The Moonless Dark

I ran at him, watching him come at me the same way I was him. Mentally sizing the other up, calculating where to land our attack that would be the most effective. Where would do the most damage. Getting a good one past him and dead center on his nose would be ideal, leaving him stunned for a few precise moments. Problem was he would be expecting it, keeping his guard up while I lashed out, waiting for me to make an opening. One I wouldn't be giving him.

I curled my hand into a fist. Giving him something to focus on while I focused on the right moment for me to surprise him. He changed his run. picking up the pace just slightly. enough to tell me he expected to just throw his weight against me, causing me to plummet to the ground where he'd get a good hold on me. I had to force myself not to smile as I found my plan off attack.

I let him charge at me, charged him myself, letting him think I was going to throw my weight against his too. But I wouldn't. I didn't. Instead, when he was two steps away from me I dropped down. Landing on one knee and threw my other foot out backwards to balance and stable myself for when the hit came. I ducked my head against my chest, curving my shoulders in to protect against him snapping my neck on impact.

I heard his steps pull up, heard him try to stop himself but he was too close. His leg connected with my shoulders, throwing him off balance and sending him tumbling down behind me. As he fell I jumped up, pushing his feet over my shoulder before spinning and jumping on top of him on the ground.

My first instinct once I landed above him was to lock my jaws onto the back of his throat, dig them in deep for a good hold, and pin him down. But I wasn't in my fur and biting his neck would be ridiculous. I settled for my forearm crushing down on it instead. He struggled a little before stilling and slapping his hand against the ground.

There was a slight pause before hesitant clapping began. I eased up on my hold and stood up, rolling my shoulders. Thraxx stood off to the side, in front of a group of five men, arms folded across his chest. When I turned to look at him he gave me a pleased smile that warmed me.

I returned his smile with a quick one of my own before sliding my eyes across the men's faces, Thraxx's new recruits, reading them. A couple look a little uneasy while one just looked down right shocked. The other two, the ones who tended to stick close together, which lead me to believe they had worked or fought together before and were used to having the other at their back, kept their faces well under control and guarded, leaving me nothing to go on. Those two would be the ones to watch.

The first one, Ashtant, seemed to be standing half a step behind the first, carefully watching everyone, silently taking notes of survival. He was taller than the one he stood beside, a good four inches. His hair could have been a light brown or dark blonde, it was hard to tell with his fuzz cut. His eyes were a light brown but shadowed. He had to have seen a lot of things in his life to put those in his eyes. His friend's deep blue eyes, on the other hand, sparkled with playfulness. One might even say borderline mischievousness. He was watching everything like a kitten whose spotted his first group of birds playing outside the window. His straight blonde hair brushed his forehand, cut just above the eyebrows so that they didn't sweep into his eyes. His name was Kade and If I wasn't with Thraxx he'd sure turn my head a second time.

"What did Nikoli do wrong? What was it that landed him face down?" Thraxx asked the group, drawing attention back to himself.

They all shuffled a little, switching their weight to the other leg or fidgeting with their fingers. No one volunteered the answer. Even though most of them probably knew what Thraxx was asking. Kind of reminded me of high school.

"He was overconfident and underestimated his opponent because, most likely, she is a woman and she's smaller than he is." Thraxx answered his own question. "Inflated egos will get you killed. Learn a little humility and you just might still be breathing at the end of the day."

I stood over Nikoli and offered my hand to help him up. Have to have good sportsmanship and all. He got up and brushed himself off. With his back to the group he offered me a small, mostly friendly smile. I returned it. Him and I haven't had that fight yet. The one to see who was truly stronger than the other. Not that the itch wasn't there, it was, we were just trying to put ointment on it to soothe things first before bringing our nails, and teeth, into the picture. A courtesy we gave one another for being Thraxx's best friend or girlfriend.

"Alright," Thraxx said. "Get with your partner and break out of your normal style. Plan something they aren't expecting, like Marlee did, and crush their egos."

They paired off, Nikoli going off and pairing up with the one who was left, and got started. Thraxx and I watched over the fights, him throwing out comments, pointing out everyone's weakness. I kept quiet. Taking in how they worked. This was my first time with the new recruits. Thraxx had been working with them for a week and I had finally convinced him to let me come and see them.

The convincing hadn't been easy. He had said he didn't want their testosterone to rise around a beautiful woman and make them act like idiots. His words exactly; "You'll have them puffing out their chests and tripping over their lolling tongues when their supposed to be concentrating." My response; "I promise not to throw a come get me wink over my shoulder at any of them." That hadn't gone over too well. So I changed tactics. Suggesting a training of 'expect the unexpected' and talked him into letting me pull the unexpected since he thought the guys would be too willing to prove their masculinity to me and not watching me like the enemy like they should. There were some grumbles from him but he had agreed that it was a good lesson.

