Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Alpha Knot Boxing Studio, Sanctum
“ A re you sure that you want to do this? Embarrass yourself in front of your entire pack?” Silvanus pulls on his boxing gloves with a steely determination. “Don’t get cocky about your lucky win on the track, bitch. I was my university’s boxing champion.”
“Let’s just fight.” Ambrose is cold and focused, as he checks his own gloves.
Ambrose is dressed in metallic gold boxing shorts. His broad shoulders and powerful abs glisten under the studio’s lights.
The two Alphas are facing off in the middle of a boxing ring, which is in the center of the Alpha Knot Boxing Studio.
Silvanus tilts his head, and his curls tumble around his strong shoulders.
The shadows under his eyes look even deeper than they did before.
I can see now that Silvanus is stripped to only silver boxing shorts that he’s no match for the man Ambrose has grown into.
For the man that Ambrose has tirelessly trained himself to become.
Ambrose’s tanned muscles ripple, as he stalks around Silvanus, assessing him like prey.
Silvanus is athletic, but since I know that Ambrose has been obsessively training as a boxer since he left America, I can’t wait to see Silvanus getting handed his ass for once.
Even if Silvanus refuses to work with us, this is going to be awesome therapy for everything that my cousin put Ambrose through in high school.
Swan has his arm wrapped around my waist, as we stand in front of the rink anxiously. He’s holding me up against the burned stench of pheromones, which are rolling off the angry Alphas.
It’s enough to make me dizzy.
It’s almost enough to cover the studio’s ingrained stink of sweat, B.O., and chemicals.
The room is sleek, streamlined, and filled with high tech strength training equipment. Heavy leather punching bags hang along the far wall, as well as shelves of neon gloves and medicine balls. At the back are ranked gleaming silver and black weightlifting benches and resistance machines.
Swan has been eying the training equipment excitedly.
If this wasn’t such a life or death sparring match, Swan would be working up a sweat on this gym’s equipment already.
Vito stands on the other side of me. It feels incredible to be supported by both Alpha and Beta at the same time.
Benedict is back in Romeo Hall with Laurent, urgently working on the flash drive.
Unexpectedly, before Ambrose can take up his stance, Silvanus jabs him in the nose.
Ambrose lets the strike land.
I know that he’s allowing Silvanus to take the advantage to begin with.
It’s killing me to see my Alpha hurt, however, even though I know that Ambrose is a trained boxer and is tough.
Vito growls, looking like he’s struggling not to jump into the ring himself.
Ambrose grits his teeth, immediately raising his hands above his chin and dropping into a stance that shows he means fucking business.
A smug smile whispers across Silvanus’ lips. “Juliet, are you okay?”
He doesn’t look away from Ambrose, who is circling him.
“Worry more about yourself.” I cross my arms.
When Silvanus’ puzzled gaze flicks to me, Ambrose throws a left hook. Silvanus is distracted enough for the blow to catch him across his chin.
My heart hammers. Adrenaline races through me.
Neither of these Alphas is holding back now.
Silvanus staggers, before he steadies himself. “So, why’d you want this rematch? Are you a masochist who simply wants his ass beat? What are the stakes?”
The two men are dancing around each other as they talk.
“You choose.” Ambrose dodges another hit, weaving to the side.
Fear shoots through me.
That’s not what we discussed.
Swan hisses out a breath. “What’s Amby doing? Silas could ask for his balls on a silver platter.”
Vito stiffens next to me as well. “Can I call a time out, sir, so that we can talk about this?”
Ambrose ignores him.
“I said,” Ambrose attacks Silvanus with a flurry of blows that drive him back against the ropes, “Silas chooses.”
Silvanus is breathing hard, but finally, his eyes flare with interest.
Then I understand what Ambrose is doing because I understand my cousin.
Even this fight isn’t enough bait. Silvanus has to be fully invested.
He has to be offered the opportunity to wreck Ambrose.
Not to win a single match but everything .
Hasn’t every risk that we’ve taken been an all or nothing play? Isn’t Ambrose exactly the type of self-destructive Alpha, who’d put everything into the final throw of the dice… just like Silvanus is ?
He knows how to trap Silvanus because he’s been raised in exactly the same manner.
They’re both uber Alphas, dominant to their core.
It’s like watching stags lock horns.
