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you get back,” Caspar told him.
    “Thanks.” He hung up, looked at Pete, who smirked and said, “Women.”
    “Tell me about it,” Bishop muttered. “Better take me to my ball and chain.”
    Pete obliged. As they approached the room he’d left Luna in, Bishop saw she had a visitor, a woman named Jessie, who was asking, “You’re here for Bishop? Did you know him from home?”
    He hung back with Pete and heard Luna say, “From Defiance.”
    Which was true, because Luna didn’t know what he considered home. Hell, neither did he.
    Jessie was saying, “He’s won every fight. No matter how big or mean his opponents are. Last week, he fought six times in a row. And the last was two-on-one. Afterward, he wasn’t tired at all, if you know what I mean?”
    Pete snickered, Bishop groaned internally because yeah, of course Luna knew.
    “I promised Bishop I’d be good for ten minutes. But if he’s not back in thirty seconds, I’m punching your teeth down your throat.”
    Pete whistled under his breath and Bishop cleared his throat. Jessie turned around and truth be told, even though she put on a good front, she was a little pale from Luna’s last words.
    “Heard she’s your old lady,” Jessie said.
    He smiled. “Word travels fast.”
    “You don’t seem the type.”
    He shrugged. “She didn’t realize she wanted me until I was gone.”
    “Isn’t that always the way,” Jessie told him. “Good luck with her. She was ready to punch me if you didn’t come back when you did.”
    He looked past her at Luna, who simply shrugged and smiled sweetly.
    Yeah, she’d do just fine here. Whether he’d survive or not remained to be seen.

Chapter Five
    There was no time for Luna to get her bearings. One minute, they were in the underground jail cells and the next, they were out in the open-aired semi-darkness, and firmly inside Keller’s compound gates.
    It was crowded. Within minutes of starting to walk away from the tunnel’s entrance, spotlights began to illuminate the area, showering the crowds with light. She looked around as people began to cheer and realized it looked a lot like the amusement parks of old. There was even a giant Ferris wheel in one corner.
    “I’m late—let’s move,” Bishop told her. He grasped her hand in his and he led, parting the crowds so all she had to do was keep up with him, which was no easy task.
    She hadn’t wanted to see him fight. Now, she was going to be doing so for the next eight months. For her, the fights were the worst parts of Defiance, although the parties afterward were what gave her comfort that some things could remain normal.
    “Who do you fight?”
    “Champions brought in from some of the other mafia families. Occasionally, some MC guys repped by those mafias.”
    “Is Keller friendly with any of the MCs?”
    “He considers Defiance his best asset. Otherwise, he doesn’t trust the MCs as far as he can throw them,” Bishop told her. “I can’t blame him. There aren’t many people you can, or should, trust these days. But you can trust me, and you need to. You have to stick with me, Luna. Close by, all times, unless there’s a Keller guard with you.”
    “I’m a target because I’m Defiance?”
    “Because you’re here for me,” he clarified. “At least from an outsider’s point of view.”
    “So you’re a champion. They want to bring you down.”
    “Right. It’s in Keller’s best interest to protect me, to keep me happy and healthy and well fed.”
    And well fucked , she wanted to add. But she bit it back. She couldn’t change what had happened when she wasn’t here.
    After pushing through for about ten minutes, they ended up inside a large, warehouse-like building. They’d avoided the long line by going in the back entrance, which she guessed was where the fighters entered.
    Inside a semi-private locker room, she sat on a bench while he opened a locker with the help of a guard, who had a special key.
    When the guard left, Luna asked