Page 52 of Fighting Furry

She got into a pretty decent fighting stance and I matched it. She feinted with a punch that she telegraphed and I easily dodged, but a surprise kick clipped my hip and knocked me off balance. As she leaped on top of me, it occurred to me I may have been a bit overconfident.

She got me face down and wrapped an arm around my neck, but her hold was all wrong and I easily slipped free and got her on the ground, her pretty workout shorts getting covered in mud. She struggled but couldn’t break free of my hold. “Match to me,” I said.

I let her go and we both stood. She bounced on her toes, only a little winded. “Why couldn't I hold you? I should have won when I got my arm around your neck.”

“Yeah,” I said. “You should have. Want me to teach you how to do it properly? Or do you want to fight for the next eighteen minutes?”

She opted for me to teach her and I spent the next half hour showing her how to do proper holds and how not to telegraph her punches. “Shit,” I said, when I stopped for a water break and saw the time. “You need to tell me what you know about the valley pack now or I'm going to be late.”

She shrugged. I doubted I could ever call her a pleasant person, she was all hard edges and blunt statements, but I'd had fun teaching her. She was a good student, and she didn't seem to hate my guts anymore.

She sank into a seat at the kitchen table. “I'm not sure how much I can help,” she said. “I lived with them for a couple years, but the pack members have changed since then.”

“How long ago were you with them?”

“More than four years ago,” she said.

“Do you think they'd invite you in and show you around if you showed up? Is there anyone there who might remember you?”

“Maybe,” she said. “But they'd also know I'm part of Axel's pack and they'd be suspicious.”

That would be a problem, but maybe…“I'll think about it,” I said. “Maybe we can talk some more tonight?”

“If we can practice fighting some more.”

I bit back a sigh. It looked like I was going to be busier than I'd anticipated.

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