“I’m sure Alpha Reggie will ask you too, so if you want to wait and not have to tell the story twice, we understand.” I shared a quick look with Mina.
“You know she’s more likely to tell you than anyone else. We need to push her to talk or we can’t help. And the sooner the better, it’s already been a year.”
“Ugh, I know.” I link back, while leading us over to our usual table again, hoping the rest of my friends make it in before we are done. “I just feel bad and she has been through a lot. No one wants to relive stuff like that.”
“Except, she’s going to have to if we want to help her search for survivors.”
We sit down and dig in. I try really hard to listen to Osiston’s advice and eat slow, but the food is so much better than I remember.
“You are going to throw up, you know that? Slow down.”
“Osiston said something like that before we came in, but I am so hungry and the food is so amazing!” I close my eyes practically drooling.
“Well, Warrior Brogen is right, stop gorging, otherwise you’re going to have to taste it twice and I can guarantee the second time will not be as good as the first.”
We all laugh.
“Why do you call him by his title and Sky calls him by his first name? I noticed that with the Alpha King too.”
I shrug, not really thinking about it in a long time. The guys and Xander made fun of me once for it too. “I just call them what they told me to call them. It’s going to be weird adding the title back onto Nickolas’ name here though, he’s been my ‘uncle,” I air quote, “for so long that I’m worried I’m going to forget and get some kind of punishment.” I cringe and they laugh at me.
We eat and talk, eventually joined by the rest of my friends and they all ask the same questions of Jena. I think they are all looking forward to helping her find her pack. In some way they all experienced this with her, like me, and we all feel responsible for helping her. This is why the warriors are here to help and protect in a major crisis.
Jena and I get to join the group for the obstacle course after our run with Osiston. The run has been by far the worst part. Why did I ever run so much before?!
“Because it kept you from beating Kaley and her friends every time they did something to you.” My wolf snarks. “You aren’t looking over your shoulder all the time or angry and scared here. There isn’t any frustration to burn.”
“Well what is going to motivate me now?”
“The fact that you know the guys are training to be better than you as wee speak and neither of us can have that, no can we?”
“You make a solid point. Motivation reinstated.”
“What are you smiling at? There is no way you enjoyed that run and now we have to go do more training. You and your warriors are crazy.” Jena puffs next to me.
“Enjoyed it? No, not a chance, but my wolf reminded me why I train so hard.”
“Why is that?”
“My brother and some of my friends from back home are extra competitive and when I get back, I can’t be weaker than when I left them. I left with some standards to achieve and I have no idea what they have been up to for the last year. I have to assume they have gotten better while I have been under guard and we can’t have them becoming better than us.” I give her a wicked smile.
“Are you sure it’s them who’s competitive?” She giggles at me as we pass through the bushes to the obstacle course. “Oh sh*t! This is awesome. We never had anything like this back home.”
