Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (20 page)

Jillian asked in
near panic
“Sarah
,
are you ok?”

Mark
got a good look at Connor’s
mate
.
She was shaking all over and her eyes were tightly shut from the
frightening
experience
. Her head buried in his chest. Both of her hands
clutched
his shirt in a death grip.
Her knuckles were white as he
saw Connor’s head lift
up.

Kara walked up to
Sarah
and rubbed her head gently. “Brother
,
we should let her lie down in the shade
over there
.
She needs to know that she is safely on the ground.
” Connor agreed and all of
them
walked her over to the shade tree.

She still clung to him as he gently sat down
,
still cradling her. “Princess
,
you’re safely on the ground. I’m right here.
Everyone was worried, but they can see that you are alright.
Relax, you
’
r
e
alright.
”

Jack and Mark
stood together
and off to the side
as Kara and Jillian tended to Sarah
;
who still didn’t move
except from her excessive shaking
.

It soon
became obvious that
nothing anyone was doing
had an effect
.

Suddenly Mark
heard Connor talking in
his mind and
saw penetrating
hazel
eyes focused on
him
.
“Can I ask for a favor?”

“You never need to ask me that
,
Buddy.”

“I need to get her mind off her fall.
It’s almost too much for me to feel myself. She thinks she’s dying and won’t let me in her mind. Nothing I’m doing is working. It’s time to break the shock.
I need you to spar with me and
it’ll
get her to focus on me.
I know her
and the way she thinks
.
If she thinks I’m in
any
danger she’ll stop being so worried about herself.
It will…
help with this situation.”

Mark
nodded
while
saying in
his
mind
“That sounds
logical
.”

“I’m going to get Jack
’
s opinion. Hold on.”

After Connor looked at Jack and he
consented as well
they
ushered
the
women away. T
hey went reluctantly at first
, but Sarah didn’t seem to notice
what was happening around her
at the moment
. Mark
couldn’t remove h
er hold off of him because of his
claws
and even then her grip already put holes in the fabric
. Jack tried
nonetheless,
but wasn’t strong enough to
pry
open her hands.

Mark came up with a solution
.

As Connor read
his
mind he nodded. Mark
walked behind him
,
and using
an
index claw
,
he
sliced
the back of
the
shirt from collar to tail in one clean cut.
Jack swiftly took Sarah from Connor before she could hold on to him again. She struggled to get away and back to him, but Connor stopped her by
saying “Keep your eyes on me. F
ocus on me. Don’t think about the fall. I caught you
and
you’re safe
,
Princess.
Stop fighting!
”

Her
green
eyes
opened and
were filled with tears, but she
ceased
struggling as her father clutched
her back against his
flat
chest.
Jack held
her close and comfortably, but Mark
could tell she would be able to outmuscle h
er father’s grasp
if she wanted to.
Somehow she
had become
even stronger than a fully bonded male Balancer.

The three
men
sighed in relief as she
had
finally
become
docile. Then her
mother and sister-in-law sat to
either side of her. They each took one of her hands
,
saying nothing. All they did was slowly rub her hands
tenderly
.
Nothing el
se could be said to reassure Sarah
in this condition.

“Let
’
s go
,
Mark.”
Connor tapped his
shoulder. As
they
started walking away
Mark noticed Tool was sitting o
n the ground beside Kara.

He wondered how his friend
could fig
ht against him
without a weapon.

Before they
split up to go
their
separate ways
,
Connor said “
Don’t hold back on my account
. I want to keep her
mind
occupied
on me
and the best way to do that is to make the fight as real as possible
.”

“You got it.
No holds bar.
” And they split up to
t
ake
their
positions.

As
Mark
lowered
him
self to the ground
he
saw Connor take his forward battle stance.
Even in
the deadly wolf
form
Connor
still frightened
him
on a level
he
couldn’t fully comprehend.
Never before had a Balancer make him pause.
Mark
did a shelf check
to get
his
mind off such thoughts
.
Mark’s
bones were
connected
properly,
his
hair
had
fused correctly
to not have a single flaw
, claws
were
sharp, muscles
are
firm yet flexible
and his heightened
senses were all working perfectly.

Suddenly Connor started running at a speed that
Mark has
never
seen from another of his kind. Mark
bunched
his
muscles and leapt above him ju
st as he came within range. As he
flipped
in the air
a sharp
pain
exploded from his
tail.
Suddenly he
found himself
thrown in the air
,
in the opposite direction
from which
he sprung from. Mark
re-
rotated
his
body in the air as
he
hit the ground on all
fours. He
recognized
a moment later that
the pain
from his
tail
came
from Connor grabbing it.
It was the first time someone evaded
his
aerial
dodge
,
let alone
being
grasped
in such a way
.

Connor
entered
his
mind saying
“That trick won’t work twice with me. I saw you fight the bear remember?”
His
hazel
eyes were
dangerously
focused.

“Since I have never fought
a Balancer of your caliber
before,
it looks like I’ll
really
have to go all out!”

Mark
focused on making
the necessary
adjustments to
his
body.
He made his
lungs larger to allow more oxygen to be collected
and
his
heart
began to
pump quicker. He then
activated
his
adrenal glands and endorphins.
The surge of adrenaline made his
heart pump quicker
to allow more oxygen
to flood
into
his
circulatory
system
and muscles
.
Endorphins numbed any pain.
Finally he
increased the size of
his
arm and back muscles.
His
shoulder muscles probably looked
now
like that of a fighting bull.

When
everything
was changed in three
second
s
,
Mark
charged at Connor who was
already
expecting a head on fight.

Connor had his le
ft leg in front of his right
,
preparing for a collision.
At least he didn’t back down or cringe from the burst of speed.
Fifteen feet from Connor
,
Mark
launched
him
self directly at his middle.
He
pulled
his
right clawed hand back
,
trying to cut
at
his chest, but found
him
self su
ddenly stopped. Mark
looked at
a solid black
X before
his
eyes.
Mark
then glanced at
his
attacking hand to see Connor
’
s left hand gripping
his
wrist
tightly
, cracking the fused hair
.

Mark
realized
with
startled awe
that Connor stopped
his
entire movement and momentum with a single hand.
Not even his advanced weight seemed to matter. None have ever done that before. Mark
also knew that he didn’t use his elemental power
against
the charge
. It was
strictly
his
raw
physical
strength
,
a
strength that shouldn’t be possible
against a Changer.
If
Mark
had
collided with a
parked
pick
-
up truck
with its breaks locked his
weight and momentum would push the truck back a solid
fifteen
feet yet Connor didn’t budge.

Looking down at his feet
Mark understood
why
Connor
didn’t get pushed back. He made the ground encase his legs
and lock him in place
.
He secured his position to stop
the attack
.

Mark
quickly drop
ped
his
back leg
’
s
,
kicked the ground
and twist
ed
his
body
to
forc
e
his
arm away
from Connor’s grasp
. When he released it
Mark
checked and noticed that
no damage had been sustained
outside the furry wrist
.
He quickly repaired the fur and re-fused it again.