Page 84 of Essence of Fear

“And what about now?” Viktoria asked. “Do you think you would win now?”

“Guess we’re going to see, aren’t we?”

“What?”

Her question echoed, along with the call of the man who was judging the fights from the safety outside of the octagonal-shaped cage.

“Next fight—Gunner versus …” The man climbed a little higher on the cage, causing the people around him to shout and move closer yet again. “Anyone who wants to challenge.”

Pav didn’t have a clue who Gunner was. The man in the cage waiting for his challenger didn’t look particularly familiar, and he seemed to be the same size and height as Pav. He never found it to be very fair when they put a much smaller man up against a large man. But that was just how these fights worked—nobody gave a shit, honestly. It was all illegal, and far too many people lost their lives on that dirty, bloodstained mat.

Had they cleaned it in the last year?

Probably not.

“I challenge,” Pav said, raising an arm high.

He felt the eyes in the warehouse turn on him as he moved close enough to the cage that he could reach up and curl his fingers along the chain-link. Viktoria was close at his back, her hands resting flat over his shoulders as her warm breath pulsed against his neck.

“What are you doing?”

She sounded horrified.

And hot.

“Relax,” he murmured.

“Zhatka,” the man hanging onto the cage said. “Been a minute since you’ve been around, yeah? Where’s your handlers? They have to keep you in line, don’t they?”

Pav nodded behind him. “She’s looking out for me.”

The man arched a brow as he studied Viktoria’s face. If he recognized her, then he didn’t say. “She’s gonna pull you out of there when you cross the line, huh?”

“No crossing lines tonight—promise.”

He even put his palms up to solidify it.

The guy still looked at the man inside the cage waiting. “Well, Gunner, you wanna fight or not?”

Pav grinned when Gunner’s eyes lock on his. “Yeah, I’ll fight him.”

He was already climbing inside the cage and dropping his jacket and shoes over to Viktoria before the guy could call out the fight. He waited as the man across the cage got his knuckles taped up. Nonsense. The tape wasn’t going to make anything feel better, but it might protect his hands from getting cut up if he landed a punch to Pav’s mouth.

He wouldn’t land one.

Not a single one.

He grew up in these fights, in a way. Twice a week for years, Vadim had Pav dragged to these warehouses. Best way to learn, he was told. He needed to know how to fight, but also how to kill. He figured it was also yet another way for Vadim to scare the hell out of Pav and show him just how far the Boykov name could reach.

One of many lessons.

“Pav!”

Viktoria’s call of his name echoed above the shout of the man for the fight to start. He glanced over his shoulder to meet her gaze as his opponent made his way across the cage to him. She smiled at him, mouthing, “Be safe.”

Right.

Safe.