Nico took half the pack and put them into a team by themselves, pretending to be the royals. Since they were all playing humans, he told them they weren’t allowed to shift. He took the rest of us and broke us into groups of two. He told me he was going to have one group act as traitors and help the royals. He didn’t tell anyone else his plan, which irritated me. I felt like he was only telling me because he was still coddling me, but I hoped he only wanted to let me in on his little scheme because he was excited and proud of the little twist.
I was with Sebastian, of course, and once things got going, I realized Nico hadn’t been lying. It was crazy. We sprinted through the woods and could hear screaming and shouting. Then the exploding sounds of paintballs as they slammed into the trees. Apparently, Nico had other tricks up his sleeve to make things more chaotic. He’d given the “royals” team paintball guns to simulate the weapons they’d probably have when we went toe to toe with them.
“Shit,” Sebastian hissed. “Nice of him to tell us.”
“What if someone gets shot in the face or eye?” My heart was racing a rapid tattoo against my chest.
“Well… don’t do that,” Sebastian said as he led me into the woods.
He spent a good amount of time explaining strategy to me as we worked our way to the “royals.” We even caught a coupleof guys unaware, and Sebastian had me stay back and watch what he did to take them down. He was amazing. He took both of them out in seconds. They lay on their backs, groaning and holding body parts that would be bruising within minutes. After they submitted and sat on the ground, pretending to be dead, he took one of the paintball guns and gave it to me.
“I thought I was learning to fight hand to hand?”
“First rule of fighting, always find a way to get the upper hand. If you can’t get the upper hand, then level the playing field. Until you can shift, taking an enemy’s weapon is the next best thing.”
It went on like that for over an hour as each side went through attrition. Eventually, Sebastian and I were both taken down by paintballs to the back, which hurt like a bitch. Before we were taken out, we took out almost a dozen enemies. The good guys did eventually win, but we lost a lot of people. Nico was happy with the result but not pleased by the casualties.
He sent everyone else out for lunch, but Sebastian stayed behind with me to work on disarming and incapacitation hits.
“Remember what I said in the woods about leveling the playing field?” he asked after everyone had gone off to eat.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good. In movies, they’ll tell you that going for a guy’s throat, eyes, or balls is dirty fighting. It’s cowardly and not fair, right?”
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Well, that’s bull-fucking-shit. If you go into a fight and you’re afraid for your life, there are no rules. You hit that fucker where and whenever you can.”
He showed me the best way to attack a person’s soft spots: striking the throat with the space between your thumb and forefinger; eye gouges; ways to position yourself for a solid crotch hit; the proper way to do a heel stomp on the bridge of a foot; and where the solar plexus was for a palm strike.
It was only the end of the second day, and I already thought I had quite a few tools at my disposal to get myself out of trouble and run. I was even more confident than I had been yesterday. Actuallyknowingyou had a chance in a fight was a glorious feeling.
Nico came down later and brought us both some sandwiches, which we basically inhaled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so hungry. He nudged me with his elbow as I finished. “How was it?”
“Good,” I said.
“Yeah,” Sebastian added. “She’s learning fast.”
“Nico, do you think it would be okay if I headed out to that creek? I want to do a little decompressing.”
“Sure. Do you want me to go with you?” I could tell he wanted to, but I really did need some alone time.
“No, I’ll be fine. I just want to work on some of those relaxation exercises you showed me.”
“Well, all right, but keep your phone on if you need me. You’re on the Lorenzo pack lands, so I’m not worried about you being safe. I just want to be there if you need me. Do you remember how to get there?”
I stood and brushed my pants off before heading toward the woods. I nodded over my shoulder to him. “I do. I’ll see you in a little while.”
Nico and Sebastian raised their hands to wave. I smiled to myself as the trees enveloped me, and silence fell. I loved people and being around them. It’s why I’d chosen to open a bar. However, as much as I liked people, sometimes you just needed to get away for a little bit. I’d also had very few chances to be truly alone since all the drama in my life started. It was almost a novelty having time all to myself.
After getting turned around once, I was able to find the creek fairly easily. I smelled the water long before I saw it, and once Iwas there, I sat right at the edge. After a few minutes of tossing some stones in the water, I closed my eyes and started the breathing and meditation exercises.
My wolf had been on edge and withdrawn since we’d read the contents of the envelope. She hadn’t spoken to me since we read the letter. It almost seemed like she was hiding herself now that I knew who she was for sure. I wanted to try and help her feel at ease. Her worry and hesitation made me anxious. It honestly felt almost like I had a terrified little girl hiding inside my mind.
I took several deep breaths and relaxed my entire body, listening to the gurgle of the water as I did. After a few minutes, I felt my heart rate slow, and the muscles in my shoulders, back, and legs loosened. I began to reach out to my wolf once I could feel her relaxing.
I decided not to speak to her because it might be too much. Instead, I reached out toward her with my body, visualizing our forms becoming one. Shifting. Imagining my fingers turning into claws again like they’d done before. I could still remember the sharp claws that had dug into the countertop of the kitchen all those days ago. That was what I wanted to do again but not have the partial shift be fed by pure emotion. It should be a controlled and conscious change if I were to master it.
