“We have to do something,” I furiously whispered to Rome. Peeking up through my lowered lashes, I watched in horror as Luka’s concrete fists flew at Dozier’s face. “This isn’t going to end well.”

Dozier’s crew were already converging on the cage. Not interceding yet, just watching. Even though the two men had been scheduled to fight anyway, they, along with everyone else watching, had seen Luka’s reaction to Dozier’s offer. They knew this was no longer a fight between two opponents. This was a beatdown between two enemies.

Dozier’s men were ready—waiting—to take Luka out if he crossed the line.

And judging by the relentless swinging of his fists and the maniacal glint in his eyes, he wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon.

He was going savage.

And Dozier wasn’t just taking it. He was coming at Luka with everything he had and Luka couldn’t block every hit. He took some to the ribs, to the kidneys, to the face. Dozier had skill, and with the addition of both of these men’s tempers, it was turning into a bloodbath.

“The asshole had it coming,” Rome responded in his signature gravelly voice. “Don’t worry about Luka. He’ll make Dozier bleed.”

Was he not getting the urgency of the situation here?

“He might be able to handle Dozier.” I was growing more anxious by the second. “But what happens when his crew goes in there after Luka makes him bleed too much?”

Rome’s eyes were dark and hidden under even darker eyelashes, so you could never get a good read on what the man was thinking or feeling. But I knew that gaze was scanning over the crowd, back and forth, on high alert for oncoming threats.

“The rest of us are ready for a fight,” he murmured, referring to his other brothers in the crowd. “Trust me, it would be far from the first one we’ve ever been in.” He shifted closer to me and lowered his voice. “What about you? Are you ready?”

I’d been getting the sense that Rome hadn’t been sold on me from the beginning. It felt as though he’d been holding back his judgment until he’d learned more about me. As if he wasn’t sure I was right for Luka and needed to see proof first. Which I understood. Family were always the hardest people to convince. I respected him for caring about his twin that much.

“When it comes to Luka, I’m always ready. It wouldn’t be the first fight I’ve ever been in either.”

Again, Rome kept all of his emotions so close to the vest, you’d think he didn’t have any. But even I could feel the surprise my confidence stirred in him.

My head was still lowered, so I allowed my mouth to curve into a grin. “I’m tougher than I look, Rome. My life has been the complete opposite of white picket fences and three-course meals. I’ve seen my share of muerte.” Death. “And I’m not going to run away if it tries coming for me. Or for Luka.”

I hoped the grunting noise he made was Rome’s sign of approval.

“I’m really starting to believe that, Cat.”

The vicious sounds of flesh connecting with flesh had me lifting my gaze long enough to spot the two men on the opposite side of the cage. Both were covered in sweat with blood dripping from their faces, but neither looked close to stopping. Dozier’s men were lined up around the cage, bouncing on the balls of their feet, clearly eager to participate in the bloodshed.

They’ve got murder in their eyes.

There weren’t rules in The Slaughterhouse. And I could tell these guys really weren’t going to play fair. They had weapons sheathed at their sides and holstered on their hips and shoulders.

Inside the cage was one-on-one fighting.

Outside the cage? Anything was on the table.

Luka reared back his fist and, with all his might, drove it into Dozier’s jaw, snapping it to the side. I flinched when I heard the distinct crack of bones breaking. The LA champion went stiff as a board and collapsed onto the bloodied concrete floor.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

Dozier’s crew took that as their cue to scramble inside the cage and beeline for Luka.

“Shit,” Rome spat.

As he sprinted for the chain link gate, he released a loud whistle. The signal for the other Rossetti brothers to swarm in. Sure enough, Cris, Nico, and Ace pushed through the crowd seconds later and followed Rome inside the dirty cage that had suddenly become a war zone.

My heart was in my throat.

My stomach was in my toes.

Helpless, I watched as Luka took on two men at once, while the other four Rossettis split up Dozier’s crew amongst themselves. The brothers were definitely outnumbered, though they weren’t fighting like it. You sure as hell wouldn’t know the odds were against them. The crowd around me were like rabid animals, screaming and chanting and shaking the cage so violently, the chain links were bound to break free any second.

A reflection off an object inside the cage momentarily blinded me.

A huge Bowie knife.

One of Dozier’s men flipped the weapon over in his hand as he stood behind Luka, who was facing off with another man. He shuffled closer to Luka, preparing to ambush him from behind.