Silas manages to wrestle Ambrose back from him with a shove. He’s breathing hard, resting against the ropes.
“Just like that? I can set any stakes?” Silvanus wipes his wrist against his sweating forehead, before his gaze slides across his audience, resting on me.
Ambrose nods.
Silvanus smiles at me like he expects…hopes…that I’ll return it. “If I win, then you send every one of your bonded over to my ranch to be fostered by me.”
“ No ,” I burst out.
I stare at Silvanus in shock.
Does he think that he’s rescuing us?
Has he been on some kind of mission from the start to save us? Or does he know that this is the best way to hurt Ambrose?
Fucking ruin him?
Ambrose glances at me. “Trust me.”
And this is the moment.
We need Silvanus on board. Ambrose believes that he can beat Silvanus; I can sense his calm belief through the bond.
So far, he’s only been playing with him in this fight. He hasn’t even got warmed up yet, but Silvanus looks tired.
Silvanus looked tired, before he even climbed into the ring.
I’ve spent years needing to be independent of any Alpha, trusting myself and Swan to survive. But I’m in a bonded pack now.
It’s time that I trusted an Alpha as well.
I nod.
Ambrose’s shoulders relax. “Agreed. And if I win, then you listen to me.”
Silvanus smirks, swaggering across the ring toward Ambrose. “Is that all?”
Ambrose bares his teeth. “You listen to me, then you put aside the feud between the Cinders and the Romeos. You agree to work with me.”
Silvanus’ eyes widen, before he laughs. “You’re fucking with me.”
Silvanus launches himself at Ambrose.
Ambrose defends himself from Silvanus’ hook by shifting his weight and rolling out of it.
Unbalanced, Silvanus twirls around.
Ambrose stands still like he’s refusing to fight. “Do you take the bet? You win, you foster my pack. I win, then you end the feud, and we work together to my terms.”
Frustrated, Silvanus’ gaze darts to me once again, before he nods. “I’m winning.”
“You’re being knocked on your ass.” Ambrose’s pheromones become even more darkly dominant.
I whine, as my knees buckle.
Swan helps me to the floor. I kneel next to him.
All at once, in a savage flurry of jabs, Ambrose attacks.
I’ve never seen anyone move so fast. He’s like a blizzard. His blows are precise, coldly efficient, and deadly.
Silvanus yelps, stumbling backward. Ambrose follows, never letting up for a moment.
When Silvanus’ lip busts, blood covers his teeth. Another blow explodes across his eye, which starts to swell.
I wince.
From Ambrose’s expression, this looks therapeutic.
But Silvanus is still my cousin. I feel torn in two.
Silvanus desperately raises his gloves to cover his face
An upper cut to his chin makes him stagger backward, hitting the ropes. He lowers his gloves, when Ambrose punches him in the gut.
Silvanus looks dazed. His eyes are glassy.
Silvanus clumsily dodges, staggering back into the center of the ring.
Casually now, Ambrose follows him. He draws back his fist and lands a shattering right cross on Silvanus’ jaw.
Silvanus’ head snaps to the side, and just for a moment, his eyes close. Blood splatters across the ring. Then Silvanus’ knees buckle, and he collapses to the padded floor.
Groaning, he tries to stand up again, but his whole body is quivering.
Thrilled, I leap to my feet at the same time as Swan does.
Ambrose has won.
He’s done it.
Swan cheers, and Vito whoops wildly.
Ambrose simply places his foot on Silvanus’ chest, keeping him down. “I win, bitch .”
“Wow,” Swan grins, “that was quick. I need to take lessons from Amby to improve my fighting skills. Perhaps, one day I could be as good as my brother.”
“Nobody’s as good as Link, but shit, Amby may be the better boxer.” Vito stares at Ambrose in admiration.
He doesn’t stop kissing Swan and me.
Silvanus, however, spits blood onto the floor.
He turns his head away, sounding resigned and broken in a way that breaks me too. “So, you’ve won…twice. I’m the loser that you want me to be, showed me up to be at school, and my family always said I was. Good for you. So, you wanted me to listen. Fucking talk already.”
My heart aches.
“Amby,” I say, quietly, “can I talk to Silas first?”
Ambrose lifts his foot off Silvanus’ chest. “Fine.”
Ambrose drags off his gloves and hurls them across the ring.
