~YULIA.
I was not expecting to be helped but then again, I was not expecting to be humiliated. My face felt hot as I struggled to breathe.
“Face your opponents and focus,” Jamal’s voice roughly rang out and the sparring session continued.
“That’s it?” Leia asked mockingly.
I got up to my feet and I felt so much pain on my left rib. My breathing was getting easier but the rage that was boiling up in me was another issue. Yara was growling in agitation as I resumed my stance.
“Atta, girl,” Leia said with a cruel smile. “Try to last longer this time,” She added arrogantly.
Jamal passed us as he spoke. “You are not only connecting with your wolf, you must also trust your instinct, you must become one with the core of your wolf, that is the only way to secure victory over your opponent.”
I was not going to make that mistake of taking my eyes off her again.
I called to Yara to give me strength. Although I still felt the warm embrace of rage throbbing all over me. My nose was filled with the smell of wet earth, rain and a deep forest. Iran was lurking at the back of my mind, I did not even understand how it was possible but I could feel his rage-filled gaze on me- I could feel his wrath in my core.
I took my fighting stance and waited for Leia to attack.
She sensed my change in demeanor and hesitated a bit as she watched me. Her short hesitation helped me focus more on my wolf core. She scoffed and lunged with a powerful right hook.
Damn! I had quickly forgotten how fast she was but I leaned back in time to see her fist wheeze past my face, missing me by mere inches. She was relentless in her attack.
She spun round and her leg shot out in a back kick, aiming for my head.
I panicked and ducked as I raised my arm to block. Her kick painfully jolted me sideways as it landed on my arm knocking me on one knee. I realized that Leia was a natural at this. She did a backflip and aimed her leg on my head as she turned gracefully in the air.
Still on one knee, I rolled quickly on my side as her feet landed with an ugly loud thud on where I had been formerly kneeling.
I was wrong, she was not a natural, she was a trained natural. I hastily scrambled to my feet but I was not fast enough. She jumped and shot her right foot forward in a karate kick. I did not have enough time to raise my arm before she got me square in my stomach again. I was thrown a few feet backwards before I landed painfully on my back. My head bounced on the canvas and I almost lost consciousness.
“Ugh, Professor Khan, I don’t think she is cut out for this, she is too weak, maybe you could pair me with someone who knows what she is actually doing,” Leia complained loud enough for the whole class to hear.
I knew that it was her own way of mocking me. She was showing the class that I was easy to beat, she was humiliating me.
And it was at that moment that something strange happened as I heard her words.
‘Take my strength!’ Iran suddenly growled in my ears as I struggled up to my feet. ‘Add it to your wolf’s!’
I should have protested, but I let the anger that lurked within me take hold of me.
And the new power flowed through my veins, filling me up and making me whole again. I felt supercharged! I was seeing things in a different way, smelling everything in ways that words could not describe! Was this how Issa saw the world? In slow motion?
“I am still standing,” I said to Leia. Even my voice was different. “You are getting predictable,” I added with a smirk that was cold.
“Says the girl barely standing up,” Leia said.
“Are you worried about me?” I asked with heavy sarcasm. “Your hits are getting weaker by the moment, just so you know.”
What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I goading her? It seemed so much like… Iran.
“I am going to hand you your ass!” Leia snapped and jumped at me with a fist raised high in a superman punch.
I saw it all in slow motion. I stepped sideways and watched in awe as her fist flew past me. I grabbed it with both of my hands and flipped her before her feet could touch the ground, throwing her on her back in a judo flip. Leia landed on her back with a surprised and shocked look on her face.
I moved back and resumed my stance. My hands were beginning to warm up, like someone lit fire on them.
“That was a lucky move!” she yelled.
And jumped to her feet, throwing punches after punches at me, coupled with a few dangerously close kicks to my head and stomach but I saw them coming as I bobbed and weaved harmlessly out of the way of her barrages of attack.
“Stand still you bitch,” She grunted as she threw a left hook.
I dropped low and her fist passed over my head, in slow motion and that was when I saw an opening.
She had left her jaw unprotected.
I threw my closed fist high in an uppercut and it collided with her jaw so hard that her head flew back and she stumbled away unsteadily. I closed in and elicited a savage grunt as I threw several punches on her ribs. She was too disoriented to block any of them.
I heard her grunt in pain as she finally brought her hands down to protect her side leaving her head open.
I let out a savage snarl and that was when a strange blinding light suddenly came into existence and covered my gloved hand as it connected with her head. Leia was thrown several feet in the air and when she finally crashed, her body skidded across the canvas.
And the entire class went silent with shock.
I looked down to see that my right hand was still glowing warmly with light and I saw that the glove had burned and was still smoking.
Leia’s headgear was also partially burned off her head. I knew this because I saw her head as her two blonde friends were helping her up. I think I burnt parts of her hair too.
It made me feel sick and I figured at that point that I could no longer bear the look on the faces of the students in the class. Jamal was the only one that was gazing calmly at me.
So I pulled off my headgear, gloves and shin pad before I grabbed my jacket and shoes and I made a run for it.
What in the hell just happened to me?