His Balls. Her Boot. DONE. (Part 2)

Reeling, Hunter caught his balance just long enough to slam her into the ground.

A pained grunt escaped her before she could stop it. But she didn't skip a beat, sweeping her leg out to take his feet from under him.

He hit the dirt beside her with a choked, "Fuck."

Before he knew what was happening, she was up and his arms twisted behind him.

It was clean, it was tight, and it was a textbook submission hold. The point should have gone to her and everyone knew it.

But Draven didn't blow the whistle.

Hunter, stunned but not stupid, powered through the hold. He swept his leg around in a desperate attempt to trip her, but she stepped over the limb, unimpressed.

She seized his arms again, catching the exact same pressure points as before, but this time she hauled him backward with a brutal jerk.

He went down with a groan, stunned and breathless.

Draven blew the whistle.

"Alright," Hunter growled. "You want full force? You got it."

From the sideline, Draven called out, "Nova two, Hunter zero."

Hunter didn't wait. He lunged again—faster this time.

Nova twisted to avoid him, but he caught her mid-motion, yanking her clean off her feet.

He slammed her down. The second her back hit the frosted ground, he had her wrists pinned above her head, his weight crushing the air from her lungs.

"That glare's cute. Still doesn't change the fact I've got you right where I want you."

Nova's eyes flashed.

The whistle blew.

Hunter got off of Nova and smirked. She flipped to her feet in one fluid motion, irritated and done with this. A bruise bloomed on her cheek.

Draven lifted the whistle to his lips. "Hunter, one. Nova, two. Nova, if you get this point, you win."

Hunter cracked his neck, shaking out his shoulders like he was stepping into a tavern brawl rather than a structured match.

"You do have fight in you after all. Here I was thinking you were mute and unskilled," Hunter said, amused. "Mute is still up for debate." He glanced at Draven. "Does she speak ever?"

Nova didn't answer. She knew he was trying to trick her into being the aggressor.

A blatant look at Draven in the middle of a match was so obvious it was almost funny. Almost.

✦✦✦

Fin's expression darkened. He'd been feeling her through the matebond, and none of it sat right in his chest. She was in more pain than she let on. She'd been training since dawn. Literally an hour after she woke up in the infirmary.

"Draven should have given her the point well before that," he stated.

"He probably doesn't want the captain to leave this embarrassed and not help again." Jax said, shaking his head with a grin.

Fin chuckled. "He is getting his ass thoroughly kicked."

"She's had to have trained in Ashbane at some point right? There's no way two months of training leads to that." Jax wondered aloud.

"Not that I've ever seen," Fin agreed.

As the match went on, Jax's grip tightened around the cold stone of the balcony. He was already not okay with the fact she was sparring.

But, when he caught some of the captain's comments, something snapped inside him and he felt absolute rage. Something he had no business feeling, but he was done pretending otherwise.

Another feeling washed into him that he couldn't name. A flicker of unease but it didn't make sense.

It took a moment for him to sort through it.

His expression shifted from concentration to holy shit in the span of three seconds.

It was her emotions he was feeling. Not his. The same tethered sensation he'd once shared with his late fated mate Cira. Only Nova's presence struck harder. It was deeper.

He couldn't deny it anymore.

Jax: Talon... is she our second chance mate? I feel such a pull to her.

Talon: I feel she's meant to be our mate, yet it's not acknowledged by fate.

Jax: I feel a deeper pull than what I felt for Cira. Her emotions bleed through without a mark.

Talon: Her fate is tied to another. Maybe if that other passes, we'd be her second chance mate. I am not sure. But the connection is there and it's deep.

Jax: So I'm not imagining her emotions.

Talon: No. I feel them. I felt the sparks when you touched. You aren't imagining any of it.

Jax's insides churned at that revelation, hot and sour, the idea of Nova's fate being tethered to anyone outside himself felt like a blade dragged slowly along bone.

He'd been fighting his instincts since the day he carried her into Shadowclaw.

He was done fighting it.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt pain in his ribs. His wolf commented before he could ask.

Talon: That captain hurt her. If he touches her one more time, I will rip his throat.

Then he heard shouts. "That wasn't clean!"

Hunter Ryker had Nova by her neck.

Jax saw red and was already moving.

But then he looked up to see Nova's boot slam into Hunter's crotch.

Hunter dropped, instantly, a strangled sound escaping his throat as he collapsed to his knees.

She stepped back, breathing hard. She had a busted lip, dark bruise on her cheek and her neck was red.

Draven blew the whistle. "Point. Match. Nova."

Hunter wheezed in the dirt.

Nova turned toward Draven, slowly, and shook her head.

"Oh, you're fine, Moonveil. Now you can brag you beat a captain at sparring."

Jax moved from the balcony without a word.

He was done waiting.