The Beta's Broken Mate

Chapter 24 - Blaire

I knock on the gym door. Ben is standing with his back towards me looking down at something in his hand. He turns around and looks at me.

"Alright, ready to begin." He asks. I nod enthusiastically, hoping he doesn't change his mind. He must think this is a bit of a waste of time. I mean honestly, just by looking at me there isn't much hope that I could win a fight against anyone let alone a wolf.

"Cool so...." Ben looks down at his hands and holds the knife out towards me. "I got you this, it is called a butterfly knife, I was thinking that it is a good weapon to start with."

I reach out and take it from him. Looking down at the 'knife' I don't see a blade. He notices my confusion. "You have to swing it open, see like this." He puts his hand over mine and opens it slightly letting me swing the handle around and allowing it to click back into place. I am now holding onto a handle with a sharp blade protruding out of the end.

"And then to shut it just swing it back, but be careful of the blade." I nod and does as he says. The blade gets swept back into the handle. I try again and again until I can open and the close the blade in one swift movement.

"Good job" Ben says with a big smile on his face. My heart leaps, that smile.

"Alright, so" Ben pauses and takes a step back, looking around. "So, I was thinking that I could start with the basics, is that alright"

I smile, "yes" My smile falters. "Basics of what"

"Fighting" He says quickly looking up at me, "Sorry I meant basics of fighting, I, yea okay so do you want to start now or..."

I nod and follow him onto the mat. He looks at me in thought. I look back still holding the knife in my hand.

"So, I was thinking that because of your.... Size that we should focus on being as quick and accurate as possible. Now most wolves will come at you with force and if you try the same tatic you will lose, but you can out manoeuvre them. Most fighters start with the face, if they can get a good punch to the face than you quickly become disoriented, the next punch will mostly likely go to the gut, that way you are winded and will buckle over. Once on the ground you have basically lost. So, what you need to remember is to stay off the ground at all costs. Running away is faster than crawling away."

I listen intently to him, watching his hands as he demonstrates.

"reading people is a useful tool to have, that way you can predict what they will do and act accordingly, for example..."

Ben puts his fists up over his face, "watch my eyes, and try to determine quickly which side is their dominant side, that is where the punches will be coming from." He looks at me and then drops his fists. I look down and realise I am just standing there. "I guess we should probably work on your stance first, here" He reaches out and grabs my hand with the knife ad repositions it so the knife is facing down, he than puts both of my hands up to cover my face.

"Protect your face" he says and backs up a step and re puts his hands up. "I would wait until he makes a move on you, that way he is more focused on punching you than defending himself which will give you a window. So, let's say, now I will go slow, he tries to punch your face, what will you do?"

Ben slowly moves his fist towards my face, I move my head to the side, keeping my fists up. "Good" he says smiling, "except I would move to the other side, that way you have a better angle to strike me." I nod, we try it again this way moving out of the way to the other side.

"Alright so now from here you can take your hand" while explain he guides my hand holding the knife up and to his neck showing me where to jab.

This goes on for a while. Ben 'attacking' me from different angles and me countering them. I get this rush whenever I successfully block or counter an attack, I finally for the first time don't feel defenceless, holding that knife in my hand and knowing how to use it makes me focused and calm. Ben taught me how to switch from different ways of holding my knife, this way I have the option to strike down or jab. I am a little bit slow but with a bit of practise I am sure I can get faster.

Ben showed me a spot behind the knee that would be a good place to cut because that would easily drop them to the ground. He lunged at me and I pretended to swipe him where he told me too, he dropped to his knees and I pushed him back and fell. I scrambled on top of him quickly and brought my knife up to his neck and pause.

My ponytail falls to one side of my face and tickles the side of his. His hands were holding my things which were wrapped around his waist. One hand of mine was planted next to his head supporting myself up and the other held the knife. We were both breathing hard, our breaths swirling in with one another. I saw his eyes look down at my lips and then down further to our touching bodies.

"umm" His voice cracked, "okay good, I think you have the hang of that" he says quickly sliding out from underneath me, I move off him and lean back on my hands on the floor. Ben gets up and quickly walks over to his water bottle thankfully. He has his backed turned towards me as he takes a couple sips, I lay my knife down and run my hands over my face feeling my cheeks radiant a lot of heat.

"Crap" I think.

***

The next couple of weeks I began to intensify my work out and training routine. That includes running with Ben in the morning. I also practise every day with my knife. Teaching myself how to get faster at everything. I must say I am getting quite good.   I keep that knife on me at all times, mostly tucked into my pants, sitting on my hip.

I sleep better with it except some days are worse than others. On those days, I make the journey to Bens room and sleep with him. Some morning I wake up before him and get to stay wrapped in his arms for a couple more minutes before he slips himself out of my grip and off to have a shower.

So that's how I spend most days, in the gym, with Ben, which I don't hate. Gives me something to do and I really enjoy it. I see the progress in my muscles. The once soft tissue is now hardening up. Penny went to the store and got me some workout clothes which I basically live in now. I am either eating, sleeping or training.

Ben has talked to me about using other weapons, which I am pretty excited about. He wants to start getting me used to more heavy-duty weapons such as an axe. Since I possibly might be fighting a wolf, and they are much different to fighting a human. Their skin is tougher and they are much bigger, but if I can get strong enough to pick up and axe than that would be a fairer fight.

Ben is being so helpful. I can't help but smile at all the times we have found ourselves in compromising situations. I would never tell him this but my favourite part of training with him is having him so close to me. His laugh, his smell, his eyes. His arms often wrap themselves around me as he guides me, and I know I shouldn't be thinking this but I am really starting to fall for him. While we are training I can forget that one day he will be like Chase and find his Penny and there is nothing I can do to stop it. So, for now, I guess I am just going to fall, knowing full well I am going to break all over again when I hit the ground.

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Another chapter done and done. I really like this chapter. Poor Blaire, don't worry I have big plans for you and Ben. It's all about timing.

How do you like where this is going? Blaire is turning into a little bad ass.

Until next time.