Fighting by Anaya Phoenix (black books to read txt) 📕

“We missed you down here Luna, we didn’t know what was happening or what was going to happen. There was this void where you should’ve been and it was scary.” I looked at the girl who sat in front of me, now fifteen and mature for a wolf, and realized that she was exposing herself to me. I put my hand on her knee and gripped her hand, she gripped mine back just as tight if not tighter. 

“Well… I’m back now.” She looked in my eyes for a little while longer before exhaling a quick breath through her lips and sitting up straighter. She huffed out some laughter and her eyes seemed a little brighter and she tapped the back of my hand. 

“Yeah you are.” 

“Hey, didn’t you guys used to play a game?” Matt said ridiculously loud, and I looked to him to see that he’d been watching us. I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at him. 

“We used to play lots of games. Like Throw the Lycan, remember that?” Rhonda snorted at my answer but quieted at the pointed look Matt threw at her. 

“No, not that. Scrimmage?” My eyes grew wide as an excited squeal came from Lina and I knew that I’d have to play the most brutal game of my childhood. Libby’s head poked up and she looked at me with the same fear. 

“Why’d you have to bring up scrimmage?” Alissa groaned, rubbing her temples as her twin looked so excited. Jesse and Lina were a force to be reckoned with and I knew that it would not be fun for the normal people. Aubrey walked in at that moment and saw the excitement that only Jesse and Lina shared and her face blanched. 

“I’m telling mom that you’re trying to play scrimmage after dad banned it!” She screamed and ran out. We all knew she wouldn’t tell mom anything, she’d just hide in her bed until she’d heard the screams recede. 

“If you all remember I just came back from the dead? Maybe now is not the best time to actively engage in scrimmage?” I winced and pushed the third empty plate from in front of me. Ander looked reasonably pleased and threw a small smirk at me. 

“I think working out the kinks would be good for your body, a nice stretch before training in the morning.” 

“You call scrimmage a stretch?” I couldn’t help the squeak my voice made, but did glare at them as they all laughed at me. 

“Anybody want to fill me in as to what this whole scrimmage thing is about?” Shay asked lazily from his hunched over spot on the other side of the table. 

“You ever play football?” Anna said dryly, her entire face pale and I could tell she’d run out of spit in her mouth. 

“All of this fear over football? God you Americans are weak, try rugby!” He rolled his eyes and sat up, throwing side eye glances to us all. 

“It’s football on crack cocaine. No protective gear, no rules, and there’s no immediate goal. It’s just whoever’s still standing at the end.” Alissa groaned, rubbing her temples and throwing pointed looks at Jesse who looked almost too ready to play. 

“… So you’ve never played rugby then?” 

                Excited and nervous laughter circled around me as I stood, athletically dressed, in one of the smaller training rooms. My family along with the Victors, the Lycans, and the Masters stood around me, all of them well aware of the massacre that was about to happen. My hair, in a ponytail to keep it safe, tickled my back as I shook my head as they argued about who should be team leaders. 

“I’m the oldest!” 

“I’m the strongest!” 

“Strongest my ass, you can’t even handle a punch- ow, you bitch!” 

“Why don’t we just have Ander and Matt be team leaders!” I yelled, massaging the temples of my brain and looking at Lina and Jesse. Ander looked at me with a brow cocked and Matt narrowed his eyes on me. 

“Or it could be me and you.” Matt said with a shrug. 

“Or me and you.” Ander said with a lighter flippance, looking at Matt with the smallest smirk. I heard the faintest growl in Matt’s chest and sighed a breath of relief as Blake stood in front of him. 

“Yay, Matt and Ander!” She said excitedly, her hair having been pulled away from her face bouncing as she clapped in excitement. Matt rolled his eyes and walked away, making Ander huff. 

“Would you stop egging him on? I can only come between you two, and live to tell it, once every three months and you’ve more than exceeded the limit.” I poked him in the rib and he only winked at me and moved to stand in front of the group. 

“So who’s deciding first?” Anna asked, crossing her arms and leaning on Jesse her face looking everything but pleased. 

“Height?” Lisa suggested, squeaking as she looked up to the two mountain men. 

“They’re both about the same height, Lisa, you just can’t see it that well.” Rhonda said politely, patting her on her head and chortling at the glare that was thrown at her. 

“Ander’s taller than Matt.” I said simply and tried my best not to laugh at the disgruntled look Matt threw at the floor. We all lined up, ready for choosing and I crossed my arms. 

“Luna.” Ander started, throwing a smile at me and his arm around my shoulder when I stood next to him. 

“Blake.” Matt sounded less than pleased and Blake rolled her eyes but I could see how much it’d hurt her feelings. 

“Anna.” 

“Jesse.” 

“Lina.” 

