The Scarlet Hunter

Chapter 35-1

Isla had dressed in her workout clothes to take advantage of the "squat time" Jax had built into her schedule when the doorbell rang. She padded her way across the apartment, left empty after Alec's departure earlier this morning. Phillip's face filled the video display. He was standing there with a piece of paper.

"Good morning, Phillip," Isla said through the intercom. "I'm not decent. What's up?"

She was dressed, but Isla imagined Alec's reaction to her opening the door for a member of staff she barely knew. There were more fun things to be punished for.

"Good morning." His pleasant voice came through the speaker. "I was told to drop off a revision to your schedule for today. Apparently, there was a correction that Sophie had to make?"

Ah, the tattoo ceremony bar-b-que.

"Should I just slip it under the door?"

"Yes, please. Thanks, Phillip!"

"You're welcome." A couple sheets of paper with a post-it note slid under the door. "Have a good day, ma'am."

"You too."

"Corrected event schedule. Please let me know if you have any questions. -Sophie"

Isla grabbed her cell phone and called Sophie. "Good morning, Sophie. Thank you for the updated event schedule."

"Oh, good! I'm glad you got it in time." Sophie replied, "Do you have any questions?"

"Nope, just wanted to let you know I got it," Isla confirmed.

"OK, good. Don't hesitate to call if anything comes up." Sophie responded and went on with her busy day.

Isla looked over it and saw the bar-b-que details, a time shift for her lunch with Alpha Kian, and then panicked when she saw something scheduled in ten minutes. Sophie had just barely gotten it to her in time.

Her squat time had been replaced with a demonstration, escorted by Alex. Isla hurried to change from her indoor workout clothes to her outdoor training clothes and grabbed her bow, arrow, and tree saddle. She didn't have time to find out what the demonstration was for, so she just grabbed it all to be prepared. She was walking out of the house right on time and saw Alex standing next to an SUV waiting for her.

"Good morning, Alex." Isla offered her patrol partner a warm smile.

"Good morning, Warrior Isla." Alex smiled back.

"Looks like you're taking me to a demonstration." Isla slid onto the passenger seat. "Just like old times." She reminisced about when she was first developing her technique and would spend hours drilling with Peter and Alex.

"Is it just you today?" Isla noted there weren't any other warriors on the security detail.

"We're staying within the boundary. If there's an issue, a patrol team will respond," Alex offered as he started the vehicle.

"Have you talked to Peter lately?" Isla made conversation while they drove to the demo spot.

"Not this past week since we've been here," Alex responded. "He's joined one of the other patrol teams until you return, so he's pretty busy."

"And you like this security detail work?" Isla looked around at the unfamiliar territory. There were so many more trees here, the woods much denser than in the New Territory.

They continued small talk until Alex pulled off the paved road. It wasn't as well maintained as the other dirt roads, but maybe they just didn't repair it after the winter rains. He pulled over, and they got out. Isla breathed in the fresh air as she grabbed her gear and stretched while Alex messed with his phone. She much preferred this to a gym workout.