being with Zarina, he’d made a breakthrough of sorts. Yeah, the tingling gums and fingernails had still been there, and he’d shifted out of pure instinct a couple of times, but it had been nothing like this. He’d thought he’d be able to stay calmer than this. He’d obviously been wrong.
Tanner was so busy trying to hold off his hybrid half that he almost missed what Ryan was saying. Some crap about these fights being transmitted to a hundred places around the world all without anyone knowing where they were going down. He was only dimly aware of the huge open-air space around them and the crowd of people dressed in designer clothes, sipping fancy drinks, as he followed Ryan up to the big octagonal fighting cage.
As they got closer to the ring, the stone ceiling above him ended, revealing a second viewing area enclosed in lightly tinted glass. A part of him vaguely wondered what the hell a space like that was doing in what had probably been a sawmill at one time. It was like he was in a frigging football stadium. Although he guessed a gladiatorial ring would be more appropriate. Multiple tunnels exited the big room, and he instinctively picked up on which ones led toward the fresh air upstairs and which ones held nothing but dank air.
Tanner quickly lost interest in the sheer scale of the underground stadium as his inner beast continued to try and push its way out. He couldn’t let that happen. Not here in front of all these people. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax as he envisioned the same door he’d constructed a thousand times in his mind before tonight. Opening the imaginary door, he nudged his hybrid half into the room and closed the door on that part of himself, believing with everything he had that he could control the monster within. The animal let itself be locked away with hardly any fight at all. Almost as if it knew there’d be time to get free later.
Tanner slowly backed away from the hybrid edge, silently congratulating himself on getting past the worst of the inner battle. Then he looked up and saw the cage. His inner beast woke up and slammed against the door, wanting back
