Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton and the Berkley Publishing Group do not authorize this author. All characters that you recognize belong to Laurell K. Hamilton except for the ones created by the people in this group. This is solely for entertainment purposes.
Rating: R just to be on the safe side
Author's Notes: This has been a long time in coming.  For those of you who have stuck with me through all of my incarnations this is just tying up some loose ends.  I do believe after all this time that this will be the final chapter in the Luna/Shang-Da era. (Not the end of this series just the end of them as a couple.  Got it?  Good!) Actually this IS the end.  For those of you who stuck it out with me thanks.  Well without further ado...
Hard Days Night
Part Six
The night of the fight was bright and clear.  A new moon hung in the air.  That was a good sign, a new moon for a new beginning.  It was a beginning that would no longer include a psychotic lukoi ex-boyfriend.  I dressed simply, black Lycra stretch leggings that ended about mid-calf and a matching black sports bra hidden under a black hooded pullover sweatshirt.  A pair of white ankle socks and black Vans completed the look.
I wasn't going to go unarmed but knew that they would *never* allow me in the lupanar with my guns.  They stayed safely hidden in the small safe at the back of my closet.  I didn't want someone to come across them accidentally.   I couldn't really justify the large blade that went down my spine so I left it in the closet as well.  My forearms concealed two of my smaller blades while there was a larger hunting knife strapped to my thigh.
Micah's scent reached me a second before I felt the heat from his body.   His hands rested lightly on my shoulders and I leaned back into him. From any one else it might have been arousing but from Micah it was just comforting.  He kneaded my shoulders as his face dropped into my carefully arranged hair.
Surprisingly it had been Gregory and Nathaniel that had constructed my new do.  They had braided it then tucked the end securely inside and pinned it so that my hair couldn't be used as a weapon against me.  I was giving up a great deal in this fight.  I was not going to give my enemy any more ammunition.
With his cheek resting on my hair Micah asked, "You ready to do this?"
"Truth?"  He nodded.  "Not really, but it's too late to turn back now."
"That it is," he said quietly. Micah took a step back.  "I'll send Noah to you."
I stared up at the stars watching as they twinkled and blinked oblivious to all the suffering that happened under them.  Drawing in a deep breath I let it out slowly.  I needed to get my act together rather quickly, especially if I wanted to appear the calm, cool, and collected Oya the lukoi saw on a regular basis.
Noah walked up and the power swirled around him.  When he was like this I could see why Maggie was so captivated by him.  He was truly a sight to behold.  He was wearing a pair of black track pants with a black tank top hidden by his own hooded pullover sweatshirt.  Our shoes matched.  That was more coincidence than anything.  "It's time Luna," he said simply.  I nodded.
Letting down my shields the power that I had held tightly around me flared.  I could hear gasps as it touched those closest to us.  We walked side by side to the edge of the lupanar.  The middle had been cleared.  Torches surrounded the opening.  Jason and Shang-Da stood opposite us and glared.
Noah stepped behind me and leaned down as his arms circled my waist.  Shang-Da's growl could be heard across the clearing.  I realized that jealousy was his weakness.   If the situation hadn't been so deadly serious I might have laughed.  Now I had an advantage and I wasn't going to let it pass me by.
I turned my face and Noah's lips, which had been whispering words of encouragement, brushed the corner of my mouth.  He gave a deep satisfied masculine laugh, the kind of laugh that says that he knows that the woman is thinking of things best done in the dark.
He allowed me to turn inside the circle of his arm.  Again his head lowered.  I had a moment to wonder if he was really going to kiss me before his lips touched the opposite corner of my mouth.  To anyone watching I knew it had to look like we were doing much more intimate things.
My hands ran up his back to tangle in his hair as I melted against him.  He gave a low growl.  It was partly warning and partly pleasure.  We were careful to keep things from crossing the line between pard mates into lovers.  We could, and would, tease each other but we were both conscious of the fact that he had a girlfriend.
By the time Noah and I separated and turned to look across the circle Shang-Da was being restrained by Jason.  He wasn't fairing too well.
Richard's voice rang through the night.  "You can not enter the circle until the challenger has."  The Ulfric turned his dark eyes on us.  Even from the distance that separated us you could see how angry he was with our display.  "Are you ready," he asked, and I was surprised that he was able to conceal his annoyance.
