Alpha's Last Fight: A Paranormal Shapeshifter BBW Romance (8 page)

My heart was pounding and I was surprised to find that I wanted to watch this savage man, this animal, this fighter. Even after our brief run-in, I could sense that he was something more than most men. Certainly more than Tommy.

Why did I want him?
What the hell was wrong with me?
There were too many questions. Questions I didn’t have any answers for. But the two men in the ring were already circling each other.

The fight went quickly, and I only had to cover my eyes once, at the end. When it was clear his opponent wasn’t getting up, the winner - Hutch, I reminded myself, his name is Hutch - raised his fists. The crowd went insane. I couldn’t help myself either. Caught up in the noise of the crowd, my body moved with the rest of the spectators and my fists pumped with the pulse of the mob.

Despite myself, I hoped that he would look over again at me. Point at me. I didn’t know why I wanted it so much; I just did.

Instead, I watched as another woman climbed up the side of the fighting ring. She had long black hair tied back in a ponytail, a white tank top over her lean body. Every bit of her was tight muscle, and on her face was an expression of glee.

The next fighter? No. She wrapped her arms around Hutch and kissed him with such passion that the crowd’s cries rose again.

Except mine. Jealousy surged through me with such force that I had to look away or risk letting the monster loose. My face was red, my blood pressure so high that I could feel my veins beating against my skin, trying to escape.

“What is it?”

Tommy touched my arm and I jerked away. I couldn’t have him touching me. Not now. Not when I was feeling like this. I grabbed my cardigan and pushed my way away from him, away from the fight, away from Hutch and his girlfriend making out in the center of the ring. I couldn’t handle this.

“Hey! Natalie!”

I heard Tommy behind me, following me, and I just moved faster. The crowd was so loud, the air was so hot. I needed to get
out
.

“Natalie!”

I shoved my way through a group of large men and made for the door. The security guards stood back to let me out, and I propelled myself out of the doorway and into the night, stumbling to the side of the building.

It was cool out here, and I gulped breaths of air gratefully. Leaning against the wall of the warehouse, I could feel the sheet metal shudder with the roar of the crowd. The metal was nice and cold against my forehead, though, and I closed my eyes to breathe in and out. The monster was locked away. Locked away for good. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“Natalie!”

A hand grabbed my shoulder and I spun, a growl escaping my throat before I knew to stop it. Tommy backed away one step, a frightened look on his face. Guilt surged up into my throat, a bilious that I swallowed back down. I shouldn’t scare Tommy. Never again, not like before.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“What the hell was that?”

“I couldn’t—I couldn’t watch—”

“What? The fight was over.” Tommy’s brows creased, tugging together at the middle.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what do you mean? Why did you leave?”

“I...I don’t know.” I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. Behind Tommy, the crowd was beginning to stream out of the warehouse doors. Lights flashed in front of me, the bright stadium lights in the warehouse filtered through the bodies of the crowd. The smell they brought with them was the smell of the fight, and my body twisted inside.

“You seemed fine during the fight,” Tommy said. He caressed my shoulder with one hand, tentatively, as though unsure if I would bite.

“I was, I was. It was just...after.” I blinked hard but the lights didn’t go away.

“Oh? You mean the fighter kissing his bitch. Was that what did it?” An edge of bitterness crept into his voice and his hand clamped down on my shoulder.

“It wasn’t...I couldn’t breathe,” I sputtered. “I didn’t want to be there.”

“Did you want to go home with him? You think that’s how this works?” Tommy leaned forward, his voice hissing. “You think that’s why I brought you here?”

“No!” I cried. His fingers gripped my shoulders, and I cringed under his hold. “Tommy, no! I just—”

“Do you want to fuck him or do you want to fuck me?”

Tommy stared at me, his face inches from mine. My mind went blank. I didn’t want to fuck anyone. I didn’t want anything to do with this. My body still ached with the desire and adrenaline of the crowd, though, and I clenched my teeth together, unsure how to respond.

“This was a mistake,” Tommy said. He let go of my shoulder and stepped back.

“Yes,” I said, getting my voice back. “Yes, it was.”

