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He winced as Ria grabbed a handful of Alaiya’s hair and gave her a hard shake for him.
Ria took a punch to her hip when she jerked to the side to avoid a midsection punch. The flat of her hand slammed beneath Alaiya’s chin, driving her back before her leg sliced up in a kick that threw the other woman against the wall.
Alaiya came back snarling.
Mercury growl
ed furiously as Ria caught a fist to her chin; then he smiled in cold, hard satisfaction as Ria’s elbow slammed into Alaiya’s kidney and a kick sent her to the floor, sliding.
Alaiya was slower getting back up, but no less vicious as she came back at Ria with a hard kick.
“Mercury, your mate is fighting in my foyer,” Callan told him as he stepped from the dining room.
“I think she’s winning too,” Kane stated.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Jonas eased around, watching the display as Breeds were drawn to the foyer.
“Let her alone.” Dane grinned from the doorway. “She’s just playing with Alaiya right now. Just wait till she starts fighting dirty.”
Alaiya snarled, her teeth sinking into Ria’s arm. Time seemed to stand still. Dane and Jonas grabbed Mercury before he ripped Alaiya from his mate, about the same time Ria smiled.
Blood dripped down her arm. She lifted it, slammed Alaiya’s head into the wall once, twice, and broke the bite; then she got dirty. A fist to the other woman’s face had blood pouring from Alaiya’s nose. A high, hard kick to the head, another to the knee, and Alaiya was down.
Ria tangled her fingers in the other woman’s hair, bounced her head against the floor and then hissed.
“He’s mine. Do we understand each other?”
Alaiya moaned.
“Answer me.” Her head bounced against the floor again. “Do we understand each other?”
“Yes,” Alaiya cried out, surrendering, submitting as she stared back at Mercury. “He’s yours.”
Ria jumped back from her. There was no triumph in her face, no smug satisfaction. There was a faint light of regret in her eyes, and one of compassion.
“Find your own mate, Alaiya.” Then she turned and stared at the crowd watching her.
Her brow arched at the male Breeds, more than two dozen now, watching for the sheer satisfaction of watching women fight.
“Men.” She shook her head. “Breed or human, you’re all perverts.”
“That makes me your pervert, I guess,” Mercury laughed. “Come on, mate, let’s try that theory out. We’ll see how you fight me.”
He pulled her to the door, her laughter sliding through his senses, stroking them, reminding him that he was mated. And he was loved. And his mate was his greatest treasure.
EPILOGUE
THREE WEEKS LATER
Jonas opened the door to the confinement cell and entered it slowly, his chest aching as he stared at the huddled form of the doctor he had really grown quite fond of over the years.
Her hair was mussed and lay over her pale face. Her tiny body was curled on the mattress in the padded room, and she looked fragile, incredibly breakable, as he crouched down beside her and watched her for long, long moments.
“We were all played with in the labs,” he finally said softly. “The drugs, for many of our females the raping of their minds and their bodies. Do you believe that what happened to them was their own fault? That they deserved such horror because they allowed it?”
She was silent for so long that he wondered if she was even going to answer him.
“No,” she finally whispered, her voice hoarse as she continued to lie with her back turned to him.
