Talons

Chapter 68: The Ring

Rhea’s POV

After calling the number my mother had given us, I had no doubts the woman standing in front of us was my mother’s older sister. Her looks would have been enough, but my sister and I know better than to judge based on looks alone.

There was an omega in a neighboring pack that looked so much like Lark when they were younger that he was targeted by rivals and rogues until my parents took his family in. To this day, people think that the boy's father and my father are related, but with my grandparents being fated mates, there is no suspicion; my grandmother would have felt the infidelity.

As if I needed more proof to trust the woman, she starts to reprimand my cousin, and I swear I could recall a time when my mother said similar words to Robin, who punched a boy in school, and kept mocking him about being marked by her because her ring left an impression on his forehead the entire day. 

“Let me look at you,” my aunt says, and she twirls us both around. “You will work the bar,” she says to my sister, who raises a brow. “And you…” she studies me for a long time, and my cousin chimes in.

“Don’t put her near the food.”

“F*ck you,” Raven snarls as she comes to my defense, and my aunt and I have to stand in between them.

“Raven, I have heard worse. Just let it go,” I say, and my sister’s eyes settle on me with a look of hurt in them.

My aunt never gave me a job, and throughout the tour of her nightclub Raven and Miracle kept getting in each other’s faces. Eventually, my aunt pulled them into another building that was across the street, saying they needed to work off steam. It was a large boxing-oriented gym filled with what I can only imagine were other wolves.

“Titi?” A male who was working out say, and she holds a finger to him. “Off limits; these are your cousins.” The guy makes a disgusted face and I can’t help but to laugh at him. 

“Hola Gordita,” he says, and my nostrils flare. I do not want to be called ‘little fat,’ but I can tell he meant no harm. Still, I let him know that he should address me as Baby B or B only. “I’m Jovan, your Uncle Johnathan’s son. Those are my brothers, Jace and Johnny and the girls over there are my sisters, Julee and Julissa.” My head should hurt with all the J’s, but apparently, my mother and uncle have something in common.

“Is everyone here related to us?” I ask, and Jovan shakes his head.

“Not exactly, titi beautiful has stepchildren, but we consider each other family.” I nod at him, and he studies my face closely. “I have never seen a wolf wear glasses,” he says. 

“They aren’t real. I started wearing them to stop people from looking at me, and now I don’t feel comfortable without them.” Knowing that Jovan is my cousin helps me speak freely. I didn’t realize that Miracle was listening, and she reaches to snatch my glasses off my face, but I recoil before she can get to them.

“You’re fast,” Jovan comments. “Do you fight at all?” I nod, and he looks at me excitedly. “Let me be your trainer while you're here. I promise I can help you lose the weight you have. How did you gain it anyway?” He looks genuinely perplexed as he studies my form, which should creep me out, but I can tell he is looking at me to make an assessment. “I want to put you in the ring first. It will help me see what you need to work on.”

“Jovan,” I hear my aunt call out, and he flinches. “Your titi Mavis isn’t like the rest of us,” she warns, and while I don’t know why, I feel offended on behalf of my mother. 

“It's okay titi beautiful,” I say, resisting the urge to call her Lissette; her given name which she hates. Jovan claps, and tells me to change into workout clothing, but I honestly didn’t bring any. I thought I was living out a punishment, not coming to meet family.

“Miracle,” Jovan shouts, which is odd because he could have just linked her. “We only link if it's an emergency,” he says, reading my expression. “There are omegas in this pack. Titi doesn’t want us to get used to linking and forget about them.” I nod, seeing the practicality of it.

“Where is the alpha?” I ask, and Jovan bursts into laughter. “You already met her,” he says, and I intuitively know he means our aunt. I suddenly want to stick to the woman like glue. She was a pack helper and now she’s an alpha. If I can learn how she did it maybe I can do it too.

A few minutes go by, and I change into the clothing Miracle brought for me. She was the youngest of the cousins, but now that I’m here the title belongs to me, and she doesn’t forget to tell me that I will be taking her place before the week’s end.

