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“Today, we’re going to test skills.” He turns to the five of us where we stand off to the side with Serena opposite the guards. The guys hadn’t been down at the training yard yet when I gave Nero his warning, but I filled them in, and not surprisingly, they’ve stayed closer to her side since, though she doesn’t seem to mind.
“In order to best know what each of you needs to work on, I need to get a feel for your strengths and weaknesses. So we will go one-on-one in an assessment fight of sorts.”
The guards’ hushed voices fill the air as they look at us, and a few smirk. I ignore them, not caring what they have to say.
Pike is practically vibrating with excitement already. He loves a good fight. Whether it be for training or just fucking around, he’s always ready. Serena stands at his side, his arm slung around her shoulder and her other hand tangled in Storm’s. I hear her giggle of amusement as he jolts her around without even realizing it.
“Anything goes,” Garrett begins to explain but doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Pike’s excitement gets the best of him.
“So, beasts, magic, fists and teeth?” Pike asks, dropping his arm from Serena’s shoulder to walk into the training area with Garrett.
Garrett breathes a laugh but nods before stepping back so that he and Pike stand in the center facing one another.
“Yes, anything goes. Obviously, we’re not trying to kill each other or bring the castle down, but you can fight however you’re most comfortable,” Garrett tells him, and Pike nods before shifting into his wolf. His tail wagging happily behind him.
“I bet he doesn’t last two minutes,” I hear Storm whisper to Serena, earning him a smack to the chest. He doesn’t specify who he’s talking about, but I assume it’s Garrett; it seems like a fair assessment. Garrett might be a wyvern who grew up being trained, but he’s still a prince. Pike grew up in a family where he was forced to fight and hunt almost daily. He might seem lazy and carefree to most, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Pike can be vicious when he needs to be. He had to be to survive his father for all these years.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Garrett calls out loud enough for everyone to hear. With his words, a hush falls as we all turn our attention to them.
It’s as if a switch is flipped; Pike’s tail stops wagging, and he begins circling Garrett slowly. Garrett matches his steps, staying in front of him. It’s smart but nothing special. Everyone who knows anything about fighting knows you never let your enemy have your back. They do that for a few minutes, circling the mat, one and then again before Pike’s patience wears thin and he lunges.
For a moment, it looked like he’d be faster—fast enough to get the jump on Garrett. But right before he reaches him, Garrett’s lips turn up the slightest bit, and I know he’s baited him.
Garrett’s quicker than I thought he was. He lets Pike in close, waiting till the last second before reaching out and snatching him out of the air. His fingers wrap around his upper and lower jaw, putting his hands in his mouth in a move that seems incredibly stupid given his large rows of teeth, but before Pike can even consider biting him, Garrett launches him back across the mat.
Pike just barely gets his feet back under himself in time before he hits the ground, shaking himself out with a low growl.
Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who underestimated Garrett.
They continue like this for a few minutes. Pike tries to find an opening, only for Garrett to evade him, and with each failed attempt, I see his annoyance grow. It makes him sloppy, and after the fifth time, he calls it quits and switches tactics. Pike shifts back, throwing air at him the moment he can, but even moving quickly, it’s not enough to catch Garrett off guard. He avoids the hit and uses the moment it takes Pike to use his element to his advantage. Garrett’s on top of Pike the next moment, literally. He pins Pike to the mat, one arm holding his arms behind his back and the other on the back of his neck, keeping him in place.
We watch as Pike trashes and tries to get free, but it does nothing.
Shift, you idiot.
I urge him, though I know he can’t hear me.
It’s the only way I can see him getting out of this right now. Seeing him pinned like this is annoying, and I get the feeling he isn’t taking this fight as seriously as he should be. That’s the problem with Pike; he often messes around even when things are serious.
“Ugh, you win, I give,” Pike calls out after a few minutes of struggling, his words muffled by the mat.
Garrett pulls back, dropping his hold on him and pressing up to stand while Pike rolls onto his back. He looks up at Garrett from the ground, looking him over from top to bottom, almost in awe, before Garrett offers him a hand to help him up. He doesn’t hesitate to reach out and take the offered help, popping up with all his usual energy and using his hold on Garrett to pull him in for one of those bro hugs he’s so fond of.
Pike claps Garrett’s back hard before pulling back but doesn’t drop his hand. “You’re not the pampered prince I thought you would be. I think I’m going to need a rematch later,” he says, laughing, and Garrett laughs as well.
“With a little training and some time learning your new abilities, you’ll be the one on top in no time,” Garrett tells him, and I roll my eyes at how cocky he sounds.
“Not like that!” Serena yells to them, and I turn toward her, caught off guard by the comment. I wasn’t aware she knew about Storm and Pike. Judging by Pike’s wide eyes, I’m guessing he wasn’t either.
Storm barks a laugh after a second, and Pike follows suit, but it’s clear Garrett doesn’t get it. None of them explain, though, and after a minute, Pike drops his hold and skips back toward us. The second he reaches her, he scoops Serena up into his arms. She drops her hold on Storm as he spins her around, her laughter bouncing around the courtyard loud enough that I have no doubt he’s tickling her.
"You think you’re funny, don’t you?” he asks, his laughter bouncing around the open area.
It’s nice to see them like this after all that’s happened the last few weeks. So much has changed, but the one thing that remains the same is them.
They are my family, and I would do anything for them.
