Feral Hearts

Chapter 3

"I've got you now!" Natania growled, slamming into her father. She could taste victory this tim-

His hind paw lashed out, hitting right into her chest. Natania flew across the courtyard and gasped as sharp pain stabbed against her ribs. Her breath came out in a ragged wheeze.

"Save your gloating for when your enemy is dead." Alistair grunted, moving until he towered over her. Blood stained his fur, bright against the white splotches on his pelt. Her blood. He had not gone easy on her today.

"I think you broke one of my ribs," she wheezed.

"Good, now you can practice healing with your shadows."

"How am I supposed to use them on the inside," Natania hissed.

"The same way you use them on the outside, " he snapped, pressing his front paws onto her shoulders, pinning her down. When she didn't reply he snarled. "I can cut you to the bone, if that's what you need to learn." He moved one of his paws to her ribs and dug his claws in.

Natania groaned with renewed pain. "No. Get off me."

"Heal yourself and make me get off you."

Natania snarled, but tried to focus on the other part of her. The shadows that lived under their skin. She didn't really understand them, a leftover piece of the demon that was bound to her wolf. A part of what made them beast bound and not just werewolves.

A wolf bound to a demon with the power of a human sacrifice, except, she had been born like this, most of the beast bound alive were. She didn't really understand that either. Did a human die everytime they were born? They looked human, when they weren't wolves. She knew demons could shapeshift, but she didn't have a demon form. It made her head spin.

She visualized them moving through her chest into her ribs. Of healing. Bones knitting back into place. There was a sudden sharp pain and then it faded to a dull ache. She kicked her father in the chest, sending him flying then rolled back to her feet. She still hurt, but the pain was manageable.

"Good." Alistair said, shaking dirt out of his fur. He walked back over to her side and Natania braced for the next attack until he continued, "That's enough for today. Go to class."

Natania raised her eyebrows. "You're sending me to school? I've gone to school like what, ten times in the last six years?"

"More than that," he said, the exasperation in his voice only slightly faked. "Go get cleaned up and go, one broken bone is enough for the day."

Natania narrowed her eyes suspiciously, one broken bone was never enough to end training early. "Are you going soft in your old age?"

A huge black paw cuffed her over the ears, earning a snort from Natania. "Just for that," he growled, "you can run to class. You need to work on your speed anyway. I have a meeting."

"With wh-"

"Go," he ordered. Alistair turned his back on her and started walking towards the woods. Natania watched him for a second before racing in the other direction, back to the house. Her wounded ribs protested with each step but Natania pushed the pain out of her mind. Pain only weakens you if you let it. Her father's words echoed in her mind. In a real fight your opponent won't go easy on you just because you're wounded.

By the time Natania made it to the school, after cleaning up and changing into something more appropriate, it was lunch. Students were lounging in various spots in the grass or on the playground. She stood just behind the fenced courtyard, catching her breath, still in wolf form and quivering with excitement.