Under A Latent Moon (A Werewolf Tale)

Chapter 14

Harley and Will spent the next couple of training sessions in the workout room instead of the clearing. Half of her was relieved Will wouldn't make her face the clearing for a bit. The other half was angry at herself for not facing the fear. The longer she waited to "get back on the horse" the worse it would be.

Will had moved her from regular exercises into actual self defense. She liked it. It gave her more of a sense of progress than running circles. He'd cleared off some space in the workout room and now stood in the middle with her, his hand on her wrist. "Okay, I've come at you from the front."

"I can see that."

He stared at her blankly.

"Sorry. Continue."

"If someone ever grabs your wrist like this, you rotate your wrist," He waited until she'd done it before continuing. "Good, now bend your elbow and pull."

She bent her elbow like he'd told her and pulled, but Will held on. "Do you really think your opponent will let go if you barely use any strength." Frustrated, she yanked, throwing her body into it. Her hand came free, nearly sending her backward.

"If that doesn't work," Will said, flattening his hand and lightly placing the side below her ear, like a karate chop, "try to land a blow to their vagus nerve. It will incapacitate them."

He showed her a few moves in case she was ever approached from behind and had her go through all of the moves over and over and over until she could do them in her sleep. By the time training finished up, her muscles ached. She'd done a lot of conditioning in the last week or so, however these moves used muscles she didn't even know she had.

"Harley, though I've taught you this, you need to remember that the best option in any situation is to run if you can." Will said, "You cause a distraction and then run."

"Then why spend time on this?"

His focus on her was steely. Intense. "For those times when running might not be an option. But whenever it is, you run. Got it?"

In other words, he'd gotten more details about the rogue from the other day and decided to remind her of the best option. Cam probably ratted her out. She let it flow right past her--Cam had told her to run. He'd tried to make the best of the situation. It wasn't his fault she'd decided to be a stubborn fool.

"Stretches." Will reminded her and sat on the ground with her as she put her heels together and pulled her ankles forward into a butterfly stretch.

After a pause, Will cleared his throat. "How has work been?"

She smiled. The man at least got points for trying to small talk. "Good. It's been an easy routine to settle--"

"Will." Jamie appeared in the doorway, "Dad needs to see you. Immediately."

Harley didn't like the sound of that. Was there another trip in Will's future? He stood and was halfway to the door before he stopped and looked at her.

"Go ahead." She tried to give him her best encouraging expression, though it felt awkward and heavy on her face. "I'll finish up here."

Finding that answer good enough, he left, but not before warning her, "make sure you do all of them."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Of course, general, sir."

Jamie still stood in the doorway, arms crossed, expression pinched. She glanced behind her once and stepped further into the room. "Look, Haley--"

"Harley."

Her eyes narrowed. "Whatever. Harley. I know you think Will is amazing and everything but don't get so cozy."