Chapter 10
Rowen
I’d been here four days, and I was fed up with hiding out in Wolfe’s house.
After my initial disaster with The Grumps, and Killian and Cody both looking at me as if I was the reason we were all miserable, I’d decided to stick to the shelter. The only thing was, I was really very bad at being idle.
So on the morning of the fourth day, I’d slipped out of the house, shifted and run across the Stonefang territory. I knew where the boundaries were because I could run no further. It was an invisible wall between me and the forest, hills, or mountain that lay between us.
I’d never seen anything like it. I hadn’t tried to throw myself through it, or anything as tediously rebellious as that, but I had poked the barrier with my snout and felt the gentle push back. It was fascinating, and I had so many questions, but I didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask anyone.
I’d spent the entire day away from the pack, and I found two other areas where shelters stood; none were occupied, and I poked my head in a few of them to see if there was any difference. There wasn’t.
The empty shelters gave me the confidence to explore them further, and eventually, I found what I assumed would be the pack hall.
So much of their layout of the shelters lent to the living or sleeping outside.
Did Stonefang follow the nomadic lifestyle so much?
It had me curious and only added to my list of questions.
I wondered how Wolfe had slept so easily beside me while at the house; had his wolf been itching to sleep outside in his wolf form?
Did that explain the sense of wildness I got from all of them?
So many questions…I wondered if they would ever tell me the answers.
I spent the next few days learning the territory boundary. I ran free over the territory, and I hated to admit it was nice.
I’d discovered something else new while I had been here and, ultimately, alone.
I missed my mate.
I would never have expected it, but I did. I found myself looking for him, testing the bond, and feeling the gentle, faint tug in return. Did he miss me? What was he doing? Was my pack okay?
It still hurt that he thought I was the one to betray him. But these days alone, with only my thoughts for company, had been enough to give clarity on why he thought that. I’d given him more reason to suspect me than to trust me.
I’d also had time to consider Killian’s contempt for me. I kept going over his words in my head, and Cody’s warning to let it go. What did they know that I didn’t? What did they think I’d done to deserve such contempt?
Almost a week alone was enough of playing by the rules and staying out of the way to avoid conflict.
I left Wolfe’s home and made my way down the hill. They were training again. The pack stood in rows of straight regimented lines, going through basic moves, all eyes forward, with only Cody glancing at me as Killian instructed the pack.
Cody approached me, and I remembered that I had thought I couldn’t tell him or Axel apart. It’s funny now, they were so incredibly different, yet they held themselves the same way. Cody was more sun-kissed, and I saw as he walked toward me that his wife glanced at both of us.
“Finally came out?” he asked with a knowing look.
“I was out yesterday,” I said quietly, wincing internally at how defensive I sounded. “And the day before.”
“I know,” he said, standing beside me and watching the pack train. “It was a nice day for a long run. Especially on the ridge.”
I thought he was making a general point and then realized he’d been with me. “You followed me?”
Cody didn’t look away from the pack. “You’re the alpha’s mate. He sent you here to be safe, not slide off the mountain.”
Because I had slid down the ridge when I lost my footing, and it had taken some desperate scrambling to regain a foothold. “Ah.” I chewed my lower lip. “Was hoping that particular moment had been between just me and the ridge.” I looked across at him. “You didn’t want to help?”
He shook his head once. “You had it under control. Your wolf is fast.”
We stood silently watching the training. It was routine, almost simple, but some elements caught my interest, and I found myself paying closer attention.
“You can join them if you want,” he said softly.
“I—” I swallowed. “That would be okay?” I asked him, unsure. “Killian—”
“Is a great teacher,” Cody said, meeting my gaze. “He only shouts half the time.”
Before I could answer, Killian called across the space between us. “If you’re done yammering, you can both come learn something.”
Cody grinned at me, jogged across the grass, got in line, and easily fell into the practice routine. I hesitated and then thought, why the hell not? I had nothing else to do.
I joined the line at the back and watched for a moment, and then, with my eyes on the shifter beside me, I copied their movements. My body was slow at first. It had been a while since I trained with the pack, but soon, I was following the commands as easily as the shifters around me.
“Alright,” Killian called. “Everybody shift and run.”
