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19
The shifter king’s wolf was impressive. His fur was a pale gray with black markings and he was just as large as the other powerful males I’d seen. While I was confident in my wolf’s abilities, I was at a disadvantage based on size. Unless I found a way to use that.
My wolf was practically vibrating with pent-up anger. She wanted to make the larger wolf pay for what he’d done to Spencer, Malcom, and Mom. She wanted to make him pay for enabling shifters like Ace to continue their abuse of power. I wanted to humiliate him.
The two of us seemed to be on the same page. Equal partners, our minds working together as two halves of the same whole. We’d only shifted a few times, but we’d never been this connected. We were finally working together as we should.
The king’s wolf circled me, his strides long and confident. He moved slowly, the muscles in his back and shoulders rippling with his motions. Each step was intentional and focused. I could tell he was trying to intimidate me. That was not going to happen.
Sure, I might go down tonight, but I was going to make him work for it. Best case, I took him down. My wolf’s chest was full of hopeful, excited flutters at the thought of victory. It was the only solution she saw. She was right, I needed to get on board with the optimism. Match her fire.Fine. We win this, then.
I thought back to one of my few conversations with Spencer. What had he said about my instincts? My mind whirred, trying to recall the only fatherly advice he’d given me.
Suddenly, it came crashing back to me. He told me to trust my wolf. That I needed to start going on the offensive instead of always reacting. That was my whole life. I didn’t start anything, I defended myself. I never fought to win. I fought to survive.
I wasn’t going to get out of this unless I was trying to win. Which meant, I needed to attack first.
Baring my teeth, I growled and tensed before launching myself forward, claws out. I landed on the king’s back, digging into his flesh, using every ounce of my strength to pull him down.
He twisted, throwing me from him. I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind from my lungs. In the past, I might have stayed down, or hesitated. But my wolf took over, getting me up to face my opponent without pause.Instinct.I needed to rely more on it. More letting my wolf take point when she had the upper hand, and my human side kicking in when it served us better. That was the only way this was going to work.
The king lunged forward, but I’d had years of experience dodging attacks. I moved out of the way quickly enough that it sent him flat on his face, coming up empty handed.
He growled and snapped his jaws, turning toward me in a heartbeat. This time, his blow was successful and he managed to knock me to the ground. His wolf had me pinned and a flicker of panic rose inside me. My wolf squashed the feeling down. She bit the other wolf’s shoulder, digging her teeth in until we tasted blood.
With a howl, he loosened his position enough that I was able to shimmy away.You attack, I’ll defend.My wolf seemed to be in agreement. I released my hold, letting her take over the fight. She charged just as the king moved forward. I saw that he was going to have the upper hand and I took over, changing our position just enough that we avoided most of the impact. It was enough to throw our attacker off guard and I quickly relinquished control back to my wolf side.
She swiped her claws across the king’s face. He lunged forward, managing to return the action. It felt like my face was on fire from the cuts but I’d been through worse. I growled.Come at me, asshole.
The king was hesitating, waiting for something. I wanted to react instead of take charge, but I remembered our strategy and I passed off control again. My wolf leaped into the air, landing on top of the king again. This time, when he tried to throw us, we hung on, rolling with him.
My wolf bit him again, making the king yelp as we rolled together across the courtyard. When he tried to gain control and pin us, I took over, using my skills to shift our weight and prevent us from getting under him.
When we stopped rolling, my wolf was on top. I growled down at him. The king snapped his jaws at me and wiggled under my hold. He was larger and stronger and I knew I couldn’t out match him until he was more tired or a lot more injured.
Before he could turn the tables, I jumped off of him, giving us some space before he could charge us again. As the king righted himself, he moved a lot more slowly. He wasn’t as cocky as he had been when we started.
I waited, staring him down, daring him to charge. I could do this for hours. Short attacks and lots of dodging his blows. There was a possibility I could wear him down enough to beat him.
The king paced in front of me, his wolf keeping his gaze on me. He looked confused. Pissed, but confused. A rush of devious joy shivered through me. I’d caused him to question his tactics and rethink his strategy.
He didn’t have a strategy.
Once again, I didn’t know if the thought was mine or my wolf, but it rang true. He didn’t think he’d have any trouble with me. His whole plan was brute strength and physical dominance. He wasn’t counting on someone agile who could outmaneuver him.
His body tensed and I knew he was going for it, but his position was off. I almost missed it, but the human side of me caught the adjustment he made and I knew he was going to feign his attack. He was trying to use my own game against me.
Quickly, I moved just as he changed his angle, and his teeth grazed my back rather than striking true. Passing the baton back to my wolf, I let her veer around and go in for another attack. She swiped her claws along his side as we passed, digging in deep.
He howled in agony but my wolf didn’t relent. She pivoted and returned, striking another blow to his face.
The king was dazed and unprepared for our agility. He couldn’t move as fast as my wolf. As soon as he adjusted, we were back at him, teeth or claws at the ready.
We knew we weren’t strong enough to hold him down or break him the same way he could do to us, so our attacks had to be different. Instead of playing into power and trying to be flashy, we were relentless and quick. Each attack in and out.
The king’s wolf struck back a few times. He even managed to pin us again. But every time, we wiggled out and got him again.
I was starting to feel exhaustion kick in and my movements were growing slower. If we didn’t wear him down soon, we were going to be in trouble.