Anita stepped up next to the Ulfric.  Her voice showed none of the conflict that I know she had been feeling not two days ago.  "This is a fight until one of the participants can no longer continue."  The crowd started a quiet murmur that rapidly turned into a deafening roar.
"Silence," Richard thundered.
The pack and those few from the pard immediately quieted.  Their eyes were now expectantly trained on the center of the lupanar.  Anita continued as if she'd never been interrupted.  "Their seconds have been chosen and accepted.  The second can call the fight at any point."  She turned dispassionate eyes on both Jason and Noah.  "If I find that either is using coercion you will answer to me."  Her tone made it perfectly clear that she was going to be watching not the fight but the seconds.
I was so proud of Anita.  She had managed to maintain her impartiality.  The lukoi believed that she would be watching her own cats, and the pard believed that she would be watching the lukoi.  It worked out completely.
As one Noah and I removed our sweatshirts.  There was a gasp of surprise as they realized that I had blades strapped to my forearms.  As my second stepped up beside me I noticed he had a pair strapped to him as well.  The smile that spread across my face was nothing short of feral.
Across from us both Jason and Shang-Da removed their t-shirts.  Their skin glistened in the pale lighting of the torches.  At one time such a sight might have made my blood rush to lower places.  Now all it did was remind me what a callous bastard my ex really was.
Noah must have sensed something because the next thing I knew I was in his arms.  He kissed me.  It was *way* over the line of friends and clearly a kiss that one would give to someone they were intimately acquainted with.  It shocked me and held me immobile.  He kissed his way down my jaw to my ear then said, "When I let you go take a good look at his face.  If you don't take him down he's going to come after us all."  With that he released me.
Turning I looked across the circle.  Sure enough Shang-Da's face was filled with rage and hatred.  It solidified something inside me.  I snapped my head from side to side the sound of my neck popping was strangely loud in the eerily quiet clearing.  I stepped inside the circle facing Richard.
From the other side I could feel Shang-Da approaching and he stopped in front of the stone dais.  He knelt briefly and stood.  I bowed my head in respect for the Ulfric's position.  My ex and I faced one another at last and to say that we were hostile would probably be a major understatement.
Shang-Da struck a typical martial arts pose.  Those who knew what a big movie nut I am would have recognized my next few moves.  I went through a series of punches that ended with my left arm tucked close to my side, my right arm outstretched, the fingers pointing up.   With my fingers I beckoned him in.
In quiet glee I watched as his eyes widened then narrowed and he rushed me.  I sidestepped him leaving my left foot out to trip him up.  He jumped the foot.  We turned and faced one another again.  The smile never left my face as he continued to glare at me.
"For someone that wants me out of her bed so badly you're not fight too much," he snarled.  "Perhaps you like having a wolf in your bed."
I didn't need a mirror to know my eyes flashed emerald.  "Of course I do Shang-Da.  I just don't want *you* in it," I taunted him.
His right hook took me by surprise and the force used was enough to make my knees buckle.  I hit the ground hard.  My hands fisted around the dirt.  Quickly I rolled back to a standing position.  He was coming again.  Thinking swiftly I threw the handfuls of dirt at his face.
For a while we traded blows.  Neither one of us was really getting the upper hand.  When Shang-Da landed a solid blow to my cheek and caused me to bite it I knew I was in trouble.  Blood was rapidly filling my mouth.  I swallowed a mouthful then spit whatever was left at him.
With him distracted I landed several well-placed punches.  My kick was caught mid-flight and I was left hopping around on my free leg.  In a move I'd seen mostly on wrestling I hopped and spun.  Just like I hoped I caught the back of his head with an insaguri.
We both fell to the ground.  I rolled into a crouch.  My breathing was labored and my heart was racing.  I couldn't hear anything over the blood rushing in my ears.  Both of us were on our hands and knees glaring at the other.  This was going to be brutal!  It was going to be much more brutal than either of us had really planned on.
Quickly I got to my feet and stared down at the man that I had thought I'd loved.  Now the only thing I felt was the need to see him broken and bleeding before me.  I think my newfound resolve showed in my eyes as his amber yellow eyes returned to their normal brown.
I knew my own eyes were still feral and that's the way I wanted it.  My beast simmered below the surface.  I let it come a little closer knowing that its own instincts would fuel my desire for his ultimate destruction.  A sneer marred my features as I threw out pointed taunts.
Shang-Da slowly rose to his feet.   He took a moment to collect himself then launched his body at me.  It was what I had been waiting for.  I stood there as he got closer and closer.  At the last moment I danced out of the way and delivered a high knee to his midsection.  As he tried to gain his feet I kicked him in the stomach.