“Libby.” 

“Mason.” 

“Marcella.” She snarled at that, making us all giggle, but moved anyway. 

“Izzy.” 

“Leo.” 

“Filly.” 

“Eva.” 

“Shay.” 

“Ursula.” 

“Cara.” 

“JJ.” 

“Lisa.” 

“Rhonda.” Finally we had reached the last of them and I winced at how lethal our team was and sent a withering look to Matt who knew that he’d lost. We huddled separately and discussed through the link before lining up across from each other. With my magick I summoned a soccer ball and took a deep breath before placing it in between us. Several of us already had our animals out and, because I’d just gotten my body back and would’ve hated to have gotten it bruised, I brought out my wolf. 

“Ready.” I said softly, already preparing myself for pain. 

“Set.” Ander whispered, his eyes leveling with Matt. 

“Go!” 

                Lisa grabbed for the ball, being the tiniest, and I snarled at how quick Jesse tried to break her wrist. Using my speed I ran into him and pushed him back into Matt and ducked out of Cella’s way before she grabbed me. Lisa quickly moved out of the way of the massive huddle and was running toward the enemy base and I ran to follow her. I saw Mason’s head snap to her, at the same time I heard a frightening roar, and was going to throw myself into him but Libby tackled him to the ground. Jesse climbed off of his mate who, I’m sure, he’d tackled first and ran after Lisa. Ander was hot on his trail and I had an idea. Switching gears I ran toward Ander and hoped that it worked like I hoped it would. 

“Hey!” He looked at me and we made eye contact and I let him in my mind. He nodded and quickly and still running caught me and picked me up. 

“This better work.” He grunted before throwing my body like a spear at Lisa. 

“Lisa!” She looked back and held her arms up, the ball there for me to grab. Praying that my body would move as fast as I needed it to I grabbed it and rolled in front of her, my feet digging in to the dirt as I scrambled up and ran the last few feet I needed to get to. I slid into the enemy base and howled in victory, gaining small satisfaction at the snarls from my friends. 

“That was brilliant!” Lina crowed, blood pouring freely from her nose. 

“Ursula got me pretty good back there, but it was just my nose.” She said when she saw my confusion, wiping the blood on her arm and crinkling up her face. 

“She broke my leg!” Ursula roared, glaring at my baby sister who simply shrugged. I smiled and wrapped my arm around the girl that was too much like me for it to be safe, and shrugged. 

“Shouldn’t have broken her nose.” I said simply as we lined up again. I locked eyes with Blake and crouched down, watching her eyes follow me and slightly uncomfortable at how brightly they shined. Her hair grew thicker as she hunched down, crouching in front of me and maintaining eye contact. 

“Ready.” The word was thick and laced with something that made me feel uneasy but I shrugged it off and bought my wolf back to the surface, feeling my hair grow thicker in its ponytail I took it out of the ponytail to avoid pain. Something wasn’t happening, but I couldn’t understand it. I knew that it needed to happen, I’d seen this happening but for some reason it didn’t feel the same. 

“Set.” Cella said, I’m sure she was looking at her twin but I couldn’t look away from Blake. Something told me that was anti-what I should do. 

“Go.” Matt’s voice was so distant it made me want to look at him, but that was super not what I should do. I moved away, wanting desperately to be out of the way from her glare and away from anyway that she could directly do damage to me. I’d always been faster than her and I heard the snarl she spit out but ignored it and looked at who was running. I saw Libby giggling with the ball safely tucked in the corner of her arm. Deciding that was the best course of action I ran after her and noticed how quickly she noticed me. She started to run diagonally and then switched it up, trying to avoid being tackled. I simply picked up speed and slid on the ground into her, knocking her off her feet and making her land on her back. I heard a nasty crunch, but breaking your bones was healthy for a werewolf so I simply snatched the ball from her arm and kicked my self away from her. When I stood up I saw everybody running toward me. 

“Oh, fuck.” Quickly tucking the ball in my arm I ran at the them, backhanding Jesse and ducking Cella narrowly before sliding in between Leo and Eva, ignoring the dirt digging into my skin. 

“Ander!” His hands were ready and I threw the ball to him quickly before tucking into myself to avoid being punched. Matt ran into me and knocked us both over, making me land on my back and him on top of me. His eyes widened as he realized where he was in relation to me and noticed my legs were holding him in between them before they swirled the dark color of his Lycan. My eyes widened and I pulled my wolf from the surface and held my hands out in front of me, placing them lightly on his chest. 

“Matt, you’ve got to get up. I’m not trying to get my ass handed to me on a silver platter. And I’m mated. You can smell that on me, you can see it. See reason Matt, come back.” I was pleading and I knew it and knew that it wouldn’t help. There was desperation