I’m fitted in boxing gloves and a face saver, which feels annoying and heavy on my head. Jovan asks me who of his sisters I want to fight, and I shrug telling him to pick. He takes notice of my confidence and chooses someone who was not originally up for a spar against me.

I get in the ring with the girl, who has two inches on me, but I'm not worried. If I lose, I lose, but I won’t. I can take down Braylen, although I have never dared to show him that I can.

Jovan releases both of our wrists and I wait for my opponent to move, and when she does, I sidestep, wanting to see her level of training. She anticipates my action, but instead of just giving her a free hit, I move in closer, and connect with her face as she connects with my ribs.

She smirks at me, realizing that I’m not as weak as I appear, and we earnestly size each other up. When I’ve had enough, I drop my hands and she thinks I’m tired, but I’m actually bored. She goes to knock me out, but I use my shorter stature to move under her blow and uppercut her. She stumbles back and I follow up with a hard right hand, making her fall. 

Jovan steps into the ring with a look on his face that frightens me. 

“I’m sorry,” I say, folding my shoulders in. “I thought I was supposed to knock her down.” My cousin’s expression goes soft, and I relax, but only a little.

“Never apologize for winning. I’m just shocked you were able to knock Priscilla down. She is one of the best female fighters.” I look over to where the woman is still flat on her back and my mind instantly goes to Robin telling me about warriors who stay down out of embarrassment.

“Why is she laying there like that?” I ask, wanting to confirm.

“She is waiting for you to help her up. That is how we do things in this pack. She doesn’t speak much English, so I’ll translate for you.”

“There is no need,” I say, walking toward Priscilla and extending my hand to her. She takes it and starts muttering about me making her stew on the ground. I chuckle, and she looks up at me in shock.

“Tú entiendes?” (You understand?) She asks, and I nod.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Jovan adds, and I shrug.

“I want to listen to what people are saying about me.” Jovan and Priscilla flinch. Many of my cousins have been making fat jokes, and the fact that I’m wearing very fitted clothing hasn't helped. 

“Ignore them,” Priscilla says, and I notice Jovan staring at her in a romantic way before he snaps his eyes back to me.

“Yeah, ignore them.”

Raven’s POV

I was minding my own business when Miracle got in my face again. I pushed her, one thing led to another and now we are in the sparring ring going at one another. She is a year younger than me, but we are the same in height and weight, so we are evenly matched, unlike the fight between B and her much taller opponent. 

I can’t let myself look like a pushover after my little sister just kicked someone's ass, so I pour every single lesson I allowed Robin to give me into the fight. It's not long before both Miracle and I are having trouble holding our arms up. 

The woman who B fought earlier starts screaming out in Spanish, and B starts translating what she is saying so that I’m not caught off guard. I’m sure I imagined it, but I could swear I heard her voice in my head telling me not to feed into the game they are playing.

I listen to the voice, and when Miracle goes to strike my ribs, I step into the punch and swoop her feet from underneath her. She starts to fall, but not before pulling me down as well. She and I start rolling around the mats punching each other before people start to climb into the ring to break us up, but B doesn’t allow anyone to touch us.

She can understand what they are saying and whatever they said must have made her angry because she starts swinging at everyone who approaches, and while her hits aren’t connecting, they are definitely keeping our cousins at bay.

“Raven, Miracle; the fight is over. When I count to three let go. The person still hanging on at the end will be determined the loser,” B says.

“And a cheater,” Jovan added from a distance. He too was not spared from B’s flying hands. 

Miracle is underneath me, so it’s clear that I won, but she’s not happy and while B is doing a slow count, she rolls me off roughly. I want to retaliate, but I swear I hear B’s voice again, which is impossible because she isn’t a member of the Claw pack.

I settle for cheap talk, telling my cousin that she is lucky that I’m still tired from the flight and she rebuttals by saying that she is available any day and any time, but my aunt intervenes. 

“Ladies, if you're done measuring each other's t**s, I would appreciate it if you did something productive with your time, and Gordita, how did you become such a fierce fighter?” she asks B, who looks annoyed at her new nickname.