Page 58 of Undertow
“No fucking way,” the only voice I could make out said.
Eloise! I warned you!
“No hurting women,”she defended.
I couldn’t even yell at her.
The ref got in between us when I stepped towards the guy and I nodded but kept my gaze on the fighter. “Think I’m bluffing now what I’ll do to you if you rape a woman?”
“What did you say, asshole?” someone called from outside the cage, rage in his voice.
I found the general area I heard it from and focused there. “That once I was unconscious, he was going to have me like it was a given.”
The manager pushed past the others and was seething mad. “Not here he won’t, and he’s dead if he ever tried. He was goading you.”
I snorted. “Maybe you control it, but I know smack talk and that wasn’t it.” I pointed to the dragon getting back on his feet. “That’s a man who was ready to play another round of what he has before.”
“Fuck you, bitch,” the fighter groaned as he stood. “Prove it.”
I told Eloise to calm down. “Prove it? Not ‘no way, I would never?’ No, it’s prove it, huh? Yeah, you sound innocent. How many have you raped?” I glanced at the manager. “Are we allowed to maim and still win the prize?”
His eyes flashed worry. “Not intentionally.”
Shame.
I was out of time, the fighter furious I was making him look bad. His words.
Yeah, I’d done this and madehimlook bad. Totally my fault.
Eloise behaved and ignored the taunting, even the cheers and boos. She lasted until the middle of the third round until she let me know that she was beyond bored and done with this. If this was all it was going to be then she’d rather go back to just chilling inside of me.
I’m sorry, girl. Someday—I’ll figure out a way to do better now that we’re home and I can have a real place to let you out. I promise.
My heart broke when she basically nodded at me but clearly didn’t believe me. Even Iris, my fire dragon, mentally snorted like she didn’t believe me either. She needed to be let out more often too and I kept her locked down more than most dragons.
Yeah, well, it wasn’t my fault since I was always in different nations and it wasn’t always safe to turn into a huge ass dragon.
But I could do better now… Somehow.
I gave Eloise permission to finish it when I felt it had been long enough.
She did a perfect combo and knocked the dragon out with some pretty good damage since she didn’t like him. I backed away with my hands up without needing to be told. I was about to shift back, but I realized that was a bit like gloating that I knew it was over.
And might actually be against the rules.
The refs counted it out, and then once he declared me the victor and nodded, I shifted back to my glamoured appearance. He raised my hand, and after the initial shock, people went wild.
And not in the good way.
They lost their fuckingminds.
“Okay, time to get you out of here,” Avior called from the doorway, holding what looked like my stuff. He waved for me to hurry up and then security was there with us as people started throwing things.
“This way,” the manager yelled from the door to the back room where I’d met him.
We ducked in there and he couldn’t hide his upset. I tried my best to keep my cool, but I was seconds from breaking with the tension.
“You weren’t supposed to actually fucking win,” the manager finally snapped.
