The smell of blood stains the air, thick and coppery, still hot in the white, frozen world. Cheers and boos fill the air, making the blood seem so much sweeter. The sounds and smells stir the beast in Kiera, it twists inside her, screaming the acknowledged, let lose. Kiera clamps down on the wolf inside her.
“I hate winter” Cody says simply, her breath fogging the air in front of her face.
Kiera nods, and agrees, even though she isn’t listening to her friend. “Yeah, winter. Great fight” she says, trying to see over the heads of people in front of her. Snow flicks high into the air, and savage snarls echoing through the forest. A brief flash of brown appears between two heads, but disappears again shortly after. “Oh, come on!” Kiera shouts, trying to squeeze between the two guys.
Cody sighs. She grabs Kiera’s arm, pulling her back easily. “You’re not listening to me.”
Kiera glances back, but only for a brief second before brawl draws her attention again. “Of course I’m- kick his ass Romy! You the girl!” Kiera screams, bulldozing through the crowd.
Romy in wolf form darts around the male, a dark splash against the snow. Her paws sink into the ground, her muscles bunching as she bares her teeth. Despite the clear indication of the wolf’s attack, the guy doesn’t move. His brown fur bristles, and he leaps to meet her.
But Romy doesn’t jump at the brown attacker. She slides under him, fur brushing his stomach.
Kiera shouts her approval as Romy twists, sinking her fangs into the guy’s leg. Snow puffs up as the two wolf’s crash into the snow in a tangle of limbs. The smell of blood overrides the smell of anything and everything. Bright splatters of blood stain the ground bright crimson around two dark wolves.
Cody, on the outside of the ring, just crosses her arms. She almost feels sorry for Eric, but it is his fault Romy’s tearing him limb from limb. If he hadn’t thought throwing a snowball at her was a good idea, than dared to wink at her, she wouldn’t have challenged him. Cody turns away from the circle, brushing her blond hair to the side. Winter is beautiful, she has to admit, but it’s too cold for her. Shifting into her wolf form is almost unpleasant. She never understands why anyone likes rolling in icy powder which melts in your coat and tickles as the cold water runs down your skin.
Without a backwards glance Cody leaves for her house, seeking the comfort of a hot drink and dry surroundings.
Kiera almost jumps into the fight as she watches the wolves brawl. Streaks of blood smear the snow, making the snow look even whiter compared to the crimson. She glances around, praying one Eric’s friends jump’s in to help the losing wolf. Romy is thrashing him, she hardly has a scratch compared to his bloody face and mattered hind. Kiera bounces on her feet, feeling the wolf stir under her skin.
Ever since she was little the wolf was always there, fidgeting under her skin, breathing through her, and seeing through her eyes. She feels the need to shift with every second of the day. It feels more natural than her human body.
But she can’t jump into the fight; otherwise she’ll have to fight against Romy. It’s a downfall of the fights.
-Guys can’t double the girls fighting (three guys can fight if two girls are, but not two guys on one girl-despite who they’re fighting)
-When fighting, the winner cannot bring in a fighting partner for a two on one fight, however the loser may request a fighting partner.
-If the losing contestant has a fighting partner, than the winning fighter may also.
-No more than 6 fighters in one fight.
And
-No killing your opponent or seriously injuring them to the point of being unable to fight.
But Kiera can’t help think that Romy is ignoring the last rule. Her aggression becomes clearer, as if every second the fight persists she becomes more energetic, more thrilled with the fight. Her moves become faster, stronger, harder, until she is almost as lethal as a real wolf, almost as lethal as a whole pack rolled into a ball of dark grey fur and sprinkled with a little insane.
Kiera finds herself itching to jump into the fight.
A splash of blood paints the snowy ground.
Romy snarls as Eric and the bronze wolf drops to the ground with a whimper.
“Loser!” someone shouts in the crowd, and Kiera finds herself grinning in agreement.
“You just got beat by a girl!” Kiera shouts, as if the humiliation isn’t already clear enough for Eric. The grey wolf lifts her nose, looking down at her submissive with pride. “Eric’s your bitch, Romy!” Kiera hoots.
The noise of the crowd slowly dims and people move away. A few wrestles brake out, driven by the battle which riled them up. Others however just walk away, as calm as before the explosion of the two wolves.
Eric crawl’s away unnoticed, tail hanging low.
Romy looks up as Keira bounces over, her eyes alight with a buzz. Kiera just fist pumps the air. “Romy, my friend, you owned that coward!” Kiera turns around to rub it in Eric’s face some more but only finds lonely paw prints leading away into the forest. “Coward!” she calls anyway, knowing he can hear her. She spins back around, the excitement still flushed inside her blood.
