Chapter Eleven
Friday night came, and I was feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of watching Ian fight. Self-defense I understood, there was a point to that fighting, but punching another person, or shifting and fighting for entertainment? No, I was having a hard time getting on board with that. But I said I would do this, and I put on a brave face as we all headed out for the event.
Ian left an hour or so earlier, clearly relishing the excitement of the upcoming fight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so high strung, even two weeks ago when I moved in and he disappeared to fight the grizzly bear, Damien.
The other four, Clint, Patrik, Jason, and Amber filed out of the vehicle at the fight location, just as my phone started ringing. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen to see that Enforcer Carver was calling. Frowning, I answered, while following the group toward a rundown barn in the middle of nowhere.
“Yes?”
“Kendra. I need to warn you.” Carver said hurriedly without preamble. He sounded like he was running in the background.
“About what?” I asked, stopping in my tracks. Clint glanced back at me and frowned. I held my hand up to have him give me a second, while listening to Carver.
“Things are heating up with the underground fighting. You need to stay low and out of sight. You don’t need more attention drawn to you.”
“More than normal you mean?” I asked dryly, while my mind was racing with the implications of me being present at the fight tonight.
“Things are being set in motion here. I can’t protect you if you put yourself in danger.”
“I’m not doing anything dangerous,” I protested.
“Just be smart. Stay low. Don’t get noticed. I have to go.”
“But-,” I tried to ask but the line went dead. Frowning, I tucked my phone into my back pocket and met up with the others.
“What was that about?” Clint asked.
“Maybe this was a bad idea.” I said slowly, explaining what I’d just heard.
“Does seem a little sketchy.” Patrik agreed. He ran his hand through his hair and looked around at the shifters passing us on the way into the old barn.
“Come on. We’ll just watch Ian then get out of here. He’ll be devastated if he doesn’t see you.” Clint pointed out, looking at me. I was torn, but knew Ian was looking forward to this. I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Ian’s fight only. Then we leave.” I agreed. Everyone nodded, even though Patrik looked a little skeptical. I gave him a reassuring smile as we made our way into the abandoned barn. There were other shifters filtering in at the same time as us, and I gathered a few nervous and hostile looks along the way. Thankfully Clint and Jason were on either side of me and were deterrent enough for anyone wanting to start something with a wolf present.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Patrik mumbled from ahead of me.
No one agreed, or disagreed, with him as we went through the doors. Inside, there were shifters guarding the doors, and they gave us the once over. Each of them eyed me suspiciously but motioned us to move on. Shuffling forward in the growing crowd, I stuck close to Clint’s side as we weaved toward the front. The barn was an old two story with a hayloft, which was where we entered. We came to a railing that looked over the floor below where a cage was set up.
The cage threw me for a minute. I couldn’t imagine any of the shifters willingly entering the structure that was twenty by twenty and at least fifteen feet tall. It was suspended from the rafters, about ten feet off the ground, and I could see the outline where it would land on the floor. There were clamps to hold the cage in place once it was lowered. I wasn’t that connected with my wolf and even I could feel the unease from the thought of being inside that.
The crowd swelled around us as two men approached the cage from different sides. Both were big, way bigger than me, and didn’t break eye contact as the cage lowered around them. Both started to take off their clothes and I turned my attention to the crowd around us.
“I thought Ian was fighting?” I asked Clint.
“He’s up next.” Clint was watching the two below us with excitement in his eyes.
“There’s more than one fight?” I asked, nonplused. What the heck? I thought we were doing one fight and then we were out of here.
“Five, I think.” Jason leaned over toward me to answer my question. I sighed and looked below to see both men had shifted. One was a grizzly, the other was a polar bear. I was shocked to see either, since I’d never seen one in person before. Both were big, but the polar bear was bigger. I didn’t want to watch the fight, so I turned my back, but I could still hear the crowd around me cheering and booing as the two shifters went after each other. Not to mention the menacing growls and sharp bangs as they rammed each other into the side of the cage. I winced as I tried to tune out the noise from below.
I watched the crowd, seeing no one I recognized. I didn’t realize there were so many shifters in the area, or did they travel for these fights? How well advertised were illegal fights? I flinched at a loud bang behind me and the victorious growl that followed. I glanced back at the fight to see that the polar bear had indeed won, but both were bleeding with multiple cuts. The grizzly was alive, but barely moving. I wondered if Ian had won or lost his fight two weeks ago, and how bad he looked directly afterwards.
“Do you want to get closer?” Clint asked, a little bit of his panther showing through. Apparently, someone liked the bloodshed.
“Um, no. Thanks.” I replied. He looked a little crestfallen but nodded.
“Okay. Ian’s up next, then we can get out of here. You going to be okay?” He asked, and I nodded. Clint folded me into his side, and while my wolf didn’t really like being that close to him, I appreciated the gesture. We didn’t have to wait long before the next fight started. As Ian entered the fighting area, he glanced up and saw us in the crowd. How he picked us out of everyone, I had no idea, but he grinned when he saw us watching. It seemed to give him a little more bounce in his step.
