Adrenaline

Greeve was excited to be off work for the day. He walked down the dusty road to his favorite bar and stepped inside the darkened interior, as his pale blue eyes adjusted to the gloom his attention was immediately drawn to the Yeown woman seated at the end of the bar.

She was gorgeous, her powerful legs connected to wide hips and she had heavily muscled arms and an impressive bust. His eyes tracked her long fluffy tail up to where it connected with the small of her back. She was wearing tight fitting shorts and a sleeveless shirt that cutoff leaving a strip of her lower back and belly exposed.

He glanced down at himself, his fur was a bit scruffy and his clothes were worn, but perfectly serviceable. Running a hand through the fur on his head he flicked his pointed ears and swaggered over to this paragon of the feminine form.

She heard his padded feet approaching as he neared and she gave him a cursory glance before returning her attention to her drink.

Walking up to the seat next to her he waved to the Human bartender and called for a beer. As he received his drink he turned towards the woman and flashed his teeth in a smile. He was proud of his teeth, he made sure to keep them immaculately clean and bright.

The woman huffed, not impressed. He spoke "Hi there, I've never seen you here before. You new to Drainge?" She glanced at him again and gave him an appraising look before tossing her head and taking a pull from her drink.

"Not interested in conversation." She said tartly.

Greeve frowned and asked "You have a rough day? Well this is the place to relax, trust me. I know all the cool spots to chill out here, like this one time for example…" he began before she slapped a hand down on the bar and stood.

Greeve shrunk down instinctively, cowed by the larger female's commanding presence. "I said, I'm not interested in talking to you, beat it." She said more gruffly.

Greeve gulped and nodded his head. Even he wasn't dumb enough to challenge a woman, especially not a woman who looked like she could bench press him with one arm. He wasn't out of shape by any means, but he definitely wasn't as toned as she was.

She smirked as he scurried away to a table on the far side of the room. He sat heavily on the overstressed wooden chair which creaked in protest under his weight. Focusing on his drink he grumbled "What was that? I was just trying to be nice." He reasoned out loud.

Greeve finished off his drink and ordered another. He wasn't much of a drinker normally, but he was suddenly feeling the urge to get very drunk and forget about the whole situation.

Greeve was on his fourth beer and feeling sorry for himself when he chanced a glance at the woman again. His brow furrowed as he saw her talking to a Human male, they were sitting next to each other and chatting casually. Greeve felt a flash of anger, why was this meatsack talking to her, what did he have that Greeve didn't? He was a Human, he didn't have claws, no fur, not even a tail. And what was worse they were even smaller than Greeve was, they were of average size for their species, but so was Greeve.

The Yeown were on average 185 centimeters tall, this Human couldn't have been more than 175 centimeters. As Greeve watched the two, he grew more frustrated. This weak, clawless, primate thought that he was better than him? Well he would show them who was stronger.

Greeve stood unsteadily and steadied himself before he strode over to the pair determinedly and planted himself next to the Human. "Hey, what do you think you're better than me?" He huffed at the man as he turned to look at him curiously.

The man looked him up and down and said "Buddy, you're drunk. I advise you to leave and cool off." And then he turned back towards the female.

Greeve was determined to get her attention however and he prodded the man's shoulder and asked "What are you too clawless to challenge me? C'mon, I challenge you."

The woman was looking at him now, her expression was not one of contempt now, but of interest. Emboldened by her gaze he stepped back and shrugged off his jacket exposing his sleeveless work shirt. His arms were muscled and his four fingered hands were large and possessed retractable claws.

The man seemed to sigh loudly and said "Well, looks like I gotta put another one down huh? Okay bub, let's do it your way."

Greeve smiled and replied "Yes, no weapons but what nature gave us. Till first blood."

The man raised his eyebrows in that funny Human way "Till first blood? What, you scared to go all out? I say we take this till the other is incapable of fighting any more."

The female Yeown raised a hand to the Human's shoulder and started "Barry, maybe this isn't…" but she was cut off as he said.

"This asshole has it coming, besides, he literally asked for it." Barry retorted.

She sighed and lowered her hand, settling down to watch. Barry stepped forwards and raised his hands into a fighting position and Greeve did the same, unsheathing his claws.

The Human smirked and Greeve growled low in his throat. The female said "Alright on the count of three, one, two, three."

As she finished, Greeve rushed at the man, intending to slash his chest with a heavy strike thus ending the fight in one blow. But he yelped in surprise as the man sidestepped his charge and used his momentum to fling him into a table.

Greeve got to his feet, wincing, that had hurt, and he felt a few bruises starting to form under his fur. Snarling in anger he slowly circled the man, now wary of his speed. Barry suddenly lunged at him and threw a heavy punch at Greeve's face. Greeve managed to avoid the blow by millimeters and reciprocated with an up swipe that slashed three shallow wounds into the human's exposed forearm.

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The human didn't even flinch at the contact and retreated back a pace with his arms back in that fighting pose. Greeve blinked at that, he had heard about humans being able to ignore wounds, but had never seen it for himself before.

Greeve could smell the Human's blood as it slowly welled up from the gashes, but they seemed unaffected. Greeve changed the direction of his approach and attempted to catch them with another quick slash but grunted in pain as Barry smashed his blow aside and slammed a closed fist into his exposed shoulder.

Damn, that had hurt! Greeve began to become worried, this Human was fast, faster than he had expected. Greeve tried to put some distance between the two of them but stumbled on a pulled out chair. Like a flash Barry was on him, Greeve cried out as he was punched in the gut twice in quick succession. Greeve fell to his knees, gasping in pain and holding his middle with his uninjured arm.

"Had enough yet?" The Human taunted.

