A Dauntless Kind of Love

Four

The clanging of metal on metal woke me up for the third day in a row and I groaned. Even though I was used to working out every day, this was just ridiculous. We woke up early, went running, worked on fighting then had lunch. After lunch we would do shooting and throwing knives then go to dinner and repeat the next day.

I hopped out of bed and pulled on my black yoga pants that fit tight to around the middle of my calf and then I pulled on a black sports bra and a cross back tank top that was also black. I slipped on my boots and brushed my teeth. Then I pulled my long blonde hair into a messy top knot. I saw that Lynn was also ready so we decided to head down to breakfast together.

"How do you think you're going to rank? They show us today." She says and I shrug. I really didn't know.

"I'm not sure. I've won all of my fights so far but I'm pretty sure Lauren is going to have me fight one of the bigger guys soon."

"I bet you're top five." She says and I smile at her. "But of course I'll be number one."

"Well of course!" I say with a laugh and give her a small nudge.

"Hey..." She looks around to make sure no one is listening. "How are things with Eric?"

"I don't know. I mean he doesn't love me. We can tell people he does all we want but really... I don't know." I say and take a bite of my eggs. She nods, seeming to understand.

"Hey!" I look up as a very angry Chris stands in front of me. I had learned her name from somewhere else but I had no idea why she stood in front of me now. "Control your psychopath of a boyfriend!" She yells and I stand up to make sure she isn't talking down to me.

"Excuse me?" I asked her, everyone eyes on us now.

"He threw me over the chasm yesterday and made me hang there! He is a psychopath!" She says loudly and I get in her face.

"My fiancé is not a psychopath! I heard about your little show in the ring yesterday, quitting before you even had a chance! Dauntless doesn't train quitters! He had a right to do what he did! He was teaching you a lesson."

"Yeah well I'm sure you'll get your lesson soon enough! He can't love you! He doesn't know what love is!" She yells and the next thing I know, I'm lunging across the table, my hands are around her neck as we go crashing to the floor.

There was yelling and screaming but I'm not sure who was saying what or what any of it meant. I let a few of my punches hit her and then I felt arms pulling me off of her.

"Let me go!" I yell but I'm carried out of the cafeteria and into the hall way. I turn and see Eric and his only good friend Zac.

"What the hell was that Initiate?!" He yelled at me and Zac stepped back a step to give us space. I couldn't look him in the eyes, not after what had just happened. "I want an answer." He says and I take a deep breath.

"She came over and started yelling at me. She was saying things about you that I didn't like..." I said and he rolled his eyes.

"And that caused you to strangle her?"

"She was making you look bad!" I tell him harshly. "She was calling you a psychopath and then she yelled that you didn't love me that you didn't even know what love was." I tell him and his eyes seam to soften. "Just the way she came at me Eric... She needed to know she couldn't do that." I tell him and he nods. He looks back to Zac.

"You can go on. Let her dad know I got this under control." He says and Zac walks by and gives me a pat on the shoulder.

"Nice hit kid." He says before quickly leaving to find my father.

"Come here." Eric says and pulls me into his arms. I'm shocked because it's our first embrace but I let my cheek rest on his chest and I enjoy the feeling. He takes a deep breath and lets it out then whispers, "I'll try harder to make them believe."

"Just try to make me believe." I tell him and pull away to look into his eyes and he nods. "So how much trouble am I in?" I asked and he shrugged.

"Not much. Everyone saw that she started it." He says and I nod. I notice I'm still in his arms so I pull away.

"I should head to the training room."

"I'll see you there." He says and I look at him confused. "Wouldn't a concerned fiancé come to check on his soon to be wife?" He asked with a smirk and I gave him a teasing shove.

"Yeah whatever." I quickly leave him and make my way to the training room where my friends already are.

"Look at the match up board." Connor says with ice to his tone and as I look up I see it. I'm matched with Kyle.

"Oh no..." Marlene says and gives my hand a squeeze. I look up at Connor.

"He is going to kill me." I say and Connor shakes his head no. "Just fight as hard as you can."

We are all here now and I even see Erick standing by Lauren and Zac.

"Last fight, Kraven and Kyle!" Lauren announces and I look at Eric who looks pissed but he gives me a nod. I slip my boots off and step onto the mat. Kyle does the same.

"God have I been waiting for this." He says and then comes at me. I dodge one of his hits. He might be bigger but I'm faster. I go to hit him and I get him hard in the jaw. His eyes flared and I made the mistake of going for another hit. He grab my wrist and pulled me forward so he had clear access to knee me in the stomach three times before I finally get a chance to hit him back in the ribs. It throws him off and I go to back up but he grabs me by the hair and throws me to the ground. He comes at my face with his fist and I quickly react by throwing my knee in between his legs. And he folds. I flip us over so I'm straddling him and since he was holding himself, I caught his arms under my legs as well, leaving him defenseless. I throw hit after hit into his face and I keep going even after he stops struggling. Hands pull me off of him and I stumble back into Eric's chest. I look and see Kyle unconscious on the mat. I look up and see the dauntless born and transfer initiates were all watching. I let out a deep breath and look over my shoulder and up at Eric who has a proud smile on his face. I just knocked out my biggest competition.

My eyes catch Chris' and a sense of pride runs through me as I stand there with Eric's hands still on my arms. She looks away from us and leaves. I step away from Eric and turn to look at him.

"Where did that come from?" He asked.

"It was either him or me and it wasn't going to be me." I tell him and he nods.

"That's good." He says and then walks away from me. Connor, Lynn, Uriah and Marlene rush up to me and I'm pulled into hugs.

"Listen up! Sense we have you all here, we will show you the scores as they stand at this moment." Eric says and the scores appear on the board. I'm in first and Peter, the transfer, is in second. My friends are all in the clearing but Kyle got kicked down a few spots from the last fight. I also notice the stiff, Tris is still under the line. She made it farther than Uriah had guessed, but I'd be shocked if she made it through.