Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand.

-Mae West

■NATASHA■

"Can't sleep?" Yiska asks from behind me as I take a couple of jabs at the punching bag.

I shake my head. "Nope," I answer, continuing to punch. "There's a war coming, there's no time for sleeping." My mind was driving me insane, every time I tried to fall asleep a different scenario of the upcoming war played in my mind. Finally deciding enough, I snuck out of bed and came to the packs training room.

"Yet not too long ago, you told everyone to get some rest." He says, crossing his arms and walking forward. "What's bothering you?"

Sighing, my hand motion slows down. "The thought of us losing, hundreds being injured, the world ending." Biting my lips, I finally stop punching, my breathing is harsh. "Sometimes I regret ever making that damn deal with Odessa. I should've just let myself die on that night. The world would've probably been a better place without me. Hell, it's ending because of me."

Yiska frowns, walking closer. He looked into my eyes as he places his hand on my shoulders. "Don't say that." He says, shaking his head. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to this stupid world. You're pure and without you, we wouldn't be here now. Any of us. And I'm sure that even if you did die that night, Rahul would've found another way to make this war happen."

"Life isn't fair," I mumble, looking into his eyes.

"Of course it isn't kid, it's not meant to be." He smiles small. "Everyone's probably been telling you this all night, but you are going to beat Rahul. But in order for you to do it, you need to have faith in yourself, Nat." He leans down a bit. "I know I'm late with saying this, but I'm really happy you're okay."

Smiling up at him, I pull him into a tight hug. "I've been dying to do that since I came back to life. I'm so happy that you're my best friend. Thank you for everything you've been doing Yiska, it really means a lot and I'm so happy to have you in my life."

He pulls away from the hug. "Don't get all soapy on me, it makes me feel like this will be the last conversation we ever have."

I raise my hand in surrender. "My bad." Placing my hand down, a smirk graces my face. "So, are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Alexander?"

Yiska bites the inside of his cheeks, his face turning red. "It's that obvious?" He questions, which makes me nod. "He's my consort." He finally admits. "Which is very... shocking to me. All my life, all I've ever loved is women and now I find myself feeling the same way towards a guy. A guy I barely even know. As lycans, sexuality isn't a big thing. We love who we love and that's it, but for me... It's taking some getting use too." He looks into my eyes. "There's that and the fact that I have feelings for my best friend."

The hair on my arms stands up. I've known about this, it didn't take an idiot to figure it out. I just thought that it would be best to never address it. "I know," I admit. "And if I never would've meant Torrin, I'd probably be admitting the same thing."

Yiska nods, smiling a bit. "I know, I'm just happy that you've found someone... again."

I chuckle, shaking my head. "I should be saying the same to you." He laughs, which causes me to do the same. "I'm glad that we can admit to something like this and still be are casual selves. If it were other people, they'd most likely make it a big deal."

He nods. "A total cliche." He says, smiling. "Nothings ever gonna break this friendship up."

Spreading my arms wide, I pull him into another hug. "You're so amazing."

Yiska pulls away, before winking. "Duh, I wouldn't be Alpha if I wasn't." He smirks at me. "Wanna go head to head? It's been a while since I've been in a fight, but I'm sure I can still beat you."

I scoff. "As if, I can take you down in five minutes. Maybe even less."

"Ou cocky are we?" Yiska takes off his jacket and throws it across the gym. "Let's see what you got, little Natasha."

I burst out laughing at his name choice. "You haven't called me that in ages."

He shrugs. "I know." He says while laughing. He picks up the hem of his shirt, before pulling it up to his head and taking off it. Throwing the shirt across the room, he cracks his neck. "What weapon are you using?"

My eyes scan across the room, looking at all the weapons on the wall. The weapons ranged from axes to thick sharp swords, they all had ancient Lycan writing on them. Yiska said that they were prayers and words of strength so that when fighting a warrior can have the power and hope of a thousand Lycans running through its blood. "I'll use the
War Clubs."

