Break This! (A 300 Moons Book) (4 page)

C
hance stood in the stark
, echoing, concrete hallway, listening to the screams of the fans out in the arena. Out there he would be all glamour, silk robe shining in the lights.

But back here he was just one more nervous fighter in a string of men and women who had stood in this dank hallway - hoping to beat the odds and avoid injury and the wrong kind of scandal, hoping to become a champion.

Alexei slapped him on the back like he was a pony at a child’s birthday party, encouraging him to get going.

“He’s in,” the guy at the end of the hallway said into his earpiece.

Instantly the bass thumped in the arena, and Chance walked into the back of the crowd just as the blistering lead-guitar riff of
Strength of the Pack
kicked in.

His brother’s song always got him pumped up. Their shifter animals might be diverse, but their foster family was a pack nonetheless. And Johnny’s song hit Chance just right, making him want to do Harkness Farms proud. Too bad he couldn’t do that tonight.

The crowd spotted him and started to cheer as he made his way to the cage. Some of them sang and howled along with his entrance music, getting almost as pumped as he was.

It was an otherworldly feeling to be the recipient of the waves of admiration, jealousy and lust his bear scented in the air. The first few times the bear had cowered and Chance had entered the arena almost alone, without the shadowy presence of his other self.

Now the bear seemed to enjoy the raucousness of the crowd.

Chance reached out to high-five excited fans along the way. They were all shouting to him, things he couldn’t understand. He shook a woman’s hand and she said, “Thank you,” with tears in her eyes, though Chance couldn’t imagine what she could be thanking him for.

Crazy, they’re all crazy
, Jade liked to say about the fans.

But Chance wasn’t sure that was right. Sure, they were amped up, just like he was. But mostly they were yearning, just like Chance was, like Jade was - hoping to reach beyond the ordinary and have something remarkable happen. And if they couldn’t do it for themselves, they were looking to Chance to do it for them. Because they had
discovered
him, and related to him. Because they wanted to own some piece of his victory, and wallow in some share of his defeat.

And Chance thought that was pretty fucking awesome.

“I love you, Chance,” a teenaged girl shouted to him from behind three rows of reaching hands. Her face was a mess of braces and acne, and lit from within by an earnest sweetness.

“I love you too, kid,” he shouted back to her.

The crowd went nuts.

The betting odds on tonight’s match-up were close, but he was definitely the fan favorite.

Van Blanco, who was already waiting in the cage, was much better at trash-talking than Chance. In the run up to the fight, Blanco had said a lot of things to build up the hype. But it also served to put the fans behind Chance.

Chance had actually met Van in person a few times before the match was announced. He was a pretty nice guy, but he was
really
good at acting bad, and the fans ate that shit up.

So as the fight approached, Van built up his persona as the trash-talking, tattooed bad boy, and Chance played up his image of the clean-cut, all-American boy-next-door, who was going to shut him up.

The execs in the ACL couldn’t be happier. This was one of the most anticipated non-title fights in the history of the organization. In fact, they had bumped it up to the main event after the great fan response started to take off.

Chance entered the cage, ignoring Van, who was showboating for the crowd. He scanned the audience as the announcer rattled off the introductions.

It was odd that Jade hadn’t visited him backstage, but she probably didn’t want to break his concentration.

In the front row, he spotted the owner of the ACL, Jason Garelli, sitting with his friend West Worthington. West was a big supporter of MMA, on and off the mat. He’d bankrolled the startup for the ACL because of his love of the sport. And West was a bit of a legend himself. He’d never competed in MMA, but he was the first American to win the Jiu Jitsu world championships in Brazil.

Chance spotted the cane leaning next to him. West hadn’t been on the scene much since his accident last year. He’d fallen out a twelfth story window - he was lucky to even be alive.

Jason caught Chance’s eye and gave him a thumbs up.

Chance nodded in recognition.

Jason and West were big fans of Jiu Jitsu, and that was Van’s specialty, not his.

He looked over to his reserved guest seats. One was for Mom, it would be empty. She could never stand to see him fight, but he always reserved a seat for her, just in case.

His sister Darcy usually came to his matches, but she was planning on holing up at their brother Derek’s cabin in the Poconos because of the whole 300th moon thing this month.

His brothers sometimes showed up, but they were both tied up tonight too.

Fleetingly, Chance wondered if he shouldn’t have heeded his mother’s warning about taking a fight during his 300th moon.

Well, it was too late to worry about it now.

Another familiar face caught his eye from a few rows back. This one was less friendly. The eyepatched visage of Mr. Draven looked on, ready to report the results of the fight to his boss.

Chance looked away and jogged in place a little, getting his arms and legs loosened up a bit.

It looked like his cheering section would be small tonight - just Jade and maybe a couple of her friends. Only Jade was nowhere to be found.

Her seat was empty. Where in the world could she be? There was no way she would miss the biggest fight of his career.

