The School of Wolves

Ch.29 I Don't Want to Hurt You

"What!? I don't want to hurt you," I immediately said, worried. He hasn't exactly asked me to straight up start with punching him in our training lessons.

A soft chuckle left his lips before saying confidently, "Don't worry. You won't hurt me."

"Pshft, okay I won't go easy on you then!" I confidently replied. Although I don't believe my words one bit.

Clearing my mind, I took a deep breath before charging at Garrett trying to get a punch at his Adam's apple. One of the most fragile spots or should I say weaknesses of a man's biological make up when hit.

Even though I know that is considered a low blow, it's the best option for me since the rest of Garrett's body is pure muscle. A punch given to his chest or stomachs wouldn't faze him but give him access to getting a hit at me in return.

Right before my right fist connected with his throat, Garrett took a calculated step back and grabbed ahold of my folded hand moving it in a circle motion down and bringing my arm to be positioned across my back in a lock.

I kicked out my right leg at the back of his knee trying to get him to lose his balance. It doesn't have to be for long just for a few seconds so that I can get away.

Noticing my intentions, he swiftly swerved his body to be standing behind me instead. This gave him the perfect opportunity to secure his hold on me.

I growled at him in frustration and tried to move out of his grip hoping he would let go but my movements instead gave him a better hold on me. He quickly brought his left arm up and put me in a chokehold while still holding my right arm behind my back.

He tightened his arm and after helplessly trying to kick at his legs and head butting him, I loosened up my body in defeat. Feeling the slackness in my body he let go of my arm.

I tapped my free hand on his hand around my neck and he eventually loosened his other arm from around my neck but still kept his arm loosely around my neck.

Finally, he allowed me to breathe properly. I leaned my body against his and took this moment to take in deep breaths of oxygen. I stood there for a couple of seconds before coming up with a tricky move to get back at Garrett.

Carrying my plan into motion I exclaimed with fake panic, "I can't breathe Garrett!"

He quickly let go of me and gently turned me around. His features showing only concern and alarm for my safety as he searched for the problem.

Cupping my face, he looked at me asking "Are you okay? I was sure I held back my strength so as not to block your air flow."

Feeling slightly bad but not enough, I briefly looked into his eyes before catching him off guard and grabbed his right hand. I swung it behind his back using as much force as possible and held it there as I kicked the back of his knees to bring him to the floor.

Right as the feeling of victory overcame my senses, in the next moment arms grabbed me and flung my body over Garret's shoulder. I landed with a thud as I laid there on the sandy floor.

Looking up, I saw a smirking but irritated Garrett standing above me as I unconsciously started to shrink back into the sand under me. As I laid there, the adrenaline rush started to fade and all I felt is my sore muscles.

I can't believe I fell down so easily without even seeing his intentions to throwing my off his shoulder once I got him on the ground. With a huff, I stood up whipping the dirt off me. He didn't have to be so smug about it.

I tentatively glanced at Garret to see how serious he is now. I probably shouldn't have tricked him with my safety.

"Cress, I have never seen anyone use such petty tricks to try and win a fight and end up failing in the process." His voice boomed around the forest startling the birds out of the trees.

I flinched at looked down at the ground. In just one sentence he instigated not only that I am a poor fighter, but that I couldn't win after using such a trick.

"Sorry, I won't do it again," I softly said not wanting him to be mad anymore. I didn't need him to be in a mad mood when he was the one taking the time out of his day to help me.

"I sure hope you don't. Next time you will win," he said in a matter-of-fact way.

"What?!" My eyes got big as his statement surprised me. Does Garrett really not care if I use such ways to win during the fight? Isn't that a bad thing to do?

Coming closer to me, he handed me my water bottle. Taking a grateful drink, I waited intrigued as to what he meant.

"When you are fighting hand-to-hand combat you will be fine as long as you use your speed and agility to your advantage. You're short but can move quickly and duck from ongoing hits more effectively. You just have to focus on your opponent's movements. We will practice on using your physique to your advantage. Starting tomorrow Cress, I will teach you small tricks when fighting so that it will be hard for your opponent to predict your next move and vice versa," he said as he stared into my eyes waiting for a confirmation.

Nodding my head, I said, "I get it! You want me to use my short stature and quick reflexes to dodge and tire out my opponent so that I can get a good kick in."

"Bingo!" He reached his hand out and gestured for me to hand him my water bottle.

"Oh here," I said taking a moment to figure out why he wants my water bottle. It's not like he'll drink from it.

Before I could figure out his intentions, he quickly unscrewed the top of my bottle so that he wasn't drinking from the straw and took a swig from the bottle. I stared at Garrett trying to comprehend that he just drank from my water bottle. I think I have heard humans call that as an indirect kiss.