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Ricky landed a lucky hit, but that was his one and only. He’s in my ring, and here, I’m free to embrace the darker parts of myself. Zeroing in on him, I surge forward, faking a jab and swinging in with an uppercut instead. My hit to his ribs bowls him over. He’s a quick fucker, but they didn’t nickname me “the hammer” for no reason. Punch after punch connects with his flesh. He growls and tries to find an advantage. He searches for a lifeline, throwing his own punches, but they grow wilder, more desperate, with every hit I land.
I corner him. Muscles tightening, finally warmed up. Ricky’s eyes meet mine for a moment, wide and in pain. I hold his gaze and land another hit. It’s only a flicker of doubt, but it flashes across his face, and a vicious smile cuts across mine. He’s done.It only takes two punches, one to the spleen and one to the head, for him to drop to his knees. He sways to the side, unsteady from the lashings.
Time to end it.
“Leave him,” Brady demands. “This isn’t a real fight.”
There’s a moment when I consider defying him. Brady, as the oldest brother, is the de facto leader of our pack. It’s not out of the ordinary for siblings to form packs, but it is out of the ordinary for the entire pack to be alphas. Betas help break up the tension. Between Brady’s overbearing bullshit and Austin’s over-the-top protectiveness, I’m stifled. The only reason I back down is because Brady can kick my ass if it ever came to us fighting. And maybe because he’s right.
Ricky is helping me train and it’s only his first week.
“They’re all real fights.” I glare at Brady but take two steps away from Ricky, conceding.
My opponent collapses to the ground and sucks in a hard breath, tapping out. It’s a victory. I should be happy.
Instead of grinning, I scowl at my brother. “What did you say about Quinn?”
“She’s house-sitting while our parents take an anniversary trip. Trenton asked me to keep an eye on her.” Hard lines burrow into Brady’s brow.
Resting my forearms on the rope, I search his face. “Why are you mad?”
“I’m not mad,” he snaps.
I arch an eyebrow but keep my mouth shut. Ever since our dads mated with Quinn’s mother, Brady has wanted nothing to do with the omega. Our stepsister gets under his skin, and I’m not sure I understand why or what it is that bothers him so much.
There are times I wonder if Brady’s reaction is a result of the same thing that has my palms sweating at the mere mention ofher. Maybe it’s because we spent the last two years of high school together in our parent’s mansion while Brady and Austin shared a condo, or maybe it’s because she’s the first omega I felt the need to protect, but whatever it is, Quinn takes up space where she doesn’t belong.
“You still have the log-in information for the security system?” Brady asks, checking out the fight happening in the next ring over. The Alpha MMA Club is the city’s top gym. The first time I came here was with Brady. Watching him kick someone’s ass changed my world. And the first time I used my pain to knock a kid out solidified my dream.
“You’re planning to creep on Quinn?”
He huffs. “I was asked to keep an eye on her.”
“I doubt Trenton meant using the cameras to watch her.” I crouch and slip under the ropes, dropping onto the floor beside him.
“Can you do it or not?” He crosses his arms over his chest. In his suit, he’s not very intimidating, but Brady can hit as hard as I can.
I slide my gloves off. “Yeah. I’ll set it up on the computer tonight.”
“Have you been going to class?”
Someone shouts in pain, and both of us turn, watching our friend Teo locking some guy’s arm behind his back. He has wrapped his ankles around his opponent’s torso. I’ve been on the ground with Teo, and it fucking hurts once he gets his thighs around you. The guy taps out and I can’t even blame him.
“Class?” Brady prompts. “You can’t fail your exam at the end of summer.”
With fighting, I’ve missed a few classes, but I won’t set aside my passion just because he thinks I should. Fighting is my life. I even took a lighter load at the university to try and find balance, cutting back on courses and making the classes up during thesummer session, but it’s still a lot. I grab my bag and start to walk away. “I’ll be ready.”
“Dylan,” he warns. “You missed a bunch of classes in the spring. You can’t fuck around over summer because of the fights.”
Gritting my teeth, I nod at the guys standing around the locker room entrance and ignore Brady. Fighting isn’t a respectable career path. Or so my family says. Law school was practically forced upon me, and while I’ve worked my ass off, it’s not enough.
Stopping in front of my locker, I tuck my gloves under my arm and spin the dial for my lock. John, the janitor, is cleaning the mirror and is probably waiting for a good time to mop. The owners take cleaning seriously. In other gyms, the room might stink of stale socks and sweaty clothes. Instead, it smells like citrus air freshener and lemon disinfectant John uses. I don’t want to linger longer than necessary, but I also don’t want everyone in the gym to hear Brady ripping into me.
Brady moves in from the side. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, Brady. I fucking heard you.” I glare at him before opening the door and blocking him from my line of sight.
An irritated growl rumbles in his chest, and he storms to my other side as I grab my water from the top shelf. I take a drink and side-eye him.
