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A glint of a knife in Pixie’s hand as she leans over Athena, her mouth twisted in a triumphant smirk as her hand goes up towards Athena’s throat.
I scream Athena’s name, even though I know she’ll never hear it, the world shrinking down to that glint of the blade and Athena’s slender neck, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s about to happen all over again.
The woman I love is going to die in front of me.
I wait for it, the spurt of blood, the cry, that horrid sound that nothing else in the world can replicate, but it doesn’t come. And then I see it.
Athena’s hand shoots out, grabbing Pixie’s wrist. The two girls grapple for a moment, twisting together on the mat, and to anyone who didn’t catch a glimpse of the knife, it just looks like they’re wrestling, each of them trying to keep the other from getting up, and trying to get the other to tap out.
But Athena is fighting for her life, and the fuckers around me are too busy cheering over watching two girls wrestling to even fucking get it.
I’m not sure they’d stop it even if they did. This would just be more entertainment for them. Rage fills me, white hot and blinding, and I throw myself forward again, forcing myself through the wall of people in front of me as I see Pixie wind up atop Athena again, the two girls grappling for control of the knife. Someone swings at me, pissed that I’m pushing through, but I just duck. I don’t fucking care. I have to get to Athena, have to get that fucking bitch off of her before she kills her—
There’s a high-pitched scream of pain, and I see it, the spatter of blood across the mat, arterial spray coating the surface. My heart stutters in my chest, and I feel it all over again, the wave of pain and grief that I know will kill me all over again.
Right after I strangle Pixie to death with my own bare hands.
And then I get to the ropes, and my heart stutters again, but for an entirely different reason.
It’s not Athena’s blood on the mat.
It’s Pixie’s.
25
ATHENA
Ican’t stop shaking.
My fingers go numb, nerveless, and I feel myself drop the knife. The girl who just tried to kill me is writhing on the mat, her hands clutching her throat, her blood spraying across the ring as her eyes stare up at me, wide and terrified.
I don’t know what to feel.
She tried to kill me.
I’m still alive.
There’s a choking sound, something wet and horrible and guttural, and then she jerks, and goes still. Her head lolls to one side, her eyes still wide but sightless now, her hand falling away as the spray slows, turning to a trickle.
There’s shouting all around me. A cacophony of it, and somewhere in it I hear my name.
Hands on my arms, pulling me out of the ring. Jaxon’s hands, strong and sure, hustling me through the crowd, towards some back entrance. Someone tries to grab me, but Jaxon swings, his fist connecting and sending the man to the ground.
“We’ve got to get the fuck out of here, Athena! Come on!” Jaxon is dragging me now, and something wakes up inside of me.
If I lose now, it was for nothing.
The next man who comes for me, I send sprawling. Side by side, Jaxon and I fight our way through the crowd, pushing towards the side entrance of the warehouse. There’s so many of them, but the tight crush of the crowd means that not more than one or two can come at us at once, and some of them are starting to fight each other, the chaos turning into a flat-out brawl as we stumble towards the door.
Jaxon shoves it open, and we spill out into the cold night air, panting. He shoves the door closed behind us, holding it as he looks at me, his eyes black in the dim light.
“We’re going to have to run for it, Athena,” he gasps. There’s blood trickling down his forehead, and I want to reach for him, but there’s no time. “We’re going to have to run for the bike, as fast as you can—”
“You’re not running anywhere.”
Mark Blackmoor’s clear, cold tone cuts through the air, and Jaxon and I turn as one, my heart sinking to my toes as I see what’s blocking our way—Dean’s father, and several of the Sons, guns leveled at us.
“Take the girl,” he says casually. “I’ll deal with the King boy.”
