Free Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) by Angela White

said the ache for that future was worth her life. I understood completely.
    My opponent stood away from the withdraw rope, the new one that replaced my statement of intimidation, and I allowed myself one human moment of unease. She had the big, rough hands of someone who had trained on nature and it was easy to imagine her in the swamps of her hometown, swinging through the trees and wrestling the pythons. I had heard that was very popular in the southern swamps.
    Then I thought about my waiting bachelor, about how it had felt to have him… Jason , touch me willingly. Rankin would get him if I lost. Rage exploded, the fury in my head as the brilliant as the blue overhead laser-lights that threw the crowd into delighted chaos as the fight began.
    Feeling my fury, Lee waved her hands, crouching, as the dividing bar finished going down. “Come on, then!”
    I immediately lunged forward, tempting her to met me, but she knew better and shot around instead.
    I spun, keeping her in sight as she danced around the mat. Designed to make me dizzy and confused, I put a quick end to her running. I timed and executed a nice leap and tuck that dropped my body directly in her path.
    Kim Lee slid to a stop, spun the other way.
    I jumped again as she kicked out, sweeping for my legs. Missing angered her and she pulled a handful of blades from her belt in a fast motion, let them fly.
    I ducked, turned, threw up a hand to catch one in my forearm. Then I was throwing my own spikes and she was the one dropping, evading, being trimmed.
    Kim Lee snarled furiously. “Slam you!”
    I sneered, recognizing her fear. She knew she couldn’t beat me, that death waited, but her eyes never went to the withdraw rope. “No babies, here, sweetheart… only blood.”
    Kim Lee lost control at that, finishing the Change in a quick evolution of levels. Her eyes darkened to brilliant red, hair growing out of its holders, and her body expanded, muscles now straining against her clothes. The Network favorite screamed at me in rage as her pupils burst into red flames and she flew forward with vicious snarls ripping from her throat.
    I braced to meet her, still in control.
    Her arms slammed around mine, teeth moving for my neck, and I used her momentum to roll us and send her flailing from my knee in her gut.
    Kim crashed against the cage wall in a heap, but recovered before I did, lunging again. She landed on my back, nails seeking my flesh, and I immediately fell backwards.
    We slammed into the mat with an audible crunch as I snapped the wrist around my throat and drove my elbow into her chest while she clawed at me. There was no reason to her attack now, only the rage and it was easy to roll, shove my other arm forward, slice…
    Kim Lee grabbed her stomach with one hand, holding up the other as she slid to her knees. Blood trickled from her mouth and she held out a red palm, the fury fading. “Mercy?”
    But it wasn't mine to give. Her brain made the choice and she slumped to the bloody mat.
    “Match to Pruett!”
    Items rained over the bigger cage, some hurling through the gaps in the fencing. I saw keys, cards, trash, and gold star bracelets as the crowd exploded with fresh screams. Another squad of guards shoved into the unruly throng.
    I didn't smirk as I straightened up. The blue-haired Den Mother was lurking in the entrance to the fenced tunnel I’d walked down to get to the cage. Waiting for me, confident I would win, but not happy with the information she needed to give. Her wild hair and tired face said I wouldn’t like the news at all.
    I didn’t.
     
    4
    This time when I stepped into the Cells, there was only my chosen male and the guards, who I'd insisted must stay closer than outside the door.
    Jason let me see how unhappy he was with all the protection. Instead of controlling his expression, he glared through the dark bruise on his cheek. Rankin had come by to express her displeasure at his televised boldness.
    Fury , so much hotter than what