CHAPTER
FORTY TWO
CAROLINE
Ow.
Fighting a supernatural being was a lot more painful that I had previously anticipated. Even with the adrenaline, each blow to my body had me wanting to cry out. But I refused to show any signs of possible, looming defeat.
Jeff wasn't very fast, I had learned while we trained, which gave me somewhat of an upperhand. I had become much more agile and fluid in my movements, so I was able to evade a lot of his attacks. So even though he was expending a lot of energy, I was too.
It wasn't like I hadn't landed any punches either. Jeff's nose was permanently dripping blood now and I had split one of his eyebrows and his upper lip. It was satisfying to look at, especially considering that he hadn't gotten my face once.
"Knock it off," he snarled at me when I rolled away from an uppercut. "Stop running and fight, brat."
I hopped up to my feet in time to land a solid hit in his left ribcage. Jeff only had one weakness. A weakness that took me until our last day of training to discover. He had a rib that was out of place from when it was previously broken and healed incorrectly. While I wasn't sure which rib it was, I knew that a powerful enough hit or kick would cause it to jab painfully into his insides. Jeff was very protective of this spot, since a hit would definitely make him incapacitated for several seconds, so he kept it covered at almost every moment and let the rest of his body be battered.
The trick was to find a move that left that spot defenseless. And I quickly found that trick when he launched himself at me, hands outstretched to grab me. I fell to the ground and allowed him to curl his dirty fingers around my arm, while my right leg used the momentum of my fall to swing up and directly into his side, where I had punched him only moments earlier.
The Beta let out a wolf-like yelp and released my arm, which he had started to twist painfully behind my back.
I had to grit my teeth to keep myself from crying out in pain as I shook out my arm. If he had gone any further, something would have either broken or torn. And then I'd be screwed for sure.
"Bitch," he hissed when he began to pick himself up from the ground.
I just laughed. "That's the best you could come up with?" I was surprised by how normal my voice sounded, considering just how winded I felt. Plus the throbbing pain in my arm. By the look on Jeff's face, he was surprised too. Which was just fine by me.
Jeff must have realized that he wasn't going to win this if he was in his human form. Without getting up, the man's body trembled and started to take shape. Which gave me another several seconds to attack.
Bringing my hands together, I brought them down on his injured ribs with all of my might, allowing my body to fall on top of his in the process. The wolf growled deeply and snapped at my hands when they raised to hit a second time, and I let him. This was all about getting Jeff to weaken and leave his weak spots open.
A gasp ran through the crowd when I didn't make a noise when my skin was shredded by the predator's razor-like teeth. Meanwhile, I dug my knee into his side, resting all of my weight on it.
Suddenly, I was soaring through the air. Jeff had used his legs to throw me off of him and did so with such power that I travelled several yards before landing on my back. My head injury yesterday came back to life, a thick dizziness settling over my whole body.
