The Healer

Chapter 43

Victor POV

We were all cheering and smiling with relief as we heard that the Alpha would be okay. I could tell Tori was so scared that she was shaking so much until the doctor spoke. I told her to remember her father was strong and he’ll come through just fine. I asked her if she wanted to go see him, but she looked around the room before answering. Looking over to Teaghan, she offered her the chance to go sit with Rick until he woke up. Teaghan jumped at the chance and thanked Tori profusely. Once she disappeared down the corridor, Tori lost the smile on her face and spun to face the door.

As she stormed out of the waiting room, I grabbed her arm and held her.

“Where are you going?” She looked me dead in the eye.

“I need answers!” She pulled her arm out of my hold and continued out the door.

Tori turned and disappeared from the waiting room. I ran after her to see her marching across the training grounds toward the detention cells.

“Tori! Wait!” Ignoring me, she kept marching towards the cells. I ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

“Tori! Where are you going?” She stopped and spun around to face me. An angry look on her face, she squared off with me and huffed.

“I am going to go talk with that b***h that just stabbed my father!” Before she could turn again, I grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at me.

“Tori, you need to calm down. In this state, you could end up killing her!” I saw the tears building in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

“Are you defending her!?” She screamed at me, and I could see the glow of Mystic just beneath the surface.

“No baby, I’m not. I just don’t want you to do something you might regret.” She dropped her head and I saw the tears fall to the ground. She released a loud sigh and looked back up to me. Her face contorted in so many emotions, mainly pain, hurt, and anger.

“What am I supposed to do? She can’t get away with this! I know my father is not too fond of me right now, but this still isn’t right! She must be punished!” I could feel her pain radiating from her. Her heart was breaking and with so much anger spilling out, she could run the risk of killing Corinne before she ever got any answers from her. Besides, punishments are usually decided by the Alpha. I need to help her calm down, and I know just the way.

“Believe me, Tori, she won’t.” Tori looked in the direction of the cells and growled. “Come on, follow me.” She turned with a face of confusion but followed me over to the training ground center.

Some of the younger warriors were sparring or running on the track. Our Delta, Charles, was leading the session with the newly shifted teenagers on how to control their wolves while fighting.

I led Tori over to an empty ring on the field and placed her on one side and I took the other. I faced her and put my hands on my hips.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, looking around the field at the other wolves training.

“You, my dear, are going to relieve some of that anger before you go anywhere near the cells.” Her mouth fell open and she just gaped at me. I smiled back and nodded.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s fight!” I announced as I took off my shirt and kicked off my boots. I stood before her in my fighting stance while she stood there checking me out. I smirked at her, and she shook her head and looked away.

“Baby, you can ogle me all you want later, right now, we are fighting!” I saw her sigh and shake her head. Removing her jacket and kicking her shoes off, she stretched her neck and shoulders as she took her place before me. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before opening them and stepping into the center.

“Yes Beta” she said and bowed to me. I dropped my hands to my sides and returned the bow. I can only guess she was focusing her mind and body, preparing for the fight. I smiled to myself, happy to see that she took fighting seriously. I have no idea what kind of fighter she is, and I certainly don’t want to hurt her. I know just one of my punches could send her to the hospital, so I’ll need to tone it down a bit as we are only relieving any anger and aggression.

“When you are ready” She nodded and both of us got into our ready stances. I watched her move around the ring, sizing me up and judging my strength and abilities. Tori has never seen me fight, nor have I seen her, so this will be new for both of us. I will stay back and test her movements and learn her style.

She comes at me with several round house kicks and a punch towards my chest. I quickly side-step and avoided her punch. Before I could regroup, she swung her elbow into my back, it stung a little, and tried to sweep my feet.

“Good punch! You are strong but watch my balance before you sweep. A warrior unbalanced will be easier to sweep.” Nodding, she continues to circle me planning her next attack.

I begin to circle with her and dodge a few punches she throws. I am impressed, she has good form, light on her feet and uses her body’s power and strength behind each punch. Each move was well thought and balanced and nothing sloppy.

I started to throw punches at her and attempted to grab and hold her arm. She blocked the punch, and twisted herself from my hold, bringing my hand behind my back and forcing it up. This was a good move, although her strength was not enough to bring me down, it would on a normal opponent that wasn’t a wolf. Her arm was wrapped around my neck and squeezing, trying to cut off my air supply. I bent down, grabbed her shoulders, and flipped her over mine. She landed with a thud and glared up at me.