Ian was up against another grizzly bear, not Damien though, from what Clint told me. Apparently grizzlies were ferocious opponents. I averted my eyes as they peeled off their clothes and shifted. Modesty was not in a shifter’s vocabulary. I didn’t want to watch the fight, but Ian was proud of this. I felt like I owed it to him to be supportive. I glanced back once I knew they both had shifted and tried to get into the fight.
The two circled each other, Ian’s tiger sleek and powerful while the bear was bulky and solid. The bear suddenly charged, and Ian leapt for his back. The fight was as intense as you can imagine with two animals fighting for dominance. One would lunge, the other dodge, huge paws would swipe across the other’s flank causing deep gashes to form on their sides. In no time at all, both had deep cuts and were bleeding on the floor. No one in the crowd seemed to be worried about that fact except me. I bit my lip and watched worriedly as Ian swiped at the bear again. Clint and Jason were yelling encouragement to Ian, although I wasn’t sure he could hear anything over the noise.
I looked around at the crowd surrounding the cage and was surprised to see Jake, who was looking directly at me. Jake nodded in my direction, before returning his attention to the fight. Seeing Jake surprised me, but maybe it was normal for him to be there. There were a lot of shifters here tonight, and the guards at the door didn’t really bat an eye when I walked past them.
Finally, Ian pinned the bear and held the bear’s throat in his massive jaw and let out a threatening growl. The bear relaxed, which must have meant a surrender, because the crowd went wild and Ian let him go. He backed up a few steps and let loose a ferocious feline roar which just intensified the noise of the crowd around us. The masses surged around me, and I was squished up against Clint and couldn’t see the floor below.
“Let’s move over to this side, where it’s less crowded.” He nodded to the right where there weren’t so many people coming and going. I nodded and we followed single file toward the spot. Halfway there, someone stumbled into me, knocking me off balance and into someone else. The person I ran into caught my arms to steady me, and a scent that I hadn’t smelled in a long time filled my senses.
Cade. My body seemed to relax at the familiar scent and a sense of peace and calm surrounded me. I looked up into familiar brown eyes that were wide in shock.
“Kendra?” He seemed speechless to find himself face to face with me, but he recovered faster than I could. His arms pulled me into his side, and he growled above my head, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Hey buddy, let her go.” Patrik said to Cade, not knowing who he was.
“Like hell I will.” Cade ground out. I turned a little in Cade’s arms to give Patrik a reassuring smile, seeing the confused look on his face. By that time, Clint realized we weren’t behind him and he had circled back. I could tell he recognized Cade, how I don’t know, because he had an ‘oh shit’ look on his face.
“Kendra, why are you here?” Cade asked, still talking above my head, I assumed to glare at both Patrik and Clint. “It’s not safe for you.”
“Why are you here?” I shot back, shaking out of his arms, but he didn’t let me step away.
“Work.” He spat, while glaring at Clint, Patrik, and Jason who now stood at my back. Then Amber popped up at my side with a shit eating grin on her face. Cade glanced at her, then did a double take. “You.”
“Aw, how sweet, you remember me.” Amber smiled with teeth, referring to the encounter at the mall when we first met. She was so not helping the situation.
“Kendra,” Cade looked directly at me. “What are you doing here?” Clint answered for me.
“Our friend is fighting. We came to show our support.” I tried to pull away from his death grip on my arms, but he wasn’t letting go.
“Friend?” Cade growled, narrowing his eyes at me.
I coughed. “So, yeah, long story short. These are my friends from school.” I waved to the group behind me.
“From school.” Cade stated, flatly. “You’ve made friends with non-wolves and you happened to get invited to an illegal fight. And you thought that was a good idea?” I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the new friends or the fight. Knowing Cade, probably both.
“It was one fight.” I protested, deciding to address only one of his statements.
“You can’t be here,” Cade muttered looking around. He pulled me back to his side protectively. “Especially right now,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Why? What’s going on?” I asked. I flashed back to the conversation with Enforcer Carver and dread seeped into my entire body. If Cade was here, did that mean the Enforcers were too?
I didn’t get to hear his answer as I was suddenly jerked from his arms and pushed into Patrik. When I turned, I was staring at Ian’s very naked back. A quick glanced confirmed he was at least wearing pants.
“Don’t touch her.” Ian growled, warningly. Cade matched him in his growl. Ian was completely blocking my view of Cade, which was not a good thing. I needed to get to Cade.
“Whoa, guys,” a familiar voice said. “What’s going on?” I peeked around Ian and caught Brody’s eye. His look of complete shock when his eyes connected with mine just added the icing to my spectacular night. “Kendra? What the hell?”