“I should have known someone like you couldn’t handle all this.”

“Maybe you should have warned me,” I said. Now that he wasn’t so close to me, I wasn’t scared of losing myself and hurting him. The monster had subsided inside me, its roar now a dull hum in my bones. “Maybe you should have told me about this place before taking me here. I had no idea, Tommy.”

“I should have known that you would overreact like this.”

“I’m not overreacting.” Breathe in. Breathe out.

“I should have known you would lose control.”

“I didn’t!” My voice rose, and a few of the spectators looked over at us. I lowered my voice. “I didn’t.”

“Don’t lie to me, Natalie,” Tommy said. I could hear the pure hatred in his voice. I didn’t know what I had done to make him so angry with me, but I hated him at that moment. I hated him for bringing me here, for showing me this, for getting me all worked up and not supporting me through it.

“I’m not lying,” I said through gritted teeth. “If I’d lost control, Tommy, you would know it.”

We stared at each other and I saw realization dawn in his eyes. They widened slightly, then narrowed again.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Tommy—“

“After everything, this is what you do to me? After I take you out for a nice evening, after I find a place where you can see others like you? You have
no
idea what I’ve done for you. You ungrateful
bitch
.”

“Get away from me.”

My voice was low, shivering. I didn’t know what was happening inside of me, but I knew that Tommy was making it worse.

“Nat, don’t be an idiot.”

“Get
away
from me!”

One of the security guards stepped forward.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked.

Tommy looked over at me with slitted eyes, then smoothed the front of his shirt.

“No problem,” he said. “I was just leaving this young woman alone. Like she
asked
.”

He walked away toward the parking lot. I stood and watched him go. Fine. Let him leave. I could just call a cab.

One problem with that: I hadn’t brought my phone. Oh, well. There was sure to be a place inside where I could make a call. I took a deep breath and headed back into the warehouse, against the stream of the crowd.

The crowd wrapped around me, pushing past to get outside. I could barely see over the heads of the people around me. Ducking to one side, I found a waitress slipping past with a tray full of empty pitchers.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“Whaddya want?”

She looked down at me from under lidded eyes. I could feel the contempt oozing from her words as she looked me over. I saw myself as she saw me: frumpled, my dress stained with sweat, completely out of place.

“I was—is there somewhere I can make a phone call?”

“Anywhere you got a phone,” the waitress said.

“No, I mean, is there a phone I could use?”

“Here?”

“Somewhere in the back, maybe?” My eyes swept around the warehouse that was quickly clearing out. Surely there would be an office of some sort.

“Lemme guess, you want to go back to the locker rooms just to make a call.”

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, can I—”

“Listen,” the waitress said. “You townie bitches want to fuck the fighters, you get to them when they’re still in the ring. You ain’t getting back there with them now, not if they didn’t choose you to come.”

“No, I didn’t mean—I didn’t want—”

But the waitress had already turned on her heel and left me standing. I flushed hard. I turned to a couple stumbling toward the exit.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Do you have a cell phone I could use?”

The woman shook her head and looked up at the man.

“I don’t get reception out here,” he said, obviously annoyed at my question. They walked away, and I watched them go.

I asked another woman, who shrugged and ignored me. Nobody would help. All around me, people were pushing to get out of the warehouse. Surely one of them would have to have a phone. But everyone I asked either brushed me off or told me no.

Two guys in jeans and button down shirts walked past; one of them eyed me, his gaze sweeping over my dress. I opened my mouth to ask them, but something in the guy’s look made me hesitate. He pulled his friend over my way.

“Hey, babe,” he said. “You lost?”

“I’m trying to find a phone,” I said nervously. “I need to call a cab.”

“Cab? Ah, you can’t find a cab around here,” the other friend said, waving his hand dismissively in the air.

“You need a ride home?” the first guy said, grinning.

“I—” I was about to say no, but looking out at the quickly thinning crowd, I changed my mind. “Sure. I live over on the west side of town.”

“What a coincidence,” the guy said. “Mikey here lives on the west side.”

“Thank you,” I said, relief washing over me.

