Another Half

And because @Barnalimondal1, @Blake107, and Daicilyn33 asked so nicely, here you go. This one's for you. ~Rio

June 2012

Azul Springs

“Nothing can replace brut strength,” Uncle Danny had often told Blade, Joaquin, and their cousins during the long hours of training. “But if strength is not on your side, learn to use your opponent’s strength against them.”

At thirteen, she had never once beaten her twin brother, Joaquin, despite the fact that she trained as much if not more than he did.

But it was her grandfather who gave her the key to her subsequent victories.

“Watch him, mija. Watch what he does when he fights and how he does it,” Abuelo had told her.

“So I can learn how to fight as he does?”

“No,” he said, patting her shoulder. “So you’ll know what to do against him. It may not be the strength you need, but something else. Mija, you’re as capable as he is, but he has an edge you do not; he has the young strength of a teenage boy.”

“I know, Abuelo,” she said crestfallen. “I’m never going to beat him.”

“Keep saying that, and you’ll be right,” Abuelo had said. “Why not try a different approach? What usually beats strength?”

“Brains?”

Her grandfather had laughed. “Yes, and you have that in spades; it’s what will make you an incredible spymaster,” he said with a smile and a wink. “But let’s call your brains intelligence. What does intelligence look like in a fight?”

She frowned. “Strategy?”

“Exactly,” he had said. “Watch your opponents not to learn from them, but to find out how to beat them. And if you can add speed along with whatever strength you can, I believe there will be almost no one that won’t be able to beat, mija.”

It took six months, but Blade eventually beat her twin brother, much to Joaquin’s shock and Uncle Danny’s satisfaction.

Outfitted in black yoga pants and a matching sports bra, Blade was stretching on a mat in one of the training rooms as she thought about the men in her life that had made such a lasting impact. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she fiercely wiped them away before anyone saw them.

I miss you all so much, Blade thought. Please be with me now. I need to protect our family. Andy and I are all that’s left of us.

“Blade!”

She looked up and saw a good-looking Raul coming towards her. He wore only a pair of light gray basketball shorts, which hung loosely around his hips. He had obviously spent ample amounts of time in the gym. Everything was on display, from his broad chest and shoulders, thick arms, and well-defined abs, down to the deep V-grooves in his hips, which her cousin Constanza once mischievously told her was called an Adonis Belt. And right then and there, with his light brown eyes and hair swept to one side, Raul definitely looked like an Adonis.

Wow. If this is the kind of help the males in our family send us, tell them to send more of it!

Blade ignored her wolf’s impertinence and focused on not making a fool of herself. She swallowed the excess saliva in her mouth and managed to smile, hoping she wasn’t smiling too broadly.

He had looked very handsome when she had met him at the pack’s front gate several days ago, but now he looked downright delicious.

“Hi, Raul,” she said, trying not to gulp audibly. “How have you been?”

Play it cool, play it cool, she thought.

How’re we supposed to play it cool when he looks so hot?

“I’ve been doing good,” Raul said as he crouched down and held her feet as she stretched forward. “What are you doing here?” He looked around. There were several people either stretching or already sparring with each one other. Two women were having at it at two of the four punching bags.

Blade shrugged. “Prepping to work out for the Tournament.”

He laughed and, all of a sudden, he didn’t seem so appealing anymore.

“Are you really going to fight in the Tournament? I mean, seriously?” He laughed some more as if she had just told him the funniest joke he had ever heard.

“Yes, seriously,” Blade said.

Then Raul looked genuinely worried. “Well, get up. Let me help you. I can teach a few moves so that at least you’ll win the first few matches.”

Oh, goody, Talon said derisively. Big Wolf Man is going to teach little us how to fight.

Do I look that fragile? Blade asked.

If we do, it will work in our favor, Talon said with a cackle. Why do you get all the fun?

Blade agreed to Raul’s offer and they looked for an available sparring mat nearby. They assumed positions.

“Okay, so the first thing you’re going to do is stand like this, see?” Raul said in earnest.