“So, that’s how we are playing this. Okay, Beta, here I come.” I had walked over to her to help her up, but she kicked her foot up and got me in the side of the head resulting in seeing stars for a moment, throwing her leg out, she up righted herself and spun on me with a backwards round house and punching series. I moved fast on my feet blocking each punch until one slipped by and got me in the mouth. My head spun to the side, and I could taste blood on my tongue. Damn! She got some power in that little body of hers! I leaned over and spat the blood out. Glancing back to her, I noticed her back in her ready stance, but a look of concern in her eyes.

“You ready?” I asked, coming to stand before her. She gazed at me for a moment before slowly nodding her head.

We circled each other and I led with a punch to the face. She backstepped, grabbed my fist and used my momentum to throw me forward as her knee came up to my stomach. Before hitting the ground, I tucked and rolled jumping back up to my feet.

“Very impressive! Using my own strength against me is a smart move. Keep focused on your opponent and follow through with a pin or a jab to the kidney.

“Yes, Beta” She nodded again. I can plainly see that she is very disciplined in her form and attitude while fighting. I also get the feeling that she has used her skills before and not just for training.

“Let’s try something a bit more challenging!” I offered and she relaxed her stance a little and looked at me with confusion.

I took off my pants and shifted into Ivan almost instantly. I saw her step back with wide eyes, and I could smell a hint of fear and exhilaration. Frozen to her spot, she studied me before speaking.

“Ivan?” This is her first meeting with Ivan face to face. I can’t mind link her yet, so I can’t talk to her. I looked around us and saw one of the young warriors off to the side. I linked him to come over. He turned his head and trotted over to us. He bowed before me. He looked at Tori and smiled.

“Hi Tori! I didn’t know you could fight!”

“Hi Jeremy, I have some training, but nothing like what you guys do.” She stepped over to Jeremy, and he gave her a side hug. Ivan let a low growl out, not liking anyone touching her. Tori sent me a glare and looked back at Jeremy.

“Beta wants me to speak for him since you guys can’t mind link yet. He wants you to defend against his wolf.” Her eyes go wide, and she whips her head to me.

“Are you f*cking serious!? I can’t fight off a wolf!” I shake my wolf head and walk over to her. Ivan nuzzled his head against her neck and chest, and she giggled, sending a warm rush through me.

“Ivan! That tickles!” She ran her hands through his fur and hugged him tight. Ivan licked her across the cheek and then stepped back.

“Ivan!” She laughed while wiping the drool from her face. Jeremy stood off to the side, watching the exchange and laughing as well.

“Beta would like to show you how to fend off a wolf in human form” Jeremy translates for me.

“Okay. Sounds kind of difficult” Jeremy looks at me and then back to Tori as I gave him my set of instructions.

“He wants you to aim mostly for the belly or even the snout. Our snouts are extremely sensitive and will shock the wolf momentarily, giving you enough time to escape, attack, or breathe.” She nodded her head.

“Okay, let’s try this” Tori closes her eyes and takes a few breaths, then opens them and takes her ready stance again. We circle each other and plan our attacks. Tori runs at me with a flying kick, followed by a punch to the face. Ivan is scared he’ll hurt her, so he gave me the reigns and just watched. I turned my head away, and her kick landed on my side ribs. I Shook the sting away, I faced her, ready to attack. She spun around and did a flying leap over me as I lunged to tackle her legs. As I spun to face her, she punched me right in the snout, and I went down like a ton of bricks. Damn, that hurts! I let out a loud howl and covered my snout with my paws. Tori came running over to me and knelt beside me.

“Ivan! Victor! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! Are you okay?” I shook my head and huffed at her, telling her I was fine. She ran her fingers through my fur and across my head, almost taking the pain away completely. Jeremy stands next to us and leans down.

“Beta Victor, are you alright?” I nodded my head and looked at Tori and gave her a lick on the cheek. She let out a heavy breath and smiled.

“Victor, I’m so sorry!” She rubbed her hand gently over my snout and smiled. Suddenly, from behind us, we heard a loud boisterous laugh, and I rolled my eyes.

“Well, looky here! Our valiant Beta, taken down by a pint-sized human with one punch to the face!” Captain Desmond Rivers makes his way over to us and stops in front of us.

“You’re being too soft on her, Beta! If this was a real fight, she’d be down in 2 minutes flat!” Tori spun on him and jumped to her feet. She glared at Desmond as she walked right up to him, inches from his face.

“Is that a challenge, Captain?” Tori flashed her amber eyes, showing Mystic was just under the surface. He scoffed at her, crossing his arms.

“I don’t need to prove myself to the likes of you!” Tori grinned.

“Okay, I guess you’re just too scared to fight me!” Tori turned back towards me, shaking her head. Without warning, Desmond shifts into his large brown wolf and growls at her.

“Tori!” Jeremy yells, just as Desmond’s wolf lunges for her.