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Jamie cried out in pain, and staggered back, dropping to his knees on the map, clutching his manhood. The crowd around us erupted in cheers, and I jumped. Our sparring had drawn the entire field around to watch.
They hooted and hollered, making fun of Jamie for losing to a girl. It was chaos. Maria darted up the mat and threw her arms around me.
“That was badass,” she said a little too loudly in my ear.
“Enough!” Barked Adrian as he stepped through the crowd, and up onto the mat.
Maria tensed, and I pushed her behind me just a bit. Adrian was notorious for taking his anger out on the pack, and from the set of his shoulders I knew he was mad about something.
The pack fell into silence, and he cast his eyes over them all before settling his gaze on Jamie’s crumpled form. “Can anyone tell me the number one rule in a fight?”
“No mercy,” one of the red headed twins from the woods called out, glaring at me. He still had a deep scratch across his cheek from his fight with Jamie.
“That’s right, thank you Barney,” he said. “And who can tell me what Jamie did wrong during this fight?”
“He underestimated her,” Maria said, confidently.
Adrian shook his head. “No.”
“He let her go,” Barney’s brother said, matching his brother’s angry glare.
“Indeed.” Adrian turned to face me. “Evie, come here.”
My gut tensed. I knew it was a bad idea, but the order was clear in his voice, and my feet carried me forward. He motioned for me to turn around and in a flash he had me in the same hold Jamie had used, but his hands were tighter, his fingers digging into my flesh.
“This is what should’ve happened,” he announced in my ear and with a jerk of his hand he threw me away from his chest, grabbed my arm, and twisted it at the wrong angle, popping my shoulder right out of its socket.
I cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. Maria and Jamie moved like lightning, shooting to my sides. They kept me upright between them and Adrian smiled down at us.
“We are wolves. We are cunning. We are strong. We do not give up. We do not go easy on our opponents. We are relentless.”
Helping me firmly to my feet, Maria, kept an arm around my back. Adrian gave me a once over and sighed. “Go, get her fixed up. You’re dismissed for the day. I hope you all have learned something vital.” He gave a dismissive wave and left us to our own devices.
“Let’s get you to the med tent,” Maria said, guiding me off the side of the mat, opposite where Adrian had retreated. The rest of the crowd had fallen away, returning to their own workouts.
“Eve, wait,” Jamie called out as we began circling around to the far side of the house where the makeshift barn sat, serving as the pack’s full time infirmary.
I clenched my jaw and willed the tears dripping down my cheeks to stop flowing. “What?”
“I can put your shoulder back. You don’t need the medic tent. Those wolves will only make you wait, and jump through a bunch of hoops,” he said.
“She’ll be f—”
“Please,” I said, cutting Maria off. “I’d rather not sit in that tent if I don’t have to.”
“Let me see your hand,” he said, gently taking my wounded arm, and bending it at the elbow. He brought it around in front of me, forcing my shoulder to move around into the right space. I winced as the muscles along my bicep pulled and closed my eyes just as he carefully pushed my arm up, and with a crack the pain changed. Lessening into something I could tolerate.
“Holy shit,” Maria gasped. “Evie, are you okay?”
“I’m good,” I gasped, looking up at Jamie. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “You’ll still need to rest that, and put some ice on it, but it should be good as new in a couple hours.”
“Thanks.” I repeated.
“I’m sorry he did that,” he said. “But I guess it got you out of training for the rest of the day. So, go get some rest. Enjoy it as best you can.”
I nodded, and Maria started walking me around the house again. She rubbed her hand over my lower back. “Are you sure you’re okay? I thought he was gonna rip your arm clean off.”
“I thought he might for a moment there too.” I sighed.
“Well, I guess he’s just full of surprises.”
