Logan smiled sheepishly. “Ready to train? Nadine is suiting up.”
I groaned. I hated working out. Like, my workout hate was so strong I didn’t even own workout clothes. I was the only chick in America not to own a pair of yoga pants.
Logan’s brows knitted. “If you’re not a fan of lifting weights, we can start with a run.”
A run! I groaned louder and Mitten’s hair stood up on end as she hissed at me. Crazy cat.
“Look, there’s something you should know about me. My favorite activity is sitting on the couch and drawing while devouring a bag of potato chips. Unless I’m running for my life from some hunters, I don’t run.”
Logan’s eyes danced with amusement but his face didn’t crack a smile. “Have you ever played sports?”
I nodded. “I played competitive soccer for ten years.”
He looked shocked. “Perfect.”
I cocked my head to the side. “I was the goalie.”
“Oh.” His face fell.
I was damn good at stopping that ball; my reflexes were insanely fast. Almost not human now that I thought of it. But running? Lifting weights. Never.
“Do you like living?” Logan finally asked me as Nadine slipped into the open doorway beside him.
I rolled my eyes. “Obviously.”
Logan shrugged. “Then this is going to be the hardest week of your life, because there will be running. There will be lifting weights. And there will be no potato chips. If you want to survive attacks from hunters and druids, you need to train.”
Dammit. My twenty-one years of laziness were gone. Rest in peace.
Nadine looked at my pathetic pile of clothes stacked in the corner of the room. “Do you own workout clothes? Tennis shoes?”
I shook my head. “Nope. All a part of my genius plan to avoid exercise.”
Nadine smiled. “I like her,” she told Logan, and chucked a pair of hot pink sneakers at me. I caught them midair as Mittens flew from my lap and into the safety of Logan’s arms.
“Meet us downstairs in five,” Logan told me sternly as he and Nadine left me to myself.
I looked at the clock on the night table and inwardly shivered. It was 6:06 AM. An ungodly hour. If there were two things that were true to my soul, it’s that, one: I hated exercise, and two: I was not a morning person.
I rifled through my pile of clothes and found some black knit harem pants and a lacy bralette that might pass for a sports bra. Then I slipped on a long sleeve V-neck and put on the pink tennis shoes. It wasn’t exactly attractive, but it would do.
After slipping into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I made my way downstairs. Sophie was wearing skin-tight leggings and a bright pink sports bra, her hair into a high pony tail as she flipped some eggs on the stove. Nadine and Logan were stretching, and I noticed Dom was asleep sitting up in the corner of the room with his gun on his lap, finger on the trigger.
Sophie looked back as if she sensed me; when she got a look at my outfit she stifled a smile. Scooping some eggs on a plate, she motioned towards them.
“None of the idiots around here can cook, so I’m left with the job,” she told me, as if that was some sparkling invitation to eat the eggs she had just made.
I grabbed the plate. “Well, I’m a pretty good cook, so I don’t mind helping out.”
Her body flinched for a moment and then relaxed. “Cool,” she said.
“Is Keegan still asleep?” I directed my question at Nadine.
She shook her head. “Nah, he got up about an hour ago. There is an alpha nearby and he wanted to introduce himself and let him know this is our new territory.”
Let him know. Not ask him. I raised an eyebrow and Nadine laughed. “Cooper and Gear went with him. He’ll be fine.”
I shoveled the eggs in my mouth and looked at Logan, who was staring at me with a smirk. “I’m afraid if I train you right away I might kill you. So go for a light jog with Nadine and then meet me in the barn.”
Dick #2. Keegan definitely got the #1 spot, but Logan was close behind.
“I can run when my life depends on it,” I informed him with a glare. All of a sudden I felt butt hurt that Sophie’s ass looked like you could bounce a penny off of it and mine had a unique jiggle. My eyes fell on Nadine’s arms and I decided that she was probably stronger than Gear. Those guns were toned.
“I know. But when you stop, and you’re out of breath and weak, that’s when the hunters attack,” Logan told me. Dammit, he was right, but I didn’t want to admit it.
I decided to say nothing, and Nadine just linked arms with me and pulled me for the door. “Ignore them. You’ll be kicking ass and taking names before you know it.”
I smiled. Nadine was like my own personal fortune cookie.
“Call 9-1-1. I’m having a heart attack,” I told Nadine between labored breaths. We weren’t running on flat terrain here. I was leaping over fallen logs and rocks and it was a miracle I hadn’t broken my ankle yet. There was a distinct burning in my chest and I was sure my ticker was about to explode.
Nadine smiled. “Okay, let’s walk and talk for five. Didn’t you hike the Grand Canyon?”
She mercifully slowed to a fast walk and I followed, getting some relief to my lungs. Air. Air is good. My legs felt like Jell-O. Damn all of those nights watching Netflix for six hours straight. When I could finally speak, I answered her question: “Yes, but walking and running are like two different species. And I thought I was dying then too.” The Grand Canyon had been tough, but I had gone alone, and no one was there to push me harder or see me complain. Just the average fellow hiker. It had been freeing being out there alone, just me and Mother Nature. I was used to being alone.
Nadine ignored my comment and switched gears. “Okay, so I know you’re dying to know the scoop about everyone,” she told me as we ducked under a low branch.
I wasn’t really, but sure. I nodded.
“Sophie and Logan dated for like six months, against Keegan’s wishes, and it totally blew up. They were all wrong for each other and now it’s totally awkward.”
Oh, this was the scoop. Yes, I did want to know this. “Wrong how?” I asked, confident now that I had enough oxygen to talk.
Nadine shrugged. “They just didn’t mesh. Logan is the strong, silent, moody type. Kind of a Keegan and Dom mix. Sophie is superficial and high maintenance. They had nothing in common.”
“Cool,” I said stupidly, trying to ignore the way my dragon purred inside of me at the admission that Logan and Sophie were all wrong for each other.
Nadine continued: “So Gear joined the pack about two years ago and I’m totally in love with him.” She swooned, but her face didn’t look happy; it was marred with a frown.
“Two years? Why haven’t you guys hooked up?” Two years was a long time to crush on someone.
Nadine slowed to a slug’s pace, for which I was grateful. “Too many reasons. One, I don’t think he’s that into me. I mean, we kissed once on New Year’s Eve, but he got weird after. Two, Keegan forbids two shifters in the same pack to date unless they are mates. It messes everything up, as Logan proved. And three, Gear really loves the pack and so do I. If we broke up and shit got weird, then one of us would have to leave, and I know Keegan would boot him before me. I would never do that to him.”
Damn, I thought I had problems.
“How do you know if you’re mates?” I had seen enough fantasy novels and watched enough movies to know what a werewolf mate was, but I didn’t know how it worked in shifter real life.
Nadine sighed. “It’s not like you see in movies. There is no magic. At least not with us shifters. Your mate is just the person you choose to marry and be with forever. There is a whole magical binding ceremony and everything, but you can choose who you want it to be.”
“So potentially Gear could be your mate,” I pondered as we came upon a creek.
That got a slight smile out of Nadine. “I mean, yeah, but we would have to date first.”