Fighting For Him

Chapter 13

“Scarlett listen to me please.”

“Dad you are literally in my head, I couldn’t not hear you even if I wanted to.”

“Very funny, now pay attention. Today we are going to work on something slightly different and you are going to be using muscles you didn’t even know existed.” I groan quietly but not quietly enough for someone with a wolf’s hearing.

“Scarlett, this is serious, this could save your life.” He growls at me and flicks me with his tail as he passes. “Now watch.” With the agility and speed of a wolf half his age my dad runs at full sprint and propels himself at the tree that Liam was leaning against just last week, then with what seems like ease and the sound of claws on wood he scrambles up into the foliage and I lose sight of him amongst the leaves and branches. “Your turn.” Comes his voice inside my head. I lower my front half to the floor and asses the tree before me, then with a shrug I straighten my posture and attempt to copy my dad by running full pelt, as I get to where the roots start to protrude from the earth I fling myself into the air and sink my claws into the bark, then with a yelp of surprise I fall back towards the ground and land in a heap of dust at the base of the tree. My dad’s laughter echoes in my head. “Nice Try.”

I right myself and get back to my feet, when I look up I am just in time to see my dad jump of the branch he had been sitting on and land back on his four paws.

“What no backflip?” I ask sarcastically. “How did you do that?” I quickly add on the end in awe of my father.

“Fighting isn’t the only thing you need to know, this is a tactic that can be used for many an occasion. Not many people learn the art of climbing trees as humans let alone wolves and when it comes to it they assume that it is an easy task, which as you have just discovered, it isn’t. This is a tactic I teach my guys and this is why they are the best. Once up in a tree you have the height advantage, the advantage of surprise, a hiding place if it is needed or even a look out post. Yet, for reasons I can’t grasp, nobody uses this resource to its full advantage. You will.” He pads away from the tree so he once again has the room for a run up and follow him. “The secret is not to stop moving until you are on a branch. Once the momentum stops gravity will pull you back down. Don’t use your claws to dig into the bark, that’ll slow you down, use your claws to catch on the rough surface and propel you upwards. Once you are on the tree, just like you would on the ground, run.” And he does, disappearing once again up into the tree.

Ouch, I hit the floor again but I jump back to my feet and shake the dirt out of fur. Quickly I back up so I have room to gain some speed. Without thinking I launch myself at the tree and get half way up before gravity catches up with me and pulls me back down, this time I have the height to spin myself around in the air and land on my paws. I growl low in my chest, this is getting annoying. I position myself to have another go.

“Scar it’s time to call it a day now.” My dad calls from the backdoor. He had ended training hours ago but I told him I wanted to continue, he’d left me at it and not having an audience, even if it was just him, had made it easier. I had gotten the hang of it, sort of, and out of five attempts I could climb the tree on about three of them, but that wasn’t good enough for me I wanted it to be perfect. I whine back at him unable to talk to him whilst he’s human and I’m wolf. “Your one on one with Liam is in an hour.” Is his reply, growling low again I throw myself at the tree. The muscles in my legs ache from over exertion and I’m sure I have broken a claw but I push on, dad’s instructions sit in the front of my mind and I force my limbs to follow my orders only stopping when I am lying, panting, on a branch high above the ground.