Chapter Nine

“Alright” He clapped his hands together and stared at all of us. Since being in the breakfast hall, we had followed him to a gym like area filled with dummies, boxing gloves and various fitness equipment. I had walked in complete silence with Ruth, mainly trying to think about what I was going to do to get kicked out, but the shock of the nameless guard taking our class was big enough to keep me quiet. “Let’s get to it”

We were sat on the floor like children as he spoke us through what the class would consist of. “Today you will be taught how to defend yourself” His eyes found me. “You never know when you need to protect yourself. As a Luna, other packs may want to harm you”

My mouth moved before I could even stop it as I tilted my chin to him and spoke confidently. “What? Like stealing you from your bed in the middle of the night? Can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that”

Girls in front of me turned around and shot me the most horrific stares and I think Ruth almost passed away sitting next to me but my eyes stayed firmly planted on him, seeing exactly what he would do next.

Instead of shouting at me and throwing me out of the class he simply lifted an eyebrow and held his arm out. “Well, ladies, I think we have our first volunteer.”

I went to shake my head and shout in protest but decided to use this opportunity to my advantage and stood up, curtsying to everyone and joining him at the front. “You know me, always down for trying new things and getting involved.”

He looked down at me and patted my back, pulling me into his chest. “I got that feeling from you actually. You’ll be the perfect person to be our helpless female, so that we can all learn how to defend ourselves.”

My eyes squinted at him in rage as he continued speaking, trying to impress the girls that stood in front of us who were so clearly swooning over his good looks and muscles.

“Okay, let’s come over to the mat and we can start with a simple demonstration” He ushered me over and the girls followed us, leaving him and myself in the middle of the mat with everyone else circled around us and I was starting to think I had bitten off more than I could chew.

“Is this the part where you beat me up?” I raised my eyebrows at him and he chuckled under his breath, shaking his head.

“All I’m going to demonstrate is how to prevent an attack if someone comes at you from behind, it’s very simple but effective” He walked over to me and placed his hands around me tightly. “Imagine that I’m an attacker and I’ve just grabbed you, how do you get away?” His mouth was close to my ear as he spoke to the group.

“Bite you?” My eyes rolled and he gripped onto me tighter.

“Not quite” His voice was strained as he spoke.

“I don’t know then. Tell me,” I huffed into his arm, which was slowly making its way around my neck.

“Your elbow is one of the strongest parts of your body, alongside that is your knee. If someone came at you from behind your best bet is to use the power from your whole body and put it into an elbow jab. This should throw them back.” His hand patted my arm.

“I’m not elbow jabbing you” My head shook and I didn’t move. It would hurt him and I wasn’t adding man beater to my CV.

“And why is that?” Everyone watched us intently as we spoke.

“I wouldn’t want to hurt you, that’s all”

“You wouldn’t hurt me darling” He growled into my ear and shivers ran down my spine. “What if it were a life-or-death situation?”

“When would I ever come into a life or de—” I was stopped short by all the air being thrown out of my lungs as his arms tightened around me, constricting my breathing. My breaths were ragged and uneven as I kicked and flailed, rattling at his arms with my fists for him to get off of me. The girls surrounding us stood and laughed, my vision started to get blurry until I calmed myself and quickly remembered what we had just spoken about, and what he was trying to get me to do.

With as much force as I could, I powered my weight into my elbow and drove it into his chest. Once. He jerked back slightly but kept his iron grip. Twice. I heard him curse into my ear in pain but he didn’t move. And finally, a third time. His grip was let go and he stumbled back, letting me fall to the floor in a pile of gasping breaths.

Instead of someone running to my aid, the class started clapping at us and he walked back over, taking my hand and pulling me up. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I was out of breath as I took his hand and got pulled to my feet. “You’re an ass”

“You know you love it” He simply bowed to me and addressed the crowd. “Okay everyone, find a partner and practise what we’ve just learned, but no killing each other please?”

The girls giggled and partnered up together but my eyes were full of rage for the man who had literally just tried to kill me. Instead of walking away with everyone to the mats I stormed over and grabbed his arm, pulling him around to face me. “Really?!”

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” He cooed to me and leant down to my level.

“What’s wrong? What's wrong! You just tried to kill me in front of everyone, and you’re asking what’s wrong.” I was in my right mind to slap him in front of everyone.

“You sound quite stressed” He winked at me. “Do you need a stress reliever? Because I’m happy to go in that closet over there and chill you out” His hand pointed to the cupboard beside us and I swatted it away.

“No, I do not need a stress reliever. I need you to not choke me to death in front of everyone again”

“Princess, choking isn’t all about killing people, you know? There are so many ways it can be…” His mouth veered close to my ear and he whispered into my temple. “…Pleasurable.” He stood back up and cocked his head. “I can show you if you want.”

“You will do no such thing. We had a deal...and I’m more than happy to shout out about how I know you and how you came into my—” I was stopped by his hand clamping firmly over my face.

“Shut up before I make you.” He spoke through his teeth and I silenced myself immediately, wondering what the big deal was.

His hand peeled away from my mouth and I nodded. “Fine, but do anything like that again and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t”

A low growl ripped from his chest and his eyes narrowed. “You have no idea how badly I want to devour you Isabella”

Rolling my eyes, I went to walk away but turned my head back around to him and whispering under my breath. “What’s stopping you?”