And Blade suddenly got what she thought was a brilliant idea.

“Oh, you mean like this?” She placed her feet wrong.

“No, no, like this, see?” He corrected her stance.

For several minutes, Raul patiently taught her how to stand and throw a punch.

“Okay, let’s put it all together,” he said.

They got ready, and Raul charged at her.

Blade wasted no time. She grabbed his incoming right cross punch by his forearm and buried her knee deep into his abdomen. Once she heard Raul gasp, she used the same leg to trip him backward. Quickly, she straddled him and gave his pretty face a taste of her indignation.

She got off of him when she felt blood on her fist.

Once free, he scooted back away from her with fear that was almost comical.

Abuelo had been right.

Their strength is worth shit if you have strategy and speed on your side, mija.

“You fucking played me,” Raul said in shock. Blood dripped down his chest, but his pecs no longer mesmerized her.

Blade shrugged. “When a she-wolf signs up for a tournament, it usually means she knows how to fight.” She extended her hand down to him, and he took it and let her pull him up.

“Come on, Pretty Boy. Let’s get you cleaned up and then let’s see what else you’ve got.”

They sparred until lunch, and then they met again during the next few days to spar. It was good practice for Blade, and she was able to get back in the groove of fighting every day without issue.

And Monday, the first day of the tournament arrived. Blade felt calm and collected. After her Five at Five, she went hunting in wolf form. By the time she arrived home, Andy was just waking up and demanding breakfast.

Crystal was more than happy to keep Andy for however long the tournament lasted.

“He keeps Robbie busy and happy while I do other things,” she said with a laugh. “You’re actually doing me a favor!”

More than that, Crystal was being the true friend Blade knew and loved.

The first week of the tournament went off without any problems. They paired her with only women at first, she beat them, and she advanced. By the end of the week, they paired her with some of the stronger women and the less skilled males, and the same thing happened: Fight. Win. Advance. Repeat. Blade reveled in the simplicity of the process.

She started to hear whispers.

“Do you think the new girl will beat Julia?”

“I don’t know. Julia’s tough, but--I don’t know.”

“My money’s on Julia.”

“Mine’s on this new girl. She looks angry.”

Blade stalked off, angry. At twenty-one, she didn’t exactly consider herself a girl.

All the lesser-skilled people were disqualified by the following Monday, and her first fight of the week was with Julia, the only other she-wolf left. Blade had observed Julia’s fights, and she knew Julia’s strengths and weaknesses. She also saw a well-defined pattern along with debilitating overconfidence that often intimidated her opponents.

And now it was time to square off with Julia at the ring.

Blade saw Julia smirk at her and laugh at her with several companions right before the match.

Blade focused on her breathing.

The real tournament begins now, she told Talon. She waited for a snarky response but didn’t get one.

Talon? Where are you? Talon!

Frantic, Blade peered inside her headspace and saw Talon stretched out on a sunny beach she had borrowed from one of Blade’s memories from a vacation in California she took with her mom several years ago. Talon even had sunglasses and something that looked remarkably like--

What the fuck, Talon?! You can’t be lying on a beach with a margarita while I’m getting my ass kicked out here!

Talon had the audacity to fake a yawn.

Blade blinked. Ax was already at the center of the circle. He shouted, “Begin!” before retreating to the sidelines.

You’ll be fine. I know what you’re going to do to that poor girl. Twenty bucks say you’ll have her down in sixty, maybe ninety seconds, Talon said.

Julia began to stalk towards her. Blade in turn did something she rarely did because it wasted energy: she charged.

As soon as she reached Julia, Blade planted both feet on the ground in a wide stance and clocked a well-placed uppercut on Julia’s chin, and immediately followed it with an even harder left hook on her temple.

Julia’s eyes rolled back and instantly fell to the floor in a heap. She looked around and people stared at her with—awe.

Less than twenty seconds, Blade told Talon. You owe me twenty bucks.

From far away in the back of her mind, Talon raised her margarita.

I stand corrected.

