He crouched, scooping up the shirt he had discarded earlier, shaking the dirt off casually. Pulling it over his shoulders, he glanced back at Kade. "Go home, Kade. You've got a woman waiting for you." He smirked.
"One who can take care of whatever it is you broke tonight."
Lucas turned and strode from the pit, the Alpha's presence lingering even as his silhouette disappeared into the fortress shadows.
"I broke?" Kade muttered under his breath, pressing his palm into the side of his ribs where every inhale burned. "You mean you broke."
He lingered in the pit for a while, chest rising and falling unevenly, before he finally gave in to the reality of his condition. With ribs like this, there was no way in hell he could sleep on the roof of his building again—the makeshift bed he had chosen since May moved in, just to avoid temptation.
