Free Betting on Julia (A Melville Sisters Novel) (Entangled Covet) by Nina Croft Page B

ferocious fighters.
    And these two were good.
    He pushed himself away from the cage wall, stepped to the center of the ring, and stood relaxed, hands hanging by his side. His knuckles were already swollen and bleeding—it felt good. But he didn’t want the fight to end too soon.
    They circled him slowly and the crowd started to whistle and shout for more action. One of them lunged at him, and Bastian whirled around and kicked out, slamming the man into the sidebars. The second landed a punch on his shoulder hard enough to swing him around and then they were grappling.
    Sebastian ignored the pain as he threw punch after punch at the man’s rock-hard abdomen. The other man was back on his feet and grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms at his side, holding him with inhuman strength while the first took advantage of his temporary incarceration. His nose crunched and his lips split. The crowd was baying now.
    Sebastian blinked the sweat from his eyes and shook his head as a fist landed on his cheekbone. Through the bars of the cage, his gaze locked with another man. Tall, with short, dark blond hair and a pale gray business suit. He raised an eyebrow, and Sebastian grinned.
    This wasn’t over yet. He took a punch to the other side, which would have knocked him to the floor if he hadn’t been held in place. He cleared his mind of everything, centering his strength. Bracing himself, he breathed in, then thrust out with his arms and the man holding him was thrown across the ring to slam into the bars. Bastian spun around and kicked out at the second one. He was stronger and stood his ground. Bastian followed up with a series of punches. He was in the zone now.
    There was a purity to violence that left his mind clear of doubts.
    In this ring there were three men who all wanted to win.
    Simple.
    But he wanted it the most. His body took over, whirling and kicking, slamming his fists onto flesh until the stench of blood and sweat filled his nostrils.
    Finally, he knocked the last one down and he didn’t get up. The guy blinked.
    At least he wasn’t dead.
    Bastian had won.
    The fights had started out as a wager with Dante. The demon did like to bet and he liked to fight or rather he liked his host to do all the work. The first time he had wagered a week’s peace if Bastian won and it had become an ongoing wager.
    Bastian always won.
    Now he heard Dante’s long-suffering sigh. But the demon wouldn’t renege on a bet—apparently there was some sort of demon code—that just wasn’t done. Then he was as good as gone, banished to the deep recesses of Bastian’s mind, and a sense of peace washed over him.
    A week. A whole week in which to make Julia fall in love with him.
    Colin who ran the club opened the cage door and tossed him a towel. Sebastian winced as he wiped the blood and sweat from his face. Though he healed quicker than normal, he was still going to have to do a glamor spell to hide the damage from Julia on Sunday.
    “Good fight,” Colin said.
    Bastian grinned. “I enjoyed it.”
    “I could tell. Look, I’ve got a job for you if you want it.”
    “What is it?”
    “Missing person.” He handed Bastian an envelope. “There’s a hair sample in there.”
    “Usual terms?”
    “Yes.”
    Colin was a go-between. A little like Bastian, he lived on the fringes of the supernatural world and the club enabled him to meet a lot of interesting people. He’d often put work Sebastian’s way, taking a cut of the extremely lucrative fees. Bastian had an excellent reputation as a seeker, his powers enabling him to find things, including people.
    “I’ll see to it tomorrow.” He’d go back to his place tonight, get some peaceful sleep, and do the spell in the morning. If he stayed away from Julia for a while, then the absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder thing might have a chance to work.
    On Sunday, he’d meet her family and make a good impression. He reckoned family was important to a girl like Julia. As he headed