“Hey Brody.” I greeted as I squeezed out from behind Ian and stood at his side. Cade instinctively reached for me, I’m sure he wasn’t even aware of it, and Ian growled warningly again. I put my hand on Ian’s arm, trying to communicate it was fine, as I stepped toward Cade. He must have been on edge, because Cade almost jerked me off balance, pulling me back to his side and slightly behind. That put me between Brody and himself. Men, I sighed internally.
“Look this is awkward.” I told everyone in general. I couldn’t see everyone from my vantage but knew they could all hear me. “Can everyone take it down a notch for a second? There’s no reason for us not to all get along.”
“Is this your wolf boy?” Ian asked, crossing his arms and eyeing Cade up and down. His face said he wasn’t impressed. Cade seemed to stand up taller at Ian’s reference of him being mine.
“This is Cade, my boyfriend, yes.” I clarified, looking at Ian pointedly. He looked like he was biting back his comment. “And this,” I nodded to my side and stepped forward a little more to see everyone one, “is Brody. Both part of my pack.”
“And your…friends…are?” Brody asked questioningly, with a grin on his face. I could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh at the situation. At least he was acting normal, eating up my awkward moments. Unlike Cade who seemed on edge and kept glancing around like he was on the lookout for someone.
“Amber, Jason, Patrik, Clint, and Ian.” I nodded to each quickly.
“Well, it’s great to meet you all,” Brody brightly chimed in before his face swiftly changed into a serious look, “but you all really need to make yourself scarce. Like, now.” He looked around, seeming to be looking for someone too.
“We were just leaving.” Clint bit out, motioning to the group to head out. I didn’t budge.
“Cade, what’s going on?” I asked, curious why he was acting like he was and on high alert.
“You shouldn’t be here.” He ground out again, shaking his head. “How do you always find places to be at the wrong time?” He muttered. Ouch. That one hurt. To mask my wounded pride, I let my anger bubble up and snapped at him.
“Well, it was great to see you too. So glad we got this chance to catch up.” I replied sarcastically. “Good luck doing whatever and see you in five years.” I turned to march off, I felt like there should have been steam coming from my ears I was so mad, when he grabbed my arm, stopping me from going any farther. Cade leaned in close to my ear so I was the only one who could hear him.
“We are here as part of our training,” Cade whispered. “If any of the other trainees find you, and word gets back to the High Council…” he trailed off, but I knew what he meant. It was a risk to be there, and it seemed my luck had run out.
“No one besides you two know me,” I argued weakly.
“Don’t kid yourself.” Cade scoffed. “Your picture has been plastered all over the Watch List.”
“What?” I asked confused. “What ‘Watch List’ are you talking about?” I’d never heard of such a thing and doubted it was common knowledge to anyone outside of the Enforcers.
Cade shook his head. “Don’t, forget I said anything. Just leave. Now. And keep your head down.”
“But-,” I tried to protest but Cade shoved me toward Ian.
“Make sure she gets home safe.” He looked torn at letting me go, indecision written across his face, before turning and disappearing into the crowd. Brody nodded to me with a sad smile, then turned to follow Cade. It wasn’t normal for either of them to not say goodbye or make a parting joke. Where did my Cade go? What was that training doing to him? My heart was breaking, I was so confused. I felt like Cade had just abandoned me.
“Come on, we have to get out of here.” Clint muttered.
I don’t remember much of leaving the barn, but someone guided me back to the car and into the backseat. The drive back to the house was a blur, and soon I was sitting at the kitchen table, staring down at a cup of hot chocolate. My hands slowly closed around the handle and brought the cup to my lips. I took a sip and set it back down, looking around me. Amber was patching Ian up, he didn’t look as bad as the other week, so maybe he had lost that fight. Clint was arguing with Patrik by the door and glancing in my direction occasionally. The chair scraped next to me, making me jump. Jason settled into the seat next to me with his own cup and a small smile.
“How’s it going?” He asked. That was so not a subject I wanted to discuss right then, so I changed the subject.
“Did you make this?” I asked, nodding at the hot chocolate.
“Yep.”
“It’s good.” I nodded, taking another sip.
“Thanks. Secret family ingredient.” He winked, and I smiled weakly in return.
“So, that was the famous Cade?” Jason asked nonchalantly.
“Yeah.” I sighed. I didn’t want to talk about Cade. Just thinking about him and what happened tonight made my head pound.
“Interesting guy.” Jason hedged, I’m sure he was unsure what to say after that weird encounter.
“He’s…” I didn’t know what to say. Changed? Different? I shrugged.
“I think that training of theirs takes a toll on the best of them.” Jason consoled. I nodded, not sure what to say. “Do you want to talk about it?” He offered.
“No,” I shook my head. “I just want to go lay down.” I stood up and thanked him for the cup. I made my way toward my door, stopping next to Ian to congratulate him. He smiled faintly, but we both knew the encounter with Cade overshadowed everything else. I quietly closed my door behind me and set my cup on the nightstand before folding myself into a ball on my bed and quietly crying myself to sleep.