Free UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) by Tabatha Kiss

several long moments.
    I look to Tobias in the seat next to me. His face sits without expression, frozen solid as if it were chiseled from stone. A seed of doubt sprouts in my mind. Pike has always been willing to fight for the Alphas — no matter what the conflict. Ryan clearly doesn’t want to and Tobias… I can’t even tell where he stands right now.
    Our team is broken, cracking at the seams. It’s only a matter of time now until we fall apart completely. I stare out the window, shaking from fear and cold. Maybe I should have just stayed in Kansas City; hidden away in a dark corner where no one would ever find me. Sure, others would have died, but people die every day, right?
    I cringe at my own thoughts, tasting bile in my throat.
    “Ryan,” Tobias says, his eyes lingering on the world outside.
    “Yeah?”
    “What do you know about the Kings Rick brought with him?”
    Ryan sighs. “Well, they aren’t exactly amateurs. All of them were recruited in before I was.”
    “We met one before,” I say, meeting Amy’s eyes in the rear view mirror. “At the gym.”
    “His name is Kevin,” Ryan says.
    “Yeah…” she sneers. “The douche that touched my boob.”
    “You did kind of start that,” I point out.
    “Whatever — I’m sure he’s a real great guy .”
    “Who are the others?” Tobias asks quickly before Ryan can respond to her tone.
    Ryan pulls his eyes away from Amy. “The little one in the hat was Frankie. He’s pretty much the very definition of a loose cannon.”
    “And the other?” I ask. “The one in the turtleneck.”
    “That…” His voice falls. “That was Owen and ironically … he’s my cousin.”
    “What?” Amy asks. The steering wheel slips from her fingers, but she quickly rights the car before swiping the truck in the right lane.
    “Yep,” he answers. “He trained me, so luckily, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect.”
    Amy’s jaw sags, dangling open as shock refuses to pass through her. I see her eyes flinching around behind her perfectly mascaraed lashes, full of apology and regret, but she doesn’t say it out loud.
    “Rick has to choose between the three of them for the tournament,” Tobias says. “We can assume Owen will be one of them. He’ll hope it’ll rattle you enough to drop your guard.”
    “Yeah, I’d do the same thing…” Ryan mutters.
    “Who else would you choose?” I ask him.
    “Kevin is all brawn,” he answers. “Frankie is very fast, and extremely unpredictable. Honestly, it could go either way.”
    “Then we prepare for both,” I say. “Good thinking on asking Rick to pick from the men he brought with him, Amy. It gave us some advantage.”
    “Yeah, well…” She keeps her eyes forward. “ Sometimes I think just fine under pressure.”
    I catch Ryan glancing at her, his eyes glowing with the same apologetic light, but just like Amy, he stays quiet and looks out the window.
     
    ***
     
    I step out of Amy’s car and look up into the pale, white sky as small snowflakes tap the bridge of my nose. Winter keeps inching closer, tormenting me with colder air with every passing day. Soon, this whole farm will be covered in a blanket of snow and ice. This used to be exciting to me. Winter meant hot chocolate and snow days and little, chewy marshmallows. Now, it frightens me to death.
    Tobias closes the car door and steps towards the barn. I watch him from my seat as flakes fall into his black hair, wondering what he’s thinking beneath it all. He slides the barn door closed behind him, a firm statement of solitude if there ever was one. I step outside the car and linger next to the driver’s side door.
    Amy rolls her window down a few inches. “We’ll be back to pick you guys up tomorrow,” she says. “I’ll check for hotels tonight — no sense in driving back every night before the tournament. You should pack a bag for a week.
    I nod, barely registering the words passing through my ears. “Yeah…”
    “See you