King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

369

Sephle

Andrei’s opponent took advantage of his momentary lack of focus when he was worried about me to launch his first attack. Rude. He landed the first hit, which Andrei took like a pro. 1 could feel that he almost enjoyed it. He was calm, like he was feeling out the other guy’s skills first.

Andrei might’ve been calm, but my anger was coming to the surface watching the other guy in the ring with him. He was so f**king smug it was irritating. I found myself wishing I could give Andrei some of my anger. Since I’d learned how to control it better, it was quite useful, especially when sparring. It amped up the intensity for me. I felt stronger and faster when I was using my anger.

Andrei pushed as shole #1 back, then I caught him looking at me, a look of surprise on his face. I saw it, but it didn’t quite register as I was still busy thinking about how I wanted to share my anger with him.

We watched as Andrei played it safe with his opponent for a few more minutes, but then we all saw it happen. It looked exactly like what they’d been telling me happened when my switch flipped. Andrei’s switch flipped and he went from defense to offense in a split second.

“Holy shi t, who knew he had a switch too,” Misha said behind me.

Once he switched, I could feel Andrei’s anger just as clearly as Adrik and Ivan. I could also clearly feel that his was feeding into mine, the same way the other two did. There was a difference to him, too. While both Adrik and Ivan felt like chaos personified, Andrei’s anger was quiet. Controlled, but no less deadly. I found myself happy to feel it.

I wanted to tell the guys what I was feeling, but I didn’t want to interrupt Andrei’s focus, so I waited. While as shole #1 had started the match thinking that he had the upper hand, it was very obvious that he was sadly mistaken. Andrei was on the attack and that guy couldn’t do anything but try to defend himself as best he could. He kept trying to position himself against the ropes, but each time Andrei would push him away from the ropes. They knew if someone got caught on the ropes, the match was essentially done. He was trying to end the match without an obvious surrender and Andrei wouldn’t give it to him. I was so proud of him in that moment.

As shole #1 gave out before he could get the match ended. His legs gave out on him and he tripped trying to step away from Andrei. He landed hard on the mat and stayed down long enough that we all knew he was done for. We watched him tap the mat twice, indicating that he gave up and was clearly admitting defeat. Andrei simply turned away from him, wulking back toward us. Once he was facing away from the others, we saw him smile. My heart might’ve swelled watching him take pride in what had just happened.

He climbed out of the ring, wiping the swent from his face. He caught my eye and I knew he had something he wanted to talk about, but he stayed quiet as it was Misha’s turn. Once Misha climbed into the ring, Andrei took his spot behind me. He leaned forward, quietly saying, “whatever you just did for me, do the same for him. It helped.”

me and then him. I looked back at Andrei, somewhat

were thinking about, think the same with Misha. You’ll see,”

ring. He had a little less bravado

me. “Do it again,” was

my help, but I wanted an extra “f**k you” to those two as sholes. Misha was holding his own with his opponent, learning his moves just as Andrei had done. I concentrated on my anger, noticing

ΠΕ.

He switched to offense in the blink of an eye. He was faster than Andrei, as Misha was a little leaner than the other guys. He was similar to Adrik’s build. He probably had an easier time finding suits than

out that there was a feeling of f**kery in his anger. He was working to figure out how best to embarrass that guy in front of everyone, for maximum humor and maximum embarrassment.

the mat hard and fast. It knocked the wind out of the guy. He almost lost consciousness, but managed to hang on. He was smart enough

at me, his eyes wide. “How did you do

other guys. He said quietly, “not now.

were still with everyone else. Aleksei walked over, clearly amused at what had just happened. “I’m going to get enjoyment out of this for a very long time,” he said. The other guys that had been with Vitaliy for

his face. “You’ve given me a treat this morning,” he said before walking back into the gym to complete his

up so we could take advantage of having the penthouse to ourselves for a few minutes before Vitaliy and

they weren’t close enough to hear Andrei after his match. Andrei said, “I don’t know how, but she managed to push her anger to me. It was like an in sane power boost for

of those magic mushrooms,” he said, his wide smile stretching

at me, surprised. He’d been feeling me pushing things to him for a while now, but neither of us knew I’d be able to do it with anyone else. “Is

It was more difficult. They feel different,

off the charts, princess. I