“Should we stop this before Ty snaps his neck?” Clancy asked in morbid amusement. She and Alston shared a look, Alston privately thinking that he wouldn"t put it past Ty to do it. They shrugged at each other negligently, but then both winced when Zane somehow rocked forward and pulled Ty half over his shoulder before shoving him off to one side. Ty rolled away nimbly and sprang to his feet almost instantly.

“We need walls, partner,” Zane sniped as he got to his feet.

“Something for you to splat against.”

Ty shook his head and reached up to the strap of the protective headgear required in the ring. He yanked at it and ripped the padded helmet off, tossing it over the ropes to land at the feet of several of the agents watching. He didn"t say anything to Zane, just held out one taped hand and gestured for him to bring it.

“Oh f**k, we"re going to have to fill out paperwork about this too,” Alston muttered to himself.

Zane"s eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head to one side before doing the same, pulling off his own helmet and sending it skidding off the mat to thunk to the floor. “What"s wrong, Grady?” he asked ruefully, raising his fists. “Cat got your tongue?”

Everyone watching groaned at the verbal jab. They"d all heard the story of what had happened to Ty and Zane in the mountains of West Virginia. Ty merely smirked without attacking. One of the fists he held up and ready was badly scarred from the cougar bite he"d received several weeks ago and the two subsequent surgeries he"d undergone to fix the damage. Zane"s taunt was a low blow.

Without warning, Zane lunged, leading with his left shoulder to shove all his weight into Ty, propelling him toward the ropes. It seemed to be what Ty had been waiting for, though, because he planted a foot and used Zane"s momentum to lift him completely off his feet and slam him down into the mat. The entire ring shook again, and a loud groan rippled through the audience.

This time when Zane was down, Ty didn"t try to merely immobilize him. He got in four or five rapid punches to the midsection before one wicked left to Zane"s unprotected face.

Shouts of protest came from the crowd, but no one moved to stop it. Zane balled up and took the clearly painful hits, and when Ty reared back for a last shot, Zane got one knee pulled back and shoved a foot into Ty"s gut, hard, before he started scrambling away from him. Ty stumbled backward, but then he attacked again, too quickly for Zane to get away.

“I think he"s getting pissed,” Alston observed drily.

“If Ty was pissed, Garrett"d be dead already,” Perrimore pointed out in a flat voice.

Another round of pained groans went up from the small crowd of watching agents as Ty tackled Zane and straddled him, pinning him with his knees.

“That hurt, dammit!” Ty growled at his partner as he held him to the mat by his neck.

“Fuck you, Meow Mix,” Zane hissed back as he got one hand on Ty"s shoulder—the arm holding him down—having just enough arm length to keep Ty from totally throttling him. He balled up his other fist and punched Ty in the gut. Everyone heard the thump of fist hitting solid muscle, but it didn"t dislodge him.

Ty turned his shoulder, slamming his elbow against the side of Zane"s head before grabbing him by the neck again with one hand and using the other hand to fend off Zane"s attempts at retaliation.

Anyone who knew Ty knew that he wasn"t trying to kill his partner, though. Cause brain damage, maybe. But not kill him.

“Guys, this is too much,” Clancy finally objected as she raised both her hands.

“You gonna get in there to separate them?” Alston asked incredulously as he watched Zane continue to fight off Ty"s other hand while bucking under him, trying to throw him off.

Clancy shook her head, and they watched in morbid amusement as Zane finally, somehow, got some leverage. The two men rolled across the mat in a badly orchestrated tumble, each man too stubborn to release the other as they grappled.

“What the hell is going on here?” an irritated voice bellowed from the doorway of the main gym.

The crowd of agents scattered. Ty and Zane stopped mid-throttle, looking up at their superior like two kids caught roughhousing in the living room.

Alston edged away toward the weight room, stopping just behind the doorway to peer around the corner with Clancy and two other curious agents.

In the middle of the ring, Ty turned his head to look at Special Agent in Charge Dan McCoy, who was glowering at them from several yards away. “Hey, Mac,” Ty greeted innocently as he straddled his bleeding partner. “Come down to work the glutes?” he asked with a sincere c**k of his head.

Zane gasped for air and rapped his knuckles hard against Ty"s chest as he finally pried Ty"s fingers from his throat.

“You two, my office, now,” McCoy ordered as he pointed his finger at them. “If you can kick the shit out of each other, then you"re ready for your next assignment,” he muttered as he turned and stalked away.

As soon as McCoy was gone, someone from somewhere in the cavernous workout room wolf-whistled at Ty and Zane and proceeded to applaud the performance they"d given.

Ty stood and took a bow as Zane stalked off toward the locker rooms. Alston snorted and looked down at Perrimore with a shrug.

“Better them than us.”

“I hear that,” Perrimore muttered as he returned to the weights.

ZANE let his head loll back and lifted one hand to gently prod his split lip. “Ow.”

“Whine about it. It"ll make it better,” Ty offered as he stood in front of his locker, his back to Zane, and unwrapped the tape from his hands with jerky, irritated movements.

“Bite me,” Zane muttered as he dug into his locker for a towel before starting in on the tape on his own hands. He spared an evil glance for Ty. “Teaching me to advance in a fight is a bad idea.”

“Teaching you to fight at all is an exercise in futility,” Ty responded in a matter-of-fact tone. “Luckily for you, I enjoy things like banging my head against a wall.”

“I enjoy banging your head against a wall too,” Zane replied as he tossed the balled-up tape at a nearby trash can. He let a small smile quirk his lips as he sat on the bench to unlace his shoes.

“Shut up,” Ty grunted at him. But even though his back was still turned to him, Zane could hear the smile in his voice. “And cut it out with the damn cat jokes, huh? They"re starting to catch on.”

“Fine, fine. No reason to get catty about it,” Zane told his partner with a barely concealed grin.




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