Swan helps me to climb into the ring. Then I walk over to Silvanus, before kneeling next to him.
“I’m sorry.” Silvanus wipes angrily at his split lip. “I tried to free you—”
“Stop.” Gently, I help him to sit up. I capture his gaze. I need him to hear me. “I know that you think I’ve been brainwashed. But I haven’t. Amby didn’t force a bond on me. He isn’t keeping me captive. Can’t you tell that he’s loved? Amby literally saved my life. Look, he could have asked for anything when he won. He could have destroyed you. But instead, he’s trying to heal this feud that was started generations ago.”
“Why?” Silvanus narrows his eyes, which are beginning to puff up and bruise.
“Because there’s no reason for us to live in hate. He loves me, and I was a Cinders. Amby intends to reform how dancers are treated. He wants to change how Betas are forced into academies and make sure that none are abused. But to do that, then we need others to follow our example. You always treated Betas differently to—"
“Ambrose intends to reform…? An asshole Romeo ?” Silvanus twists around to stare up at Ambrose like he’s never seen him before. “Have I traveled through a portal into an alternate reality? How is he the hero, while I’m the villain?”
Ambrose flashes a smile. “I’m no hero but I did win. And that means we’re working together to improve our companies.”
“You’re an Alphahole.” Silvanus’ expression brightens in a way that I haven’t seen since I was a kid. “We’re so similar. You and I should really have fucked and got this tension out of our systems when we were in high school.”
Ambrose looks so disgusted that he’d probably have lost the match, if Silvanus had psyched him out with this talk before it began.
Vito chuckles. “I may be revising my opinion of you, Silas.”
“Hey.” I bat Silvanus’ stomach, and he winces. “Wash your mouth out, cousin. Amby is mine.”
Silvanus pulls off his gloves, before snatching my hand. “It’s been lonely on the ranch without you, Juliet.”
I swallow. “Swan helped me through my time in the academy. It was frightening. But I have a lot to thank all my men for. Why were you trying to take us away from the Romeos?”
“Because they’re your fucking captors,” Silvanus growls. “It was my mission.”
Mission…?
When I glance at Vito, his eyes have widened the same as mine.
Could Silvanus be a secret resistance member as well?
Vito told me that most recruited elite packs don’t know each other or have secret identities, unless united on missions, because otherwise it would put all of them at risk.
The more people know who is in the resistance, the more could be captured once the government interrogate them.
“We have a mission too,” Ambrose says, carefully. Silvanus’ gaze snaps to his in wary surprise. “Does helping every dancer in the world matter to you?”
Ambrose is smart.
How to tell someone that you’re resistance without telling them…
Silvanus licks the blood off his lips, giving himself a moment to think before answering. “Why do you think I’m drugging my dad?”
“You’re what ?” I gasp.
“Not such a mysterious illness after all…?” Vito swaggers to the platform, resting his elbows on it.
Swan’s grin widens. “I knew that JuJu’s cousin would be badass.”
“I don’t see myself as bad, more chaotic good.” When Silvanus struggles to his feet on shaky legs, I scramble to help him.
“Silas, this is serious.” My mind is racing. Silvanus was never our enemy. He’s simply been thinking that Ambrose was, working to rescue me, and become Head Alpha. He’s doing the same thing as Ambrose is . “What if someone finds out?”
“I’m sure that my pack knows.” Silas’ jaw clenches. “But they hate Dad more than I do. They’re protecting me, and I’m planning to launch a series of reforms this year off the back of winning the Rose vs Slipper Ballet Contest.”
“Well, that’s a coincidence,” Ambrose drawls.
He strides over to the other side of Silvanus.
Silvanus flinches, when Ambrose reaches for him, expecting another punch. Instead, Ambrose firmly steadies him by the shoulder and helps him to limp to the side of the ring and then climb out.
I follow the two Alphas.
When I jump off the platform, Swan catches me and places me back onto my feet.
Silvanus stands uncomfortably in the middle of us. “Look, it seems that I owe you an apology.”
Ambrose merely arches his brow.
“A big apology.”
Ambrose crosses his arms.
“You get one free shot.” Silvanus steadies himself against the platform, tilting up his chin.
Alpha posturing.
Ambrose studies Silvanus for a long moment. “You’re not worth it.”
“Yes he is.” Vito swaggers to Silvanus and knees him in the balls.
