by Isa Hunt
Knowing that he needed to commit to the game, Kalin prepared in his mind for the match. He wasn’t thrilled to have Coral along. In fact, he had hoped that she would be on her way as soon as he had rescued her.
That’s what I get for putting my nose in where it doesn’t belong, he thought.
He looked over to catch a glimpse of her. She was pretty, even if she had gotten him shot. He shook his head. With a game coming up, he didn’t have time to check out women. She would need to stay out of sight when they got to the club. He wasn’t sure that her being there would be much safer than if she had just gone home.
Better than finding a dead body on my way home tonight, he reasoned.
The door to the club was red. A small, inconsistent light hung over the door frame. Coral seemed uncomfortable and hesitant. Kalin shrugged his shoulders as if he was completely comfortable. With a creak, the door opened. The doorman was an ugly looking guy. He was all muscle and no charm. His face was brutally scarred. Tattoos covered his chest and a fat bar pierced his nose.
“Kalin,” he said without a smile, “Who’s the girl?”
Kalin shook his head.
“You going to let me in or not?” he asked.
The doorman seemed hesitant. Clearly, he wanted an explanation. After a moment, he decided that he had better let Kalin inside of the club. Tonight was a big night for Kalin, after all.
“She stays out of the way!” the man called out.
Kalin had already been walking toward his Clan room. Coral was at his side. He didn’t bother turning around to acknowledge the doorman. He only raised a hand, dismissively. Kalin tried not to pay too much attention to anyone in the club except for his Clanmates. The doorman was no exception.
Coral walked through the crowd with her eyes wide. She was in amazement at all of the beautiful bodies in the room. She had never seen so many rugged men in her life. Her heart quickened and she felt fear. In spite of her fear, she continued to look. There was a desire inside of her that longed for strong men. She wanted to be held and protected. Coral also knew how volatile brutish men could be. The attraction to strength was a double edged sword.
The two of them entered a narrow hallway. The walls of the hallway were full of chipped paint. It was impossible to know the age of the warehouse.
Just a matter of time before the place falls apart, she thought.
Coral ran a finger along the walls. She felt each of the paint chips as they walked toward the Clan room. Several chips fell off and scattered on the floor behind them. The floor was smooth and made of concrete. Coral felt like many people had walked along these hallways. The memories of the traffic had been etched into the stone.
After a walk to the other side of the compound, they found the Clan Room. Each of the groups that participated in the weekly games was given a room. The Clan Room was used as a meet-up place before the game began. The room was also used to heal injuries. Sometimes, the room was used to sleep, when a Clan member had nowhere else to go.
“Kalin!” said a heavily tattooed man with a beard. “Who’s the tramp?”
“Shut the fuck up Sean,” another responded. “That’s no way to talk to a lady.”
The second placed himself quickly between Sean and Coral. He bowed to introduce himself.
“Ryder is the name,” he offered.
Ryder held out his hand to grab a hold of Coral’s hand. His grip was gentle, but firm. She could see his muscles clearly all the way up to his bare chest.
“Ever the ladies’ man,” a third responded.
“Thomas, you’re just jealous," Ryder responded. "Not my fault your favorite philosophers were better at math than at picking up women.”
Ryder’s eyes didn’t leave Coral’s gaze while he spoke. She got the distinct impression that he had perfected this graceful form of pick-up artistry over the years. She was genuinely flattered and was not able to hide her emotions.
“See,” Ryder smiled, “The lady likes it.”
He stood up and winked at her before walking back over to the card game he was playing with the fourth member of the group.
The man at the card table had long brown hair which hung on either side of his face. His jaw looked square and his eyes were stern. He surveyed Coral with a studied glance and then returned to his card game with the same intense expression.
“Your turn,” the man said, setting his cards down on the table and raising his gaze to look at Ryder.
“Crux,” Ryder replied, “You know I’m just going to beat you again. Why carry on toward the inevitable?”
