Hex

* T H I R T Y - F I V E *

© Amber Kalkes 2015

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"Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent

* T H I R T Y – F I V E *

I'm worn out.

Jake has been running me into the ground for the past three hours and I don't know how long I can keep going on like this. Still, he pushes me. I know why he's pushing me too. Battles like the one that we'll be facing soon won't be done in an hour or thirty minutes. These things can last for hours, depending on the enemy's numbers and how much of a defense we put up. Brandon once told me that he heard about one conflict that lasted a week. It was just a constant onslaught of attacks that seemed to drag on forever without an end. So, I get why Jake is pushing me like he is but I can't help but hate him for it. I'm just not a naturally physically active person.

I'm taken out of my thoughts as Jake's large wolf comes for me again. I'm not prepared for it. I'm too wrapped up in my exhaustion that I don't protect myself quick enough. His claws rake themselves across my upper arm and I let out a shriek of pain as I fall back to the ground. Brandon springs into action then.

He's been hanging back in wolf form most of the time, only coming in for group sparring but still being gentle with me. He only tackles and never bares his claws or fangs at me. It's just pushing, really. Jake on the other hand has been going full on and has been treating me like I assume he treats everyone else, without mercy.

Brandon stands between Jake and I, snarling at Jake in warning as Jake prepares to come at me a second time. My arm is leaking blood rapidly and I cup it with my tattooed hand, the one marking me as a protector of the Alpha and her child. The blood begins making a trail down my hand and arm to mark the ground below. Tears build in my eyes as the throbbing in the limb gets worse and worse. God, it hurts. Way more than I expected it would.

"Are you okay?"

Brandon's voice in my head is a welcomed distraction and I lift my blurry eyes to meet his wide yellow ones. I shake my head and feel my lower chin start to wobble. Call me a baby or whatever but I've never been injured in my life. Other than the time at the cabin with Brandon, I've never even been touched aggressively. This is as much a shock to my mind as it is to my body and I don't know to process it. So I do the only thing I really can do, I cry.

I hear Brandon growl as he turns away from me to face Jake. Jake looks unapologetic for injuring me and I don't expect him to be. It's pretty clear he's a hardened battler and spilling blood in a sparring session is probably nothing new to him. I don't hold any anger towards him. I just don't want him to come at me again. Not until he's in his human form or more docile.

"Brandon," I gasp out, my tears overflowing despite my attempts to keep them at bay, "I'm okay."

Brandon growls at me impatiently before turning back to Jake who isn't backing down. Brandon starts circling Jake aggressively but Jake seems unimpressed with his display. If anything he actually looks amused by it. It makes me a bit freaked out about this whole thing actually. Again, I get it. Brandon wants to punish the guy who hurt his mate. If the roles were reversed I'd want the same thing but this is Jake. He's not going to take it easy on Brandon just for the sake of me, even if I am his Alpha's sister or his superior's daughter.

I see it coming before it actually happens. Brandon launches his large black wolf at Jake's sleeker brown wolf. Jake easily dodges Brandon's attack and in fact wraps his jaws around Brandon's back leg. Brandon lets out a snarl and turns his upper body enough to drag his claw down Jake's muzzle. Blood starts pouring from Jake's nose and he lets go of Brandon long enough for Jake to attack head on. Pushing him down on his back Jake bares his teeth at Brandon and buries his claws into Brandon's shoulders, pinning him down. Brandon is now bleeding too and I let out a cry when I hear his pained whine.