In Love Through War - Book 3

Part 17

"Ladies! Gentlemen! Cats and wolves! We have gathered in this wonderful circle of life..."

"Come on, Alastair! Stop stalling! Let them fight!" Sima says from one side.

"Don't blame the messenger, my friend! Plus the tea needs time to manifest its effects on my Beta friend over there, who for now is just Nazih. And people also need time to place their bets, right?" Alastair answers him.

"Ready here," Nazih confirms.

"Same," Emremil adds.

"Then don't hold back on my account! Winner is the last man standing or the one that doesn't yield. Fight!"

Nazih immediately shifts to his cat form, forcing Emremil to do the same and they begin circling each other.

The crowd cheers and they go at each other, with the cheetah landing three or four blows for everyone coming from the wolf.

Both animals try to stay mobile and engage the other at every opportunity, but nothing clear enough to point to a victor either way.

After more than thirty minutes, Emremil gets a good bite in the chest area of the cat, under its left front leg and decides not to let go, to which Nazih responds by throwing himself down on the other side, using its hind legs to repeatedly scratch and claw at Emremil's chest and neck area.

With things heating up, while neither refuses to surrender the fight, Jena is forced to intervene.

"ENOUGH! Both of you stop NOW!" she orders in no uncertain tone, the Alpha power in her coating the command. "Shift!"

The cheering stops, as all eyes turn to the Alpha.

"That's taken long enough and I need them both in working condition. This is a war after all. Hannah, tend to their wounds. Conall and Umani, verdict please!"

"You do it. You're more used to this stuff," Umani says.

"Fine. Emremil you fought like shit today. You were inflexible and did not adapt to your opponent. What do I mean?" Conall actually asks Emremil.

"Aren't you just supposed to say who won? When did this turn into a schooling opportunity?" the bloody wolf asks, and almost everyone present, with the exception of his team, smiles.

Taking a step forward, Conall flicks Emremil's forehead strong enough to bob his head.

"Here in Multi-Unity, everything we do is a schooling opportunity."

"I'd answer him if I were you, wolf!" Nazih says from his side of the circle.

"Don't fret, Beta! I'll get to you in a moment," Conall answers the cat, making him shudder slightly.

"Is this really necessary? In front of all these people?" Emremil.

"Just answer him, you hard headed imbecile!"

The reply, of course, comes from Meiarr and Emre loses no time from glaring at her.

"I... I know understand a little better how Al'Aeen feels when fighting in his animal form against my quicker, more agile wolf. And I absolutely hate it!" he finally answers honestly.

"Good. Improvement points?" Conall pushes for more.

"Defensive stance. Powerful counters meant to remove the cat's speed and mobility advantage."

"Excellent, Emremil."

"Big deal! That was so obvious!" Meiarr adds.

"How the hell do you two even fight on the same team?" Alastair asks rhetorically.

"Many braves emerge when the fighting is over," Umani says in turn.

"The coyote means looking objectively from the outside with no stakes in the fight could make options easier to see, but when you are in the heat of battle things aren't as easy. Nazih! Your turn!"

"Yes, Master at Arms!"

"Good job on using your advantages like that, but you let him hit you way too many times. You did not properly adapt either. This was not a slow warhog, but a wolf. More than half those hits should never have landed. And you realize once he got you pinned down... if he was a warhog, you'd be dead.

However, giving the limitations of this duel and while it is a close call, Nazih wins the fight," Conall concludes.

"Why? I'm only sporting scratches. No serious damage!" Emremil protests.

"Death by a thousand bites. Or scratches or whatever. You are pumped up on adrenaline but when it runs out, you may very well faint due to blood loss," Umani adds in completion. "I second Conall's verdict."

"I think that's how we killed warhogs in the beginning. Blood loss!" Alastair says fondly.

"You mean you waited for them to just fall over from numerous injuries?" Meiarr asks incredulously.

"What? We didn't know any better back then," he flashes her a smile, causing Meiarr to raise an eyebrow.

His smile turns into a pained grunt as Sandheeya delivers an elbow to his kidneys, making Meiarr chuckle.

"With the fight concluded, let's go eat, drink and relax!" Jena concludes the affair, making everyone cheer as people start heading over to where the tables for everyone are set.