Chapter 106-1
Kiana
Despite Troy’s reassurance, I still couldn’t get over the strange looks he was giving me. When Willa arrived in the middle of the afternoon to see if I wanted to go for a run, I gladly accepted. Even she looked taken aback that Troy didn’t ask to join. To my surprise, Willa wanted to run on two legs and
not four.
“What? It’s good to keep in shape,” she said defensively when she started to stretch.
“I’m pretty sure our wolves keep us in shape.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. I like to run to clear my mind.”
“And you wanted me to join you?” When she didn’t answer, I wrinkled my nose. “Is Troy making you
do this?”
“Look, I’m trying to take my new role of being his third seriously, and that means getting along with you. I’m making the effort on my own. You don’t owe me for saving you. That was my job. Now I’m just trying to bond with you a bit. Do you want to run, bitch, or not?”
It was all I could do not to laugh. “I guess I want to run.”
“Good. You are so difficult,” she muttered.
I finished warming up with her, and we started on a slow jog. What I’d said about the wolf keeping us in shape apparently was a lie. We’d barely finished a mile before I realized I was starting to feel out of breath. “Been awhile since you’ve had to run for your life, huh?” Willa laughed.
She wasn’t wrong. When we’d escaped from Morven, I’d been so injured that running wasn’t an option. Since then, I’d been letting my wolf out more and more.
“Sometimes, my father would tell me that if I could make it to a certain point in the woods, a river or a rock, that he’d let me go. I knew it was a trick. It was always a trick, but I’d run anyway. I guess I was a more hopeful person than I thought. Anyway, he’d let his friends chase me and haul me
back.”
“Shit, Kiana, I guess I really do need to learn to keep my mouth shut. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. You’re not wrong. I am safer here with Troy.” My thoughts drifted back to the last time I’d really had to run. I’d plotted my escape from Wolfspire and Danny had chased me.
And caught me.
“And his pack,” Willa admitted. “Things have been different since you left. People are sorry for how
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Chapter 106-1
Cham
they treated you. It’ll be different when you return, which will be nice. Troy has been so unbalanced
since the mating bond formed with you, and it’s something we’d all felt.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Yeah, it’s because you’re a null. Jenson made that distinction after you left. For a while, we
thought you enjoyed keeping Troy and us all unbalanced. Jenson realized that you didn’t know. You don’t feel the pack bonds the way you feel the mating bond.”
I didn’t, which was strange. I could feel the mating bond. Both seemed important and intimate, so I wasn’t sure why I would feel one over the other. It wasn’t like I’d chosen either one.
“Bank left. I want to get out of the trees,” Willa said in a tight voice. We’d been following a trail that wound through the forest, but we weren’t all that far from the heart of London’s territory. I did as she asked but glanced around. Nothing seemed out of place.
Still, when she picked the pace, so did I. I was going to be so pissed if this was her way of getting into shape. We ran off path for about a quarter of a mile before breaking through the tree line and toward the back of several buildings. “Right,” Willa barked.
I took a sharp right until we reached the end of the building line, and then we both turned and crouched. For several heartbeats nothing happened. I opened my mouth to yell at Willa when I saw a large man running through the trees.
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