While Kai and Bradley were engaged in their little choreographed sparring session, Chanelle stepped around them and approached Max. He’d gotten the short end of the stick. His grey eyes were so golden bright it was like looking into the sun. I understood the problem. So did Chanelle by the way she smiled at him. The situation was a trap for him. He didn’t want to fight Kai, but at the same time, the alternative was to fight a less-dominant female. He might win the games if he struck her, but he would pay for it later in the Reserve. I could understand now why some of the shifters went a little nuts. So many rules. I didn’t know how their primal natures endured it. Do not look at Sophie. Do not look at Sophie. I looked at Sophie.
She was leaning forward this time. Diana had her arm around Sophie’s shoulders. Astrid held on to her wrist. It was a shackle to stop Sophie from casting a spell and interfering with the games. Smart move. If I had my powers, I would be struggling not to give Chanelle a little push as well. More than once, my eyes had done a scan of the vicinity, trying to find something I could throw at her head.
Bradley grew tired of being the mouse. The next time he ran at Kai, he disappeared at the last second. He stayed gone for a long beat.
The crowd inhaled. Speed was a relative term amongst supernaturals. No one, not even Kai, was faster than a teleport. Bradley appeared behind Chanelle. Max surged forward, but even standing so close, he wasn’t fast enough. Bradley clocked Chanelle in the back of the head. Kai’s form materialized at the last second and yanked her forward so that Bradley only just clipped her.
He pushed her aside and launched himself at Bradley. A blur of golden skin and fur intercepted him part-way. Kai and Max rolled across the mat. They grappled with each other, trading places at the top. It said something that Max hadn’t gone furry and Kai hadn’t pulled out his angel blade. That didn’t mean he held back when he braced his left forearm against Max’s chest and slugged his across the jaw.
The force behind the hit would have knocked anybody else unconscious. Max laughed deep in his gut and latched on to Kai’s throat. Bradley used the distraction to level a brutal kick at Kai’s side.
The flex of Kai’s muscles told me he’d seen the kick coming. He’d just chosen not to evade in favour to keeping his advantage over Max. That didn’t mean he would take another attack lying down. The next time Bradley went for him, Kai burst from above Max in a flurry of rolling fists.
Bradley brought his arms up to protect his head. It left his torso wide open. Kai raised his brow in chastisement. He would teach Bradley a lesson he’d tried to ingrain in me for months without success. Never take your eye off your opponent.
Kai jumped into the air. His knees and elbows came together in a flash of momentum before he uncurled in mid-air and brought his fist back. The hit landed right where Bradley had his fists raised. He screamed as the bones in his hand shattered. This lesson was clear: blocked or not, Kai would fight his way through no matter what.
I gagged as Bradley’s hand flopped. He stared at it like an idiot. Kai would have gotten another punch in if Max hadn’t swept his legs out from underneath him. They landed in a crouch, both of them too graceful to fall any other way.
The cheering of the crowd swelled. They egged the boys on, loving the idea of them going head to head. I wanted to scream my rage at the top of my lungs. Kai and Max clashed again. This time, they wrestled with each other. Any time it appeared as though one of them had finally gotten the upper hand, the other counter-balanced and slipped away. They did things that defied human logic. It brought home that they were decidedly not human.
Max grabbed Kai in an arm bar, his legs holding down Kai’s torso and neck. Kai linked his hands together and drew them up against the knee at his throat. He pushed up, rolling Max off-centre by driving his own body back. Kai turned into Max’s body in an explosive move that gained him the upper hand again.
Tired of being physically overshadowed, Bradley brought his angel blade out to play. Not caring that he would effectively slice his partner in two if he didn’t wait for a clear shot, Bradley swung the blade. Kai and Max separated to avoid the blow. Max roared.
Bradley didn’t seem at all perturbed as he refocused on Kai and began to hammer blows. Kai leaped out of the way each time. While the boys grappled with each other, Chanelle paced the floor. She was being less than useless. It made no sense because I knew she could fight. Astrid would wipe the floor with her, but she had other talents she could use. It wasn’t until the next time Max decided to weigh in on the fight that Chanelle whistled at him.
Her angel blade appeared in her hands. Like the rest of her, it was a delicate rapier with a glowing green handle.
Instead of pointing it at her opponent, Chanelle moved until she was lined right up with where Sophie sat. I launched out of my seat only to be restrained by Andrei. I kicked at him, but he was too strong.
“Max! No!” I screamed. The swelling roar of the crowd was too loud for him to hear me. I doubted he would have heard anything above the rush of protective instincts that would have flooded him as soon as he realised Sophie was in danger. Chanelle threw her rapier