A wave caught his eye. Someone was moving toward the empty seats. It wasn’t Jade. It was her friend.

The one from the magazine. Thea Harlow.

Chance felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he thought about his last “reading” of that particular periodical.

He gave her a smile that he hoped didn’t look as goofy as it felt.

She smiled back and he was surprised to feel something ache in his chest. It was as if having Thea there was enough - no family, no Jade - just this woman with a big goofy smile to match his own. Had they even exchanged two words?

He turned back to the center of the cage. He was probably just getting sentimental because it was a big match. Jade was going to be his mate, not Thea. And if Thea was here, that meant Jade probably wasn’t far behind, which was good. Maybe they had just been taking a bathroom break or something.

Chance began to tunnel his focus in on his opponent, the same way he did every match, and the rest of the world fell away.

It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore, except the fight.

This was why he fought - This feeling of absolute concentration that he couldn’t find anywhere else. It told him this was what he was meant to do.

To fight. To win.

But not tonight. Tonight, he needed to put that feeling aside. For Jade. Because if he won tonight, she would lose everything. And he would lose her.

Chance touched gloves with Van Blanco and went to his corner.

“Stick to the game plan,” Alexei rasped.

Chance nodded.

Truthfully, he didn’t have much of a game plan. He didn’t really know how you were supposed to lose a fight.

He couldn’t just walk out there and fall over. It needed to look convincing. He’d seen enough internet theories of thrown fights and “phantom punches” to know that. The fans, Alexei and probably even Miss Sharp would be furious. And Jason Garelli would see to it that he never got another match.

No, the best way would be for Van to beat him in a way people might suspect would have happened anyway. But what way was that?

Remember, keep that left hand up when you go for the takedown. He’ll be looking for the opening,
Alexei’s voice echoed in Chance’s head.

There it was.

“You ready?” the ref asked Chance.

He nodded.

“You ready?” he turned to Van.

Van lifted his chin in assent.

“Let’s go!” the referee shouted, and the bell rang.

Both men moved to the center of the ring.

The first few minutes were a feeling out process. Chance and Van were respectful of one another’s abilities. Neither wanted to rush in.

They had a few good exchanges. Van was a little quicker, but Chance’s blows were doing more damage.

Chance landed a combo and shot in for the takedown, keeping both hands up, defensively.

He felt the hard punch from Van on the way in, but it was mostly absorbed by his glove.

Alexei was right. Blanco was looking for that opening.

Chance continued the takedown attempt and they ended up on the mat, Chance on top.

He was between Van’s legs, in the guard position.

Chance knew he could do damage from here, but he also knew Blanco could easily submit him if he made a mistake. Since he wasn’t really worried about losing, he decided to throw caution to the wind.

Chance hauled back and began to pepper Van with body shots.

When Blanco reacted, he started dropping bombs.

A few landed, stunning Blanco for just a second.

Chance forgot all about his plan and tried to improve his position by passing Blanco’s guard.

But Blanco was ready.

Not as stunned as he looked, he entangled one of Chance’s arms and went in for the submission.

Chance defended. They scrambled.

Both men made it to their feet, the crowd going nuts as the bell rang to end the first round.

Alexei and the corner men were all over him, tending his abrasions and talking him up.

“You’ve got this,” Alexei said, pouring a little water into Chance’s mouth as if he were a baby bird. “But you can’t go chasing him like that. He’s setting you up. You need to tire him out. Take him into the deep water.”

R
ound two started with a flurry
. Both men traded punches in the center of the ring.

Chance was getting the better of it. He saw his shot and went for the takedown, purposefully dropping his left hand.

Blanco didn’t disappoint. He hit Chance with a big right hand, stopping him in his tracks and reversing the momentum of the fight.

Chance staggered back, genuinely stunned. He hadn’t thought Van could hit like that.

Blanco pursued, trapping Chance against the cage.

The crowd was on its feet. They could smell the blood in the water.

Van landed another good shot, and another.

This was it.

Suddenly, Chance’s chest began to burn. The pain was an ocean this time.

His bear surged protectively to the surface.

Chance was in trouble, and the bear was going to defend him.

No.

With the last of his free will, he let himself fall to the mat, hoping the ref would stop the fight quickly.

Van followed in, landing a big shot, rearing back for another.

The ref moved in.

Van’s punch sailed toward Chance’s face.

And his arm moved to block it, seemingly of its own accord.

Van punched. Chance defended again. He wanted to drop his hands, but he wasn’t in control anymore.

He felt the bear lift him, struggling, to get to his feet.

Van wrapped an arm around Chance’s neck and began to squeeze, trying to lock him up in a guillotine choke as he rose, but it didn’t even slow him down.

Instead of defending properly, Chance stood up straight, lifting the big man clean off the mat with him. He kept straightening, taking Van up over his head.

No. No, no, no, no.

Not in control of his own body, Chance reversed the motion, slamming Blanco to the mat with enough force to shake the whole cage.

The crowd let out a collective gasp.

