In Love Through War - Book 3

Part 14

The sharp sting of the bear's claws leaving four parallel, deep gashes accompanied by a fifth shallower one on his chest has Conall waking up from his short reverie rather abruptly, adrenaline shooting through his veins.

With a couple of quick jumps, he puts a safe distance between himself and the overly large animal in front of him.

"Nice going, pup! I haven't been surprised like that in a long time. You get points for acting on it. Double points if that was your intention from the get go. Now we should see how thick that fur of yours really is," he finishes, switching to his wolf form, not before Al'Aeen gives an approving huff.

Pacing around, each trying to hold his opponent in view, the two circle each other.

Snarls and growls are however insufficient to win this sparring session.

Losing patience, Al'Aeen goes forward and swipes his fright paw at the wolf, only to be dodged. Even more, Conall bites down on the area immediately behind the bear's claw, hard, and allows himself to be moved to its left side by the inertia of Al'Aeen's swing, letting go at the best possible moment to go right back in for a bit at the back left leg.

Unimpressed by the lack of penetration through his layers of fat, yet unable to remove the wolf by a simple shaking of the back leg, Al'Aeen drops to his right side, moving the actual leg to where he can grab the wolf by his back haunch in his maw and forcibly removes him, shredding his own skin in the wolf's teeth while doing it.

With the roles reversed, Conall can only be thankful neither his femur or his pelvic bone is in danger, the damage to his dignity probably the highest when his mate would notice it.

The bear slams his body to the ground, and he finds himself stabbed by one of the exaggeratedly long claws, claws that luckily stop when meeting his ribs.

Feeling it is high time to resume a safer position, Conall takes a page out of the cats' instinctual fighting moves, raking his free clawed rear paw across the bear's face furiously and repeatedly, the surprise attack and temporary blindness brought on by the blood flow over Al'Aeen's face allowing him to escape.

Too experienced to let go of such an opportunity, he stalks back, looking for an opportunity as the bear stumbles around with its head shaking, trying to regain his sight.

Finally coming to his senses a bit, Al'Aeen lifts his head, trying to sniff around for his target, only to find his neck punctured on both undersides and a sudden weight hanging from those very same wounds.

Realizing the delicacy of the wolf's hold, hard enough to make a point, yet mild enough to prevent heavier damage, the bear stills, pushing his neck out towards the wolf, the submission resulting in an immediate release.

With both of them in a bloody mess as they shift back, Al'Aeen looks at him expectantly.

"Well? I can see it on your face. There is a lecture coming."

"Would you rather persist in your mistakes? This war, unfortunately, will not allow you the luxury of learning in whatever rhythm you find comfortable. Furthermore, I will not have my niece's heart broken over something as stupid as the early, easily avoidable death of her reluctant soulmate."

"After that ice bucket of big words, I feel the need to point out that me and Jena have decided to just be warmates."

"Oh pish-posh! Now shut up and listen! First, now that I know your size and how you move... wait! You did put an honest effort into that fight, right?"

"Of course. Went 100% and only avoided fatal damage when I stabbed your chest and stopped at the ribs."

"Assuming I was a warhog?"

"Full power on the stab would have broken the rib cage. I bit of claw jiggling and your organs would have been mush. Have killed warhogs before with that move."

"Noted. Points for that then."

"This was a spar though. I need to be able to win within any set of confinement rules."

"Good thing I don't need to beat that into you as well. OK, back on point. At your size and movement speed, you can't allow yourself to lose patience! It was extremely easy to counter, as you well saw."

"I did."

"Good. While the move to drop to your right side was not bad, so you could reach me by whatever you did there, dropping to your left on top of me would, at your considerable weight, have probably won you the spar.

Next, remember to mind the opponents weapons more careful next time. My free rear claw should have been allowed to reach your face.

And last, but definitely not least, use your sense of smell all the time, not just after you can't use your eyes anymore and for the Moons' sake, protect your damn neck!"

"Right. Now I really feel like I don't know shit about fighting."

"By Calla and her Moon sisters! What in the world happened here?" Jena yells frantically.

*A.N.: Through the divine intervention of the God of Writing, I have managed to do 3 updates this week. I hope you enjoyed them and remember to vote.

P.S.: What did you think of the fight? 

Do you think Al'Aeen is too strong?

 Or maybe too weak? 

Did the fight feel real to you? 

Thanks to all that answer, allowing me to improve the story.