Romy barks, her tail high and wagging.
Kiera follows Romy away from the bloody snow. “He is such a fool” Kiera smirks, shaking her head at the boys silliness. “No one takes on the fabulous Romilda and walks away without a scratch” Kiera announces, as if she has an audience rather than just her friend beside her. She knows Romy is egotistical and loves compliments, so she rewards her when she sees fit.
But at that comment Romy growl’s, her strides less trot and more stalk.
Kiera just rolls her eyes, “Sorry, but I couldn’t help myself.”
The wolf snorts. Ever since childhood Romilda had despised her name with a burning passion. She declares to feminine, and if it’s pointed out she is a female, she snaps something about being to docile and meek. Even ‘Romy’ she finds difficult to find attractive. Kiera fears that Romy will call her female children Hades, Slasher or Thrash and her sons something silly like Darcie and Lexi.
Romy’s is a strong feminist, and lives to prove girls are better than guys, and even goes as far to say we are more dominate.
Kiera on the other hand just craves dominance. It wasn’t drilled into her, which made it stranger than Romy’s feministic-ness –her mums highly dominate in the relationship. Kiera just thinks people need to show their strengths, and use them to their advantage. She hates cowards, if she had it her way anyone who thought submission was the best choice in the fight, should be seen as a coward. The rules should be you don’t stop fighting until you’re dead, or close to it.
She sees no reason for guards to be push overs. If they can’t handle the fight, they should leave.
Kiera crosses her arms over her chest, breathing in the cold air. The wintery atmosphere stings her throat, and her nose burns. “I love winter” she grins, watching the sun reflect off the snow. Everything is white and cold, a wonderland of ice and wind.
Romy snorts again, tail flicking again.
The pair stays quiet as they walk and the only sound is Kiera feet thudding through the frozen powder. The invisible path in the snow curves slowly, forever turning in a circle. Kiera’s wolf stirs under her skin, and for a second she ponders shifting, but she pushes the thought away. She doesn’t want to have to get dressed again, besides she needs to be ready within ten minute, and she knows letting her wolf out will only distract her.
Kiera feels the presence before she sees him, positioned between the shadows of the trees. His eyes slide over her, a fleeting sign of acknowledgement before he turns away. She realizes he knows about the fight and the outcome, and probably heard every word said. Even though his sisters aren’t present she realizes that they know about it too. Kiera turns away from the guys dark eyes, feeling a little unbalanced within such a close proximity to him. She meets his eyes again for a second, but lowers them in a sign of respect. She turns to Romy, meeting the steel coloured wolf’s gaze. “Race you back to your house?” She asks, grinning when Romy jumps forward, already sprinting. “You have to stay on the path!” she shouts after the blur of grey.
Someone screams when Kiera burst through the front door with a victory yell. “I win!” Kiera screeches, throwing her hands up. Romy barks, nails clicking on the porch. Kiera turns towards the kitchen, giving Romy’s little sister and mum the piece sign, only to find her feet swept out from under her. With a yelp she finds her back on the floor. “You bitch!” Kiera shouts, clambering to her feet as the wolf scrambles up the stairs.
For a split second Kiera thinks about barrelling up the stairs after Romy and tackling her, but decides against it. Instead she stands up the smiles at Emma and Miss Faith. “Hi guys” Kiera jumps onto the counter and breaths in the sweet scent of banana and sugar. “Banana bread? I love your banana bread, Eve!”
“Suck up” Miss Faith says, pointing a serrated knife at Kiera.
Kiera lifts her hands, but offers a grin.
“Why are you so loud?” Keeli asks with a distasteful frown.
Eve shakes her head, touching the young girl’s head. “She’ got a headache” she explains to Keira.
Kiera nods simply, kicking her legs on the counter. She knows Keeli’s not a very snappy person; in fact she’s rather nice, even boards on sweet. Without being asked she reaches over and steals a pre-cut slice of bread. “Very nice” Kiera gives the thumbs up, stuffing her face with the bread.
Eve just shakes her head. A minute passes; the only sound is the occasional slicing of bread and a thump here and there from overhead, along with the odd curses. The peace is suddenly interrupted when the door swings open with a harsh bang. “Boys! I’ve told-“ But Eve doesn’t finish.
“Mum! Carl hurt me!” Nathan shouts, tears running down his cheeks. The small boy’s only 7, but still Kiera can’t help roll her eyes at his crying.
“I did not! He’s a just a wimp!” Carl defends.
“Mum!” Nathan cries. He rubs his head, cringing as Carl scoffs.
“He fell off-” but Carl doesn’t finish because suddenly he’s tackled.
“Don’t hurt Nathan!” Jared shouts, punching Carl with small fists.