I followed them outside and around the side of the warehouse. The lights in the parking lot were dim, and I walked carefully to not stumble over any potholes. Finally we reached the back corner of the lot.

“This is my ride,” the guy named Mikey said, leaning against his car. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and offered me one. I shook my head. He lit his own and began to puff away. I stood with my arms crossed, waiting for them to unlock the door.

“I—uh, thank you,” I said. “For giving me a ride.”

“Sure thing,” the first guy said, coming over to stand in front of me. “Before you head out, though, maybe we could have a little fun.”

“Fun?” I looked over at Mikey, who turned to stroll away, blowing cigarette smoke in the air.

“You don’t want to end the night without a little fun,” the man said. His hand reached out for my thigh, and when I tried to twist away he planted his legs on either side of me, blocking my path. He leaned in and I recoiled against the side of the car.

“No,” I said, panic rising in my chest. “This—this was a misunderstanding. Sorry, I just wanted to get home.”

“Well, sure,” the man said. He was touching me now, his hand sliding down to cup my ass. “But a ride home, you think that’s free? That’s not free.”

“Let me go,” I said, trying to push him away. He grabbed my arm and shoved me hard against the car. My hip hit metal and a shock of pain ran through me. Adrenaline pumped hard in my veins, and I could feel the monster simmering up through my body.

“Come on now, baby,” he said.

“I’m not your baby. Let me go!”

“Ooh, you’re a fighter. That why you came here? To watch a fight? Or to have a little fight?” He leaned close to me, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. I tried desperately to keep myself from shifting. I hadn’t let the monster out in so long, and I didn’t want to now, unless it was my last chance. I could get out of this myself. “We can do a little fighting, if that’s what you’re into.”

He swept one leg between my thighs, pushing hard against me. His erection pressed into my leg.

“I haven’t had a good fight in a while,” he said, his eyes gleaming. His fingers pulled up on the hem of my dress.

“Don’t—”

“Try to stop me, just you try,” he whispered. “It’ll be fun if you try just a little.”

I breathed in hard. The monster was right there.
Right there.
All I had to do was let my guard down, just a crack—

“Hello, boys!”

The man spun away from me, and I swallowed the monster back inside. My hands trembled as the guy stepped away, letting me go.

Standing in the middle of the parking spot next to us was the fighter that I’d run into, the one who had pointed to me.

Hutch.

“Hutch, you dog!” Mikey went strolling over to the fighter. He tossed his cigarette butt down, grinding it out with his heel.

“What are you two lunatics doing sticking around after a fight?”

“We were just having a little fun,” the guy next to me said.

Hutch looked straight at me, and his eyes seemed to look right through my face into my other self. His brow bled from a cut he’d gotten during the fight, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all. I was still on the edge of shifting, trying to keep the monster back, and his smell was making it hard for me to stay human.

“That right?” he said.

“Aw, Hutch, you know these townie girls,” Mikey said. “They get lost.”

“And you were trying to get her unlost.”

“Sure.”

“What a gentleman.” Hutch dripped sarcasm. “Thanks for taking care of my girl until I was done cleaning up.”

“Your girl?” the guy next to me asked. His mouth dropped open in astonishment. “But—”

“Yeah,” Hutch said, snapping a look at the man that made him shut up in a hurry. “My girl.”

“Oh, sure. Sure thing, Hutch,” Mikey said. “Anytime.”

“You all done with having
fun
here?” he asked me pointedly. “Ready to go?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Okay, great. This will just take a minute.”

As he stepped past me something passed over Hutch like a ripple. He seemed… bigger somehow and his eyes. I was sure they were blue, but now it was like they were glowing like dull orange embers in a dying fire.

As he approached Mikey, his arm shot out, grabbing Mikey between the legs. Mikey gasped, and as Hutch began to lift him off the ground he began to whimper.

“Hutch… I didn’t know she was yours. I s...swear.”

When Hutch replied, it sounded like his voice was being broadcast through gravel, it was deep and rough and the sounds rolled off his tongue with a deep inhuman growl that sent shivers down my spine.