The arm around his neck went limp.

Chance stood over Van, who was lying motionless on the mat.

Chance felt himself haul back to strike again.

A hit from his bear, to an unconscious opponent would kill him for sure.

But he couldn’t stop it.

No, please, no.

The ref tackled him at the last second, and the bell rang again and again.

Startled, the bear made a move to go after the ref. But the pain in his chest was gone. The danger had passed. Chance was back in control.

The fight was over. Chance had won.

He should have been filled with elation, but all he felt was dread.

He looked into the crowd for Draven, dread filling his stomach.

But Draven’s seat was empty.

T
hea’s heart
pounded frantically as she watched the two men circle each other in the ring.

She’d never been a big fan of fighting, but there was something about the two powerful men squaring off that appealed to some primal part of her.

Or maybe it was just that instant she had shared with Chance before the match began that still had her heart thumping in her chest.

He’d looked right at her and then smiled like she was the sun after a storm.

Thea had never felt such warmth from a look. She’d grinned back like an idiot.

And he’d looked away pointedly, making her feel like an oaf.

Shit.

That was Jade’s boyfriend. What kind of a friend was Thea, smiling at him like that?

What kind of girlfriend is Jade?

But of course that wasn’t any of Thea’s business.

The bell rang to end the first round, startling her, just as Jade shoved her way through the crowd to stand next to her.

“Anything good happen?” Jade asked, running a hand through her tousled mane.

Thea gaped at her until she realized that Jade only meant the fight.

“Oh, right, ha!” Jade laughed, poking Thea a little too hard in the ribs and shaking her head. “You’d have no idea, right? This one’s MMA, not hammer toss, okay?”

“Right,” Thea said gratefully, with perhaps a bit too much emphasis.

It didn’t matter though, since Jade had already slipped her phone out of her pocket and was texting madly. Thea thought about reaching over and frying that stupid phone. It wouldn’t take much - she’d barely have to touch it. But she decided against it and turned her attention back to the cage.

The fight started up again. Thea had a hard time following, but it was very clear when Chance got into trouble. Suddenly, the other guy was all over him, and Chance was hardly able to keep his hands over his face.

“
Defend yourself
,” Jade screamed like a banshee.

But it didn’t take an expert to see how this one was going to end.

And then, as if moved by an invisible hand, Chance was lifting his opponent over his head and slamming him viciously to the ground.

“
Yes, yes, yes
,” Jade screamed as Chance fell onto the other man to hit him again.

Thea gasped, shocked that Chance could be so brutal.

And then the referee knocked him out of the way and it was over.

Jade was out of her seat as the bell rang, headed for the cage, leaving Thea behind.

Again.

Thea watched as Jade scaled the side of the cage and dropped right in, like it was no big deal.

Chance knelt over the unconscious Blanco, holding one of his hands.

Thea had a disturbing flash of herself in the same position, kneeling over the old man, sirens wailing in the distance, her friends yelling at her to run, before abandoning her as the sirens grew too close. That was the day she learned that her powers were more than just for fun. That a pacemaker was easier to stop than a radio.

Thea hadn’t thought about that day in a long time. She shuddered and turned her attention back to the cage, where Jade was trying to get Chance back to his feet.

He shrugged her off, refusing to budge until the coaches and ring doctor came in for the other guy, forcing him away.

Thea saw the pain in Chance’s eyes as they raised his hand and announced him as the winner. She knew the look. She’d worn it herself for too long.

He was obviously a little shaken up by the outcome of the fight, but there was more. Something about the way he was looking at Jade. Thea couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

He couldn’t know Jade had been cheating on him, could he?

The stage glittered madly as the photographers clicked away. Somehow, Jade seemed to get herself into every shot.

She was already talking trash about the current champ, telling everyone he was next.

The medics brought in a stretcher for Blanco, but he stumbled to his feet.

The crowd cheered.

Chance tried to go to him, offering him a hand, but Van refused. Instead, he leaned in to say something to Chance, then turned his back on him and stormed out of the cage.

A guy with a mic came out and asked Chance how he felt.

Suddenly, his clean-cut face with its haunted expression filled the screen over the arena.

“I want to thank my coach and my family,” he said simply.

“How do you feel about your performance tonight?” the interviewer asked. “I think everyone’s going to be talking about that second round for a long time, Chance.”

“Things didn’t go as planned at the end, but I was able to adjust,” Chance said. “I worked hard, and I’ve got a great coach. I’m looking forward to fighting for the title.”

The fans cheered as he left the cage with Jade beside him.

Thea watched them go, feeling desolate and wondering if it was just the long night and the unwanted memories, or if something was actually off.

Everyone around her began to pick up and leave.

Her cell phone dinged.

Jade - telling Thea she had to show up for the epic after party.

With a sigh, Thea decided she’d had enough for one night.

Besides, she had a date with her laptop. To go over the plan one more time.

Because a hundred times wasn’t enough.