We need to get outta here before some bright boy jumps into the ring and the rest follow.
I wasn’t gonna ask Mira to finish Greel off, so I jogged over, wedged open a hole in his metal coffin, called up a dagger, and severed both his carotid artery and jugular vein with one quick slice. Then I quick-stepped back to avoid the blood that spurted up in a fountain.
I guess it wouldn’t make a difference. I’m already soaked in Og’s blood up to my armpit.
Less than ten seconds passed before Greel stopped blubbering. Another ten and his body was stone.
A gong sounded, and Rock stood up.
#
Mira
A boulder-shaped rephaim stood in the umpire chair and somehow enhanced his voice over the crowd, which had devolved into chaos.
“You have the victory this day, Kerry Harker. All that belonged to Og is now yours.” He acknowledged the win by lowering his head, but not his eyes. “Take your kith and leave, lest some of my hothead kin forget themselves.”
“Bring it on!” Kerry planted his feet and raised his face to the rephaim. “It would give me great pleasure to cleanse the world of your filthy race.”
Enough.
I yanked off a charm, popped it in my mouth and, with effort, scooped Rome up in my arms. Staggering under his weight, I carried his furry butt over to Kerry.
I. Have. Had. Enough!
I clamped a hand on his shoulder and chomped down on the charm. Power, dry and bitter, flared against my teeth, making me grimace.
We landed in a tangled heap on the living room floor of the safe house. I lay there with my head tipped back and my eyes closed and fought the intense urge to vomit.
“Where have you all been?” Jax stood over us with his hands on his hips. “And why didn’t you ask us to join the fun?”
“Where did this dog come from?” Gigi twirled one of her black curls around her index finger. “Ooo, is it Rome? It must be. He’s gone, too, and I can’t see him letting you two get into trouble without him.”
Kerry, who had ended up beneath me somehow, was squirming and pulling at his hand, which I still held tight. I squeezed it—hard—and heard him yelp.
“Be still, Harker! You can handle it for one …freaking…MINUTE!”
He went still. Rome made that hurt-dog whine as he lay in a crushing weight on top of me. Jax, realizing the problem, tried to lift him off me.
“Dang, Rome! You’re heavy!” He half-shoved, half-lifted the mastiff off of me.
“Where’d you go?” Gigi asked.
“I had something I needed to take care of and they tagged along.” Kerry’s voice was muffled, and I realized he was lying on his belly with me sprawled over his back.
I dropped his hand and rolled to the side, gulping back bile. I wasn’t sure if it was a delayed reaction from actually killing someone, but everything in my stomach was making a bid for freedom. I ignored it and crawled over to kneel next to Rome. I laid my hand on his head, and his dark eyes latched onto mine.
“How bad is he, Jax?” I asked.
“Looks like his front legs are broken. Could be why he’s not shifting back.”
“Can you do anything for him?” I stroked his cheeks and saggy jowls and touched my nose to his wet one.
“Working on it.”
I could hear the others talking, but focused on Rome until Jax told me to move so he could work. Rusty orange coiled around the mastiff’s front legs and I didn’t want to get in the way, so I stood and turned on Kerry.
“What were you thinking?” Even I could hear the venom in my voice. “You wanted to stay there and go toe-to-toe with the entire tribe! You coulda been killed, you idiot!”
