Page 24 of Fight (Kitsune #2)

Devon couldn't contain his laughter anymore. "I found the sight of you stretching like that more than a little distracting, and your brother didn't appreciate me noticing quite so much."

Realizing what must have happened, I rolled my eyes and muttered "Men!" as I went back to stretching. When I was done, I turned back to the guys.

"Are we gonna get this over with? I wanna kick back and have a beer and I can't do that until we're done." I stood, my knees bent slightly, ready for an attack and beckoned them forward.

Devon and Raine looked at each other, then back at me. Devon shrugged and advanced.

"You realize that no attacker is going to come at you like this.

With you expecting it, and ready to fight him off, right?

" He walked with flexed knees, half expecting me to attack him, instead of waiting for him to come after me.

I couldn't really blame him for his caution; it was something I would probably do.

Devon lunged, feinting, before falling back and waiting for me to dive in defense. When I fell for it and dove toward him, he wrapped one arm over my back and around my torso, pinning one arm beneath his and the other between our bodies.

"What are you going to do now?" He taunted.

I lifted my feet off the floor, leaving him holding my entire weight.

The unexpected move caused him to lose his balance, nearly falling on top of me.

As he fell I pushed my feet back to the floor and threw my whole body back, breaking his grip, and freeing myself while throwing him to the side at the same time.

I turned and watched him hit the floor, as I stood beside him.

"That's one." I gloated, dancing out of his reach.

"I'll give you that one, let's see if you can do it again." He stood back up, and looked at me.

He feinted again, but I didn't fall for it this time.

I stood back, waiting, watching. I knew eventually he'd make a move and I just had to wait for it.

After several tries, he realized I wouldn't be tricked into making the first move again, and he made one himself.

He came at me, bent low, his shoulder aimed at my torso.

I knew if I let him hit me, it would knock the air out of me and he would take me down.

I stepped to one side, bringing the bottom of my folded elbow down on the back of his neck while using one leg to sweep his feet backwards out from under him, knocking him face down on the mat.

"It's not your ass, but I think that counts as two." I bounced around on the mat gleefully.

"Why are you counting?" Raine asked.

"Because Devon said I had to knock him on his ass five times before we could go do something fun instead." I danced around Devon as I spoke.

When Raine stepped up behind me and wrapped both arms around me, he caught me by surprise. He had my arms pinned to my sides as he hugged me against him.

"Hey, that's cheating!" I cried, before flinging my head back, making him loosen his hold slightly to avoid being smacked in the face. I was lifting my leg to reach back and kick him in the knee when Devon shouted.

"Don't hit him, Nickie!"

Raine and I both froze for a split second. I turned, Raine's arms still around me, to look at Devon, he was slowly making it to his feet.

"You'll hurt him, and he doesn't heal like I do."

"Let me go, Raine." I said over my shoulder. He let me go without argument. "Did I hurt you, Dev?" I approached him carefully.

"Not seriously, but if I were human I wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. There was some kind of spinal injury but it couldn't have been too serious or I wouldn't be up and about yet."

"You're sure you're all right?" I asked.

"I'm fine or I will be soon, but if you'd hit him like you did me, your brother wouldn't be. You're going to have to stick to sparring with kindred, until you learn to keep your strength in check for the exercise."

"I can't believe I hurt you, I'm so sorry. I wasn't trying to do real damage."

"It's not like I couldn't take it. I'm just glad it was me, and not Raine. You would be devastated if you'd hurt him that way." He was right, I would be.

"It's not doing great things for me that I did it to you." I replied, rubbing my hands back and forth over the front of my shirt, unsure what to do.

Seeing my indecision he came over and put his arms around me. "It's all right, Little Warrior, I'm healing. I know you didn't mean to hurt me, and you'll know to temper your strength in the future."

"I sure will!" I assured him.

"But only during sparring." He warned. "If you're attacked, I want you fighting with all you've got."

"I know. Believe me, if someone comes after me, I'll use everything I have to keep them from hurting me." I rubbed the side of my face against his chest, taking in his warmth and scent. He gently kissed the top of my head.

"Good." He replied.

"You really heal that fast?" Raine asked, reminding me he was there.

"Some of us heal better than others, and it depends on how bad the injury is, but some of us, yeah."

"Wow, that's quite a bonus." He seemed impressed.

"It's one of the big ones." Devon agreed. I moved slightly so I could see Raine while still staying in Devon's arms. He tilted his head to one side as though something had occurred to him.

"Does it only heal new injuries, or can you heal old ones too?" He asked.

"Both," I answered pulling away from Devon. I turned so that a certain spot on my forehead was aimed at Raine. "look here." He leaned in, trying to see what I was pointing out to him.

"I don't see anything." He said, confused.

"Exactly." I went back to Devon, trying to reassure myself he was all right. "I used to have a scar there, from running into a tree,"

"I remember that. You hit the tree so hard, it knocked you out cold and you made me feel so guilty about it because I'd been teasing you."

"Yep."

"When did it disappear?"

"I noticed it within a couple days of my first shift. I asked Karen about it and she said that scars healing after the first shift isn't uncommon."

"So, according to that, Devon's leg should have healed." He reasoned.

"Yes and no. It probably will heal over time, but the scar tissue is extensive.

From what I've been able to find out, the worse the scar tissue, the longer it takes to heal.

While it's likely healing, there's no telling how long it will take to heal the amount of damage he has.

" Something occurred to me as I explained to Raine.

I looked up at Devon. "You don't have any pins in there or anything, do you? "

"Not anymore. They pulled them shortly before I moved home."

"Good, I don't know how our systems would react to the metal. It never occurred to me to ask."

"It's not really an issue anyway."

"Not for you, but it might be for some other non-shifter. It'll need to be something we ask about, if nothing else they may have to get, whatever it is, removed after they've shifted."

"Why after they've shifted?" Raine asked.

"Because then they'll have the faster healing, and recovery won't be as long."

He nodded. "That makes sense."

I turned back to Devon. "So what now? I only knocked you down twice, but I'm done. I'm not fighting you anymore tonight, and I won't fight Raine either."

"I could call Brandon to come over and you could beat the crap out of him." Raine suggested. I shot him a glare before turning back to Devon.

"I'm done for the evening too," He admitted. "let's have a drink, kick back and watch something."

"I've got some beer if you'd like," Raine offered. "and I'm sure we can find something on the screen if you want to hang around here for a while."

"That sound great, Bro. Thanks." Devon replied, heading into the house, one arm around me as we walked. We picked up our shoes and went inside, dropped them near the front door before we pulled a couple of beers from the fridge and settled onto the sofa to watch a film with Raine.