In Love Through War - Book 3

Part 79

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"Hey there, Vi! It's a beautiful brand new day! Are you ready for some training in..."

"If you say 'shifting' I'm going to assume my war-form and throttle you!"

"Is that so? Then shifting! Shifting, shifting, shifting, shifting and some more shifting! Bring it, shorty!"

And he charges, bear form speed and as good as impossible to avoid as a human.

Vi changes to her war-form, launching herself to one side and barely avoiding the attack.

"Are you insane? Do you not remember how heavy that stupid form of yours is? You could have trampled me to death!"

She takes a hunched over form, that feels comfortable and provides the best moving options.

"If only you'd be confident in yourself as much as I believe in you! Nice reflexes by the way!"

"Wait! What are you doing?"

"You didn't think that was it, did you?" he asks in the mind link, charging again.

Again, she drops to one side, but he swipes a paw at her, claws angled safely away and trips her over.

"You know basic theory from your mate still applies. Don't be predictable! You could have at least dropped to the other side."

Another charge. Vi takes two running steps towards him and one jump later, her hands land between his shoulder blades, claws partially sinking in as she propels herself further over and behind him.

"By the Moons, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Don't be silly! I'm not messing around. I'm a warhog trying to maul you. You'd better mean it! That trip I gave you a few moments ago? A warhog would have left a nasty bruise and probably charged at you while you were still down."

"Understood."

"Not to mention my body is a lot thicker and larger than a warhog, you barely reached the muscles under the fat layers. A decent tickle though. While, I know you didn't mean to hurt me, with a warhog, assuming that move works while he charges, consider the fact he is smaller. Your claws need to land behind his neck, severing the spine. He won't die, but he won't be moving anymore either. Their advantage of feeling no pain is negated if they are paralyzed or dead."

"Good to know."

"In war-form you have..."

"Yes?"

"Sorry, I should have been more clear. What are the advantages to fighting in war-form?"

"You're asking me? OK so speed, though it feels slower than the wolf, strength, still a bit lower than my wolf form. The mobility of the human form which combined with the speed of the wolf gives the best agility of all three forms. And... I'm not sure what you want more."

"What are your weapons?"

"Hands and feet? I can kick and punch?"

"Both your hands and feet end in very tough, long nails. Your extremities become claws. A sidekick to the head with the nails pointed at your target becomes a stabbing attack. A punch to the eye? Well, extend your fingers instead and with a slight shift of the hand you will puncture his eye, better than if you did it with a knife. With the correct angle, if you drive the finger further in the eye socket..."

"Brain damage and probably death. This war-form is very deadly. If a single pack had this ability it could dominate everything. If we had this before, we could have held against the warhogs so much better! Why did you not show us this before?"

"The knowledge has recently come to me, after... after one of my injuries. I must have forgotten it when uh... you remember how I told you guys I was found in a forest with only E by my side? And I had no idea how I got there? Hell, I still don't know E's name, and she's my daughter!"

"Oh, OK. I guess I understand. Then we can only consider ourselves lucky this came back to you."

"Yeah. So you know how I went and saved E when she was kidnapped? You know all those dead warhogs?"

"Yes?"

"I killed those. By myself. My daughter was in danger and something inside me snapped, turning me into the war-form, the bear variant. After I had to do it again to save Jena, I thought a lot about it and the knowledge about the training came to me."

"And that's when you remember how you were once training to take the war-form."

"Um... yeah, that's it!"

"So now what?"

"No more mister nice guy from me. I'll come at you in bear form, swiping and hold on a second. Go to my bag and bring that contraption here. Put it on me. Good. Tighter. Perfect!"

"You look like you have tusks now. Like a warhog!"

"Exactly. While I don't have them connected to my skull in a way that I could actually impale you with them, if I touch you anywhere but inside your hands, you're doing one hundred sprints through the new dodge course," he links, nodding to the obstacle course he set up before she arrived.

"How long are we going to do this for?"

"All day today."