She started to retreat, but before she could, Kadence opened her eyes and spotted her. “Hi,” she greeted.
Callie smiled as Simone lowered her hands.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Callie apologized.
“You’re not interrupting,” Kadence said. “Would you like to join us?”
Callie hesitated and almost retreated, but she missed the company of others. Lucien spent most of his days training. He returned to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her, and they spent their nights entwined in each other’s arms, but it wasn’t the same.
“I’m not very good at it,” she said.
“That doesn’t matter,” Simone said. “It’s a big stress relief.”
“I could use that,” Callie said, and they chuckled.
They’d been friendly since she arrived, and considering she had no idea how long she was going to be here, she decided to make the best of it. She stepped off the end of the path and strolled over to join them.
“I don’t have a mat,” she said.
“You won’t need one today,” Kadence said. “I’ll bring an extra one tomorrow that you can have.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I take them from the gym.”
“Do you do this every day?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a great way to start the day,” Simone said.
Callie had enjoyed the classes she took, but she never had the time to commit to it. Now, she had all the time in the world.
She stopped a few feet away from them, and they returned to the position she initially found them. Lifting her hands over her, she followed their movements. She was nowhere near as graceful as they were, and she almost fell over a couple of times, but by the end of the session, her body was a lot looser.
“You did great,” Kadence said as she rolled up her mat.
“Thanks,” Callie said. “I feel a lot better.”
“We do training exercises with the hunter women in the afternoon too, if you want to join us,” Simone offered. “Willow usually leads that group.”
“I’d like that a lot.” She didn’t know how long she would be here, but she might as well make friends and learn how to defend herself while here. “Those Savages….”
Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of the right word to describe them.
“Are horrible,” Kadence said.
“Yes, and must be stopped. I don’t know what I can do as a human, but I refuse to be as defenseless against them as I was last time.”
“We can help you with that,” Simone said she tucked her mat under her arm.
Callie fell into step beside Simone and Kadence as they returned to the mansion and descended into the gym. She’d been in the gym once before when Lucien gave her a tour of the place. It was empty then, but now it was full of vampires and hunters battering punching bags, sparring with weapons, jumping rope, or running on treadmills.
Her gaze roamed those gathered within as she searched for Lucien. When she spotted him, a smile tugged at her lips, as he and Declan circled each other on a mat.
Standing outside the mat, Killean had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall and watched them with a critical eye. Willow stood next to him. Her head tilted to the side as she focused on Declan.
Callie’s breath caught when Lucien went in low to take Declan down, but Declan deflected the movement. Lucien was far stronger than when they first met, but he wasn’t completely healed. He’d gained weight, but his clothes were still a little loose on him.
