Page 93 of Cruel Abandon (Fallen Royals 5)

Well, the giant falls.

We all stand in shocked silence for a moment, the huge man crumpled at Liam’s feet in the center of the circle.

“Get him out of here,” RJ yells.

Liam’s gaze swings around and finds me. He stalks toward us.

Colt shoves me forward, through the crowd. His hand fists in my hair, keeping my head tilted back. Something sharp digs into my throat. “No,” he yells. “Fight again.”

Liam pauses, his hands floating up next to him. “Easy, man.”

The crowd edges away from us.

“Fight. Again.”

RJ whistles, drawing attention back to him in the center of the ring. “Come on, Morrison. Be a good sport.”

I flinch at Liam’s expression. He’s murderous.

But someone else—another fighter—steps over the chalk line and raises his hands.

The crowd seems to take me being at knifepoint in stride. This is Howl, anyway. Blood is just part of the game.

I’m part of the game now.

“See, sweetheart?” Colt says in my ear. “They want what I want. They don’t give a fuck.”

“Liam does,” I say.

A knife at my throat, a room full of people… and I’m not screaming for help. I might be as crazy as them.

“Are you okay?” Liam asks me. He ignores the pacing man behind him, RJ and Colt, the screaming people around us.

I lift one shoulder—it’s the best I can do under these circumstances. I’m not dead, so…

He tears his gaze away from me and rotates. The audience can sense the shift in the room, because the noise level skyrockets. It rattles around in my ears.

“Morrison, round two,” RJ yells. “He obviously needs no introduction. And facing him is Leroy Douglas. A legend in his own right.”

There’s a flurry of activity as people move toward another guy, one who holds a pad of paper, scribbling furiously.

Leroy says something under his breath. The two circle each other, and when Liam is on the opposite side, I catch his shit-eating grin.

It feels like hours later that RJ claps his hands. “Fighters ready?”

My heart seems to jump into my throat.

Both fighters nod and resume circling each other. I expect Liam to do as he did before, to dominate, but maybe he’s worried that will only get both of us killed. It’s clear that Colt has an idea of how this should go.

“He’s fighting,” I say. “You may as well release me.”

Leroy springs forward, faster than I would’ve anticipated. He gets in a few hits before Liam throws him off.

Colt snickers. “Yeah? I think I want a bit more than that. I want Liam to lose. And you’re the key to that.”

I grimace, but we don’t move. Any number of things could happen for Liam to lose—all it would take is one distraction.

He could slit my throat, and I’d be no better than Natalie. I know exactly what I’d look like in the end thanks to her.