Next Strike Novels & Stories

I will kill you anyway, but I want to see you beg for your life. "Please, Emily, don't forget that I have a young child." "Beg, bitch...." That was the last thing I said before I felt a powerful arm snake around my neck and started to press all the air out of my lungs. I thought the wound on Collins was fatal, so how was it that he was now on his feet? Strangling the air out of me. I tried to beat his hands off me, but what was I without a weapon in my hand? Nothing but a weak girl.

He came again. Harder this time - the second strike from a wolf who had not yet put down the opponent with the first and was just warming up. He was going for the throat, that’s the killing move, the one that makes it over quickly. I rolled over, took the blow on my shoulder instead, felt sharp, acute pain of it and went on. Third strike. This time, I didn’t take it. I faced it.

Serenya caught it awkwardly, fumbling at first, before her grip adjusted. “First rule,” Thorne said, circling her now, his steps silent as death itself, “a strike is not about strength. It is about precision. You don’t need to shatter bones to win. You need to place one cut in the right spot. One puncture in the right vein. One strike that ends the fight before it begins.” “Sounds… grim,” Serenya muttered, but her eyes stayed locked on him. “Efficient,” he corrected. “Grim is bleeding out because you swung too wide. Efficient is walking away because you didn’t waste motion.”

“Good boy.” His men backed away, forming a circle of death around them. Alejandro loosened his tie, rolled up his sleeves. Dino cracked his knuckles. This had been building for years. No guns. No excuses. Only fists. Only blood. The moment Alejandro lunged, the world exploded. --- The First Strike Alejandro swung—fast, precise. Dino dodged, countering with a brutal strike to the ribs. Alejandro grunted but didn’t falter. He was strong. Trained. Deadly.

Every strike rattled my bones, each one a promise of the storm still to come. No. I wouldn’t go down like this. His next punch reared back—and I snapped forward, fist striking first. The crack of impact silenced the ring. Matteo’s head snapped aside, blood spraying from his lip. He froze, then turned back slowly, eyes burning into mine. For a breath, the world held still.

He was lying to me and it racked my skin with irritation. “Strike two.” I held up two fingers, placing my blunt into my mouth with my free hand. “Do you know what strike three means?” Emiliano shook his head, and I held out my blunt, lowering it onto his hand. With force, I pressed it against the back of his palm, grounding it against his skin. Emiliano rasped, squeezing his eyes shut and vibrating in pain. “Strike three means I wouldn’t aim for the wood next time,” I said in a tone that cut like steel as my eyes locked on his with warning.

“Also, it seems Patrick and his son, Hector, are dead as well. “As for Tre-strike… If he comes to Clouspring to avenge his brother, there’s no telling who’s going to walk out of the fight alive.” “That can’t be possible, right? You’ve overestimated Kayson, Father.” Hogan could not refrain himself from querying, “Tre-strike has been growing more and more powerful over the past decade, and no one can survive a third strike from him.” “Go and do it when I order you to do something. Stop talking nonsense!” Bradley said sternly, “Even though you’re the patriarch of the family, I believe that I still haven’t lost all my authority in speech, right?”

I gasped— But Olivine dipped low at the last possible second. The strike missed by the breadth of a hair. His counterattack came in the same breath: a brutal, bone-snapping blow to the ribs. The crack reverberated through the forest, and the stranger staggered, wheezing in pain.

He stepped out to meet the stranger. “What’s….” before he could complete his sentence, he got knocked out. The man who knocked down Kelvin got into Kelvin’s car that was still opened, while another man appeared from around the corner and stood beside him. “What are you doing?” the man who just showed up asked. “Searching for anything that can be of use,” he replied. “The boss only instructed us to bring him for interrogation. I do not think this is necessary,” the one standing said. “If you knew the boss quite well, you would understand she wants everything to be perfect. And make sure you block every trace of us here,” he said.

"No. I want more. More than just leaving the marriage. I want my company to be successful, rich, and clean." A cough erupted from my weakened body, and Alex grinned, saying, "I like this part of you. Making your company have all that it needs. It's not a hard thing. I am glad you have decided to join my crew. Do we have a deal?" I adjusted my restrained body on the chair, scoffed, then laughed. "Fuck you. I would never betray my husband. You want to get into his mafia, go find another pawn, you dumb rat." The room echoed with my defiance, but it was met with a resounding slap that turned my face to the right. Pain radiated through my jaw, and I coughed out blood as my teeth jammed against th