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Sailor stares wordlessly at me as he jerks his athletic pants down his legs. It’s alarmingly intimate the way he holds my eyes while he undresses, but I can’t seem to tear my gaze away.
“Uh, did we miss something here?” Ian asks, laughing nervously.
Sailor spares him a dismissive side-eye. “We’ll be back.” It’s all he says before shifting. The white wolf that appears in his place is as impressive as it is large. His shoulders are as broad in this form as they are in his human form, and he easily stands over me, larger than the twins’ white wolves. There would be no confusing them.
Let’s go, Sailor mind links.
I take a hesitant step forward as he moves to my left flank, nudging me when I don’t move fast enough for him. I huff.I can’t exactly clear my head with you hovering,I point out.
He nudges me again, ignoring the way all three of my mates growl behind us. Not one of them is happy, but they stay back and let it happen. I imagine they’ll only step in if I protest.
You need practice with your wolf.Apparently Sailor isn’t letting that go.Running will be good for you. I can tell you don’t do it enough.
I wish I was in human form so I could laugh.All I’ve been doing for weeks is running.
Running for sport isn’t the same as running for your life.He sounds angry about it, though I can’t fathom why. He has no idea the extent of what I’ve been running from. I’m sure Mason would have spared a lot of details when he spoke to Otto. He’s too protective to have told anyone all of our business, opting instead for just enough to get by.
Let’s get this over with,I grumble, no longer looking forward to what I was hoping would be a chance to focus on clearing my head.
It proves to be every bit as impossible to get a clear head with Sailor beside me as I expected.
My wolf burns with awareness as we run through the sparse trees outside the front gate and into the thicker foliage running beside the grounds. Her interest is piqued by him even in spite of his rude comments. His dismissal of Willem is a little harder for her to swallow, but she pushes the annoyance to the side in favor of trying to get a better understanding of the stoic white wolf next to me.
She implores me to match every move Sailor makes until we’re running entirely in sync.
I lose track of time as we circle the training grounds like that, every step taken together as we move as if we’re one. It’s incredible how in tune we are without exchanging another word. When we turn, we do it without discussing it. It’s almost eerie.
It’s the mate bond, my wolf points out smugly as we wordlessly head back for the front gate.
Sailor doesn’t speak to me again until he drops me off at my temporary cabin. He shifts before me and starts speaking before I’ve even finished shifting.
“You make up what you lack in strength by being smart and observant. You need to let your wolf help more instead of putting her on the back-burner.” I open my mouth to protest but freeze when Sailor reaches out and twirls a strand of my hair around his finger. “I’m not saying it to be an asshole, Quinn. I’m telling you so I can help make you safer. The more you and your wolf work together, the less I need to worry about you.”
My mouth hangs open as I stare at him, completely thrown off. His voice is still kind of harsh, but the words are surprisingly close to being thoughtful.
“I’m going to go start working with your… friends.” A twinge of bitterness seeps into his voice. “Wait a couple of hours before you join us. I want to kick their asses properly before you come along and try to put a stop to it.” He smirks.
“Miserable jerk,” I mutter before I can stop myself. “You obviously need a little happiness in your life so you stop taking your bad attitude out on everyone else.”
I cross my arms over my chest as Sailor releases my hair.
“Maybe,” he agrees, surprising me.
And then he leaves me standing slack-jawed in front of the cabin, disappearing in search of wherever the guys ended up.
I’m much too keyed up to try to rest before I head back for more training. I go into the cabin long enough to find my workout clothes on the bed, and I re-dress in them before setting off on foot around the grounds.
There’s more to see than I expected despite how compact the training ground is set up to be. I even manage to stop and have a few friendly conversations with some of the other shifters here for training.
Most of the shifters seem to be training for professional shifter fighting, which is big business, but I also meet others that are tired of running from a danger they want to finally face head-on. Listening to their stories, nodding thoughtfully in places and adding a helpful word of encouragement when necessary, helps me relax from what’s become a very confusing day emotionally.
I probably stay away longer than Sailor meant for me to, ending my self-tour of the grounds at a pretty garden that seems to be left to its own devices based on the plants growing over some of the paths.
In spite of how overgrown it is, gorgeous flowers peek up from between errant weeds. I don’t know much about gardening or plants, but there’s a pretty yellow flower at the center of the mess that I can’t resist.
There are plenty of blooms, so I don’t feel too guilty as I pluck the top of the one that caught my eye, taking only a bit of stem with it.
I carry the flower with me as I head back to the training circle where we started the day. A very stupid plan is floating around in my head that I know I’m going to regret, but once the idea comes, I can’t resist following through.