Clothes were dropped where the shifters stood, and, slow to react to the command, I was one of the last to shift. The pack didn’t wait; everyone was running across the large open space, following Killian, but I caught up, enjoying the stretch, and soon I sat at an easy pace behind the big shifter.
Killian started to push a little harder, and I kept pace behind him. When he pushed harder, I did too. Soon, I realized it was only him and me out front, and I laughed with glee when he really went all out.
Because I kept up.
When we reached the boundary, he swerved suddenly, and I lost my balance as my body tried to copy the swerve, losing momentum and ultimately space between us.
I ran as fast as I could to gain back the space, but Killian was in front of me, and I had no choice but to accept the fact I wouldn’t make up the distance.
We got back to the training area, and most of the pack was already dressed. I shifted, feeling the burn in my legs and my breathing ragged, but I didn’t shift again; instead, I pulled on my clothes and pushed back my hair.
Killian walked over to me.
“Your speed is impressive,” he said with no mention of the words we’d exchanged the other day.
“But you need to learn to use it better. Running in straight lines is good, but your speed should be one of your weapons. You’re slight; a bigger wolf will hurt you if they catch you.
” He smiled suddenly. “If they catch you. Let me train you, and I’ll make sure they never do. ”
A peace offering or a beta looking after his alpha’s pack. Either way, it beat being in the shelter alone.
“Sounds good,” I told him. “We start tomorrow?”
Killian was still bare-chested, wearing only shorts, and he looked over at Cody, who was grinning. “Nah, we start today.” Killian pushed his shorts down, and his wolf was in front of me.
I looked at Cody, who made a gesture to do the same, and without protest, I took my clothes off and shifted. Like last time, Killian didn’t wait; he started to run, and I quickly followed.
We ran the same way as before, only this time he slowed before the boundary.
His brown-furred wolf towered over me, but his nudge was gentle as he ensured he had my attention.
He ran full speed towards the barrier, and then in a move so slick, his wolf pivoted and was running back. He hadn’t slowed down.
When he joined me, he got me to follow him, and then at the boundary line, his wolf walked through the steps that made the pivot smooth and seamless. He did it over and over until I nodded that I got it. Killian shifted, turning his naked body slightly away from me.
“You ready?” he asked me, and I nodded my head.
“Okay, run back thirty or forty yards.” He paused when he saw me look over my shoulder and back at him.
“Tell me you can measure distance,” he said with almost a groan.
When I shook my head, he took a breath. “I’ll add it to your training. For now, I’ll yell stop, okay?”
I trotted away, and when he called for me to stop, I did.
I turned and ran straight at the boundary, the pattern of pawprints clear in my head, and I did everything he told me, and crashed into the barrier.
There was no gentle nudge that time, just me bouncing off the shield like I’d hit a brick wall at full pace.
I yelped as I fell but was quickly on my feet.
“Again,” Killian instructed.
I must have run full speed at that wall twenty or thirty times before I stopped hitting it. Eventually, I did though; I had to slow down considerably, but I was getting it.
When Killian shifted, I knew my training day was over. Or so I thought. When we got back to the shelters, Cody was waiting with training pads and a smile.
I shifted, put on the clothes he had waiting for me—yoga pants and a tank top—and Cody and I sparred until the sun began to set.
“Sore?” he asked me as he stepped back.
My body ached. Muscles I thought were in shape protested when I moved. “I need to shift,” I admitted wryly.
“No shift,” Cody told me as he pulled on a T-shirt. “Feeling the ache is a bonus of your hard work. C’mon, let’s go eat. I could eat a whole side of venison.”
“No shifting?” I asked as I followed him. “For real?”
He shook his head. “Wolfe prefers it if we feel the burn. If you shift to erase it, then tomorrow you won’t know what needs improving.”
Wolfe was more ruthless than I gave him credit for. “It’s not something I’ve done before,” I said instead.
“You’ll appreciate it in the morning,” he told me with a wink.
Cody of the Stonefang Pack was evil.
I tried to get out of bed, but my body protested. Every part of me ached. I’d thought no more of his instruction not to shift last night when we entered the compact food hall, where little of the pack gathered.