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.”

him as well. They turned to look at me and then him. I looked

about, think the same with Misha. You’ll

felt nervous, too. The same as Andrei did when his match first started. I watched as shole #7 climb into the ring. He had a little less bravado than his buddy, but he was still more smug than I would’ve liked. It suddenly hit

me. “Do it again,”

give him even more of an advantage. It was clear with Bubba that he didn’t need my help, but I wanted an extra “f**k you” to those two as sholes. Misha was holding

ΠΕ.

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 the other four guys. But

He was working to figure out how best to embarrass that guy

wind out of the guy. He almost lost consciousness, but managed to hang on. He was smart enough to tap out though. He didn’t want a repeat of that fall. Misha stood over him for a moment while the guy tried to catch his breath. He didn’t

he looked straight at me,

noticed the looks from some of the other guys.

nodded. Viktor and Stephen walked up, congratulating Misha and Andrei. They picked up on something, but didn’t ask about it while we were still with everyone else. Aleksei walked over, clearly amused at what had just happened. “I’m

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

come to the penthouse before getting cleaned up so we could take advantage of having the penthouse to ourselves for a few minutes before Vitaliy and Aleksei got

were curious about what happened, as they weren’t close enough to hear Andrei after his match. Andrei said, “I don’t know how, but she managed to push

mushrooms,” he said, his wide smile stretching across

things to him for a while now, but neither of us knew I’d be

was more difficult. They feel different, too,”

levels were off the charts, princess. I could feel that,” Ivan said.