Fighting for Keeps (Rocky River Fighters 2)

Closing the door behind her, she kicked her shoes off and unsteadily made her way to her bedroom. She thought maybe she was supposed to wash her makeup off before bed, but she was going to ignore that little rule in favor of lying down and hopefully stopping the spinning.

Shit. Aspirin and water. Changing course, she veered off to the kitchen and popped two tablets, suddenly thirsty and chugging down the water. Once done, she made her way to the bedroom and plopped onto the bed, still fully clothed.

Almost instantly drifting to sleep, her last thoughts were of Seth, and the seduction that suddenly felt like so much more than research. It felt real, solid, like everything she never knew she wanted. Despite the fun, floaty feeling of her mind, fear crept in like wisps of smoke. She might be getting more than she bargained for, and she wasn’t sure she could risk her heart, or why she was positive moving forward with this would be doing just that.

Seth walked into the kitchen the next morning, running his fingers through hair still wet from his shower. He didn’t sleep well last night, unable to do more than think of Amelia, and when he did sleep, it was only to dream of her. He was up before the dawn this morning, and he went out to train, trying to work through the sexual frustration he felt upon waking. He was channeling all his frustration, need, and anger with Zane, into it. He was going to be spending a lot of time training today, because he wanted, no—needed—to beat Zane at the fight tomorrow night.

Exhaling, he put on a pot of coffee. He hated to admit it, and he wouldn’t to anyone else, but he worried he might not be able to beat the tiger shifter. His animal was a big hinderance a lot of times during matches. The leopard would taunt him before the first punch was even thrown, and Seth would get so frustrated and worked up that his mind wasn’t totally in the fight, and he’d rush his moves, or make stupid mistakes. His cat didn’t always do it, but there was no rhyme or reason for when he did. Seth would just go into this as prepared as he could be.

Because Zane needed to be taught a lesson, needed his ass handed to him, and Seth was itching to be the one who did it. He’d never liked the fucker, but what he did to Amelia last night, cornering her and forcing his attentions on her, was crossing a huge line. It was all Seth could do not to kill him on the spot, and he’d almost let his cat’s instinct to attack overwhelm him. If they hadn’t been in public, around humans, he might not have been able to control himself.

He poured a cup of coffee, wondering if Amelia was up yet. Maybe he should head over in a little bit, bring her some coffee and breakfast. She would probably be fighting a hangover today. He couldn’t believe how quickly she got drunk, and how little it had taken. Lips quirking, he took a sip of coffee as he thought back to last night. She was a funny drunk, and it was all he could do not to laugh when she spit the beer out.

His smile faded as he got out the fixings for biscuits and gravy. Spending time with her last night was enough to make him know he couldn’t resist her any longer. For better or worse, he was in this now.

Mate.

Exhaling, he acknowledged that his cat was right. He wanted to think it was just the leopard fucking with him again, but he’d never felt this way about another woman. And maybe Cammie was right, and pursuing Amelia, being with her, would be enough to glue his broken natures back together again.

Go back. Go back now.

Bending over, Seth put his hands on his knees and panted. Refusing to acknowledge his cat’s demands, he sank to the ground, needing to rest. He was skinny and malnourished, and it made trying to put distance between him and his clan hard. It was slow going. He left this morning before dawn, hours ago, and he didn’t think he’d made it very far yet.

But he had to put more distance between him and this place. His family and clan wouldn’t care either way that he was gone. But the last thing he wanted was to be taken by the Warner clan again. They didn’t treat him badly after they took him, but they were the reason his life turned out this way.

He should have been in Alpha training. He should have been spending his days learning how to be the best, still the apple of his father and grandfather’s eye, still revered in the eyes of his clan. He should have still been his mother’s favorite. He should be clean and have a full belly.

And he wasn’t because of the Warner’s actions. He hated them with a fiery intensity, and he’d rather die than be taken by them again.

Stomach growling, the sensation painful, he pushed himself up and headed to a stream he could see in the distance. Maybe there would be some berry bushes by it, like there were by his home. It wasn’t much, but it was something. If he could let his leopard out to hunt, he would. But he knew the cat would try to take him back home.

Go back, his animal said again. But this time the words were desperate and pleading, nothing like the demands of before. We can’t survive on our own. We’ll starve to death. Go. Back.

Like hell he would. He might only be twelve, but he could do this. Besides, he’d been surviving on his own for the last five years. And anything was better than being with his clan. He focused all his willpower and strength at pushing his cat’s voice down. He needed to focus on survival, not on what his cat was saying. But once he managed it and couldn’t hear his cat anymore, Seth felt sad. Like he’d just broken a major piece of their connection, and he’d never be able to get it back.

Fuck. Seth ran a shaky hand over his face as the memory faded. This was the second flashback he’d had in the past week, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of Cammie’s kidnapping bringing old memories back, or because the situation with Amelia was making him think about it more.

Either way, it wasn’t something he wanted to examine right now. He was just beginning to accept that Amelia was his mate. And to his surprise, he found himself wanting it, wanting that connection with her badly. But if he kept thinking about his past, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to allow himself to go there with her.

But you see she’s our mate. So you should see that the divide between us was always your fault.

Maybe so, but you need to see that we had to leave the clan, and stop being such a dick. We never would have met her if we stayed. Think about that.

His animal huffed and subsided inside him, and Seth gave a smirk of satisfaction. He didn’t think anyone else ever fought with their animals like he did with his, and he was probably crazy for doing it. But it felt awesome to get the last word in, and he didn’t care what that said about him. Mood improving by the second, his thoughts turned again to Amelia as he got back to making breakfast.

Bending to put the biscuits in the oven and then starting to brown the sausage for the gravy, he laughed as he remembered dropping her off at her hou

se. He couldn’t believe she thought she sucked as a seductress. Although, to be fair, she hadn’t done anything he would have recognized as seduction, and he wouldn’t have known she was trying if she hadn’t told him. But everything she did was seductive, down to her graceful movements when she did something as simple as hooking her hair behind her ears.

Sausage ready, he started adding milk and flour to make the gravy. He wasn’t at all sure he would be enough to make her want to stay and not go back to England. But he didn’t want just a fling with her. He was fighting for keeps, and he’d be fighting with everything he had.

The back door opened and Cammie walked in, nose in the air as she sniffed. “Something smells amazing.”

“Biscuits and sausage gravy,” he said, stirring the gravy then taking the biscuits out of the oven. “You’re welcome to have some if you haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

“I already ate, but I wouldn’t mind taking some of that home. It’s making me hungry again. But no real surprise there. I basically stay hungry these days,” she replied, taking a seat at the island. “Did you get Amelia home okay last night?”

“Yeah,” he said, stirring the gravy a final time before turning the burner off and twisting to face her. “What was up with that? Bringing her to Cocky Pete’s and not telling me first. Were you trying to matchmake?”