Wolf Heart

Chapter 46

Planet: Kestra, Elite Training Grounds

First Insurgency War

MAIA

I'm an idiot. I didn't ask if he had a name — we're the ones who called him Black Wolf.

Pity stretched across the other's faces, and her chances against Black Wolf— James Ranier, dwindled. Lanson shook his head at her from the lineup while faced General Falae with her in front of the formation.

I'm fucked, that's it. This is my life now. If he can beat Lanson of all people without breaking a sweat, I stand no chance... Her heartbeat thrummed with the eventuality, but it came with the desperate need to knock him off his high horse.

General Falae glanced from her datapad. "Shake hands and enter the ring."

Maia stretched out her hand to him. One firm shake, and the anxious prickles turned into waves against her arms when he took off the leather hemmed jacket to set it on the post before vaulting over the fence and to the other side. Maia scooted over to General Falae, who considered her. "General? Will you stop the fight?"

"If I deem it necessary," she said, no nonsense.

Best I can hope for. Maia took off her jacket to put it aside and tried to recall Lanson's match when she hauled herself over the fence to join him.

"You can start when you're ready," General Falae called from the sidelines while their entire troop watched with wide eyes.

Ready as I'll ever be... Maia rolled out her shoulders. I can't give him time to react.

Maia frowned when he considered the sky, an opportunity she refused to lose. If he doesn't want to take this seriously, then he's going to learn the consequences of that. Arms up, she ran at him for the first strike.

In a blink, he pivoted on one foot, and her own momentum betrayed her. His hand laced through hers, and he locked her elbow against his own. Maia growled and tossed her leg behind his feet and refused to be an easy meal for the wolf. Her heel crashed against his, but she gasped when she found herself falling. Both of them tumbled to the ground, though Black Wolf flipped from his back with ease. Annoyance ripped through her heart when he lifted his head up, a smug grin on his face as he straightened himself out, then wiggled a finger at her, a direct challenge while his smile widened into toothy malice.

What an asshole.

In her peripheral, General Falae shook her head with a noiseless sigh.

Maia flipped herself to her feet, and she threw another jab at his stomach.

Black Wolf faced her head on, but she continued her endless charge. She tackled him to wrestle him to the ground, but he met her and refused to budge when he dug his feet in, his combat boots trapped in the soil. Maia tossed her arm forward to grab him into a headlock, but he ducked out of it, but before he took a step back, she pushed her advantage while he blocked her swings. Maia ducked under his counter, then pressed her fingers underneath his ribcage. His stalwart position broke, but she gasped when he strangled her arm, then flipped her onto her stomach when his foot tripped her own backwards.

A collective, empathetic hiss echoed from the line-up of recruits.

Heavy weight sat on her back, and she jolted when a training knife stuck into the dirt beside her head. Black Wolf set his knee against her spine and sneered down at her. Unable to lift herself off her stomach, she smacked her hand against the dirt. "I give. You win."