fear and desire. Their panties dripping with a newly discovered need. The truth is, as much as people like to pretend otherwise, deep down inside everyone is an animal. For shifters it’s just closer to the surface. Easier to access.
Everyone is an animal and everyone wants to fuck. Everyone. You can pretend otherwise. I guess some people are so good at pretending that they fool themselves. But it’s still there. Everyone has a primal need to reproduce and deep down beneath all of society’s distractions, right down in the deepest part of a woman’s genetic programming is a flashing neon sign that’s telling them they should reproduce with the baddest motherfucker in the world because at the end of the day all that matters is making sure you and yours will survive.
So that night I pointed to her. I pointed at her and sent her a message. Watch me. See what I can do .
She looked confused. The guy she was with, the cripple, looked angry. He knew what was happening. He knew he was going home alone. He knew he’d made a mistake bringing her here. I guess he was trying to impress her or something. But dog or not, she was more animal than he could hope to handle.
I could sense it the second I met her. She needed more than he had to offer and if it came to making a choice, there was no way she could resist. It was a simple gesture, two fingers that singled her out. But it was all she needed. It let her know that this fight was for her. A demonstration of my strength, my ability to survive and defeat anyone who stood in my way.
She was already mine and she didn’t even know it.
When people fight, they are fueled by rage. Anger makes them strong. Anger makes them able to withstand pain. Anger gives them an edge.
When we fight, it’s different. We already have an edge. We have almost unlimited strength inside us, we just need to access it. That’s the easy bit. The hard bit is to access it without shifting. That takes control.
Those who haven’t mastered control… lose. To shift during a fight, to lose control and change form, usually leads to a humiliating defeat. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Sometimes you’ll encounter a young pup who hasn’t learned yet. Who thinks that a wolf can beat a man. Maybe that’s true out in the wild or against regular people. But here, in the confines of the ring, a wolf is clumsy and will struggle to get the upper hand against someone with the strength and speed of a wolf, and the mobility and finesse of a trained fighter.
My opponent was no pup.
Deek was bigger than me and stronger than me. He knew how to fight and he knew he had to stay calm. I was faster and more agile and he knew it. As I danced around him, dodging and weaving, he didn’t lose his cool. He was too experienced for that.
“I’m going to fuck you up, Hutch.”
He grinned, displaying missing teeth and a lopsided smile, and took another swing at me. It was slow and telegraphed, a clumsy trap. I pushed towards him and he was ready for me, a sweeping kick intended to take my legs from under me. But I knew it was coming, and he might as well been moving in slow motion.
When his leg was fully extended, I lashed out with my own. I struck the ankle that was supporting him with the side of my foot and heard a satisfying crunch as I made contact.
Five seconds in and we both knew I’d already won. I was already faster than he was and his only hope was to overwhelm me with brute force, but with his ankle injured I’d be able to dance rings around him. It was only a matter of time.
The crowd hadn’t seen it, though. They saw me narrowly escape two powerful and confident strikes from a bigger foe. They roared, eager for more. Eager for blood.
I grinned.
“They think this is a fight. This isn’t a fight.”
“Fuck you.” I saw a momentary glimpse of the animal within. My ears picking up the barely audible growl beneath Deek’s words as, just for a second, his eyes flashed gold beneath the harsh
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