Apparently, resistance solidarity only goes so far.
After the bullying and hazing that Silvanus put Ambrose through, however, this is justice.
I wince, as Silvanus lets out an oomph. He falls to his knees and clutches his crotch.
“So worth this .” Swan kicks Silvanus in the ass, tumbling him forward.
I bend over, flicking my cousin’s ear. “Definitely.”
When I glance round at Ambrose, he’s smiling.
The shadows lift from the bond.
“That was three,” Silvanus grumbles.
“Then it makes up for the fact that you normally beat me up three against one.” Ambrose slicks his hair back, looking immaculate in comparison to my cousin, who’s a gasping mess on the floor.
Silvanus waves a shaky hand. “Fair.” Then he sits up with a grin, despite the blood that’s dribbling down his chin. “Fun’s over. Now we’re even.”
“Hardly.”
“Well, we can work together without calling each other bitch . That’s progress. You do have another mission, right? Freeing my aunt?”
I freeze.
Shit, I haven’t worked out how to tell Silvanus this.
Silvanus doesn’t have a mom. He was close to Nova.
“Silas,” I say, taking his hand, “this is the reason that Amby has taken way too many personal risks for me. It’s why we’re talking to you now. I’m so fucking sorry, but Jacob and Olivia murdered Mom, when they took me captive. I can tell you the whole story, but we don’t have any evidence, only the fact that Amby witnessed it. They threatened his life and mine. It’s why he was exiled to England.”
Silas collapses forward away from me, hiding his face in his hands.
I know that he doesn’t want Ambrose to see his tears like they’re a weakness.
Hurriedly, I twist around to sit in front of Silvanus and block the other’s view of him.
He needs privacy.
I hate that he had to find out like this. But there’s no good way to tell him and no time.
“Silas,” I wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry…?” When Silvanus raises his head, his eyelashes are wet. “I’m the one who failed to protect both Nova and you. Why can’t we just make the killers confess?”
“Do you think that Jacob would? Or an Alpha like my mom ?” Ambrose replies. “Even with a knife at her throat, she wouldn’t. And any forced confession would be just that, forced and inadmissible.”
“Then we find other evidence like the murder weapon or the…” Silvanus fumbles over the word, but I know that it’s body .
He doesn’t know that there are two yet.
“What about we don’t force a confession,” Vito says, slowly, “although I bet that my Alpha enforcer sisters may be skilled enough to, but instead, make Olivia think that we know more than we do. Freak her out. She’s smart, right? But the murder was still done in a rage by Jacob. The bodies must have been hurriedly buried likely on academy grounds. It’s remote, private property, and almost no outsiders are allowed there. They probably thought that it was ideal. How can we unsettle Olivia enough to make her return and lead us to the evidence that’ll bury her ?”
“I have an idea.” I bite my lip. If my fated mates are risk takers, then why can’t I take a risk as well? “Since our families are no longer feuding, what if we break with tradition at the contest and don’t compete but, as a surprise, dance together? Romeos and Cinders united. That will create a huge stir.”
Silvanus licks over his bloodied canines. “Fuck, it’ll shake up everybody across the companies, the town, and the industry.”
“It will be a new age.” Swan’s eyes glow. “Burn the old and fly out with flaming wings reborn.”
“Poetic but also,” Ambrose’s expression darkens, “Mom will be furious. She’ll know that I’ve broken her rules within the company about both the contest and the Cinders company. She’ll be watching the dance more intently than ever. What if we give her a performance of a lifetime? One that’ll fuck with her head. It’ll have a hidden meaning but only to the murderer. Whatever happens, I won’t let her harm my pack after the dance. If we can rehearse something together secretly…”
“If you can get the dancers out of the academy,” Swan replies, “then I’ll give you a list of those who are loyal to me and will keep this secret for my sake.”
Swan has spent his life protecting and looking out for other dancers. He’s right that there are certain members who are loyal enough to keep any secret.
I bet that there are some who’d die for him.
“You can practice in the Cinders Ballet Academy,” Silvanus offers. “I’ll have a small group of the best and most discrete dancers join you.”
Ambrose balls his hands into fists. “Mom’s own dancers, who she thinks are her pretty puppets, will be the ones who’ll drive her to make the mistake, which finally reveals her to the world as the bad Alpha.”