A / N : Please excuse my inexperience with fight scenes uwu . tw : mild gore . Coming up next , we get to see both Derek and Ari 's den mommy sides . Thank you for the continued support and reviews ~ ! You 're rockstars ~ ^ U ^ .

Kali charged me, gauging for my face. I could tell it was just a move to test the waters, to start our chain reaction. I stepped back and she came forward. We began a dance then, fast-paced and not suitable for any prom except maybe Carrie's since that one already had its fair share of bloodshed. Claws made nicks along the both of us as we locked crimson irises and bore crimson stripes.

But nicks weren't going to make or break this fight.

Kali took a risky move, going for an underswipe that left the back of her neck vulnerable as she went for my stomach. Her claws dug in deeper than the marks before it as I scored her back. She darted away, recalibrating her strategy as blood began to drizzle along the barn floor.

"Do you even know what you're trying to get into here?" She asked. "It's more than power and petty dog fights. If you are in it, you are in it until your bones break and your blood runs out."

"It's really starting to irk me how condescending this town is." I said. "Do you think I got to be called the Alpha slayer by playing with dolls and climbing trees? I'm not a kid. When I was seventeen, I was popping pain pills to get through the day while some other girl was being a dancing queen."

"Your problem," She began as she feinted in one direction and came at me in another. I anticipated it, catching her in the shoulder though I couldn't avoid taking a slash in my side, "from what I hear," she channeled force into putting me off balance, taking the brief opportunity to bring me to my knees, "is you've got too much heart." She settled her weight over me, claws tracing cuts through my blouse. "I could fix that for you. It'll be a little crude. A little lethal. But it gets the job done." She dug her claws in then with no abandon, and I cried out a snarl.

I got a hold of her throat. This wasn't a sparring session, or a snarking session. It wasn't even dancing with death. It was a fight to the finish. Simple as that. And neither of us were weak kneed at spilling blood.

I tore.

Immediately, Kali growled, rolling off of me. We went back and forth, parries and blows. Blocking, striking, steeling ourselves.

I don't know how long it went on. Every second was filled with adrenaline and sweat. I couldn't feel the sting of the cuts riddling my body. Deucalion could have become a Transformer and rolled out for all I noticed. Everything was about the fight.

And then in an instant, where sunlight shone pale on our faces, where everything was silent but for our hearts pumping electricity.

We collided.

Kali's claws ripped and burrowed through my side as I barreled mine into the base of her throat.

Her cries were a tangle of wet noise and ferocity. Mine were made of something similar.

The pain was excruciating. There was no stemming the flow of it with endorphins or adrenaline. It in fact consumed me, and for a moment I was only Agony.

We collapsed next to each other, breathing hard, gasping amongst the dust. Blood painted the floor in splatters and abstract designs, inescapable and dark. I definitely had another veteran to add to the pile of ruined leather jackets.

Once I could gather any semblance of thought and presence, it took my entire will to focus. Glancing at the wound, I knew it would be fatal. I'd bleed out before it could heal.

Unless I pulled on the pack.

I'm so sorry.

I drew on their collective strength, just enough so the wounds would start closing.

I glanced at Kali, still convulsing slightly on the ground. I'd got her good, but didn't tear out her throat. She was trying to staunch the flow, hands clasped at her neck.

"Finish it."

My gaze snapped up. Deucalion was standing just a foot away, balanced on his cane. Waiting.

"I didn't think you'd need Spark Notes to understand the stakes here. Kali knew." His voice was impassive. Coiled through the air like a snake.

I looked back on her broken form, blood trickling out of her nose and mouth. She was eerily there, her predator eyes locked on mine. The amount of will it took for that impressed me. I had something for her, an estranged cousin to compassion.

I wouldn't put her down like a common animal. Character aside, she was too refined of a creature for that.

"No." I said.

"Do it." She rasped.

I ignored her. Looked straight at Deucalion. "You gave me your terms. I never signed a dotted line."

His mouth curved downward. He didn't like being denied.

"You do understand I could finish the job myself, and take you down with her?"

"Maybe so. But she was a strong opponent. The pack would benefit more from her life than her death." I licked my lips, channeling the strength of my true pack into keeping myself composed. "Even if she's knocked down a few pegs."

There was a heavy pause as Deucalion decided his words. I waited, tense. There was one thing about dying in the heat of battle. There was another to being executed.

He closed the distance between us.

"Very well." He bent down. Every muscle tightened as he leaned to speak into my ear.

When he was done, I lay there.

"You can go now, Ari." He dismissed me, walking to tower over Kali.

I dragged myself first to my haunches, then slowly creaked up. My spine popped. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming. The effort and power it took told me just how ragged my side was. I couldn't damage check here, though. I had to clear the area with my head held high.

It was very possible I was killing myself to keep up appearances.

I kept my face blank, my stomach taut, bracing myself as I took those first jarring steps. I clutched my sides, and my fingers slipped in much farther than they ever should. I stopped breathing.

I was nearly out of the woods when Deucalion's voice carried one last judgment across the barn.

"Alaric was a fool to burn you down. But would you have become a phoenix otherwise?" He sighed airily. "I'm going to have to break you in, now aren't I. Alaric had no idea what he was handling."

I made it three streets over before I collapsed.