Chapter Twenty-Five

“Let’s go, ladies,” I called out, watching the girls move faster than I had seen them move this month. Cassie, in particular, was moving a lot faster. Once the girls finished their laps, I had them circle up. “Congratulations, ladies. We are finally moving like wolves. Now we can up the ante.”

“What do you mean by that?” Charlotte, a female that just had her first shift last week, perked up.

“Well now that you’re actually running, and you have built muscle, we can break off into shifted and non-shifted sides.”

“For what?” Cass asked, bouncing on her toes.

“Hand-to-hand combat.” I smiled, and some girls jumped with excitement.

“Finally,” Tamara squealed. “I’ve been waiting for this since we started.”

“Well, we talked about it, and Amy here thought that getting you moving and building muscle was a stronger base than throwing you into the thick of it.” Tina smiled and bumped her little sister’s shoulder.

“I know, and she’s right. I would have died week one, but now I’m ready.” Tamara laughed.

“Let’s go. I want shifted on my right-hand side and non-shifted girls to my left.” There was a quick shuffle and most of the girls moved to the left-hand side, leaving only a handful on my right. “Now pair off. Once we see you all grapple a few times, we will match you with people that are closer to your skill and strength levels.” I watched as everyone paired off.

“Now ladies, we don’t want to see girl fights here, but we also don’t want you trying to kill each other. We want to see clean fights. No hair pulling, no scratching if you can help it,” Lynn called out.

“Also, for those of you that are unshifted or recently shifted, anger can provoke a shift. If you start to feel a shift coming on, or you partially shift, combat stops there. We will learn to fight in wolf form later on.”

“Before we start, though, I want everyone to form a fist and hold it out.” I called out, and the three of us started going through everyone.

“This is stupid,” Amanda whispered to another crony as I walked up to them.

“You think this is stupid?” I stopped in front of her and grabbed her hand.

“Yes,” she rolled her eyes.

“Why?” I looked her fist over and then wrapped my fingers around her fist.

“Because I know how to make a fist.” She scoffed, and I squeezed, causing her to scream and drop.

“If you knew how to make a fist, Amanda, you wouldn’t currently be on your ass. You tucked your thumb, and if I squeeze any harder, or if you, say, hit someone with it, then you would shatter your thumb.” I pulled her to her feet and opened her hand. I tucked her thumb and reformed a proper fist. “So, I check, because it can stop you from making a very stupid decision.”

“Thank you,” she wiped her brow and looked away. I nodded and moved on. Once everyone was checked, I walked back to the front.

“Now, we know this sparring is going to be bad. We aren’t expecting you all to know what you are doing, but this is to help us gauge exactly where you are and where we should start with each of you. Do not,” I paused, making eye contact with most of the girls, “do not assume that if you can’t fight, you won’t get better. We will make you better.” I pointed out Lynn and Tina. “We will all be walking around. We might stop your fight, make a pointer, or give a direction. Listen to what we all have to say. Learn from what we have to say, and I promise, every fight will be better.” I waited until a few nodded. “Begin.”

Each set of girls charged at the other and started fighting. We had to stop a few that got too heated. One set had the other’s hair wrapped around their fists and pulling them apart was hell, but overall it was a good start.

I watched as Lynn walked up to Cass and her partner, separating the two and walking them through how to throw a proper punch. Once the two showed a few air punches, Lynn had them get back to sparring, and both ended up with black eyes. I laughed, but they were smiling.

I helped a few others do the same and by the time the fighting was over, more than a few had fat lips and bruises. One girl, who was paired up with Aurora, was missing a patch of hair because Aurora didn’t understand stop, and one had to be taken to the doctor. But everyone else was all smiles.