But Shelton was asking too much. The only cage Zach deserved to step into was the kind that locked from the outside. “What if I say no deal?”

He swiveled his head from side to side, making his neck pop. “I know you don’t want him getting his hands on your girl because of a little thing like pride. If you back out, he wins by default, and the prize for him is freedom.”

I jerked forward, barely keeping myself in check. “Do you have any clue what he’s capable of?”

“I know what you’re capable of. You want a shot at him, well here’s your chance.” He lowered his voice. “No ref will stop you this time. Not in this match.”

I wasn’t a killer by nature. At least, I didn’t like to think I was. But I protected what was mine, and Alex was mine. I thought of all the hell we’d been through, all the fighting just to fucking survive, and how it all tied back to Zach. I could start another war, make another enemy, or I could do what Shelton wanted and gain an ally against Zach—do what I should have done six fucking months ago.

Terminate an obsession that would never stop coming.

“He’s fucking psychotic. I can’t risk him coming after Alex in the meantime.”

“I’ve got the situation contained.”

I fisted my hands. “I wanna see him.”

“You’ll see him in the cage soon enough.”

“No,” I said, giving an indomitable shake of my head. “Until I see the bastard for myself, we don’t have a deal.”

He ran both hands through his graying hair. If not for that revealing sign, no one would believe he was a day over thirty-five. “Fine. Swing by here tomorrow around noon. I’ll have him here.”

I pulled in a deep breath to calm my anger. “I thought you were above this shit. This is blackmail, Shelton.”

“This is business. So do we got a deal?”

The type of match he had in mind wouldn’t be another watered-down fight in the barn. Maybe, if things went my way for once in my fucking life, I could keep Jax from finding out about our arrangement. Zach couldn’t be whisked away to a Mexican prison if I killed him first.

With an impatient sigh, Shelton stuck his hand out. “What do you say?”

“Yeah, we’ve got a fucking deal.” I ignored his offer to shake on it. Nothing was set in stone, especially when it came to Zach fucking De Luca.

Shelton’s lips curved upward. Anyone not on hyper-alert wouldn’t notice that twitch, but it was there. “Thought you’d see things my way. Until tomorrow then.”