Faithfully Yours (Book 2, Dominantly Yours Series)

One

She found Nate exactly where Theresa had said he'd be: in the field, a bit of a walk behind the pack house, training with Marcus and the other wolves. "Twenty-seven! Twenty-eight! Twenty-nine!" Marcus counted out as the men and a few women, lined up in almost perfect rows, went down in a push-up and then back up.

Claire winced for them.

Nate stood off to the side, his arms behind his back. He surveyed the surrounding people.

"Are you torturing these people, Alpha?" Claire called out.

Nate turned as she approached, his eyes lighting up. "I'm improving them."

Marcus continued chanting numbers. A few of the wolves glanced up as she drew near, but were too busy to stop and stare.

She cocked her head to the side. "Do they know that? They look miserable."

Boy, did they ever. Sweat dripped down red faces. Most of them moved slowly, shakily, as if they'd hit the end of their endurance, which was saying something. Werewolves were on the more energetic side. How many repetitions did Nate have them doing?

Claire spotted Cole near the middle and had to resist a wave. "Well, look at that, you're torturing my father."

At that, Nate gave a short laugh. "Trust me, this is necessary. And completely voluntary."

Her eyebrows rose. She moved up next to Nate to stand by his side, her shoulder brushing teasingly, deliciously, against his. "Can you tell that to Gabe? I'd love it if my training was voluntary."

"That's different," he told her. "You know that."

She knew he was right, and though she had been teasing, she still wished it was true. Gabe had been riding her hard about staying in shape and being able to defend herself. Doing it was much harder than saying it.

After fifty more push-ups, Marcus moved them onto sit-ups. By then most of their t-shirts stuck to them with sweat. Yet they never stopped, never complained. Though their movements shook, their determination never wavered. For that she gave them tons of credit. She would have been passed out, sweating, and on the ground after maybe twenty-five push-ups. And they'd done eighty. Maybe more if their work out was in cycles.

Indiana's humidity never reached the level that Florida's did, but that didn't mean it wasn't bad. Claire had spent a lot of time in this kind of weather—sticky, heavy air, in addition to the heat—and yet it still made her miserable. And it was only May. They were due for a hot summer.

"Hey, you want to grab lunch later?" she asked him casually.

"Of course." He didn't hesitate.

She couldn't resist a giggle. "Cool. Your mom's coming too." She gave him a mischievous grin and a wave as she backtracked to the house.

"What? Claire!"

"Bye, Nate!"

She ran.

~

In the end, their lunch party consisted of way more people than she'd intended. Theresa was there, but so was Charlie and her mother Marie, little Wyatt and his aunt, and Marcus and Gabe. Nine people.

"Sorry," she whispered to Nate, soft enough that the others couldn't hear them. "I'll make it up to you."

Nate grumbled under his breath as they sat down at Philly's, a local restaurant known strictly for their amazing sub sandwiches. Since their party was so big, they'd had to wait a bit as the restaurant staff scrambled to push some tables together.