I had to act fast.

Frantically searching the space around me, I spotted an abandoned jump rope that one of the fighters must have used in his warm-up. I swiped it off the floor and rushed toward the gate, my pulse pounding in my ears with every stride. Luka was still fighting his current opponent and had no clue what was sneaking up behind him. Just as the bastard lifted the knife above his head and prepared to drive it into Luka’s shoulder, I leapt onto his back and wrapped the jump rope around his thick neck.

“What…the…fuck,” he croaked, his body jerking to try and buck me off.

As big as he was, I had to use every muscle in my legs and arms to keep the right amount of pressure on his throat. His fingers clawed at the rope but couldn’t loosen it. He tried swinging the knife around at me, but I ducked behind his back to avoid getting sliced.

I’m a lot more flexible than you, puta.

I saw the side of his face turning red as he struggled to suck in oxygen. But I wasn’t letting go until he dropped that knife and got the hell away from my boyfriend.

And there was way the hell too much going on to dwell on the fact that I’d just called Luka my boyfriend.

“Someone get this fucking bitch off me!” the man yelled.

Luka’s head whipped around, finally taking in what was going on behind him. He roared in outrage, threw the guy he was exchanging punches with against the fence, and drove his fist into the man I was choking.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Luka shouted at me, though his focus remained on the man I held. “Are you insane?”

After another punch to the stomach, the guy fell to his knees and doubled over. I slipped off his back but didn’t let go of that jump rope. As miniscule a weapon as it might have been compared to a Bowie knife, I didn’t want to be inside that cage with empty hands.

Crouching low, I prepared for the next attack.

But my arm was ripped to the side.

Luka’s enraged face filled my vision. “Stay the fuck behind me,” he growled and pushed me back.

“I have been,” I snapped. “That’s why you don’t currently have a knife sticking out of your back.”

When I returned my attention to the rest of the cage, the five Rossetti brothers were faced off against the last of Dozier’s men that remained on their feet.

All three of them.

The rest were lying on the stained floor, either knocked out or groaning in pain. Rome really hadn’t been kidding. These brothers had definitely been ready for a fight.

Luka stepped forward, his hands unconsciously curling into fists. “Let this be a lesson to all of you. I don’t know how things are done in LA, but here in New York, we take it very personally when someone insults our property. You’re lucky you didn’t get worse than what you got. Now, get your asses the fuck out of my city. And be grateful that we’re even allowing you to.”

The Dozier crew members’ faces all glittered with anger. But with the Rossetti brothers looming over them, they slowly hobbled out of the cage, the able-bodied ones helping carry the not-so-able ones out.

“Stay here,” Luka hissed before stalking across the cage to speak to his brothers, who didn’t look much worse for wear. A couple of split lips, some bloodied knuckles, and a puffy eye or two but that was it.

Once Luka finished talking to them, he stomped back over to me and—

Dios.

I’d never seen him so irate.

“Let’s go.”

He snagged my hand without pausing his long-legged gait and dragged me out of the cage, ignoring every person stupid enough to try and speak to him. He blew past the other fighters and didn’t wait for his brothers who were trailing behind us, presumably to watch our backs.

Just as we reached the long, dark tunnel that led to the exit, Luka pulled me in the opposite direction. “Where are we going?”

It was an entire network of tunnel systems down here, with multiple shadowy hallways that led into maze-like labyrinths in various directions. Spooky. As soon as we turned a corner from the main fight room, Luka pinned me against the stone wall and caged me in.

“Do you have no thought for your own safety?” he growled. “You just jump inside a death cage with nothing more than a fucking jump rope to protect you? What in the goddamn fuck were you thinking, Cat?”

I glared. “I was thinking about saving your ass. That hijo de puta had a humongous knife and was about to shove it right into your back!”

“That’s all, huh? You were putting your own life on the line in order to save mine?”

“That shouldn’t come as a surprise to you by now.”

He smirked. “I wouldn’t say surprise. More like a satisfying affirmation.”

“Of what? The fact that I care whether or not you get hurt? Did you think I was some heartless bitch?”

He gnashed his teeth. “Don’t ask me stupid questions. Matter of fact, just stop talking altogether.”

He made sure I couldn’t say another word by sealing our mouths together.

Calling it a simple kiss would be insulting.

