Chapter Nine
GRACE
That Monday, Noah had decided to disregard the lesson plan and go back to the basics of self-defense. Not only that, he chose the football field to supervise the exercises instead of the gym.
After fifteen minutes of running and side-to-side hops, Noah made the students do one hundred push-ups.
“Vampires are fast, faster than werewolves and a lot faster than wizards and humans. You need to be prepared for everything, and you need to practice your speed and reaction time.” Noah paused and turned around to pace back to the end of the line, where the students kept raising and lowering their bodies using their arms. “What I saw today was a bunch of lazy students who could barely run for fifteen minutes at full speed.”
Silence. No one dared to say anything as they did one hundred push-ups before swapping with their partner.
“You were attacked last week. It seems you were lucky to escape with your lives,” Noah continued to lecture.
Grace ignored Noah’s voice as she watched her friends count. As always, Michael was the first to finish in record time.
Getting up, Michael smirked and winked at her. Grace kept her face straight and wrote his name on the sheet. Rising her eyes, she noticed that Noah had stopped walking and was squinting at Michael with a puzzled expression.
One by one, the werewolves finished first, followed by the wizards and the only two humans in the class.
“Five more minutes of running,” Noah shouted when everybody was done.
They ran around the football field, a few muttering their discontent with the class.
“Miss Delacroix,” Noah called.
Grace frowned at him as if he had lost his mind. He had never called her by her family’s name. Nevertheless, she rushed to his side, hugging the notebook, when she stopped in front of him.
“Yes, Mr. Keith.”
Placing his hands behind his back, Noah’s lips became a straight line. “I’m not sure what to do with you. You attend a few of the classes, but you don’t need to do the same exercises as your classmates. Are you sure I don’t need to teach you anything?”
“I’ll try not to feel offended by your question. To answer you, I’m normally my grandfather’s substitute teacher. I grew up in the academy, and I’ve been training since a young age. I’ll be taking the elite hunter exam next summer, and that’s the only reason I attend the Advanced Weapons Training. Two people are often better at supervising the fighting routines and making sure they learn the correct movements. I’m here to assist you, not to be bossed around by you.” Grace pulled her lips up into a sarcastic smile and decided to turn her back on him while finishing her notes.
Noah’s voice felt closer to her neck as he leaned down and spoke lower. “I’m also here to protect you. I would feel a lot better if I had confidence in your fighting abilities.”
Grace’s heart pounded as a shiver ran up her spine and down her arms. Then, her brain registered his words. Spinning around, she asked, “What do you mean with being here to protect me?”
“Your grandfather is concerned about the attack on the academy. You should be, too.”
“This isn’t the first time that someone from the Dark Conclave has tried to attack us.”
“I would feel better if you took a few hours of your day and allowed me to test your abilities.”
Grace’s eyebrows knitted together. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good.” He gave her a stern nod. “Now, I’ll need your help, so put down your notebook. They’ll have to do pair work, and they’re short on one person.”
“Okay, no problem. I normally team up with Andrea when there’s pair work.”
Forty minutes later, the class was over, and everybody dragged their feet to the locker rooms.
That night, at the academy canteen, Grace found out that Noah wasn’t among the favorite teachers.
“I mean, he’s hot. Crazy hot,” Lori said as she played with her food. “He’s the hottest teacher in here, but he’s too strict. We barely made it out alive to the next class.”
Grace smirked.
Andrea lowered her voice as she spoke to the other students at the table. “Even Michael complained about the class, and he likes to show off how fast and what a great fighter he is.”