Greeve glanced at the female and saw concern in her eyes, he didn't know if it was for him, or for this Barry fellow, but he felt another flash of determination flood through him. He wasn't going to let this small man beat him into submission without at least getting another hit in.

Greeve stood to his feet and spat "Not even close, thanks for scratching that itch, it was driving me crazy." His bravado seemed to have the desired effect as the Human frowned and raised their arms again. Greeve was hurting, but he pushed through the pain and rushed at Barry again, this time he feinted with his injured arm and was rewarded with the Human going for a block. Quickly switching his attack, Greeve threw his uninjured arm in a closefisted punch straight into the Humans chest.

Greeve growled in satisfaction as the Human grunted in pain and was knocked back a step. But to Greeve's surprise he seemed to recover immediately, that blow should have cracked a rib at least and yet the Human was just as fast as before, maybe even faster.

Greeve felt a blow connect with his jaw and howled as something snapped. Near blinded with pain he raised his arms in a pitiful defense as a series of blows rained down on his body, his stomach, his arms, his side. Greeve reeled back and tripped over something, as he slammed to the ground he felt his vision fading.

The female was suddenly there kneeling beside him, she cradled his head in her arms as he coughed blood and blacked out.

**********

Greeve awoke to pain.

He was lying in a white room. The walls and surroundings looked sterile and he realised he was in a hospital bed. He tried to raise his arms and groaned in pain as only one of them responded to his will, the other seemed to be too numb to move. He tried to sit up but failed as his battered muscles refused to cooperate.

Closing his eyes he cursed silently to himself, what had he been thinking. He had been drunk sure, but he hadn't thought himself that stupid. There was a reason that Humans were known as brawlers, and he had challenged one in a flight of fancy.

Lying there for a while in silence, his ears twitched as he heard the unmistakable sound of padded feet approaching his room. Cracking open an eye he peered at the door to his room, it began to creak open and his eyes shot open in surprise as the same woman from the night before stepped in.

She was dressed in a long white coat and scrubs and he groaned internally as he realised that she was a medical worker.

She was holding a datapad and walked over to him, tapping away on the screen she ignored him for a few moments before huffing and finally looking at him.

Greeve shrank into the sheets as far as he could as she turned her emerald green eyes on him. "I cant tell if you are reckless, or just stupid, you're lucky you didn't break any bones, although you did lose a fang." Greeve remained silent as she berated him. "I mean, I said I wasn't interested in talking to you, and then you come back and try to duel for me? If I wasn't so annoyed I might actually find that kind of cute. So tell me, are you reckless or stupid?" She demanded putting her hands on her hips.

Greeve was at a loss for words, on one hand here was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen standing above him, on the other she seemed ready to tear his throat out.

Her gaze softened slightly at his scared expression and she asked "Greeve." He perked up at the use of his name "I'm trying to understand, help me understand." She asked less harshly.

He swallowed loudly and replied hoarsely "Stupid, definitely stupid. I never drink that much, but I guess I was feeling a bit down."

She snorted and said "Sure ya were, big ol tough guy like yourself tries to impress some girl and gets blown off. Then when he sees another man talking to her he mans up and tries to grab her attention with his impressive fighting ability, does that sound about right?" Greeve nodded sheepishly, not meeting her eyes.

To his surprise she chuckled, he looked up at her to see her smiling. "What's funny about that?" He asked curiously.

She shook her head and said "I'm just remembering the look on your face when Barry threw you into that table. Honestly, it was a pretty decent fight. He boxes in his free time, I'm surprised you managed to hit him, not once but twice. You got him pretty good the second time too, he had to come in for three cracked ribs." Greeve was confused. She seemed to know this Barry person as she spoke of them with fondness, but she didn't seem upset that he had hit him, rather, she actually sounded amused.

He frowned in confusion and asked "Wait, you're not mad I hit him? But you two seemed to be getting along so good, and you speak as if you know him well."

She laughed at his question and said "Oh, Barry? Yeah he's my brother in law. I was adopted into a human family after my parents died in an accident. Barry and I grew up together, he has always been protective of me, I think it's some sort of Human thing, I could pick him up and throw him if I wanted to. Still, I find his protective manner endearing." As she finished, Greeve just stared at her for a few moments before averting his eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm sorry I hurt your brother. I thought he was just someone trying to get your attention and doing a better job than me, I guess part of me got jealous." He admitted ashamedly.

He jerked as he felt her place her hand on his shoulder, he looked into her face as she said "Honest and humble? Hmm. Greeve, while I will admit that I was annoyed by your crude attempt to pick up my attention, I must admit that in a roundabout way, your plan worked."

"I, uh, huh?" Greeve sputtered in confusion.

She set the datapad down on the table next to them and moved her hand from his shoulder to his cheek "I was in a bad mood when you tried to talk to me. That's why I snapped at you when you first came over, but when you came over and challenged Barry, and even managed to hurt him. I have to say, that was intriguing, very, very, intriguing." She said as she leaned closer to him.

Feeling a little more confident now that she wasn't angry he asked "So uh, I still don't know your name?" He said as she transfixed him with those shining green eyes.

He tensed as she grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him suddenly. It seemed to drag on for an eternity and he drifted on the tides of pain and euphoria as his battered body warred with this new wonderous sensation.

After just a second she pulled out of the kiss and stood, releasing him. He gasped and stared at her as she turned to leave. He tried to sit up but groaned as his body protested.

As she reached the door she turned and fixed him with another look before smiling and saying "Oh, my name is Freasha by the way." And with that she was gone.

Greeve looked up at the ceiling and sighed, he was in a hospital, battered and bloody from a lost fight. And yet, he felt better than he had in as long as he could remember. He smiled and closed his eyes, hoping beyond hope that he wasn't dreaming. His breathing slowed as he fell into a calm sleep, dreams of a beautiful woman on his mind.

End of Story