Free The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) by Blaire Hammond

reach Caspian and my level
– which I doubt will be any time soon – you will be learning the basics.’
  ‘Don’t hold back on me…’
  ‘Okay we will be starting on the floor.’ He said, his deep green eyes
watching her.
  ‘On the floor?’ Laura questioned, confused, as she edged towards him.
  ‘Yes, on the floor.’ He moved towards the middle of the room, ‘I thought it
would be best if I teach you defence first. Calming yourself enough to think
clearly during an attack is very important.’
  She gave a nod of understanding.
  ‘All right, first thing you need to know about defence is that the attacker
will want to get the upper hand. Usually, this will be through overpowering
you, by shoving you onto the ground, hindering the use of your arms and legs,
or disarming you. You have to do everything you can to stay on your feet.
Considering your lack of muscle-‘
  She scoffed, ‘harsh,’
  ‘-once you are on the ground, there will be no getting back up, so your best
chance is to…basically not be tackled. Now I am going to throw a punch at you.
Don’t worry it won’t be a hard one, but I want you to block it.’
  Laura nodded, raising her clenched fists up in front of her chest, ‘I’m
ready.’
  Drew threw the punch and Laura reached out, grabbing his hand to stop it.
With Drew’s other hand, he grabbed a hold of her arm, twisted it behind her
back, forced her into a head lock and pulled her down, straight to the cold
hard floor, pinning her there as he did only five days ago.
  ‘Hey! What the hell! I thought you were going to punch me!’ Laura yelled,
struggling against his grip and wincing slightly as the strain on her arm
became more apparent. It was only a dull ache, but it was enough to annoy her.
  ‘Too easy. You left yourself wide open and your movements are sloppy and
slow. You have to be fierce and quick. Too quick for me to grab your arm. See,
I’m using your strength against you to force you to the ground. You have to be
too fast for me to do that. And you’re making a fist wrong. You’ll break a
thumb if you keep clenching them like that.’
  Drew sprung to his feet and held out a hand to Laura. She slapped it away and
pushed herself up from the ground, flexing then clenching her fists in front of
her face, ‘go.’
  She barely could barely comprehend what had happened, but she knew she was on
the ground again.
  ‘Too slow, keep your forearm firm, use it to block my blow and then aim to
disarm me.’
  Frustration bubbled in Laura’s veins.
  ‘Get up, come on. We go again.’
  She got into position.
  He threw another punch toward her. Like a flash she blocked his blow and reached
out, gripping his wrist. With one quick jerk, spun him around, pushing his arm
firmly behind his back.
  ‘That good enough?’ She whispered into his ear, and she could smell his cologne,
a sweet metallic scent.
  He cleared his throat, ‘yes that was better.’ 
  Laura let go and stepped back, pleased. Drew spun around, dived for her and
again tackled her to the ground, pinning her down.
  Laura groaned. She felt small flashes of pain shooting up her arm again from
underneath the bandage, worse than before, but she once again pushed it from
her mind. No way was she going to lose focus.
  ‘You let your guard down. Never let your guard down.’
  The hours ticked by and the rest of the training lesson went much like that,
Laura being nearly punched, Laura trying to block the punch, Laura slightly succeeding,
Laura being dragged to the ground. By 12 o’clock she had become quite
acquainted with the floor, but she had to admit, she felt better in herself
knowing she had acquired at least some basic defence strategies.
  As she was walking away, though, she wondered why she was learning defence
strategies. The minute the idea was suggested she had agreed instantly, reasoning
with herself that it was all for her mother’s sake, that she would have to put
up a