Chapter 15

Chapter 0015

All day Sunday I spent planning. Chase is all in and even found a way to get some information for me. I’m feeling pretty good about the coming week. It will all culminate on my birthday and I can only hope it’s enough time to give me an in with Cara. L

Monday morning I wake up early. I’ve never seen Cara train and I’m really interested now that I’ve put a name to a face. At the risk of seeming like a stalker, I find a spot on the second floor of the pack house that overlooks the back where my father trains the warriors. I leave the light in this guest room off and quietly open the window. I see warriors slowly coming out and starting to warm up. She’s not here yet and just as I’m about to sit back and wait, I see movement from the forest line. As I watch, I see a large, gorgeous brown wolf running along the tree line with a bag in her mouth. It must be Cara’s wolf. She must run here from her home every morning. It makes sense, she’ll be more warmed up than anyone after a 5–mile run.

I watch as she goes behind a tree to change and comes out with leggings, an oversized sweatshirt and sneakers on. Her hair is up in a cute ponytail. It’s short and her curls are twisting in every direction. My breath catches. She is so beautiful. I catch her scent as she walks over and joins the warriors that have already arrived and I immediately feel more relaxed.

She walks up and fist bumps each of them as I hear, “Hey Little Badass.” from

Trevor.

Yup. If I

“Trevor, if you don’t want to this morning, knock it off.”

see your 200 first t my little badass replies. All of the warriors chuckle and continue warming hadn’t figured it out on Friday when several of my warriors were ready to take me on because of her, it would be obvious now. They have the utmost respect for her. She’s one of them, and I’m anxious to see how good she really is.

Over the next two hours, I watch as my girl takes down every warrior in training, like bowling pins. Rack ‘em up and she knocks ‘em back down again.

I can’t help the smile that feels permanently etched on my face. She’s incredible! She’s fast, agile, and a smart fighter. Her biggest opponent is Trevor. He’s a really good fighter. He’s smart and doesn’t rely on his brawn to win. He’s calculating and constantly looking for ways to extort his opponent’s weaknesses, only he doesn’t seem to be able to find any in Cara.

I watch as they taunt each other. This must be their thing, smack talking. I know it is with Trevor, but I didn’t see Çara bantering with many other warriors. In

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learn ways to improve and then she had them try again.

When training ends, I wait to see if she’ll shift back so Kai and I can see her wolf again. What I didn’t expect was for my father to walk with her over to the edge of the forest. He has his arm around her, as if she were his daughter, and maybe that is how he sees her. It’s odd as the only other person my father shows affection to is my mother. They finish their conversation and my father kisses the top of her head before heading back to the packhouse while she changes. When her wolf leaves the tree line, I hear her woof at my dad. He turns and waves before heading inside and she takes off in a loping run in the direction of her house.

I’m running late now and I rush to shower and get ready for school. I run down the stairs, into the kitchen to grab something to eat quickly, pulling my phone out as I go. I nearly run Chase over as I round the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

“Whoa Rik! Slow down. I saw you weren’t down here yet so I grabbed you a couple of breakfast sandwiches to go.”

“You’re the best friend a guy could ask for Chase!”

“I know. So, everything set for today?” he asks, as we head out.

+15 BONOS

Chapter 0016