~YULIA
The Training hall was big and on the walls hung different sizes of stick swords and kendo sticks.
The floors were padded with soft canvas and I could see faint blood stains. I heard gasps and soft exclamations from the girls in the class.
I understood why. Detective Jamal or Professor Khan as he was referred to was in a form fitting training gear that showed off his toned body. He was barefooted and had a stern look on his face.
“Welcome, please take off your shoes and jackets and put on the necessary protective gears,” He instructed and pointed to the wall where the gears were hung.
Jamal had glanced at me but averted his eyes quickly. It was almost unbelievable that he was at my place last night showing me photographs of a dead werewolf. I wondered if he still had answers for me.
I walked up to the wall and picked up boxing gloves with the fingers cut off. It was the type used in mixed martial arts sports. It was black in colour and had the school sigil printed on the back.
I wore the protective head gear and secured it firmly on my head before clipping it in place. There were protective shin guards too and I secured it firmly on my legs.
We all sat down in a large circle with Jamal in the middle on his feet.
“Today,” He began. “You will learn how to channel your wolf powers without transformation. You will learn how to tap into your wolf speed, strength and how to use them in combat while still maintaining your human form.”
An excited murmur arose as the students talked excitedly among themselves.
“But first you will be grouped together in two’s,” He continued. “Whoever you are grouped with is going to be your opponent for today’s training, and I will be the one choosing for you.”
I was nervous about who I was going to be training with. I did not want to think about it but I hoped Jamal would not pair me with Leia. Anyone but her. I silently prayed.
“Before we begin,” Jamal said. “There is something I want you all to know. It’s called the Wolf Core or Wolf Force. It’s where our powers are stored and I will show you how to tap into it without fully shifting.”
“Watch closely,” He said.
He closed his eyes and breathed in and out. When he opened his eyes, they had changed into a golden color. He crouched low and lunged very high into the air, till he almost touched the very ceiling of the training hall.
“Woah,” Some students whispered in awe.
The ceiling was pretty high. So it was an impressive feat. I was not so sure that I could perform that feat myself.
Jamal landed on his feet without a sound and with ease.
“That was possible because I used the core of my wolf and you can all do this too if you learn how to tap into it,” Jamal said as he looked at each of us.
“Now to group you,” He said and began to call names.
I kept my finger crossed and waited with hope. Then I heard my name and held my breath.
“Moonshadow, your partner is Craven,” He said and moved on to other students.
What! This was exactly what I did not want to happen. Was he reading my mind? Did he know that I did not want to have anything to do with Leia. I groaned out loud and looked over at Leia who gave me a mischievous smile.
When he was done pairing us, he gave us another piece of bad news.
“You will be partners for the whole semester,” Jamal said and I groaned out loud like someone punched me in the gut.
“Is there a problem, Ms. Moonshadow?” Jamal asked with a raised eyebrow.
“She is just excited to be my partner, Professor Khan,” Leia said, coming up to sit beside me.
I leaned away instinctively. Jamal looked skeptical but he nodded and turned away to address the other students.
“Let me guess, you can not wait to torment me?” I asked sarcastically.
“You know me so well,” Leia replied with a cold smile. “This is going to be fun.”
I rolled my eyes. First it was Pete who I had no idea how he was doing at the moment, now it was Leia, the third spoiled child of Deucalion.
“Now before we end this class, we are going to initiate a sparring exercise. So I need you all to stand up and face your respective partners,” Jamal said.
Did he say sparring?
I could see the evil grin played out gleefully on Leia’s face. Of course she would want to kick my ass. I knew that her and her sisters hated the fact that Issa paid more attention to me now that I was in the picture.
“Assume a boxing stance,” Jamal said and demonstrated how we should do it.
“Your left leg forward and put some force partly on your toes, while your right leg is backed, with your big toe aligning with your left heel,” He instructed as he took the pose.
“Now we crouch low resting on our thighs, while we bring up our arms with our hands balled up to shield our face. However do not let your hand completely block your eyes so you can see your sparring partner better.”
“Now before you begin, try to connect with your inner wolf to lend you its powers, try to gain power from your wolf core,” Jamal said.
I closed my eyes and breathed in and out before I felt Leia’s heel dig into my ribs, knocking the wind out of me. I crashed on my back and pain wracked through me. It was hard to breathe and my stomach ached badly.
I believed she broke a rib.
“Oops,” She said sadistically. “Never take your eyes off your opponent, how stupid can you be not to know that?”
I felt dizzy with pain and the whole class began to sneer and laugh. That was when I felt something move in me. it was a primal rage.
Then I smelled Iran as he connected with me through Yara.