Becoming My Ex’s Mother in Law by Aurora Starling
Chapter 67

Chapter 67

That night, I was watching videos on my phone when Andrew called me. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I was torn.

On the one hand, I was always excited to talk to Andrew. On the other hand, I did not know if Jeffrey had kept his word and not told Andrew about my most recent encounter with Bob. I didn’t know Jeffrey all that well, and I couldn’t blame him if his loyalty to Andrew had won.

By the third ring, I had gathered enough courage to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Crystal,” Andrew replied. “I was worried you weren’t going to answer for a moment there.”

“Sorry. I was in the middle of watching videos, and it took me a moment to realize who was calling.”

“That’s okay. It’s nice to hear that you’re relaxing, for once.”

I smiled slightly.

“Is that why you called me? To make sure I was relaxing enough?”

Andrew chuckled.

“No. I wanted to talk to you about something that Jeffrey called me about earlier.”

I closed my eyes and mentally groaned. Of course, loyalty won out.

“What’s that?” I asked cautiously.

“He thinks that you should have some practice outside of the self–defense class. He says that you could encounter danger at any moment, without notice, even while you’re at work, and so it’s important that you get all the practice that agree.”

you can. I

I quietly let some breath escape my lungs. If those had been his exact words, Jeffrey hadn’t been too subtle in trying to alert Andrew that something had happened at work. Still, I was thankful to him for not fully telling Andrew what went down, as far as I could tell.

“I agree, too,” I said. “I just need someone to practice with, someone who doesn’t mind letting me beat on them a little.”

Chapter 67

3 Jan D

I told you before that I would be willing to do it, and I still am. We just need to arrange a time and place.”

“Okay. How about in two days, after work?”

“Sounds perfect. Would the mansion work for you?”

My b*dy tensed. After the confrontation with Bob, the mansion was probably the last place that I wanted to be. Still, so long as Andrew and Jeffrey were around to protect me, I supposed that everything would be fine.

Bob might also back off more if he saw me practicing self–defense tactics with someone as formidable as Andrew..

“Yeah, that should work.”

When I arrived at the mansion a couple days later, Andrew was at the front door waiting for me. He led me to a part of the mansion where I had never been before. There stood an enormous home gym, complete with a mat spread out for wrestling, kickboxing, and, in our case, self–defense practice.

Andrew immediately dragged me to the mat as Jeffrey stood in one of the far corners, observing quietly, as always.

“So, I want us to just jump right in with the tactics that you were taught in your first class,” he said as he positioned me at one end of the mat. He then took up his. position at the other end.

“Aren’t you going to put on any protective gear?” I asked, noting that he seemed to be wearing only his normal collared undershirt and pants. His shoes, like mine, had been discarded before we got onto the mat.

Andrew shrugged and gestured to his groin.

“I’m wearing a cup.”

I almost laughed but stopped myself.

“What about your eyes? Your gut? Your head?”

Andrew shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be needing any of that. Unlike with your self–defense teachers, I’m not going to make this easy for you.”

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32-26 Wed, 3 Jan D

Chapter 7

I tilted my head, my eyes narrowed.

“And why is that?”

“Because your real–life opponents won’t. Now, enough talk. Try to keep me from grabbing you.”

Andrew charged at me. Even knowing that he would never hurt me, my heart pounded at someone of his size coming at me so quickly. I forced myself to focus. and remember what we had been taught in class.

I formed the fingers of one hand into a point, much like a bird’s beak, and prepared to strike at Andrew’s eye. Before I could, Andrew grabbed my wrist, twisted it around my back, and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. Despite the discomfort in my arm, my breathing grew rapid at the close proximity to Andrew’s b*dy.

“See, this might work for the average opponent, but your opponents will not be average,” Andrew whispered to me, his breath tickling my ear. “You need something more advanced, something that incorporates your werewolf abilities.”

“We’re going to learn how to tap into our werewolf abilities while under duress in future sessions.”

“That’s very important, and I’m sure that the teachers of your self–defense class will do very well with that, but I’m talking about self–defense tactics that incorporate your werewolf abilities once you can tap into them under duress.”

“Like what?”

“How would you get out of the position that you’re currently in?”

I thought about it for a moment, but I couldn’t think of any solutions.

“I don’t know.”

“Think. What part of being a werewolf could get you out of this?”

It was hard to think, being so close to his heat, to his smell, but I tried. Then I remembered that werewolves, when their wolves take over, have more malleable bones and joints to make their transformation easier, as though they were double- jointed to an extreme. It still hurt, but it made us much more flexible.

If I could direct Susan’s energy to the arm that Andrew was holding..

Andrew and I both yelped in pain as I twisted our arms in unnatural ways until

Andrew was forced to release his hold on mine. He tried to keep his other arm around my waist, but I dug the elongated claws of my now–free arm into it and ripped it off of me. I twirled out of his hold, spinning back around to examine the damage I had left behind.

Andrew seemed to be maintaining his composure, even though he held the arm I had clawed his other hand to stem the bleeding. To my surprise, he smiled at me and nodded his approval.

“Very good,” he said.

“Do you need to tend to that?” I asked, pointing to his bleeding arm.

He shook his head. I cringed as he tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound.

“Don’t worry. I have a million of them.” he said, gesturing to the shirt. All I could see were the abs now peeking out at me. “Do you think you can go again?”

He motioned to my arm. It throbbed a bit, but otherwise, it was in surprisingly decent condition.

“I’m fine.”

“Good. We still need to go over what to do if someone gets you from the front.”

Without warning, Andrew grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close, pinning my arms between our chests. I yelped from shock, and he chuckled.

“Now, what are you going to do to escape?” he asked, almost teasingly.

My mouth twisted into a mischievous grin.

“Well, this one is easy,” I said as I pulled my leg back. “All I have to do is shove my knee into the right spot.

I launched my knee forward, stopping just short of Andrew’s private member. I was close enough, however, to feel that his private member was sticking out a little farther than I had expected it to. My brow arched at Andrew, my mischievous grin growing.

“Although I doubt that most of my opponents will give me such a big target to aim form,” I said in a low voice.

“Perhaps not-” Andrew grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eye “but a beautiful woman like you will certainly make their target zone bigger than

normal.

He lowered his face to mine. Our l*ps were centimeters apart. After a moment’s hesitation, I reached up to close the short distance between us.

Our l*ps brushed once, twice, thrice, and then, Andrew stopped and pulled away.

“We best get in a couple more moves before it gets too late,” he whispered.

I nodded, suddenly very aware of Jeffrey’s eyes on us.

“Yes, let’s get to work.”