He ignored the animal and forced himself to take in every detail of the cage, knowing he might need the information later. It was positioned on a platform five feet high with heavy-gauge fencing fully enclosing the sides and the top. There were two entrances, one on either side, both guarded by beefy guys with weapons openly displayed on their hips.
Five large, muscular men stood inside the cage. Shirtless, they wore black military-style cargo pants and combat boots. Each man weighed in at two hundred and twenty pounds minimum. One looked closer to three hundred. All of them held aluminum bats that were stained with dark-red blood.
Anton nudged Tanner toward the entrance closest to them even as the crowd began to cheer louder. Off to the side, Ryan raised his hands with a grin, urging them on.
“Remember to put on a good show for me unless you want Emilio to get bored down there and start shooting people,” Ryan said as one of the guards opened the gate.
Before Tanner could reply, a hand on his back shoved him into the cage. Someone else did the same to Josh, then the other two captives. A moment later, one of the stocky guards wrapped a heavy chain around the gate and the nearest fencing post, locking them in.
The cheering became deafening as Tanner turned to the five men Ryan expected him, Josh, and the others to fight. Over an intercom system, he could barely make out a voice calling out numbers he assumed were some kind of betting line. Based on the way the people in the crowd were tapping away at the screens on their phones, Tanner guessed all the betting was done online. Wasn’t that convenient?
Tanner turned away from the five men to take in the view of the stadium from inside the cage. He saw at least four individual cameras and wondered if there were others he couldn’t see. There were at least a hundred and fifty people on the main floor, with easily fifty or so behind the glass in the enclosed luxury seats above. In one of them, Ryan took a seat beside Nguyen and smiled at Tanner.
What an asshole.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the five men spread out. Two of them, including the big guy, looked like they intended to deal with him, while the other three moved to handle Josh and the others.
“What do we do?” Josh said nervously from behind him, his slurred words barely audible over the screaming crowd. The jackasses were stomping their feet now like they were at a frigging sporting event.
“Stay behind me in a tight group against the fence and protect each other,” he said firmly. “I’ll take care of these assholes.”
The men with the baseball bats chuckled at that, but Tanner didn’t care. If these men wanted a fight, he’d give them exactly what they were asking for.
Gaze locked on them, he let his body shift a little. Bones popped and muscles tore as they took on his hybrid form. The urge to completely let go and let the beast out was overwhelming. Part of him didn’t care if everyone saw what he was and thought him a monster. Because he knew while he might be the one with fangs and claws, he wasn’t the real monster. They were up in the luxury seats and out there in the crowd.
But he resisted the urge. He couldn’t reveal what he and the other hybrids and shifters of the world were. While he, Spencer, and Bryce might be in terrible danger at the moment, it was nothing compared to the danger their kind would be in if their secret slipped out. He’d have to do this without fangs and claws.
The smaller of the two men grinned smugly as he cocked his bat over his right shoulder and came in swinging. Tanner immediately closed the distance and caught the aluminum club in his hand just before it connected with his temple. Then he lunged forward and drove his fist into the man’s face. There was a crunch, some of which probably came from the bones in his own hand breaking. But the minor pain was worth it to see blood spatter from the man’s nose as he collapsed with a thud on the floor of the cage.
While he’d been occupied with the first man, the bigger guy had used the distraction as an opportunity to attack, the bat in his hand nearly forgotten as he charged in like a bull. The animal inside Tanner surged at the challenge, and he let go a little more, growling out loud as he launched himself at the man.
They came together with a crash, neither giving ground, and Tanner felt the pain as muscles and bones in his shoulders and chest popped. His hybrid half growled louder in pleasure at the opportunity to take on someone it felt worthy of its attention.
The giant dropped the bat and came up swinging. Tanner avoided the blow easily, letting the momentum of the attack spin the man around in a half circle. The guy’s momentarily exposed back presented too good a target to ignore, and Tanner lashed out instinctively, punching the man in the right kidney as hard as he could. The shout of pain the big guy let out was easy to hear even over the roar of the crowd.
Before the big man could fall, Tanner grabbed him by the back of the neck and his belt, yanking him off his feet and tossing him toward one of the three men who’d been slowly working toward Josh and the others. A three-hundred-pound bag of anything hurt when it hit a person, and the unsuspecting man let out a grunt as he was crushed to the floor. He’d probably be getting up again, but not for a bit.
Tanner turned slowly, a growl rumbling from his throat as he regarded the remaining two men. They regarded him uncertainly now, clearly realizing this fight wasn’t going
