Heart of a Fighter (Rocky River Fighters 1)

Shooting him a dirty look, Seth took his place in their sparring area, determination in his eyes. Good. She didn’t want him to let her win out of a misplaced sense of guilt. She wanted a fight. She squared up to him and they circled each other before Seth kicked out.

She effortlessly dodged the blow, immediately throwing her arm out in a right hook that caught him under the chin. He stumbled back a moment and shook his head, rushing into his next move without thinking, and she sighed inwardly. This wasn’t going to be much of a fight. It never really was with him. He was a good fighter, but Seth was too hung up on masculine pride, and it stung his ego when a female got a hit in. So he got too reckless and took stupid risks, unlike Jax or Ian, who treated her as if they were fighting another man.

At least it was better than it used to be, all around. Until a couple years ago, when Cammie became truly skilled at fighting, Ian had a ban on any of them actually throwing punches at her. She always found it annoying as hell, because even back when she wasn’t very good, her speed meant they couldn’t catch her. Sparring was much better sport now that the ban was lifted, but it was still sometimes too easy.

Tonight was one of those times. But she drew the fight out anyway. For one, Seth needed to be taught a lesson, and she was in a mood to beat it into him, literally. And two, she needed this. Needed the endorphins fighting gave her, needed the worry and all the thoughts to stop, at least for a brief moment in time. And this was the best way to go about it.

Fifteen minutes later, she’d had enough, and was straddling his back, her arm wrapped around his neck, pulling back. He struggled for a moment but was unable to dislodge her, finally tapping out, and she let him go, standing up and grabbing a towel to wipe her face and neck.

Seth grumbled his way out of the barn, Jax following behind, and she arched an eyebrow at Ian, who lingered. She took a sip of her water, waiting on him to say what he wanted to say.

“I sometimes forget how quick you can be. But I think even if speed wasn’t your gift, you’d still be able to beat us.”

“Of course I could,” she replied with a cocky smile that quickly turned wistful. “I miss it. I wish there were female fighters around here.”

“I know you do. I wish we hadn’t had to leave Washington, but Eagle Creek is close to Shelby’s tribe, and is the best place to raise her, and—”

“I know,” she said with a shake of her head. “I miss fighting, but I love it here, I really do. And if you didn’t move us here, I might not have met Alex. I mean, maybe I would have, since he was looking for us. But I might not have, and I’ll never regret moving here for that alone.”

Nodding as he studied her, he asked, “So you’re not mad at me for trying to give you an opportunity to spend some time with Alex?”

“No, not really. I think us being together was inevitable from the moment he showed up here, but I might have wasted a lot more time if you hadn’t done that.”

He moved forward and clapped a hand to her shoulder before he left the barn. “You’re welcome,” he said over his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes at his back, and walked to the bench, sitting down with a heavy exhale. No, she couldn’t be mad at Ian for pushing her and Alex together, and she’d never regret getting so close to her mate. She just wished she knew what the hell was up with him lately.

Alex blew out a breath as he turned onto the driveway of Bear Claw Ranch. He finally remembered this morning why he’d been able to escape notice with Ivan and his crew, and he thought it explained a lot about why his dragon was so absent when he first woke up.

He’d taken some kind of suppressant, needing to suppress his dragon while he was trying to find Ivan’s weakness. He never would have gotten into the compound if they knew he was a shifter, or been able to work so closely with them when there was a risk they could see his dragon eyes. It left him feeling vulnerable, but he took what basically amounted to spy lessons from an ex-CIA agent for three months, to make sneaking around without getting busted easier. He didn’t want to get caught when he couldn’t access his dragon.

And that made his actions when he snuck to the barn and eavesdropped on the fighters make sense. Stealth came naturally to him because he lived it for fourteen long months, first while he was training, and then while he was at the compound.