Nathan cries louder, running to cling to Eve’s leg while Carl and Jared roll on the floor with pained grunts. “Get off me, idiot!” Carl snaps, punching back at Nathan’s twin.
“Boys! Stop fighting this instant!” Eve shouts, prying Nathan off her leg, only to find him reattached a second later.
The two roll over, kicking at each other despite they’re age. Kiera watches interested, wondering if anyone was actually going to land a solid punch. The two fought a lot, but no one ever got a bruise. They throw minor punches which rarely land a good impact. “Jared! Stop it! Carl-!” Eve snaps, waddling over to the brawl. Nathan protests, dragging his butt on the ground.
Nathan cries harder until his wails becoming piercing.
“Shut up!” Romy shouts from upstairs.
A door slams.
Kiera shakes her head, placing her feet of the chair by the counter. Amused she watches the struggle. Eve had once yelled at her for breaking them up, so she doesn’t intervene anymore.
Suddenly Carl yells before bursting into tears.
“That’s for hurting Nathan!” Jared yells, going for another punch to the face.
“Kiera! Stop them, please!” Eve yells over the crying and grunting.
With a simple grace she’d always possessed, Keira jumps from the counter. Jared struggles fitfully as she pulls him off Carl. “Let me go! Let me go” he growls.
“Sorry kid” Keira laughs taking him outside to dump the 7 year old in the snow. “Come back in when you’ve cooled down”
“I hate you!” Jared screams, but Kiera had already closed the door on him. Kiera turns to watch the others, feeling oddly amused by the ‘seriousness’ of the scrap jut passed. At least no one had shifted and really went out for blood. That’s when they really needed to be put in time out.
Eve passes Nathan to Keeli, and lifts Carl off the ground. “Where’d he hit you, honey?” Eve asks. She tends to Carl carefully, trying to calm Nathan down at the same time.
“Hey, Nath, wanna watch Spider Man?” Keeli asks encouragingly.
Instantly Nathan’s tears stop. “Yeah…”
Romy bounces down the stairs, swinging her bracelet around her finger. “What was with all the screaming?”
“You’re brothers were fighting” Eve says dismissively.
“Again?” Romy asks, grabbing an apple of the counter and sends a distasteful glance at the banana bread.
“Yes. And you weren’t here to help!” Eve shouts, turning to Romy with a sharp expression.
Kiera glances away, looking out the window at Jared. A snowball explodes against a tree in a puff of white. He scopes up another, throwing it with all his might. His brown head bobs down again, and he snarls something under his breath.
“Sorry” Romy forces out. Her mum was a control freak; right down to the l. Romy sometimes swears that she likes Kiera more than she likes her. Romy hooks her arm through Kiera’s. “We’ve got to go, or we’ll be late” is all Romy says before dragging Kiera out the door.
The two girls descend the stairs and neither pay attention to Jared. “So what took you so long?” Kiera asks simply. Romy says nothing, but leans close to Kiera with a sly grin. The smell of vanilla and apples wafts offs her faintly, and new makeup is painted over her eyes. “Oh”
“Yeah, oh” Romy grins, sinking her teeth into the apple.
Snow suddenly smacks against Kiera’s back, but she doesn’t turn around to scold Jared. She feels snow fall down her legs and onto her heels but ignores it. He doesn’t throw another snowball thankfully.
“You want Kadar, don’t you” Kiera questions as they walk down the main path. Kadar is absolutely delicious, Keira knew. Because werewolves are naked when they change back, she’d seen a lot of his ass and abbs. Not to mention he lived only a few houses away from her and goes on a jog every morning –mostly without a shirt. All those toned muscles, and tanned skin… he was just rip to be picked. He also was mega aggressive, and slammed down any wolf who dares challenge him.
Kiera had ever fought him, mostly in case he kicked her ass into submission-which she would never ever do. And also, it would look a little funny to see a wolf staggering all over the place while drooling. She’d probably be too busy swooning to fight.
“Yep”
“Too bad you can’t have him” Kiera says with a deep, mournful sigh.
“Why?” Romy bristles, her eyes wide and despret. A little flash of annoyance crosses her expression, but Kiera knows it only fake.
“Cause he’s mine” Kiera says with a sinister grin.
“You bitch!” Romy shrieks and rips her arm from Keira’s. A second later snow is flying at Kiera’s face.
“Hey!” she throws her arms up, warding off Romy’s attacks. “Stop it, Romilda, or I’ll tell your mum!” she threatens, but doesn’t pause to grab snow and haul it back.
“Oh!” Romy says as the snow falls away from her face, the frozen powder clinging her lashes. “You are so dead”
And that’s the only thing she says before an all-out war starts.