“You got distracted,” Crux replied. “I might have a chance.”
Ryder shook his head and sauntered over to the card table once more to sit with his brother. There were five Bear Clan members in all. A moment after Coral had entered the room, Ryder and Crux were back into the game. Thomas had gone back to reading his book in the corner. Kalin had walked over to the locker and began dressing his wound more thoroughly. Only Sean’s eyes remained focused on Coral.
“You know the rules,” Sean said. “Women are a distraction from the game. If you keep them, then you do it outside of the Club.”
“Fuck off, Sean,” Ryder said, without looking up from his cards. “Don’t be pissed, cause Kalin bagged a hottie. Besides, if you had thought of it first, which one of us would be whining at you?”
Sean glared at Ryder and then at Coral. Kalin continued to bandage his arm.
“Got hit?” Crux asked.
“Just a stray,” Kalin replied. “He was a bad shot, and too scared.”
“Lucky,” Sean offered. “She had something to do with it, no doubt.”
“Ever the perceptive one, brother,” Thomas replied. “Next, you’ll be telling me that we’ve got another gang war on our hands.”
Thomas turned the page in his book, looking somewhat bored. Sean's eyes flared along with his temper.
“What happened, Kalin?” he asked. “Spill it!”
“Nothing really,” Kalin replied. “The girl ran into some trouble on her way home and I helped her out. No big deal.”
Kalin was wrapping his shoulder with medical linens. The wrap was tight. He obviously had tended street wounds before. Coral noticed how efficiently he dressed his wounds.
“Right Coral?” Kalin said, turning toward the woman.
Coral thought about the encounter with the thugs on the street. She thought about her brother and wondered if he was alright. She thought about how she should answer, but her process took too long.
“That’s not good,” Ryder said.
He set his cards down on the table and turned around in his chair. With one leg straddling either side he cocked his head at Coral.
“You’re taking too long, hun,” Ryder continued. “The correct answer to that question is ‘That’s right.’ Go ahead, say it for me.”
“… That's.. right,” Coral offered.
Sean hung his head.
“I’m not dealing with this shit right now,” Kalin said.
Kalin bent down and began to wrap his shins.
“I don’t know why you even bother,” Sean commented. “You always lose your cool in the first ten minutes. With her here you might blow your load even sooner.”
“Sean,” Kalin said, grabbing a hockey stick from his locker. “If you’re so concerned about the rules, why don’t you make sure she doesn’t break them?”
“I’m not missing out on a game because you want to get lucky,” Sean replied.
“Big Tough Guy,” Ryder commented. “‘Killer’ is going to go out there and play with a busted shoulder.”
“Oh my God…” Coral exclaimed.
The gravity of the situation was finally dawning on her.
“Holy shit,” she said. “Do you shift during the game?”
“Lookie here,” Ryder said, smiling at her. “Princess finally realized something special about her knight in shining…”
“For Gods’ sake, would you shut the hell up?” Sean yelle
d, obviously stressed by the situation.
“I’m watching,” Coral said positively. “There’s no way I would miss this.”
Kalin left, shaking his head. But he didn’t make any attempt to stop her.
“I quit,” Crux threw down his hand of cards and began to pick his fingernails.
Thomas ignored everyone and turned another page in his book. Thomas’s indifference, along with other factors of the situation caused Sean to punch an open locker door. Sean’s fist connected with a sharp clang and the door slammed shut. Cautiously, Coral looked over to see a huge dent in the sheet metal of the locker.
“Maybe he won’t be so bad off?” Coral offered.
“You’re out of your element,” Sean replied.
“I’m out,” Ryder said. “One on one pre-finals… No way I’m going to miss this.”
He threw his cards down on the table and walked out of the room. Coral caught a wink on the way out, followed by two Shifters who completely ignored her presence. Alone in the room with Sean, she sat down at the table. When she looked at the cards, she saw that they were tarot cards, of an old French variety. She didn’t understand the game they were playing, but the symbols caught her eye.