His eyebrows twitched as he thought about the suppressant. He hadn’t expected it to last so long. He took his last dose two weeks before he left to get to Cammie. And that made him realize he couldn’t have done anything to Ivan once he found his weakness. He couldn’t risk them knowing about his dragon without an exit strategy, and he never really had one. And they never would have let him out of there alive. He was never given any pertinent information, like that they were shifters at all, but he didn’t see that stopping Ivan. Disposing of him was probably Ivan’s plan all along, once Alex fulfilled his purpose there, regardless of what Alex did or didn’t know.

Since he didn’t know the full effects of the suppressant, he was coming to talk to the one person he knew of who had taken it and knew what it felt like to come off it. His sister and Cammie weren’t the only female dragons Ivan had had in his sights. On one of his skulking missions, he overheard Ivan talking about a female dragon called Adara. Apparently, Adara’s uncle forced her to take the suppressants for years, saying he wanted to hide her dragon status and keep her safe from hunters.

And then the bastard turned around and sold her to a monster like Ivan. Alex shook his head in disgust. Doing that canceled out years of keeping her safe. Luckily for her, she escaped from her home before Ivan could get to her. By the time he managed to find her again, she was mated to a shifter here in Eagle Creek. That might or might not have been enough to deter him, but it was a moot point anyway. Ivan found out about Daria soon after, and set his sights on her.

The thought of Ivan being aware this town existed made his blood run cold, but Alex didn’t think he would look in the same place for Cammie. Dragons usually tended to live away from other dragons. But Adara living in Eagle Creek was turning out to be a good thing for Alex. He could ask Adara his questions about the suppressants he took and hopefully get some answers. As long as they let him in the door, that is.

Adara was nervous on the phone when he called this morning, he could tell. She agreed to see him this evening, and though it left him with little time to think of a legit reason to leave Rocky River, he couldn’t hesitate in case she changed her mind. He was going to have some explaining to do when he got back to Cammie, but he had to do this. He didn’t want to go to her with the truth until he knew everything, even if the details seemed insignificant in the face of his status as a dragon.

Alex slowly rounded a bend in the driveaway, taking in the huge log home. It was impressive, but he didn’t have time to appreciate it right now. He’d driven as slow as possible up the driveway, hoping to steady his nerves a little, but it would look odd or suspicious if he continued to do so. Putting on a little speed, he pulled up to the house and parked. Inhaling deeply, he got out of the car and strode toward the door. It opened as he was reaching the top of the porch steps, a

nd a tall, muscular man with a scar on his cheek stepped out. They looked at each other in silence for a few moments, and then the man met Alex’s eyes, his glare hot enough to burn a hole in him.

“I’m Jared, Adara’s mate. She told me about you coming over here, and I have to tell you, I don’t like this one fucking bit. If I answered the phone this morning, you wouldn’t be here now. But she insists on talking to you, and I can’t dissuade her from it. But if you upset her, I’ll pull your insides from your body through your mouth. And if you breathe a word of her animal, or even her existence, or that of my kids, to anyone, I’ll make you wish you were dead before I kill you for real, dragon or not. Your animal doesn’t scare me.”

“Jared!” A feminine drawl, not unlike Cammie’s, sounded from behind the other man. “Good Lord. Stop threatening the poor man and let him in.”

Jared glared at him for a heartbeat longer, then turned and opened the screen door, walking through it. He let it bang shut without waiting on Alex, and leaned down to give the woman a swift kiss and a muttered, “Be careful,” before stalking down the hallway. Moments later, a tall woman with long blonde hair opened the door and smiled hesitantly at him.

“You must be Alex. I’m Adara. Come in, and don’t mind my mate. He didn’t mean it.”

Smiling wryly, he walked inside. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I rather thought he did.”

She half-smiled. “Yeah, he probably did. I’m not much worried about myself, but I second what he said about my girls. If I think for a second you mean them harm, or if you let their existence slip to anyone, I’ll let him have at you, then I’ll burn your body and dance around the ashes before I devour them.”