UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) by Tabatha Kiss

“Just surprised.”
    “Yeah, well…” He tosses the rest of the roll onto a shelf nearby. “Going legit means dropping lots of bad habits.”
    I chuckle. “I know what you mean…”
    “So I’ve heard,” he quips, pausing a moment. He juts to the side, ready to wander over to the others, but turns back to me instead. “Look, Claire… I’m sorry about that day at the gas station. Being a professional asshole was kind of my thing back then.”
    I blink, repeating his words over in my head in case I misheard. There’s a lot I’ve grown to expect from Pike the Punisher. Empathy and remorse don’t exactly make the list. “It’s okay…” I clear my throat. “Thank you.”
    He turns without another word and walks to the back of the gym. I look out the window again, feeling even more uneasy than I did before. Wind brushes wild passed the windows, whistling by, drawing another batch of snowflakes to the ground below. I turn away as voices pull me towards the boxing ring where Amy and Ryan pass words back and forth.
    “So, you guys will have to dig into them until they tap out,” she says, shrugging her shoulders.
    “Kings don’t tap out,” he replies, almost out of reflex. “No, we’ll have to knock them out completely.”
    “Really?” I ask.
    “The option is there, of course, but we’re trained to ignore it,” he explains. “Any King that does tap out is basically ostracized for it and never sees the inside of a ring again. For them, every fight is a blood duel.”
    I look down, my eyes falling to the tattoo on his right hand. A King only receives that tattoo if he wins a fight. It’s hard to imagine, as suave as Ryan is, that he’s capable of that much brutality.
    “Jeez…” Amy rolls her eyes. “So much for a gentleman’s club.”
    “We don’t have cutesy nicknames either,” he bites back. “You’re not going to find any Untouchables or Punishers among us.”
    She narrows her gaze at him. “You’re really comfortable saying we .”
    He stares back and crosses his arms. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
    “Guys, come on ,” Tobias sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “We need to focus. Ryan, is there anything else we should know?”
    Ryan shifts his attention away from Amy and chews on his lip. “They aren’t big on theatrics. Entertaining the crowd isn’t exactly their top priority.”
    “What do you mean?” I ask.
    “A King is trained to end a fight in as few moves as possible. You hit hard, you hit fast, and you take them down. They don’t play cat and mouse like Alphas do to win over an audience. It’s their motto. Show no mercy. ”
    I look at Tobias as a rush of fear tingles my toes.
    “Okay then,” Pike says, cracking his taped knuckles. “Let’s get started.”
     
    ***
     
    “Again!”
    Tobias grits his teeth and settles back into his fighting stance across from Ryan. He keeps his eyes forward, although I can clearly see him pushing against the urge to glare at Pike as he barks orders at them from outside the ring.
    They’ve been sparing for hours now, taking whatever instruction Pike throws at them. While I’m full of sympathy for them, they haven’t heard a peep from me the entire time, nor from Amy, as we sit back and watch our boys glistening with body sweat.
    Tobias holds up a hand, signaling for a break and Ryan nods with enthusiasm.
    “Tobias!” Pike shouts. “Let’s go.”
    “We’re just taking a minute,” he fires back.
    “You can take a minute next week.” Pike rubs the short hairs on his head, scratching at his scalp.
    Tobias spins around to look at him, dripping beads of sweat to the mat as he moves. “I don’t see you throwing any punches up here…”
    “ I’m not the one going up against my nemesis in four days. Believe me when I tell you Rick isn’t sitting around on his ass right now drinking mimosas. Again!”
    Tobias clenches his jaw and rests his hands on his hips. His eyes suddenly shift towards me and the intensity of his