The Wild Hunt (Downworlder Series, #1)

Chapter Twenty: Part Two: Fine Dining

"Alright Sutton, show me what you've got." Benjin stood with his legs slightly apart, arms hanging loosely at his sides. He was leaving himself completely open, but I wasn't stupid enough to believe that he would simply stand there and let me hit him. We had trained enough for me to know his tactics by now. Most of them usually left my muscles screaming in pain. I danced back and forth on the balls of my feet, glancing toward where Ajax stood next to Octavia and the twins. He gave me a toothy smile, his attempt at encouraging me. A sharp pain radiated through my thigh and I stumbled to the side with a small yelp, catching myself on my hands.

"Never take your eyes off the enemy. That's rule number one." Benjin snipped at me. I tilted my head up to see him standing over me with a goading look in his eyes, "I thought I had taught you better than that by now. Maybe I was wrong to waste my time training you, mongrel. Perhaps we should just hand you over to Revan and save ourselves all this trouble." I gritted my teeth as I pushed myself up off the ground, ignoring the pain in my leg. I could see through his game. He was trying to poke at my ego, to see if that would snap my beast out of her funk.

She only let out a huff at his comments, remaining quietly at the back of my mind. The only anger that existed in me was my own for having let myself get distracted, "That was just a lucky shot, old man." I remarked, flashing him a forced smile. I watched his brow lift, as his foot swept forward catching the heel of my bad leg. I sucked in a breath as my body lost balance and my butt hit the ground with a firm thud.

"That one had nothing to do with luck." His voice rumbled as the pain and humiliation reverberated through my being. I bit into the side of my cheek as I lifted my face, cheeks burning. His expression folded into it's usual scowl, "Are you going to sit there looking stupid all night?"

I heard Octavia let out a snicker, "I don't think she can help that Benjin. That's simply her face." She'd been a bit leisurely with her wine tonight and so her comments were flying freely. I gritted my teeth as I pushed up off the ground, resisting the urge to return Octavia's jab with one of my own. I couldn't afford or rather my body couldn't afford me getting distracted again.

"You better not get any blood on that dress. It's impossible to get out of that type of fabric." She called out to me, "On second thought, take it off."

I found myself turning toward her with a growl, "You can't be serious?" As the words left my mouth I felt the crushing weight of Benjin's heel to the back of my knee. My knees hit the ground with enough force to have me biting the tip of my tongue, the tang of my own blood filling my mouth. Octavia was staring me down with a lifted brow as if that had simply proven her point. She lifted her hand and held out, waiting for me to do as she commanded.

My cheeks blazed as I recollected that the only thing I had on underneath the dress was the green lingere that Ajax had been enamored with. My gaze strayed to the male in question, finding that he wasn't looking at me at all but glaring daggers in Benjin's direction. I closed my eyes and collected myself as I pushed myself up off the ground, again. I found the hem of the dress and lifted it up over my head. Secretly I hoped the damned thing fell on the ground and got dirty, and never got clean again.

I turned away from them as I tossed the stupid dress toward her outstretched hand, only to find myself on the receiving end of Benjin's fists. A hit to the face, followed by a jab to my ribs. I staggered back, coughing out the air he had knocked from lungs under his surprise attack.

"I told you, never take your eyes off of your enemy." He growled at me.

I met his hardened stare, the side of my face burning where he had hit me, "Cheap shots." I accused.

He snorted at my comment, "You think that your enemies will fight fair? This isn't a fun game between friends." He started to circle around the outside, eyes roaming over me, searching for my weak spots, "This is the wild, it's eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed."