Freed from immediate danger, Andrei danced away and whipped around.
Kai raised a brow. He ambled toward Andrei with a deceptively relaxed gait. When he hit the middle of the mat, Kai stopped moving. They stood there sizing each other up. I knew better than to get in the middle of it right now.
A single blow from either of them would be the end of me. That didn’t mean I wasn’t waiting for the right moment. All we needed was for Andrei to create an opportunity and I would be able to take Kai down.
Captain Nephilim ceased his staring match with Andrei to glare at me. Green eyes flashed with unrepentant rage. “What did I say about him touching you?”
The world stilled.
A blanket of red dots burst across my vision. “You’re still pulling this shit right now?” I snarled. “After you already bonded with Chanelle?”
I smacked Morning Star against the barrier to my left. Energy cracked as though it was electric. That was it, I was going to kill him myself. I took a step forward. Andrei darted towards Kai. He had been fast before, but drinking ratcheted his speed to near impossible levels. I had to drop into the Ley dimension again.
Andrei cut a path towards Kai. He jabbed with his right fist and would have hit hard if Kai hadn’t blocked. But the jab had been a ruse. He threw another punch with his left hand. Kai intercepted him at every strike. I struggled to keep focused on the blur of their movements.
Jab. Block. Jab. block.
Normally, in these situations, the jabs would have forced Kai back step by step until he was backed up against the edge of the barrier. Unfortunately, Kai wasn’t normal. Blood stained his side where I had stabbed him. Andrei used the injury as a target. Kai flinched with every hit, but he didn’t budge.
Andrei was going to tire himself out throwing punches while Kai had his feet firmly anchored to the spot.
Sensing he was losing ground, Andrei lobbed a punch to Kai’s gut. The ripple from the impact was minimal. It was like watching two brick walls hit each other. Andrei was unperturbed. He threw punch after punch at Kai until eventually even Kai had to step back to keep standing.
Andrei hit again. Left. Block. Right. Block. Left again. But this time, Andrei didn’t complete the strike. He let it reach half-way before he pulled it, crouched, and smashed an uppercut into Kai’s chin with his right arm.
The crowd roared. They stamped their feet against the stadium floor causing the sound to amplify and almost deafen me. Kai was forced back a single step. He righted himself with superhuman balance and rolled his shoulder and neck as though shaking off tension. It wasn’t going to win us the games, but it was a hit nonetheless. Proof that Malachi Pendragon wasn’t infallible.
I grinned. It probably wasn’t the right thing to do. The next time Andrei raised his fist, Kai battered it aside and fly-kicked him in the head. Andrei went shooting across the mat. He sprang back onto his feet but blinked like he was dazed.
We locked eyes.
Reflected in his expression was a notion that I had just figured out. Kai wasn’t even using his wings or his angel blade. Even though Andrei was now fuelled by my blood, he didn’t have any means to harness it in the way I could if I wasn’t sealed. At best, it would mean he could hold out against an ass-kicking for longer. Eventually, Kai would win. He just had too much experience. In a battle of sheer force of will, Malachi Pendragon was unstoppable.
The next time Andrei went for a hit, I launched myself behind him. There was no honour in a dual attack, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Andrei hunkered down. He lowered his centre of gravity like he was going to grab Kai around the waist and hoist him off his legs. Kai sprang into the air at the last possible second, twisted, and hammered a punch to the bone at the tip of Andrei’s neck and spine. The vampire went down on the mat.
I grabbed the Ley dimension and pulled it down around me. Morning Star sliced into the air in front of Kai’s face. He stepped back just in time. His angel blade appeared, flashing green light across the arena. My next strike was met with the returned clash of his angel blade.
Sweat rolled over my skin. It was an effort to hold on to the Ley dimension like this without the benefit of my magic. I gritted my teeth and kept coming at him.
Strike. Strike. Strike.
If I had the ability to reach my bone magic, I would be able to phase. Right now, his angel blade was a deadly barrier. I hit him again and again but there was no break in his defence. Becoming desperate, I considered allowing one of his counterattacks to land so that I could weave my way past. A blur crunched into Kai’s side, pushing him off balance.
He staggered to the left, caught hold of Andrei’s arm, and shoved the angel blade into his gut. I stifled a scream. It was eaten up by Andrei’s bellow. Kai pulled back and pushed at Andrei’s chest. The vampire had latched on to Kai’s T-shirt. His claws sliced through it, rendering it into pieces. It was pointless having it on.
Kai grabbed the collar of the T-shirt and tore it off. The arena went wild. I wished I could say my panties were the only dry ones in the house. Sometimes lying to yourself worked. I fought to remember how to breathe. Sweat slicked over his tanned skin. My gaze scraped across his sculpted shoulders and down the hard muscles of his stomach.
Stop ogling and do something! Giselle snapped. He’s bonded to