Sean was frustrated because Coral’s involvement portended bad things for his brothers. He took a deep breath. Finding out your brother had holes in his body because of some woman was never a good way to start the night, especially a game night. Resigning himself to his fate, Sean let out a deep sigh. He glared at Coral for a moment. Then, he decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to be upset.
“When we go, you stay behind me,” he instructed. “And whatever you do, keep your mouth shut.”
Chapter Three
The room was full of players, all in various states of dress. Some were bare-chested and boasted muscles bound in tape. Others were dressed with full equipment. Some carried sticks and others had military style water canteens. The room smelled of sweat and the whole place reeked of testosterone. Coral became aroused in spite of herself.
Danger was in the air and Coral found that her sensory system was on complete overload. To the side of her, she saw a group of wolves sitting in the corner, lounging on the floor. Another player stood next to the wolves. His arm was bare and a tattoo of a wolf with its teeth bared was prominently displayed on his skin.
There were other shifted creatures. Some which Coral recognized and others which she had never seen before. There were creatures that looked like serpents and others that had wings. There were panthers and wolverines and each of them was dispersed within the crowd — partitioned into independent social cliques.
The room was a large and empty warehouse. The only difference from usual warehouse structures was that the floor was made of clay. There was a slight give to the floor, though not enough to make Coral feel unstable as she moved forward. Looking on the ground, she saw claw marks that were as big as her head. The realization that she could be easily attacked and was vulnerable before these monstrous creatures, made her feel incredibly uneasy.
The lights were dim enough and the groups were mixed just enough in their segregation to where she was able to mix in with the crowd. She remembered that holding herself in a confident way was necessary when walking the streets of the slums. With a deep breath, she positioned herself in the same way. More than a few interested men gave her a raised eyebrow as she passed, but most were respectful of her presence.
“Maybe they think I’m one of them…” she thought to herself while heading toward the small grouping of the Bear Clan.
Sean rolled his eyes at her approach, but Ryder came over and put his arm around her shoulder.
“You know, you’d be better off if you let one of us mark you,” he said in a casual tone.
“You might be right,” said Thomas, though it seemed as though he wasn’t personally invested in the process.
“I thought they might think I was another Shifter…” Coral offered, trying to maintain her straight spine and broad shoulders.
Ryder laughed, his body hanging from her shoulders and causing her frame to sag slightly under his muscle mass.
“Sorry hun,” he replied, “but you’re pheromones are a dead giveaway. I’m actually surprised you made it over here without getting gang raped by those boars over there.”
“Heard that, Ryder!” shouted a gruff and obstinate voice not twelve feet away.
“Just sharing some safety concerns with the lady!” Ryder called out. “I forget how sensitive your Clan is…”
“If you’re tired of those ruffians,” the nearest boar addressed Coral. “You may come and spend time with us. Unlike the unsavory members of the Bear Clan, we know how to treat our mates with dignity.”
Ryder rose to respond, but Sean put a hand on his shoulder and caught him.
“Shut it, Ryder,” Sean warned. “The woman being here is enough of a liability.”
“We don’t want another Tiger Clan experience on our hands,” Thomas warned.
“Look, that was diff…” Ryder began.
Thomas punched him square in the chest. Ryder’s eyes looked up, slightly hurt, but he decided to stop. With a peaceable expression on his face, Ryder waved an apology to the Boar Clan. The gesture was intentionally ignored and Ryder considered that to be sufficient amends for his jibe. He nudged Coral in the side with his elbow and leaned in toward her ear.
“Your boy’s up,” Ryder remarked while pointing to a space that was clearing out in the center of the warehouse.
The crowd was all respectfully making way for the game to begin. The noise in the room calmed down from a roar to a near dead silence. Kalin and a tall, pale club resident remained in the center. Kalin stood with a stoic expression on his face. Over Kalin’s left shoulder, the Aryan type man stood with a smug grin on his face. Kalin’s skin was considerably tanner. Another point of differentiation was that while Kalin’s tattoos were tribal and matched the types of tattoos that the other members of his Clan shared, the Aryan’s tattoos were different in style.