Thraxx left my side to slowly walk around the group and get different points of views of the fighting. Correcting the little things that may not seem important now but can save your life later on when the real fighting began. I turned from watching Thraxx to where Ashtant and Kade were fighting. They seemed to be having trouble with taking one another down. A con when you've fought together a lot is when you know all their moves and there are no unexpected moves left to you. Then Kade proved me wrong.

His moves were quick and precise. A deadly combination when the wheedler wants it to be. He grabbed Ashtant's wrist, turned his torso away from the strike, letting it glide past him and jerked his arm further past him. He lashed his left foot out sideways and brought it back in, connected with Ashtant's leg and swiped it out from under him. While Ashtant was falling he used his free hand and slammed a closed fist against his back, right between the shoulder blades. Ashtant fell. The whole thing seemed to have happened in just seconds. Kade lifted his eyes from Ashtant and caught me watching him.

"Nice job." I praised, nodding my head. "Good pin."

Kade's entire face lit up with the flash of his smile. A very come hither smile with the gleam of the snake in his eyes. He took a step towards me.

"You keep talking like that and my ego will be as big as a national monument. Wanna help me knock it down, sugar?" His voice was low and husky, as if we were alone and close together.

I felt Thraxx's eyes on us immediately, could feel the tenseness growing in his posture. I saw Nikoli hesitate in his moves, turning his head to stare at Kade. His opponent took advantage of his pause and knocked him down.

"I do love to see the sights," I told him, "but I only visit the biggest ones." I looked at Thraxx and gave him that secret smile. The smile couples give one another, before turning back to Kade.

Unperturbed, Kade's smile stayed as he walked right up to me. Everyone stilled, creating a thick silence. Looking down into my eyes Kade raised his hand and trailed warm fingertips across my temple as he brushed my hair over my shoulder. "Oh, I assure you, it's the biggest one you'll ever see."

Thraxx was suddenly there. Fist raised, a snarl marring his face. Nikoli was behind him, smoothly grabbing his upper arm and pulling him back. Patting Thraxx's other shoulder and giving him a slight shake.

"And I think it's time for a break." Nikoli announced, "Everyone go get something to eat. We'll continue in an hour."

Everyone left while the four of us stayed. Thraxx and Kade never breaking their eye contact, their silent challenge, stood perfectly still. When the four men were out of hearing range Nikoli blew out a breathe and let go of Thraxx. He ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Don't be a fool, Kade. Don't mess with Marlee. You'll get your ass kicked if you do."

Kade, still silently challenging Thraxx with his eyes, gave a relaxed shrug, "I like to live dangerously. Adds some spice to life. Plus, she's pretty enough to endure an ass kicking. . . If someone was strong enough give me one."

Thraxx stepped towards him stiffly, "Don't touch her again." he said lowly. Evenly and hard.

I stopped him this time, stepping right in front of him and laying a gentle hand on his chest. Gentle being the key. No need to provoke anything when everything was already this tense.

"Thraxx." I said softly, waited until he looked down at me and continued, "Don't take everything so personal. He's just joking around. Harmless flirting. Nothing to get excited about. You know how male Werewolves are, they'll chase anything. That doesn't mean everything is interested."

He slowly relaxed. I could feel the stiffness in him soften under my palm on his chest. He understood what I was saying. Kade held little interest with me.

"Bet I could change your mind." Kade offered.

Thraxx snarled at him over my shoulder. I pressed my other hand against his chest. Added restraint. Nikoli placed a hand on Kade's shoulder and tugged.

"Come on. You've stirred things up enough." He told him.

Kade let himself be led away by Nikoli, giving Thraxx one last challenging look before turning and dismissing him. Thraxx and I watched them walk towards the house, watched their forms grow smaller and smaller.

Once they disappeared into the house I dropped my hands from Thraxx's chest and blew out a breathe.

"Really, are you that insecure in our relationship?" I asked, a bit annoyed.

"No, I'm not." He denied, "It's the principle of the thing. I just don't like it when someone steps over the line and threatens to take over my territory."

Territory being me. I was still having trouble with that phrasing, but I got it. We we're dating and if another woman had pulled what Kade had, I'd go for her throat. So, I let it go and focused on him.

"Thraxx," I said, making him look at me again, so that he would know what I said was the truth, "Someone can't cross over into your territory unless I allow them to." A low trickle of a growl emitted from him and I ignored it, "But I have no desire to let any man, any Wolf, to take over you position."

I kept my gaze on his, waiting for him to acknowledge that he understood I was not about to leave him for some eager wolf. And I wouldn't. My Wolf called to his, and his to mine. We were connected in a way I wasn't entirely sure I understood, but was extremely happy with. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that happiness.

Thraxx took a deep breathe and hastily blew it out, his shoulders slumping. He nodded, ran a hand through his hair and ruffled it. I stepped up to him and raised up to kiss him. He held the back of my head a moment longer when I pulled away, pressing harder against me, dominating the kiss before letting me pull away.

"Good, now lets go get some lunch and not worry about Kade."

He took my hand, linked our fingers and raised my hand to his mouth for a kiss, staring at me before turning and leading me back to the house.