think he would tell Paul that he'd broken Mary Jo's ribs. Paul wouldn't understand - and Henry was smart enough to know that.
Mary Jo adopted Adam's horse stance and faced Paul, whose back was to her.
"Challenge given and accepted," Darryl said. "Fight to the death with the winner having the option to accept a yield."
"Agreed," said Mary Jo.
"Yes," said Paul.
Mary Jo was faster, and she was a better-trained fighter. But when she hit, she didn't hit as hard. If Paul had been nearer to her size instead of four inches over six feet, she'd have had a good chance. But he had over a foot of height, which translated into reach. I'd remembered from his fight with Warren that he was surprisingly fast for such big man.
Eventually, he landed a fist on her shoulder that put her down like she'd been hammered.
"Yield," he said.
She stuck her feet between his and knocked them apart. Then she rolled like a monkey between his spread legs, elbowing him in the kidneys as she rose behind him. A second kick behind the knee almost had him on the ground, but he recovered.
"Yield like hell," she gritted, when she was a few body lengths from him.
"Quit being easy on her," said Darryl heavily. "This is a fight to the death, Paul. She will kill you if she can. If you accepted her challenge, you have to give her the respect of fighting her honestly."
"Right," said Adam.
Paul snarled soundlessly, and stepped back to the edge of the ring, raising both arms to a high block position, his feet perpendicular to each other, hands loosely fisted, deliberately inviting a strike to the torso.
Trouble with baiting a trap like that was that if Mary Jo handled it right, she might be able to turn it into a very big mistake. I grabbed hold of Adam's arm and tried not to dig in my fingernails. He was tense beside me, muttering, "Watch out, watch out. He's faster than he looks."
Mary Jo went slowly left, then right, and Paul turned easily to face her. She shifted her weight to the right - but with a blur of speed, she broke left and moved to the attack, dropping into a long, low lunge that looked almost like something a fencer might use, her fist blurring as hip and shoulder rotated into line, driving it forward like a lance. It was a perfect strike, delivered with superhuman speed.
Paul rotated smoothly as her fist flashed through empty air, just grazing his stomach. He brought both fists down like hammers on her unprotected back, driving her flat to the ground with a sound like distant thunder. Next to me Adam grunted, as if he felt the impact of Paul's fists himself.
Mary Jo was obviously dazed. She lay on her stomach, blinking myopically. Her mouth and throat worked like a fish's out of water. Then she drew in a long, shuddering breath and her eyes focused. If her ribs had been hurt before, she must be in agony after the blow she'd just taken.
Any sane person would know the fight was over, and beg to yield, but she was slowly struggling to get her elbows under her and lift her body from the mat. Paul's mouth twisted in a mirthless smile as he watched her efforts.
"Stay down," he told her. "Stay down. Yield, damn it. I don't want to hurt you anymore."
She'd gotten to her elbows and was pulling her knees up when he did a flashy skip-step and brought the edge of his foot down on the back of her thigh, driving her flat to the mats again. A short scream tore from her throat, but she jerked her knees underneath her and popped to her feet.
Her guard was too low, her right elbow pressed tightly against her injured ribs. Below her elbow, a small stain of bright red blood was slowly spreading. Every wolf in the room could smell it, and so could I. I was afraid that one of those damaged ribs had punctured a lung. Her left leg wasn't working quite right, and she took a simple stance with most of her weight on the ball of her right foot. She stood at the very edge of the ring, which eliminated her ability to retreat but also meant Paul couldn't circle behind her.
Paul advanced slowly, carefully, a predator stalking wounded prey. But I saw him frowning at Mary Jo's ribs. He was trying to figure out how she'd hurt them.