Chapter 6 #2
"Darius wants to meet with you today." Mark's voice carried the weight of inevitable doom. "Says he has some 'concerns' as a pride member."
Adrian's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, gold flecks blazing brighter as his tiger responded to the threat. "Concerns. Right."
Darius had been circling for months like a shark scenting blood in the water, quietly building support among younger pride members who craved a more aggressive Alpha.
Men who saw Adrian's measured approach as weakness rather than strategy.
And Adrian knew exactly what this meeting represented—a test disguised as diplomacy, or perhaps a trap wrapped in false courtesy.
Either way, avoiding it would only fuel the whispers that he was weak, indecisive, unfit to lead.
"I'll deal with it now," Adrian said, already moving toward the door with the fluid grace of a predator preparing for battle.
"Want backup?" Mark asked, genuine concern threading through his voice.
Adrian shook his head, his jaw set with determination. "No. If I'm going to lead this pride, I can't hide behind my second-in-command every time Darius decides to rattle his cage."
Mark stepped aside as Adrian brushed past him but called out just before Adrian reached the hallway. "Try not to do anything catastrophically stupid while you're there."
Adrian paused, his lips curving into something that might've been a smile under different circumstances. "No promises."
The pride's public gym sat only a few miles from the estate, and Adrian decided the walk would help clear his head of Riley's ghost and prepare him for whatever psychological warfare Darius had planned.
The summer air carried the scent of grass and distant rain, but it did little to calm the restless energy coiling in his chest.
He rarely visited the public facility, preferring the private training grounds on his family's land where he could focus without an audience.
Today, however, the moment he stepped through the glass doors, he felt the weight of dozens of eyes turning toward him like compass needles finding magnetic north.
Young pride members filled the space—lifting weights, sparring across padded mats, their conversations dying to whispers as they registered his presence. And there, in the center of the room like a king holding court, was Darius.
The other tiger shifter was finishing a set on the bench press, his powerful muscles flexing beneath a thin tank top as he pushed impressive weight with insulting ease.
He didn't even glance up when Adrian entered, instead letting out a low chuckle that carried clearly across the suddenly quiet gym.
"Well, well," Darius said, his voice rich with mock surprise as he finally sat up, sweat gleaming on his tanned skin. "Didn't expect to see you slumming around here today, Adrian."
Adrian crossed the gym floor with deliberate calm, each step measured and controlled despite his tiger's urge to respond to the blatant challenge. An Alpha ruled through discipline, not temper. Especially with pride members watching, cataloging every action and every word for signs of weakness.
"I heard you had concerns," Adrian replied evenly, stopping just outside Darius's personal space. Close enough to show he wasn't intimidated, far enough to avoid seeming aggressive.
Darius stood with fluid grace, stepping closer than necessary in a clear test of boundaries. Too close. Adrian's tiger bristled instantly, demanding he respond to the territorial challenge, but Adrian forced himself to remain perfectly still.
Control was power. Always.
"You've been too cautious lately," Darius said, his green eyes sharp with calculation. "Too measured. The pride needs strength right now, not hesitation." His gaze sharpened like a blade finding its target. "It needs a leader willing to take decisive action."
Adrian said nothing, refusing to take the bait. He didn't owe Darius explanations or justifications.
Darius's smirk widened with the satisfaction of a predator who'd found his prey's weak spot.
"Which brings me to an interesting opportunity.
" He paused for dramatic effect. "There's a kickboxing competition coming up," Darius continued smoothly, his voice carrying just loud enough for the watching pride members to hear every word. "Open entry. Professional level."
Adrian frowned, sensing the trap but unable to see its exact shape. "And?"
"And if you're not as weak as people are starting to whisper..." Darius let the words hang in the air like a loaded weapon, "maybe you should enter."
Murmurs rippled through the younger pride members watching from nearby equipment. Adrian felt the room shift, felt their curiosity transform into something sharper and more dangerous. Doubt. The kind that could fracture a pride from within if left unchecked.
This was ridiculous. He didn't need to prove his strength through some human fighting competition. His leadership spoke for itself through months of successful negotiations, strategic victories, and the respect of most pride members.
But he could feel the watching eyes in the room, could sense the way Darius's challenge was landing with surgical precision.
Everything started closing in around him all at once.
The whispers that had been growing louder each day Adrian delayed claiming his mate.
Questions about his decisiveness. His strength. His ability to lead when it mattered.
Before his rational mind could fully process the implications, the words left his mouth with deadly finality. "Fine. I'll enter."
Darius's eyebrows lifted in genuine surprise, as if he hadn't expected Adrian to actually accept the challenge.
A slow, predatory smile spread across Darius's face like sunrise over a battlefield. "Well then. We'll see how that works out for you."
Adrian left the gym with anger simmering beneath his skin, each stride carrying the weight of his spectacular miscalculation. The walk back to the estate felt endless, his tiger pacing restlessly as the full magnitude of what he'd just committed to crashed over him in waves.
A kickboxing competition. Against humans.
The rational part of his mind—the part that had built an empire through calculated risks and strategic thinking—screamed that he'd just made the stupidest decision of his life.
His shifter strength would be an advantage, yes, but professional kickboxers trained for years to perfect techniques he'd never needed to master.
When he finally reached the estate thirty minutes later, Mark looked up from the leather chair near the window, his expression shifting from casual interest to alarm as he took in Adrian's rigid posture.
"So?" Mark asked carefully.
Adrian exhaled heavily, the sound carrying defeat and frustration in equal measure. "I might have agreed to enter a kickboxing competition."
Mark stared at him for a long moment, his green eyes widening with disbelief.
Then he slowly shook his head, a rueful laugh escaping his lips.
"I told you not to do anything stupid today.
" His voice held the exasperated affection of a brother who'd watched his sibling walk straight into disaster.
"You really just made your life harder, didn't you. "
Adrian dropped into the chair behind his desk with more force than necessary. "Yes. Yes, I did."
The pressures in his life felt like they were crushing him in that moment.
He needed to lead the pride decisively, show them he wasn't weak or paralyzed by indecision.
Stop Darius from fracturing their unity with whispered doubts and calculated challenges.
And somehow—impossibly—convince Riley to give him another chance after the way he'd destroyed everything between them.
His gaze drifted toward the windows overlooking the estate grounds.
Because if he had any hope of surviving that kickboxing competition without humiliating himself and proving Darius right about his weakness.
.. he might need Riley's professional help.
She was a national kickboxing champion, after all.
Her expertise could mean the difference between victory and devastating defeat.
And after the way he'd left her four nights ago—alone and confused and hurt outside her apartment building—convincing her to train him might be the hardest fight of all.