“A few changes but nothing drastic.” Remembering something, she smiled and nudged him with her shoulder. “I think you still hold the record for running the old course.”
“Yeah?” Obviously pleased, he gave her a lazy smile that turned his looks from handsome to devastating. “Do it with me?”
Woman and wolf both read the hidden invitation behind the obvious one, hesitated, then shoved forward. Because he was perfect. There would be no games of one-upmanship with Riaz, no drain on her emotions or her self-confidence as she worried about whether her dominance was hurting him, no having to catch herself before she did something that might dent his pride. “Sure. You free after this lot is done?”
He started to nod, then frowned. “No, I have a videoconference with some of my European contacts. Can we do it around four instead?”
“That’ll work.” Even as she spoke, Drew’s note burned a hole in her pocket.
Andrew had just put down the phone after getting hold of the last of the small group of men and women under his direct command scattered throughout the pack—to warn them to keep an eye out for further attempts by Pure Psy—when his wolf caught the burgeoning wave of excitement in the den. It was an almost physical push against his fur—though he was in human form.
Poking his head out the door of his room, he hailed one of the soldiers heading down the corridor. “Eli, what’s up?”
“Indigo and Riaz are running the outdoor course.” Elias’s words carried a hum of anticipation. “You know how fast she is, and he holds the record. No way to tell who’ll win.”
Andrew felt his spine knot with tension, a freezing chill spearing through his veins. “They starting now?” Somehow, his voice sounded normal, ordinary, when all he wanted to do was to hunt Indigo to ground and demand she fucking stop running from him. Because he knew exactly what was going through her head at this moment, knew exactly what her wolf would see in Riaz.
“Yeah. You coming?”
Andrew was already shutting his door behind him. “Wouldn’t want to miss it.” His wolf was beyond agitated, but he’d always been good at keeping his emotions off his face. His current work for Hawke had only refined that skill. As he exited the den with Elias and jogged out to the training ground, no one would’ve been able to tell that he was walking the sharpest of knife edges.
“You going to take bets?” Elias asked with a grin.
Since Andrew had been known to do just that on occasion when packmates challenged one another, he couldn’t fault the question. “Not this time. Indigo might skin me.” It was difficult to keep his voice light, to act as Elias expected him to act. He’d always known this courtship wasn’t going to be easy, but he’d never expected Indy to kick him this hard in the guts.
Then they were on the edge of the run and the kick turned brutal. Indigo and Riaz stood side by side, both of them shoe-less and clearly pumped. Indigo was wearing thin black exercise pants with white stripes down the sides, as was Riaz. The male lieutenant was shirtless, the tattoo on the back of his left shoulder striking against the naturally bronzed tone of his skin.
But it was Indigo who caught not only Andrew’s but Elias’s attention as well. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” It was a quiet comment.
The wolf bared its teeth inside Andrew. “You’re mated.”
“It’s like appreciating a beautiful piece of art,” Elias murmured. “Yuki would say the same if she was standing beside me.”
Andrew understood what Elias meant. Dressed in those practical pants and a black tank that clung to her body like second skin, her hair pulled off her face in a tight ponytail, Indigo was beauty without ornamentation—strong, lethal beauty. And an instant later, she was beauty in motion as someone—Judd—set off the starter bell.
Indigo was liquid lightning as she scrambled up the massive first wall. Riaz, his body heavier, was slower in getting up. But he had the advantage in the next section, which was all about upper-body strength. They were neck and neck as they crawled under the rope-mesh maze, their bodies muddy when they shot out the other end—to run straight up a steep, steep climb where use of claws to ensure stability would get you disqualified.
Indigo slipped, fell back on the slick log, but managed to break her fall with her hands.
Andrew’s wolf urged her to get up. She did.
And Riaz slid back down.