He lashed out and caught me in the gut.  It sent me flying, literally.  Bodies crumpled under the unexpected weight.  That pissed me off.  I should have known better, should have anticipated that from him.  I slowly rolled to my feet.  Our eyes locked and I raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him.
The fight became less organized and more like a street brawl.  He rushed me again and gone was all that training.  Now he was bearing down on me and until I had some clue as to what he was going to do I had no way to counter it.  Dancing out of reach would only work for so long.
When he wrapped his hands around my throat I turned into a total girl.  No!  I didn't scream.  I raked his eyes with my fingers.  He let go of me immediately.  I reared back and punched him in the throat.  He made a half choking sound.  It was like music to my ears.
I stalked the man that had once been my world.  His eyes were wide and he was fighting to breathe.  It should have bothered me that I wasn't sickened by my actions but that would mean I felt something I didn't.  He back peddled towards the crowd.  They never moved.  If he hit them he would have to come near me.
Grabbing one of the torches closest to me I snapped it over my knee.  I lobbed the flaming end over my shoulder uncaring where it went.  I kicked him and he rolled to his hands and knees.  I kicked him again.  Not only was he having trouble breathing, he was now spitting up blood.
It was the sight of the blood that sent me over the edge.  I raised the wooden staff and brought it down through his hand point first.  His howl of pain echoed through the lupanar.  That wasn't enough for me, not for what he had tried to do to me.  Turning the staff I began raining blows all over him.
Profanity poured from my lips.  Dimly I heard myself yelling about what he had done to me.  What he *would* have done to me if I'd let him.  Still I continued to beat him.  Vaguely I felt tears running down my face.  It didn't matter.  None of it mattered because I was getting my pay back.
Two things happened at once.  Jason was suddenly in front of me huddled over Shang-Da his hand raised to ward me off.   A pair of strong arms wrapped around my own.  He was whispering in my ear.  "It's okay honey.  It's over.  You did it.  You won."
Turning my eyes to the uneasy crowd that surrounded us I spoke.  "We will no longer be doormats.  We will *not* let you tell what and how to do things.  We are the Blooddrinkers Clan.  Cross us at your own peril."
The arms let go of me.  I turned and faced Noah.  His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb brushed over the bone.  I leaned into that small comforting touch.  He laid a gentle kiss on my forehead and walked away from me.  I surveyed the lukoi.  They were afraid.  Not all of them were but that was to be expected.  We had delivered our message.
I finally looked at Shang-Da.  He was bleeding profusely.  One of his eyes was swollen shut.  His face, chest, and what I could see of his back were alive with bruises.  In that one chocolate brown orb held a knowledge that broke my heart.  He'd realized like I had that no matter how much we thought we loved each other it was never going to work.  There were too many obstacles in our path.
"I really did love you," I said to him.  Tears streamed down my face.  His head moved very carefully once up once down and the move cost him.  His once handsome face was twisted with pain.
Sickened by what I was capable of I turned to leave.  Half way out of the circle I looked down at myself.  I was covered in blood.  It was drying in flaking patches on my face, across my chest, and arms.  My fingers slowly loosened their grip on the piece of wood I had beaten a man with.  I didn't have many wounds to show for the fight.  That was because most of mine were internal.  Some would never completely heal.  I mourned that loss of innocence, the thought that love would conquer all.
There was a hollow thud as it hit the ground.  Fitting, it was how I felt right now.  I was just a hollow shell, too numb for much of anything to matter.  Later I would feel it all.  I'd deal with it then.  For now, I consoled myself with the knowledge that I had done what I set out to do.
I had protected my pard, my family.  In the end it's all about family.  You may not like them and they may drive you nuts but no one else is ever going to love you as much as they do.  The pard was my family and we took care of our own.  I hoped out of all this, the lukoi would find a way to make themselves family.  If they didn't there was no hope for them.
Noah slung an arm over my shoulders and Micah wrapped an arm around my waist.  "You did good Luna," Micah said quietly.  "You did real good."
I knew he wasn't just talking about the fight but about everything that had led us to this moment.  Some things you had to learn the hard way.  Some things no one could tell you.  Life was a hard taskmaster; those lessons you passed by sometimes have a way of being beat into you.  If you were really unlucky some days you got to be the one to do the beating.  Damn it!  I hated growing up.