CHAPTER 11
The arena was a familiar tomb at two in the morning, the lights dimmed, casting long, wavering shadows along the hallways, and even in the training rooms. The silence, usually a comfort, now felt heavy, punctuated only by Lauren’s ragged breaths and the rhythmic THUD-THUD-THUD of her fists against the leather bag.
It had been days since the Royal Rumble, and the next, unscheduled one loomed like a guillotine.
Lauren was operating on fumes, running on less sleep than she’d had in a couple of weeks. Finn’s lessons had been invaluable, a meticulous breakdown of footwork, agility, and evasion. She was learning to be a whisper, light on her feet, quick to disappear from an opponent’s reach. She moved with more fluidity, her pivots cleaner, her dodges sharper.
But in her mind, th
