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“No, no. I can do it.” She dropped down, putting her hands on her knees, sucking in sharp lungfuls of air.
“We’re not even halfway up the hill, and then there's the whole way down.”
Nicky moaned pitifully and wiped the sweat off her brow. “Stupid hill. My life has been too stationary for this.”
My life was the opposite of stationary. My entire job revolved around movement, and my preferred quality time with the pack usually involved carting them out to some form of nature.
“If you can make it in a few more minutes, there’ll be a rest stop at the halfway point.”
Nicky huffed and pushed herself back to standing. “One more drink first.”
She sidled up close to me, probably unconsciously leaning quite heavily against me, and she sucked down a few mouthfuls. I had been intending to talk to her for most of the trip, but she wasn’t quite at the level of a shape that was required to carry on a conversation while hiking. That was okay. I could wait until we reached the top, or the bottom, if she changed her mind.
Her face was flushed pink. It was a mild day, but sweat gleamed at her temples. If she wanted to be stubborn, I could indulge that for now. Even so, I kept an assessing eye on her, unwilling to let her actually hurt herself for her pride.
Nicky dragged herself up the hill next to me. I maintained a deliberately slow pace, relieved when the rest stop finally came into view. She sank onto the bench there, and I gave her a few moments to catch her breath then offered her more water after drinking my own fill.
She’d been so nervous when we started out, but the nerves were completely drowned out as she had tried her best to keep up with me before succumbing to her burning lungs and what was obviously a stitch in her side, given the way she dug her fingers into her ribs.
I set a palm on her shoulder. “I promise I won’t think any less of you if we go back.”
She looked at me, those round brown eyes filled with fiery determination.
This beta was stubborn. It was a quality that I could appreciate given that I definitely shared it. Gabe noticed those similarities in us and had encouraged me to give Nicky a chance, so I had. I’d been intending to anyway, but his gentle nudges had sped up my asking her.
“If you’re interested,” I said, “I could do some private sessions with you at the pack house. We could work you up to hill climbing.”
Her gaze flickered down my body for a half second before rooting on my face. “I can’t ask you to do that. That's what you do for work.”
I laughed and hooked her chin. “If you think I don’t enjoy watching people sweat, then you clearly don’t know me very well yet.”
Nutmeg and vanillin overwhelmed her sweat for a brief moment, and she snared her bottom lip between her teeth.
In the right circumstances, guiding people through a workout or a fight was foreplay for me. Watching them sweating, struggling, and pushing themselves to do exactly what I told them to do might make me a bit of a sadist, but I didn’t let that diminish my enjoyment.
“I could teach you to fight, too, if you like.”
Nicky made the most delightful, helpless sound when I pulled her lip from between her teeth with my thumb.
“You’ve got good fire. We should put it to good use. Are you ready to keep going?”
Nicky nodded. I gave her another drink, and she stared up at me, her lips wrapped around the flexible straw connected to the waterpack. I could see the allure. Gabe had said that I would like her, and her desperate to please attitude, which some people might find off-putting, was a definite perk in my books.
“How are your feet?” I asked.
“A little achy, but I don’t think there's any blisters.”
“Good. Let me know if you think that's going to change.”
We set off onto the trail again, and it wasn’t long at all until she started to wilt once more. To her credit, she didn’t complain, and I made no comment on her heaving, gasping breaths as she worked to keep up with my leisurely pace. Starting off on flatter terrain probably would’ve been a better idea, but then I wouldn’t have been able to see her stubbornness at work.
After one slope that was a little gruelling, even by my standards, the trail started to level off as we neared the peak. I’d let her hold my hand for the steepest portions, dragging this poor sweaty beta for as long as she insisted we go. Nicky sat in a patch of grass not long after the hill.
“Sorry.” She flopped backwards gracelessly and I sat next to her.
“Walk me through your body,” I instructed. “What are you feeling?”
She whined a little and put a hand on her forehead. “Pretty sure a blister is making an appearance. My shins feel like needles. Every bit of my legs are achy. My lungs are on fire.”
