a long time to understand how to use it to my advantage.

The gong sounded once more. “Contestants to the mat, please,” Jacqueline called out. Max stood. He rolled his shoulders and stripped off his T-shirt. Every female and some male brains in the arena exploded. The cheering was deafening. I stuck my finger in my ear and jiggled it around. There was definitely ringing.

Some Fae girl in the front row of the next aisle screamed at Kai to take his shirt off too. This was followed by resounding agreement from the crowd. The mirrors picked up his bored expression. I watched his back as the four of them approached the mat. The light barrier activated as soon as they were inside.

Before they veered off into their separate corners, Kai and Max put their heads together. They spoke in furious, soft tones so not even supernatural ears could eavesdrop. Kai held out his hand. Max gripped it. They hugged each other in a rare display of affection that didn’t involve somebody throwing a pretend punch. My ovaries just about burst. When they broke apart, the crowd had gone silent. Unity Games indeed. It was a reminder of what we were meant to be doing here. Not cheering on as we tore each other down.

A knot began to wind in my stomach. We would be up against the team that won this fight. Even though nobody asked, Bradley had taken his shirt off too. Contempt radiated off Andrei so thickly, I could almost feel it in the back of my throat.

“Is it the preening that’s pissing you off or the fact that it’s not all for show?” I asked.

Rather than deny it, Andrei shrugged. “Hard to say. Why are you shaking?”

I couldn’t really put it into words. Scratch that, I didn’t want to say it aloud. Because as much as I hadn’t wanted to face Max in the arena, I didn’t want Kai to have to either. No matter who came out of this victorious, I would lose. Deciding that I needed a distraction, I turned to Andrei.

“You said you would give me the ring if either of us wins,” I reminded him.

“The offer still stands. But you have to give me the Council favour.”

I found myself looking in Kai’s direction. Not directly at him, mind you. Just the blob of space in his vicinity. “I promised Kai I’d help annul his blood vow.”

Andrei’s eyes became hard. “That was before he went caveman on you. He’s a big boy. He can handle it himself. Besides, does he look like he needs help?”

He stabbed at the air in Kai’s direction. As much as I didn’t want to, I found my gaze magnetised to Kai. He and Chanelle stood facing each other less than a foot apart. He hardly had to bend his head as he spoke urgently in her ear. If the daft look on her face was any indication, she wasn’t even listening to him.

His hand was shackled around her bicep. I could feel the tension in his white-knuckled grip from here. No, he didn’t appear like he needed my help in the blood-vow department. But that didn’t mean I hadn’t made a promise. I couldn’t just let it go because things didn’t work out between us. It was my honour on the line this time. I would do this for me. Not for him.

Whatever it was that Andrei saw in my face, he didn’t like it. The light that I had seen ignite in his eyes at the Lodge receded. In its place was the walking dead vampire who had nailed Kai’s mother’s necklace to my dorm door.

“There are other ways,” I told him.

He clamped his jaw but didn’t say a word. Great. The silent treatment. I guess even Andrei wasn’t above brooding.

Over the top of Max’s head, I caught Sophie’s eye. Her complexion was completely sallow. She swallowed hard.

The warning bell sounded. Sophie nodded at me. I leaned forward and braced my elbows on my knees. My fingers weaved together.

In the arena, Kai stepped in front of Chanelle. My teeth clamped tight until I spotted the mirrors focused on me. With very deliberate effort, I unclenched my jaw. The urge to give them the finger was strong. I kept my hands where they were.

The siren sounded again. Bradley charged. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He might be a good soldier, but he needed new material. Had brute force ever actually worked for him? Kai stood perfectly still, waiting until Bradley was almost on him. When it seemed like Bradley’s fist would make contact, Kai disappeared. He reappeared a second later, repositioned on Bradley’s side. Kai brought his knee up. I shuddered at the sound of bone crunching as he made contact with Bradley’s ribcage.

He drove his fist into the side of Bradley’s head, slamming the other Nephilim down onto the mat. Where another contestant would lay into their opponent, Kai stepped back and allowed Bradley a moment to compose himself. The expression playing with your prey came to mind.

Bradley spat blood onto the mat. Gross. I better not have to step in that later.

He uncurled to his feet, his face hardening into intense hatred. The animosity between them had only intensified in the time I’d been at Bloodline. I suspected there had been some bullying in their past. Bradley seemed the type.

He was more cautious in his approach this time. But he never stopped being the aggressor. Each time he struck, Kai allowed him to think he was about to succeed before counteracting with a hit that brought Bradley back down on the mat.

They danced around each other, teleporting away and reappearing in a cloud of green or gold. Kai’s determination never wavered. He fought with a detached intensity that chilled me to the bone. It had been the same that time the whole assembly had looked on as he fought the demons that had escaped the Dominion prison. Yet when he’d come for me in the

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