The Alpha and Her Beta

Chapter Thirty-Five: Mate-Mark

Chapter Thirty-Five:

Mate-Mark

I shook out my husky dark brown fur, spittle flying from my maw. A silent snarl shaped my muzzle, my lips peeled back to show a threatening smile. My tail wagged lowly, sweeping the grass, at the sight of Kanjax in his wolf form. It just occurred to me, as we circled each other lowly like predators on a hunt, that I had never seen Kanjax's wolf form and vice versa.

Kanjax was a large wolf, just about my size if not a tad smaller. His tawny blond fur was thick and silky, shinning underneath the sunlight. He seemed to have fur that was blonder than his hair color. Those gray eyes of his seemed to take up a vicious tint, as if being in his wolf form was pulling out more of the side of himself he kept buried beneath his pleasantries and gentlemanly habits.

Our ears were slicked back against our large heads, low little snarls escaping our maws. It was as if we were the only people in the courtyard at this point. We barely registered Cerys and Grandpa Aaron standing nearby, much less the local wolves lingering outside the gate to watch the show.

Kanjax snapped his jaws at me, and I took it as an invitation. I darted toward him, my large paws thundering on the grassy ground. He didn't bother to try and dodge, but rather, took my attack head on. My lumbering body slammed into his, sending the both of us sprawling to the ground. A painful throb ached in protest at the right side of my collar bone, not having withstood the force of a body slam all too well.

Kanjax stood rather quickly, shaking off the body slam. It didn't seem like his broken collar bone was bothering him all too much. I got to my feet, shaking out my fur before crouching lowly. Kanjax wasted no time once he notice I got to my feet, lunging my way with his maw open wide. I pivoted to the left, avoiding having him bite down on my shoulder once more. But I wasn't able to avoid the swipe of his paw that followed after.

His claws scraping up through my forearm and into my forechest. Blood wept from the wound but I didn't let it stop me from darting forward and swiping out with my own paw. My paw met its mark, slicing up from his belly to his back. We both pranced back a few steps, leaving some room for us to decide our next moves.

Despite the pain I was enjoying myself. Fighting with Kanjax like this felt more like roughhousing since we both weren't trying to kill one another. With all the seriousness going on between my sanity failing and invading other territories I hadn't had many opportunities to roughhouse or relax in any form. But fighting with Kanjax certainly was a way to unwind, and that was something I hadn't quite expected.

With a wild grin I stepped forward, the pads of my paws squishing against the soft grass with each step. Kanjax met my advances with a similar grin, the two of us knocking our heads together like mountain goats. Little rumbles sounded in our chests as we tried to force the other to submit. I quickly tired of the billy goat game we were playing and turned to nip at his fur, tugging at it teasingly.

He nipped at me in turn, but his nipping quickly became biting. I bit at him, swiping my paw at him as well. Kanjax followed me as I retreated, not allowing me to put any distance in between us. Soon our little game of tit for tat became nothing more than close quarters combat. We were so close that I could feel his hot breath on my fur with every pant.