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Lukyan sighed contentedly. “I’m glad I didn’t kill you.”

I arched a brow. “Bold of you to think you could.”

“I think I could.” He finally let me go, stepping back. He smirked, something dark flashing in his eyes. “Maybe if we get paired up for the one-on-one, we’ll find out.”

I cracked my neck, excitement sizzling in my bones.

The one-on-one names were drawn, locked in, and written onto the scoreboard so no one would forget. I wanted to scream from the fucking rooftops. Deciding had been a bit of a challenge. To keep it fair, all the names were thrown into the hat and then, one by one, we picked out our opponent. As the patriarch of the family, Dimitri went first. To make sure he didn’t draw his own name or that of his partner, the slips with Autumn’s name and his were removed. He’d dipped his hand in and picked out Aleksandr.

It had caused quite a stir, everyone ooing and ahhing at the prospect of a very good match. While I was sure they had sparred before, there was no doubt in my mind that this time, it would be different. This would be a no-bars-held kind of match, where both Aleksandr and Dimitri would fight hard to win and beat the other.

While Aleksandr was larger, I’d bet Dimitri was more skilled.

After all the names were drawn, Mikhail went over the rules and the scoring. Whoever won their match would score three points for placing first, while the other scored nothing.

It gave a team the opportunity to score six points this game and put them back in contention.

Oh, yeah. This was our chance to get back on top.

“You must be happy about the draw.” Aleksandr’s big build sidled up to my side, and I cast my gaze to him.

“That obvious, huh?”

“You’re practically giddy with anticipation.”

Yeah, I probably was. I’d only fought Lukyan once before in a three-on-three tag-team match, and in my opinion, it had ended far too quickly. This time, Lukyan wouldn’t have the chance to tap someone else in.

He’d be all mine.

“What about you?” I inclined my head to Dimitri across the field, who was lightly sparring with Autumn, warming up for the coming match. “Fighting your own father must be exciting in and of itself.”

“We’ve fought before.”

“But in this capacity?” I arched a brow. “I have a sneaking suspicion he’s even more competitive than you are.”

“He is, but the old bastard tries to hide it.”

“Think you got a chance?”

Aleksandr chuckled, folding his arms across his chest. “I think it will be a good fight,” was all he said. “The rest of the match-ups are…interesting.”

I snorted. “Interesting is an understatement.”

The different combinations of fighters was definitely intriguing, to say the least. The only one I had yet to see fight was Lyla, but based on everything I knew about that woman, she would be hard to beat. Crazy, unpredictable fighters were amongst the toughest to beat because you had absolutely no idea what tricks they had up their sleeve. What they would do.

“Aleksandr and Dimitri, you’re up first!” Mikhail hollered as he marched to the center of the field.

An excited hum vibrated through the family. Looked like we were starting off with the most anticipated fight of the draw.

I turned an expectant smirk to Aleksandr standing next to me. “Good luck.”

“I don’t need it.” He smirked back, walking away. Before joining Mikhail, he stopped in front of Drea, who smiled up at him lovingly. She crooked her finger, and he bent down to her height, his smile wide as she peppered him with kisses all over his face. She whispered something in his ear—something supportive, I could only guess, as he nodded along and then went to Mikhail.

I quickly joined the others at the sidelines, wrapping an arm around Illayana. She and her brothers were locked deep in conversation, making various bets about who was going to come out of this thing victorious.

“Father is totally going to win,” Lukyan said adamantly. “It’s a no-brainer.”

“I don’t know,” Illayana whispered back, eyes thoughtful. “This is Aleksandr we’re talking about. He’s undefeated.”