How can you even raise a glass with your paws?!

As soon as Julia went down, Blade immediately turned to get her bottle of water and towel.

A skinny male Julia had been talking to before the match went up to Blade, his face red and his fists shaking by his side.

“The match isn’t finished yet! You’re not the winner! Gamma Ax hasn’t declared it yet!”

Blade raised her eyebrows at him and looked around to where Julia remained on the ground.

“You really think she’s going to get up from that?”

He growled and Blade laughed.

“Julia is the Alpha’s girlfriend! Your insubordination should be grounds to disqualify you from the tournament! ”

Ah, fuck.

Blade had forgotten about Julia being the Alpha’s bed toy, but she wasn’t about to give this minuscule male the pleasure of knowing he had made her uncomfortable.

She batted her eyes at him and blew him a kiss. “Good luck with that.” Blade walked away, laughing.

Part of Blade reasoned that Ax wouldn’t disqualify her for some shit reason. But another part, the part wary of pack politics, knew that an Alpha’s favorites enjoyed special privileges. Julia obviously had some alpha blood in her, and as the Alpha’s girlfriend, she was a queen next to Blade’s omega standing.

Blade watched the commotion around Julia, who was still sprawled on the mat. Two medics arrived shortly and they loaded her onto a stretcher. Ax raised his head and beckoned her forward, and he quickly got up to meet her.

Blade ignored her stomach’s churning.

“Hey, what are you doing here? You’re done here,” he said quickly.

“What do you mean? Are you kicking me out of the tournament?”

Ax let out a short laugh. “Hell no! That was amazing! It was probably the shortest fight I’ve ever seen! Go get some rest. Eat something. You deserve it. Be back tomorrow for your next match.”

Blade stared at him stupidly. “But that was Julia.”

Ax laughed. “So? I guess she’s no longer the pack’s best female warrior, eh?” he said with a grin and a wink. “Good job! Now go before Julia’s friends--actually, if anyone gives you shit, let me know immediately. And that’s an order. Although, I doubt anyone’s going to have the balls to mess with you after this.”

He winked at her and hollered as he walked away, “In case you weren’t paying attention, the winner of this match is Blade Zamora!”

From that point forward, all of Blade’s opponents were strong males, many of them overconfident veterans from the recent war. The fights got harder and harder, and she almost lost some matches. To her credit, Blade felt she was also learning from her hard-earned victories, and she implemented that new knowledge into the strategies of her fighting systems.

Her last match was against a tall, bulky male with a square jaw. His thighs were as thick as tree trunks. He had several inches on her, and he stared at her in disbelief, apparently unable to reconcile how his final match paired him with a she-wolf.

He pointed at her and hollered. “Imma make she-wolf pulp out of you!”

"I love you, too, hunny!" Blade blew him a kiss and a few wolves snickered.

“Begin!” Ax bellowed.

Unfortunately for her opponent, Blade had noticed he had the same flaw as Julia and many other of her former opponents. Overconfidence. And, because the Tournament for Training Master was supposed to simulate real conditions during battle, a win was a win, which meant that the rules of combat were much looser. The only thing Blade couldn’t do was kill her opponent.

Grateful for the polished wooden floors and her stretchy black yoga pants, Blade quickly ran towards her opponent as he anchored himself on the floor with a wide stance. He smirked. A few feet before reaching him, she fell onto her knees and slid to deliver a gut-wrenching right cross blow to his genitals immediately followed by a powerful left jab. She ducked and slid right between his legs before he could react.

While the room broke out in gasps and some chuckles, Blade’s opponent predictably bent over, groaned, and cupped his precious jewels. Blade immediately grabbed him by his hair and kneed his face until she heard and felt something crunch, then she slammed his head on the floor, once. Then twice. His body gave up and he was out.

Fuck male strength.

She got up to a silent room.

“Is that legal?” A guy with a shaky voice asked.

Ax approached her on the mat with his signature mischievous grin. He took her left hand and raised it high.

“We have our Training Master!”