Rafe barked out a laugh. “Whoever Cassian Gray is, he’s one twisted f**k.”
Nathan stared at the accoutrements of sexual deviance and torture while his friend and comrade stepped inside to jingle one of the studded harnesses. “Leave it alone, Rafe. We’re wasting time. Cass isn’t here, obviously. Let’s go find the others and get out of here.”
As Rafe dropped the leather strap and they prepared to leave, Jax rushed in to meet them. His face was drawn and grave. “We’ve got a problem.”
“You find Cass?” Nathan asked.
Jax shook his head. “Apparently, we just missed him, if you can believe any of the club staff. The problem is Aric Chase. He’s downstairs at the cages. With Rune.”
“Jesus Christ,” Rafe hissed, coming up beside Nathan.
“Eli’s trying to break it up,” Jax said. “But Aric won’t stand down. Shit’s about to get ugly.”
Nathan growled a curse. “Is Carys here too?”
“Not tonight,” Rafe said. “She’s at the art museum with Jordana Gates. The two of them are hosting a patrons’ reception. They’ve been planning it for months.”
Nathan gave a tight nod, grateful for that small mercy. The last thing Carys Chase needed was to see her twin brother take a beating from the cage-fighting killer who’d recently begun sharing her bed.
If the Breed fighter and the daywalking female had shared anything else—namely a blood bond—Aric wouldn’t be the only member of the Chase family determined to kick Rune’s swarthy ass. Hell, Nathan would likely be willing to join that fight himself too.
He took off at a dead run, heading with Rafe and Jax for the cage arena in the lower level of La Notte. Shouts and roars and bloodthirsty applause thundered from the bowels of the former church.
And no sooner had he descended into the illegal sporting den than Nathan spotted Aric and Rune. They stood in front of the cages, Eli positioned in between them, mostly holding Aric back. Both Breed males were flashing fangs, eyes glowing bright amber in the dim light of the arena.
Nathan scowled at Jax. “What the f**k’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. It was already getting heated when Eli and I got down here.”
Another of La Notte’s fighters, a blond, long-haired Breed male named Syn, met Nathan’s hot glare from nearby as the din ratcheted up even higher among the spectators gathered in the arena. “Better rein in your baby warrior before Rune leaves him in bloodied shreds.”
“What’s Rune’s problem with Aric tonight?”
Syn smirked. “Rune’s problem?” He shook his head. “Rune was minding his own business, just taking a breather and enjoying some refreshment before tonight’s first match.”
The way Syn leaned on the word refreshment told Nathan that when Aric found him, Rune was likely feeding from one of the paid human blood Hosts employed by Cass to serve his fighters and VIP clientele.
“Your boy started talking shit,” Syn went on. “Started telling Rune the Order had its eye on him. That he’d better watch his step or he was gonna get ashed.”
Holy hell. Nathan acknowledged that this confrontation probably shouldn’t surprise him, but Aric’s personal dislike of the brutal cage fighter had nothing to do with Order business.
Not yet, anyway. If Aric and Carys’s father, Sterling Chase, ever found out his daughter had taken up with an unapologetic underworld player like Rune, Nathan had no doubt the Order as a whole would definitely have something to say about it.
Nathan, Rafe, and Jax pushed through the jeering crowd just in time to see Aric lunge past Elijah to grab hold of Rune. Aric body-slammed the big fighter into the nearby cage, fangs bared and eyes aglow with fury. He threw a couple of wild punches, each deftly avoided by Rune. Aric’s anger opened him wide for a punishing blow.
Rune didn’t hit back. He was glaring lethally, his savage face twisted in rage. But under his shaggy mane of dark brown hair, the undefeated fighter with more kills to his name than any other before him stayed his hand.
Nathan shoved past the onlookers so he and Rafe could peel Aric off Rune. No easy feat, that. Although just twenty years old, Aric was Gen One like Nathan. He was strong as hell and deadly powerful, especially now, when his whole body was electric with animosity toward his sister’s unsavory lover.
“What the f**k, man?” Rafe shouted at his friend. “You lost your mind, Aric? What are you doing down here?”
Aric continued to glower at Rune. He jabbed his finger at the deceptively cool fighter. “You keep to your own. Stay away from her. She’s better than this, better than you.”
Now Rune’s lips twisted slowly, into an ironic smile. “I tell her that all the time. She seems to think otherwise.”
As Rune spoke, one of La Notte’s blood Hosts sauntered over to drape her nearly na**d body around him. She took Rune’s earlobe between her teeth, whispering something against his dark, stubble-shadowed cheek. Rune gave her thong-strung behind a meaningful swat and told her to wait for him in one of the nearby booths.
Aric went apeshit. Snarling and seething, he struggled to break loose of his comrade’s hold.
Nathan shot a hard look at Rafe. “Let’s get him out of here.”
“A wise move,” Syn agreed, as Nathan and his crew wrestled Aric away from the cages and out of Rune’s reach.
They hustled the furious vampire out of the club and back onto the street outside. He tried to lunge for the door, but Nathan and Rafe blocked him. He shook them off and rocked back on his bootheels.