The Initiation (Darkness Within Duet 1)

The brunette clearly hated her.

Harper was grabbed and thrown to the ground. A blow landed against her stomach, and as she gasped, another went to her face. The woman was too fast.

Trying to wriggle away, she couldn’t.

Draven, Axel, Buck, and Jett are counting on me.

Fuck!

It hurts.

Feed the pain.

Drawing her hand back, she punched the woman square in the nose with all of her might. It was enough to stop the blows, and she shoved her off.

Getting to her feet, she placed her fingers against her own nose and came away with blood. Her cheek was smarting as well, not to mention her stomach had taken a beating.

Note to self, never, fucking ever, come to the ring again.

Staring at her opponent, she saw the damage she’d done. Blood dripped down her shirt, and guilt flooded her.

It didn’t last for long as the woman charged at her.

Lifting her foot up, Harper kicked, hard. Channeling her anger, she got knocked off her feet as the woman twisted her foot out, and Harper didn’t get away in time.

Just as the woman tried to straddle her, Harper used her weight and remembered her training of attacking Draven to get on top.

She straddled the woman. Even as she didn’t want to, she kept on hitting. She had to keep hitting until the woman quit.

When her hair was pulled and more vile words spilled out of her mouth, Harper lost it.

“You’re nothing but a disgusting whore. Nothing more than a cunt.”

She had joined with Draven, Axel, Buck, and Jett. They were her friends. They were there when she needed them most. At the diner when Ben touched her. In the woodlands when she was attacked. They were her friends. Her people, and there was no one in this world that was going to talk shit about her.

Drawing her hand back, she slammed it against the woman’s face, over and over again. The image before her became blurred. Her father. Her mother. Hannah. Her attacker. Ben. They all rolled into one, and it pissed her off.

Suddenly, she was being pulled away.

“Get the fuck off me,” Harper said.

“Enough, Harper, enough,” Draven said.

Axel was there as well. “She’s done. She’s finished.”

Harper stared at the woman. She’d been hitting her, and her arm was up in surrender.

Her stomach twisted. Rushing to the edge of the pitch, away from everyone, she threw up.

Her hands were covered in blood. Her thoughts were so fucking dark she couldn’t see straight. Every part of her body ached.

Someone was there, rubbing her back. Another held her hair, and hands soothed her. It was all of them, all four of them.

“It’s fine. We’ve got you,” Draven said. “Don’t worry.”

“Did I kill her?” Harper asked.

“No, but she’s going to need some surgery, and I doubt she’s going to call you a whore anytime soon.”

“Huh, what?”

“That’s what you screamed at her,” he said. “You yelled that you were not a whore. That you were never a whore.”

“Oh.” She didn’t even have a clue what she’d been saying. It was all a blur.

****

“I’ve never been inside your room before,” Harper said.

“After tonight, you deserve it.”

Draven held the first aid kit open. They had already had a shower, but now he wanted to check over her wounds.

The fighting had continued for three more hours. Harper was called up twice more, but the women had held their hands up and surrendered.

She didn’t have skills, but her rage had done all the talking for her.

His heart had broken for her as she screamed at the first one. He’d seen the woman’s hand go up, and Axel had been the one to see that Harper was no longer in a fight. She was hurting whatever she saw in her head.

They had no choice but to pull her off. No one else could stop her. People were now afraid of her.

Ben and his boys had been there to witness it. He hoped it would keep whatever revenge they planned at bay.

There was only so long that Ben and his boys could wait, but Harper had proven she was a force to be reckoned with.

“Do you hate me?” she asked. Her voice was so small.

“No. Why would I hate you?”

“I saw how the others fighters looked at me. They thought I was crazy.”

“You’re not crazy. You got into the zone.” He pulled out some alcohol wipes and pressed them on her knuckles.

She let out a wince. “I wasn’t in anything.”

“Where were you?”

“I got so angry, and then I couldn’t stop. It was like I was fighting everyone. Ian, Mom, Hannah, Ben, that guy out in the woods. I completely lost it.”

He cupped her face. “I know it freaks you out, but you did us all proud.”

“How?”

“You showed them that you’re a fighter. You have a right to be part of us.”

“You do that every single year?” she asked.