Chapter 3
Avior
“I don’t care what you have to do, find out who she really is and where she stays or you won’t be allowed in here again,” the manager threatened me.
“Getting pressure from the owner, huh?” I chuckled darkly, sitting down and keeping my cool. It was easier for me as an ice dragon, but this asshole was getting on my last nerve. Last time it was hints and pushing, this time it was an outright threat.
And I couldn’t figure out why. This female fighter was making this underground fighting ring money.
Like money.
Almost any other place was ignored or abandoned. This had always been the hottest spot in Nerthus, but… Nowhere else could cut it now.
Which meant I needed this source of income taking bets here. Well, I didn’t need it, but I was a greedy man.
It was best to just be honest about that. Plus, as a bookie, I needed a larger emergency cushion than someone with a legal job. I needed to be able to bail at a moment’s notice, change everything about me, and disappear.
I had before, and I would never make the mistake again of not having enough funds readily on hand to make that happen. I would never underestimate the cost of having to run and start all over.
Then again, I wasn’t a kid anymore and had a whole network should I need it.
I snorted when he wouldn’t reply. “Her agent is Metcalf’s daughter. I’m not stupid nor suicidal to get involved there.”
“Listen here—” he started.
“No, you listen, asshole,” I interrupted, my voice calm but threateningly cold.
“People would immediately notice if I was gone and ask why. They would know something was rotten here, and that’s a mess you can’t handle especially when I’m pretty sure the owner didn’t tell you to outsource this task. Did he, kitten?”
That was the nicest way to say I thought him a pussy. He pressed his lips together telling me all I needed to know even if he didn’t say anything.
I went to say more to end this conversation for good, but something hit me. I slowly blinked at him. “You’re fucking nuts. He’s going to try and nab her. He wants her for himself. He doesn’t want her gone as in not fighting—he wants her.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re—”
“Metcalf will kill all of you if you go near his daughter’s interests,” I bit out.
“He scorches the ground around his kids and leaves no one alive. I’m shocked he hasn’t sent some…
” I swore under my breath. “He already did. That was the guy I couldn’t get a read on last fight.
They didn’t seem like a tiger, but they weren’t a dragon and I couldn’t place them. ”
“So?” he snapped.
I gave him the look he deserved. “How do you think a master like Metcalf stays on top? He has magics working for him always. Everyone knows that and drools over the access he has.” I snarled when he opened his mouth. “I’m not getting involved in this insanity. I like living.”
He shoved at my chest. “Yeah, I do too, but I don’t have a choice.”
“No, you do,” I said with a snort. “Convince your boss of reality. Metcalf will find him.” I chuffed when he rolled his eyes. “There is no escaping Metcalf when—”
“It’s not his daughter they want, but the fighter.”
“Doesn’t fucking matter!” I roared. “You might as well touch the daughter if you go after her interests. She’s not going to go ‘Oh well, I lost the fighter making me millions, bad luck.’ Fuck no.
She’s going to dig and dig and never stop digging until she finds out what happened and who fucked with her.
And if she can’t—which I believe she could—she’ll go to daddy. ”
He swallowed loudly, understanding now how fucked he was.
I jabbed my finger in his chest. “And when any of them come looking, I will sing. Fuck, I’ll go look for her and tell her all about this.”
“You fucking disloyal—”
“Disloyal? You just threatened to toss me out if I didn’t act like your goon!
We’ve been working together for a decade and you treat me like one of your hired hands?
Fucker, I’ll put you in the ground before I risk my life.
And she makes me money. This is good business, so tell the owner to get his rocks off another way—”
He snorted. “It’s not for him.” He went pale when I fisted his jacket.
“He’s running girls? That’s dangerous for all of us.”
“Not here,” he hissed and tried to break my hold. “And it’s—he’s branching out. I don’t know. He wants—they want her drugged up and to whore her out like the rare prize she is.”
I couldn’t hide my disgust as I tossed him across the room.
“She’s a fucking person—one of our people.
What happened to you? You used to swim in gray like me, and it’s stupid that fights and gambling are illegal, but you let drugs in here.
