Claws // Colby Brock

💫 40 💫

☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

Recovering didn't take very long. I had a suspicion marking Colby multiple times was to thank, and I got the benefit of seeing that mark every time I looked at him, too.

We were most definitely different now. Touchier. Which was popular with the others.

"Colby, will you take your hands off your One for two seconds to help us?"

"You look like you're doing fine."

Jake sputtered against Kevin's forearm, squirming to break free, to no avail. It was both a pitiful and amusing sight, considering Colby was supposed to be breaking up any fights that were absolutely useless. His arms were wrapped around me instead.

"He's doing great," Reggie agreed with a smirk on his face. Jake managed to glare at him in the middle of choking, before Kevin mercifully released him. He fell flat on his nose instantly.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Would you give mercy to someone in battle, Kevin? 'Cause if not, you shouldn't have let go."

"No one was going to help him!" Kevin exclaimed, but Mike just shrugged in response. Ever too kind, Kevin decided to help Jake up from the ground where he was still lying, both of them backing into the circle we'd formed in the backyard for training.

"Alright, Amira, Colby, neither of you have fought anyone yet," Tara complained as she gently rubbed Jake's shoulder. "Don't you think you should stop being all gross and lovey-dovey, and actually do something?"

"We're being lazy," I corrected.

Tara clearly didn't care, but Mike appeared a lot more thoughtful. I caught his gaze in passing as Colby idly ordered another pair in the group to spar, and couldn't help but continue to watch him as he thought.

Cassie and Katrina entered the centre of the circle just as he held up a hand. "Wait," he said. "Amira, I know to some extent you're still recovering so I don't blame you for choosing to sit out this time, but I think there's something else you should help with in training."

I frowned. "I'm recovered, Mike, just not feeling it today."

"Either way, you have a bank of knowledge that only Colby shares, and I think the rest of us need to be taught about it." I was still confused as to what I could possibly know more about than him specifically, when he added, "You're a werewolf who has trained with others of your kind. We don't know anything about the species."

"What are you suggesting?" I questioned hesitantly.

"That you teach us about how werewolves fight."

My arms crossed as I shook my head defensively. "No. We aren't up against werewolves here, we're up against very strong vampires. What good would it do?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Think of the bigger picture. The two species don't get on, so if Aiden found a way to manipulate that and send werewolves after us, we'd be completely out of our depth."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Cassie pointed out, "I don't know a damn thing about werewolves. You have put up a hell of a fight with me before and generally, packs are a lot bigger than clans. Werewolves would win a two-to-one fair and square."

"And they're unpredictable," Kevin added quietly, as if he was afraid to join the gang that was growing against me.

I found myself glancing up at Colby over my shoulder, wondering about his thoughts on the matter. He knew more about werewolves than the others, though far less than I did, so he knew the value of that kind of knowledge. Unfortunately, that value was a little too high for me. I didn't want to see others of my kind getting taken down because I taught a clan of vampires how to kill them.