"Really?" He questions, sounding surprised at my choice of weapon. "Well if you're using that, then I guess I'm using the spear." He says picking up the wooden shaft with a hollowed-out cup at the end. "How much percent of blood can we draw?"

I bite down on my lips, thinking about the question. "Only eighty-five." Was it a lot of blood? Yes, but it didn't matter because we were use to it and we both healed fast. We know where to hit one another, therefore none of us would die from our wounds. "Rules?"

Yiska's face scrunch's up. "The usual, no magic and no Lycan form."

Looking down at the golden brown wooden club, I memorize its heavy rounded head. War clubs are mainly used for executions, along with fuels and ceremonial purposes. It has a single spike and on the handle, lycan writing is carved into it. I'm not too sure on how to pronounce the words in the native language, but I do know that in English it means, "The weakness of the enemy makes our strength."

Finally nodding, I take a step forward and roll my shoulders back. I feel them crack, which causes me to take a deep breath. Holding it in for a couple of seconds, I let it out. My eyes close as my body relaxes. "Come at m-."

The words don't even get to fully come out of my mouth and I already feel my body being thrown across the room. My back hits the brick wall and I feel a tingle in my spine. The War Club falls out my hand. Standing up, my eyes bore into Yiska's. "You aren't going to go easy on me are you?" He shakes his head, before lifting up his spear and throwing it at me. Quickly moving with speed, my body doges it but only by a few inches. Running towards him with great pace, I brace myself to tackle him down but he quickly moves his leg up, kicking me right in the jaw. I bleed on impact, the blood drips from my now busted lips.

"Did the dark angel not fight with you or something?" He asks, walking to the other side of the room. He bends down to pick up his spear. "You're fighting like a newborn pup," Yiska says looking down at me. "Out of all the blood coursing through your body, my Alpha blood stands out the most. Before you are anything else, you are a Lycan first. Fight like one Natasha, fight like me."

Licking the blood from my lips, I rise again, this time running at him full speed. Jumping on him we both land on the ground, and I take that as my chance to land a couple of punches to his face before he raises and head butts me. "Fuck," I grumble as he gets the upper hand. Grabbing me by my hair, he pushes my head down and slams his knee into my face. My nose crack on impact, blood pours from my nostrils.

He pushes me away and I fall again. He sighs. "You're making this too easy." Lifting up his spear, his tainted amber eyes glow. Without wasting another second, he lunges the spear at me and it flies fast, puncturing straight into my thigh.

"Holy shit!" I shriek, looking down at my left thigh. There was blood everywhere.

"Get up and fight Natasha." Yiska urges. "You haven't even landed one good hit. The old Natasha would've been knocked my teeth out." He crosses his arms. "Is this how you're going to fight when Rahul and his goons get here? Because if it is, I can assure you, you won't last one second with him."

He had a point. I wouldn't stand a chance against Rahul if I keep fighting like this.

"Something's off. I don't know what the problem is, but whatever it is, it's messing with me... mentally." I say, sounding serious. Yiska stares at me with his eyebrows knit together, as if trying to determine if I'm telling the truth. His eyes instantly stop glowing as he walks towards me. He's back to his normal self. "It's honestly frustrating." Averting my gaze from my thigh, my eyes land on the War Club across the room. The closer he gets, the more I prepare myself.

"Maybe you need a mind cleanse." He says, standing right above me.

My hand secretly wrap around the spear that was plunged into my thigh. "Yeah, maybe." Biting down hard on my bottom lip, I rip the spear out of my thigh and drive it straight into Yiska's shoulders.

"Mother fucker!" He curses at the sudden impact. Not waiting for him to recover, I quickly kick his knee and launch a series of punches at his stomach once he knees down in pain. He tries to punch me, but I block him and take that as my chance to straddle him. Blood sprays from his mouth as I continue to punch him. His hand squeezes my injured thigh, which causes me to let out a scream. He regains control and throws me off of him. Standing up, he pulls the spear from his shoulder and throws it, before kicking me in the stomach. Picking me up by my neck, my feet dangle in the air. He head butts me again, which makes me dizzy.