The skin of Kalin’s opponent was pale, that much was true, but it was also nearly covered in geometrical patterns that reminded Coral of cellular structures and DNA. She felt a cold shiver run across her skin while she looked at the man. There was warmth in Kalin’s eyes that simply wasn’t present with this man.
A volunteer referee came forward. Standard practice was that the referee should be from a Clan which had no affiliation with the two who were currently in competition. Not every Shifter in the slums was present because not all were interested in the game, but there was a diversity present which made it easy to find neutral parties to moderate the game.
The referee produced a small rubber sphere and placed it on the floor between the two opponents.
“Kalin Mae’ve of the Bear Clan!” the referee roared, “And Damon Vira from the Wyvern Clan!”
Each member raised their hands into the air during their announcement, though Damon held his up for considerably longer. The crowd seemed to be in favor of Damon and it was evident that he was aware of the fact. Compared to his opponent, Kalin looked worn and haggard. The bandage on his shoulder reminded Coral of her own contribution to Kalin’s less than optimal state.
She felt a slight pang of guilt and gulped slightly.
Ryder apparently noticed because he gave her a warm pat on the shoulder.
“He’ll lose,” Ryder said with a confident tone. “But he’ll put up a hell of a fight. You should enjoy the show.”
Sean punched Ryder in the shoulder without turning around to see him.
“What?” he asked, actually slightly hurt this time, if only emotionally so. “Vira’s got wings and Kalin has a busted shoulder. I don’t exactly see this as rocket science.”
“Nothing is a foregone conclusion,” Thomas remarked.
Ryder was about to respond, but his voice was drowned out by a roar from the audience. The match had begun.
Chapter Four
Coral watched as the ball
was thrown into the air, firmly between the two combatants. Damon grinned and leaped up into the air with an eager look on his face. Coral watched as Damon’s tattoos seemed to grow and stretch along his body. Kalin leaped forward and hooked his injured arm around Damon’s neck. In mid-shift, Damon was too pre-occupied to throw Kalin off, which gave Kalin time to adjust his position.
Wings sprouted from Damon’s shoulder blades and his neck elongated up toward the ball’s position in the air. The throw had been firm and the ball’s arc had nearly reached the top of the vaulted warehouse ceiling. The Wyvern’s jaws enclosed around the ball as the two soared upward through the air. The first contact had been made.
The entire premise of the game involved obstructing the opponent's ability to navigate the open space, all while successfully attempting to centralize the ball between a series of marked circles on either end of the room. There were no nets, as in traditional hockey, and because the players were Shifters, the rules were much different as well.
Essentially, there were no rules, except that you couldn’t fatally injure anyone in the place. This meant that all bad blood had to stop at the end of the game and it also meant that all of the members of the crowd needed to look out for themselves. This was the primary reason why the rule of ‘no spectators’ had been established, though there were significant other reasons for the guideline as well.
Hefted up into the air and soaring downward now on the back of the Wyvern, Kalin held on with incredible poise. Coral noticed that even though the Wyvern was executing barrel rolls in order to throw Kalin off balance, his focus was exclusively on securing the ball from the mouth of the Wyvern. The two hurtled toward the arcane circle on the corner of the warehouse designated for the Dragon Shifter to score. All the Wyvern needed to do was place himself within the context of the circle and wait there for one complete breath.
The crowd was up in arms and invested in what was happening on the court. The Bear Clan was silent in suspense — even Ryder had no words for such a quick match.
Just as the Wyvern was about to land within the circle, Kalin managed to shove both hands inside of the Wyvern’s mouth. Just then and not a moment too soon, he shifted. The transformation finished just as the referee was about to blow the whistle. Kalin’s transformation pushed the ball down the throat of the Wyvern, forcing him to transform back or choke to death.
