I watched him, circling his opponent in the clearing, surrounded by an eager audience. Composed of mostly muscle, he appeared incredibly hard and invincible. His broad shoulders were stiff, connected to large arms, gloriously tight and cut. A flat stomach, his abdomen muscles tensing with each movement, teasing the women. His shorts hugged his powerful legs, heavy with muscle, and as he bounced on his feet, his calve muscles flexed. His long, lean body, reaching the height of 6'3, was memorizing and drool worthy. Curly, dark hair that curled around his ears and hazel eyes, narrowed at his opponent. He had harsh features - high cheekbones, an angular nose, and a sharp, scruffy jaw. His lips were swollen, his bottom bruised and bloody.
He charged at his opponent, a middle-aged man with tattooed arms, swinging his fist. His knuckles connected with his opponent's cheek, causing him to stumble backwards. The crowd cheered, a chaos of clapping hands and supportive shouts. His opponent came back, driving his fist into his side, making her inwardly flinch at the power in the punch. For some reason, I knew he was capable of handling it - in fact, when his opponent drove his fist forward again, he dodged it. He punched twice into his stomach, resulting in his opponent wheezing with his face turning red.
Grabbing the back of his opponent's head, he lurched his knee upwards, right into his face. She heard the crunch and his opponent shook loose out of his hold, his nose crooked and bloody. "Finish him! Finish him!" The crowd started chanting and disgusted, I watched him with patient eyes. He kicked his leg around, nailing his opponent in the side, causing him to lose his balance. Seeing the opportunity, he swung his fist forward, more powerful than before, into the side of his opponent's head. That was it - it wasn't possible for somebody to stay conscious after that blow. His opponent crumbled to the ground, bloody and broken, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. The crowd cheered louder and I gulped loudly.
Ethen flopped down behind the rock, taking a deep breath. Hesitantly, I dropped from my crouching position next to him. "What are we doing here?"
"I have to kill him," he answered, quietly. "That's him - the winner."
I shook my head. "No, you don't."
"You don't understand," he responded, distraught. "I promised someone a favor and he asked for me to kill him. I can't back out, Thea." He stared at me with pleading eyes, clearly torn. I listened to the cheering and happy shouts from over the rock, refusing to believe his situation. "Like I said before, he's the Alpha - it won't be too hard for me to kill him."
"I'm not letting you do this," I told him, seriously.
A sad grin came onto his face. "I have to."
"No, you don't," I repeated, shaking my head. "Please, don't do this." Slowly, he reached over and dragged the tips of his fingers along my cheekbone, brushing away a strand of my hair. Sparks overwhelmed me and I shivered, despite it being very humid outside. Pinching his lips together, he dropped his hand and peered over the rock, focused on the man. From what he told me, the Alpha's name was Ethan, ironically the same name as his, but spelled differently. He was the brother of his brother's mate, which made the situation difficult. He had expressed how angry his brother, Ryker, was going to be since his mate was going to be in hysterics after the horrible news. "Ethen, come on, you're better than this."
"No, I'm not," he argued, glancing at me. "I showed you my memories, Thea. I showed you all of the terrible things that I went through and did - why can't you believe that I'm capable of this? If I don't do this, all that I stand for will go down the drain. I'm the honest one; I've created morals and kept my promises. It's who I am."
"All that you stand for?" I came back, frowning. "By murdering him, it'll just show that you're everything the facility wants people to believe. That you're a monster. It'll also show that you're a horrible brother." His eyebrows knitted together and after a second, I continued. "I haven't known you for that long, but I know that you love your family. You'd do anything for them, yet right now, you're wanting to hurt them. Your brother will hate you; it might ruin your family, Ethen. Are you willing to risk losing your family over a favor you promised?"