What Luka did with his mouth in that moment was completely demolish my willpower. He desecrated my independence. Because I knew from that moment on, my soul would forever be dependent on his. Interconnected. Intertwined. The way his tongue swept into my mouth, wrecking and consuming in equal measure, was devastating to my self-preservation. Because it proved that I could no longer survive without this man.

The moment his stiffening cock brushed against my thighs, we both scrambled into action. Frantically shoving his shorts down and my panties aside, I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and guided him to my throbbing opening.

He pulled back.

Whimpering, my eyes pleaded with him to move. “Why did you stop?”

His fingers flew to the nape of my neck and tore at the metal chain of the collar I still wore. “Get that thing off now. I’m not going to fuck you with it between us. I’ve hated seeing something so ugly around your beautiful neck.”

Struggling to catch my breath after those intense statements, I tore at the metal clasp, finally releasing it after several attempts. Luka stripped the offensive piece of bondage off and tossed it to the floor, without giving it another thought.

Pinning my leg to his hip, he pushed inside me. He fucked me raw, hard, and dirty against that wall. There was no romantic ambiance or soft sheets beneath our feverish bodies. Coarse language and salacious promises mingled with the lewd symphony of slapping skin and breathless grunting. I inhaled the smell of blood and sweat instead of vanilla-scented candles or roses in full bloom.

I didn’t need him to be tender.

Didn’t need to be romanced.

I only needed to feel his desperation for me. Needed to feel how wild I drove him. Taste his obsession on my tongue and know his urges were so powerful and so singular, that only I could quell them.

“I need you to understand,” he panted as he pounded.

“Understand what?”

His fingers pinched my chin and held it still, forcing me to meet his blazing eyes. “That what you saw back there was child’s play compared to what I’m capable of if someone comes after you. I came close to killing him for just saying shit about you I didn’t like. Imagine what I’ll do if someone touched you. Hurt you. Fucking stole you.”

I don’t want to imagine that.

“Why are you saying this?”

The lines around his mouth deepened. “Because I need you to feel safe with me. To know that no one will protect you like I will. And if that means ending someone’s life in order to keep you breathing, I’ll do it without batting an eye. I need you to understand how far I’m willing to go for you.”

I swallowed around the rising lump in my throat. “I’m not asking you to do that.”

He scowled. “No woman should ever have to ask her man to protect her.”

My heartbeat stuttered in my chest.

My man.

That sounded right.

His hips pistoned faster. “If I want the privilege of calling you mine, I’d better be willing to keep every other man away by any means necessary. If I left something like your safety up to chance, I wouldn’t deserve to have you in the first place.”

And we weren’t the type of people to have conversations like this while wrapped cozily around each other in bed as we fell asleep. We didn’t discuss our relationship over a bottle of wine and an expensive steak dinner, holding hands across the fancy tablecloth.

We made demands of each other while rutting against a filthy wall.

We laid claim to each other while he slammed inside my pussy in the darkness.

We solidified our connection while fucking in the middle of a slaughterhouse.

“I know I’m safe with you, Luka.” I cupped his cheek in my hand. “I understand.”

His gaze cleared of the concern that burned in it moments before. “Then show me. Milk my cum from me right now with that unbelievably tight cunt. Do it, because even though anyone could walk up and find us fucking, you know I would never let anyone else see you like this. Show me how much you believe that.”

“Oh, I’ll show you hard.”

He growled. “Fucking do it, baby.”

It only took a few more of his powerful thrusts to hurl us into mutual orgasmic ecstasy. After catching our breaths, he laid a final searing kiss on my lips. Then he pulled out, straightened my dress, and tucked himself back inside his shorts. Without a word, he took my hand and led us out of the shadows.

That was enough for me.

Feeling his hand in mine as his seed coated my inner thighs, while his words ran on a loop inside my head… That was us.

And it was more than enough for me.

Before we could leave that tunnel, though, disaster struck.

Footsteps rapidly pounded down the tunnel toward us. Tensing, Luka yanked me behind him and prepared for another fight. Only, it wasn’t an enemy that appeared out of the darkness.

It was Rome.

The panic in his eyes was alarming enough. Because it was a look I’d never seen him wear before. My heartbeat had taken off at a sprint before he was able to utter a single word.

“Gia’s missing,” he rushed out. “We can’t find her anywhere.”

My heart plundered to the deepest depths of the earth, while the rest of my body went into full paralysis.

Luka’s spine stiffened. “What?”

The twin brothers wore twin expressions of stark fear.

“She’s been taken, Luka.”