Now you’re fine with selling women? Not just managing whores, but abducting and selling them as slaves? ”
“I’m not going to justify myself to some two-bit bookie,” he bitched as he rolled to his feet.
“Oh yeah, you managed all this illegal and you’re falling in deeper.
You have any room to judge me.” I shook my head and went for the door.
“Convince the owner because I will tell everyone and then he’ll end you for trying to outsource it.
I’m not having this on my conscience when she’s a decent person and just wants to fight. ”
“She shouldn’t have been so full of herself and taken the money to be fucked like other fighters.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “She’s not other fighters.
She’s fucking amazing and you know it wouldn’t be like other fighters when she’s a woman.
She’s smart enough to understand that, especially when it’s not even been a month and you’re talking abducting and drugging her. Get your shit together or bail.”
“Easy for you to say!” he called after me. “You don’t know who the owner is. You think he’s any better than Metcalf? He’s not.”
That made sense, but it was useful information that I would file away for later.
Part of me was disgusted to hear the owner was planning to branch out into running girls… But not surprised. I’d heard of a lot of everyone planning to push past their norms now that the king was dead. They had no faith in the new, young queen and wanted to exploit that.
Right, because the king had been the one to handle the investigations or arrest people. Just because the royal family controlled Nerthus specifically didn’t mean the king was so involved.
From what I heard, the wrong people thought greasing palms and bribes would get them out of any real trouble. I wasn’t so sure though. She’d been bold and ready to throw down before she even got the bigger crown.
I didn’t think she would allow things to fall apart right under her nose. If anything, I would think she’d have to be twice as tough as the king to prove herself and that she could handle the job.
It worked in the underworld that way, so why did people think she wouldn’t do the same in the legit world?
Because she’s a woman and Thovudin is way more sexist than people like to admit, but at least the rest of the world is starting to see it.
I didn’t know if that would change anything but… Who knew?
Another thing that irked me? In all my years in this business, I’d never seen others name a fighter. They never even asked her, just named her Mystic Frost.
It fucking pissed me off. She was killing it and she couldn’t pick her own stage name? Granted she didn’t seem to care, but it was meant to be a slap in the face.
Like she couldn’t be smart enough to come up with a good name for herself when she was beating everyone’s asses. Ridiculous?
Yes, very.
But also… The name was lame. Oh, okay, Mystic because she was a mystic dragon? So clever. And assuming she was from a colder region of Thovudin because she was badass?
Pathetic.
The whole thing was lame and I was annoyed for her. I really was.
Her reaction when I’d said that and it was an insult she didn’t get to pick her own name was… Curious. She looked amused like the secret she kept was greater than any insult could ever be.
Maybe she thought it was cute I cared?
Who knew with her, but at least it didn’t bother her.
But it bothered me that it didn’t bother her like it made me feel petty.
I blew out a harsh breath and got to work, ignoring Mystic Frost and all the drama surrounding her.
Which was near impossible when she was fighting that night.
She was poetry in motion. The way she moved—the way she fought was beyond words. And I’d watched more fights that I wanted to remember given my line of work.
I’d also long since figured out that she was drawing out the fights like I’d recommended. She seemed almost bored most of the time and then would remember she was there to put on a show, not simply smash someone’s face in.
Honestly, she was my kind of woman.
Ignoring all the comments she wasn’t pretty and was too plain—not flashy enough or what they would want, she was more than her looks. Wasn’t that what people should focus on?
But she was attractive. She was a normal level of attractive and people mocked her for that.
Funny, I’d never heard that criticism of male fighters.
A month of killing it in fights and the odds still weren’t in her favor. Men—especially the extra testosterone-filled ones who enjoyed underground fighting rings like this—simply couldn’t wrap their minds around a woman winning.
Even though she was the first that I could remember taking on two fighters at once. The regulars were ready to see her get beaten.
Fine, even I would normally bet against someone who was doing two on one… But not her. Anyone who used their eyes and brain knew she was holding back a lot more power.
The agents were frothing for her to lose and the freak or fad to move on. More like they were jealous they didn’t snag her first.
I shivered at the idea of some of them getting her under their influence.
“What’s up with you today?” her agent, Myriam Metcalf, asked as her fighter came out of the cage.