Having enough of losing, I bring my leg up and knee him in the balls which causes him to let me go instantly. Grabbing his shoulder, I punch him in the gut before grabbing ahold of his arm. Spinning him around, I snapped his arm and send him flying towards the wall. He hits the ground with a hard thud.

Walking towards him, I pick up his chin. "Forfeit." I command, punching him hard in the face. His blood splatters on the ground.

"Nope." He says, wiping the blood from his face. I take a step back and give him some room to stand. "That's all you got? You hit like a man?" Lifting up my leg, I send a roundhouse kick to his face. He hits the floor, breathing hard. He takes a minute to himself, before speaking. "Yeah..." he pauses. "I forfeit."

A huge smile makes its way onto my face and I laugh uncontrollably. "That hurt, didn't it?"

"That kick hurt like hell." He admits laughing, clutching onto his face. "I think you broke my nose."

"I think you broke mine too." Letting out a breath, I lay next to him, ignoring the mixture of our blood on the ground. "This was fun, it reminded of the first time we trained together."

"Oh my, don't remind. You could barely even throw a punch, I had to let you win because I felt so bad." He grimaced at the memory. "You were so tiny back then and you barely liked to talk." He smirks. "Now that I think about it, maybe back in the day, you was the best."

My eyes widen. "No the hell it was not. I was so innocent back then, that now that I look back at it, it makes me sick. Like you and Medusa would talk about so many sexual things, that it confused the hell out of me. It was like you were all speaking a different language."

Yiska's laugh sounds throughout the room. "Don't even get me started. You were so different."

"Different good or different bad."

He turns his head to look at me. "Weird different." He tells me. "I've got a question."

"And I've got an answer."

"Were you being serious when you were talking about something being off about you?" Yiska asks.

I nod. "I was."

He sighs, before licking his lips. "Today afternoon, go visit Celine. Have her do a mind cleanse on you. Maybe she can soak out the problem. After that, you're training with Medusa and me for the rest of the day. We'll get you back in shape just in time for tomorrow."

"I don't think I'll ever be ready for tomorrow," I admit.

"You will be." Yiska encourages. "You have allies, you have the Angel, your friends and most importantly, me. We'll get you to where you need to be."

My eyebrows raise, worriedly. "You're being more sentimental than usual. What's wrong?"

He chuckles, shaking his head. "Nothings wrong Nat, everything is the way it's supposed to be." He takes a long pause. "I've been alive long enough to know that sometimes, things happen. Unexpected things. Therefore if anything happens to me tomorrow, know that I love you and I'd want you to do whatever decision that you see fit. No matter the cost."

I feel tears start to well in my eyes. "Nothing's going to happen to you, Yiska. Don't talk like that."

He sighs before sitting up against the wall. I do the same. "You're not a pup anymore Natasha, so you know people die in wars, no matter how much we try to prevent it." He tilts his head back and wipes away my tears. "You wanna know what's one thing I regret most in my lifetime?"

"What?"

"Not killing your mother." He admits. "She hurt you... she hurt you badly and it fucked with you, which fucked with me. Staying up with you back then till you fell back asleep from those intense nightmares hurt me. Watching you, doubting yourself and sometimes even eating yourself alive... no person should ever go through that."

I clear my throat. "Well... you won't have to regret it any longer," I say, carefully. "She'll be there when we fight. And then you'll have your chance."

Yiska chuckles. "A... are you giving me your blessings to kill your mom."

I chuckle. "Kill the bitch. It's about time she goes to hell."

Yiska shakes his head. "We are horrible."

"Yup." I pout. "Good thing we aren't human. That would be terrible."

He chuckles. "It really would be horrible." He places his arm on my shoulders and pulls me close. "How long do you think it'll take for us to heal?"

I snuggle more into his warm body. "Couple more minutes, five at most." I sigh, sleepily. "God, what time is it?"

"It's late, probably three in the morning," Yiska replies staring ahead. "Go ahead, sleep. I'll get you to bed."

Closing my eyes, sleep starts to invade my mind. "Thank you Yiska... for everything. I love you."

His warm lips touch my temple. "I love you too."