I was going to kill Augie and cut that smirk right off his face. He was enjoying my discomfort far too much, and I didn’t like it one bit.
“Taya, you’re leaving your left side unprotected. Keep your arms up,” Augie said from across the room.
I was lying face down on the mats in the training gym. Davis and Augie were currently giving me a refresher on hand-to-hand combat, and they were fighting dirty. I had spent the day crawling through mud, in both human and wolf forms. I’d climbed rock walls and practiced shooting long distance with my rifle and a bow. My body was saying it had dealt with enough, but neither Davis nor Augie were listening.
“That’s enough for today,” my dad’s loud voice boomed from the doorway.
How long had he been there? I wondered. I’d never been so grateful to hear his voice before.
Davis nodded and made a quick retreat. He was probably just as tired as I was. He went through almost everything I had today except the mud obstacles. Augie strode over to me, smirk still in place, and reached his hand down to help me up.
I took his hand and as soon as I was up, hip-checked him and sent him crashing to the ground. “Quit smirking at me,” I growled.
Augie lost it laughing. He stayed on the ground and continued to chuckle, making me think he might have lost his mind. I glanced at my dad, but he only raised his hands, just as confused as me.
“Should we be worried?” I asked, but before my dad could respond, Augie got up and tossed his arm around my shoulders.
“I wasn’t smirking at you. I’ve seen Davis train with almost every fighting wolf we have, and I’ve rarely seen him limp away like he did today. He was barely able to keep up with you, and I know that killed him. If your stamina had been better, it would have been him on the floor just now instead of you. Best. Day. Ever.”
Davis was constantly kicking everyone’s ass, including Augie’s. I could understand why he was getting so much enjoyment out of this.
“Augie, give me a report for the day,” my dad asked, back to business.
Augie jogged over to where he had been taking notes and grabbed his tablet off the table next to his chair. He flipped through a few screens before addressing my dad again.
“She went through the pit today just shy of three minutes in her human form first, and two minutes, sixteen seconds in her wolf form. After that, we went to the rock wall. She did that forty times and kept her time ranging from four minutes, twenty seconds to four minutes, thirty-two seconds. Vitals remained steady throughout the courses. She’s been practicing hand-to-hand combat with Davis for the last three hours and didn’t start to deteriorate until about twenty minutes ago. Took Davis down on several occasions and only went down eight times herself.”
My dad nodded, seeming satisfied with my results. “Very good. Thank you, Augie. I’ll be stealing Taya for dinner, so the two of you will have to catch up later.”
I peeked at my dad suspiciously, then at Augie, but he seemed just as surprised as I was about my new dinner plans. I had expected him to be deep in pack business with little time for me until we resolved things with Declan.
“I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow then.” Augie waggled his eyebrows at me. “I have a few surprises planned for you.”
I let out a groan, but before I could respond, my dad tugged on my arm, pulling me toward the door. I looped my arm through his and leaned my head on his shoulder. “Any special reason for the dinner invitation?” I asked.
He gazed down at me and gave me a small smile. “Can’t a dad just want some quality time with his daughter?”
“Of course, he can. Mind if I take a quick shower and meet you at the table in ten minutes?”
“Let’s eat in my room. I’ll bring the food in there and wait for you.”
Once we went our separate ways in the house, I showered as quickly as possible, then threw on some lounge pants and my favorite baggy sweater. It might be the middle of summer, but nothing was more comforting to me than my old pullover. It was grey and soft, falling right above my knees. I brushed my long auburn hair and put it in a side braid.
I gave myself one last cursory glance in the mirror before heading to meet my dad. The dark circles under my lilac eyes stood out starkly on my tan skin. My inability to sleep last night, even though Augie stayed with me, was evident. Training my ass off today didn’t help either. I wasn’t going to worry about it, though. I’d get plenty of sleep after we stopped Declan.
I turned from the mirror and walked out of my room toward my dad. My stomach grumbled loudly as I got closer and smelled the food. My personal favorite. Tri-tip. My mouth began salivating and my pace increased. I walked into the room without knocking since he was expecting me.
My dad greeted me with a warm smile and a hug. “Dig in. You deserve it after today. Davis stopped in the kitchen to tell me how well you did, too.”
My mouth was already full of red potatoes while I was cutting into my steak, so all I could do was nod. Once I inhaled my first bite of meat, I let out a groan. “Please don’t ever tire of cooking. I wish you’d take it over full-time.”
He laughed as he began eating his own meal. Once we were both done and sated, he scooted his chair back and walked over to the bay window in his room that overlooked our property. His shoulders were tense and his body stiff. I stood up and went to him, placing my hand on his back.
“It’s going to be okay, Dad. We’re going to make Declan pay for what he’s done to our family.”
“I can’t help thinking about the risk we’re taking by involving you. What if I lose you, too? You won’t understand the fear until you’re a parent, but it’s crippling. Putting you in danger so soon after Cord… It doesn’t sit right with me.”
“I know, and I wish it didn’t have to be me. I don’t like putting you through this, but it has to be done. We have to do this for the pack and be strong for them.”
He smiled at me and put his arm around me. “You’re going to make a respectable alpha one day. I’m proud to call you my daughter.”
Tears leaked out of my eyes, and I squeezed him a little tighter. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too, Sweet Girl. Want to watch a movie with your old man before you head to bed?”
“I would love nothing more.”
The happiness radiating from him at my answer warmed my heart. We both needed the closeness. It would also make me stronger to feel closer to my dad and alpha. Tight bonds made for the toughest packs.
I crawled into bed while he found a movie to put on and I got comfortable. I let out a yawn, already anticipating that I wouldn’t make it through the show and probably be asleep before the ending credits.
The last thing I remembered was my dad whispering goodnight to me as he snuck out of bed, jostling me half-awake, but I was too tired to move to my own room.
Unfortunately, morning came too soon, along with a rude awakening.
“What the hell, Taya?” Augie yelled as he stormed into my dad’s room just as the sun was rising. “I had this whole plan to wake you up in the most awful way, and you ruined it by not even sleeping in your room last night!”
I rolled over and flipped him off before bringing the covers over my head to block out the light. “Go away, Augie,” I groaned.
“Not a chance in hell,” he goaded as he ripped the covers off the bed. “Rise and shine, little wolf. You have a marathon to run this morning.”
I went to glare at him, but his goofy smile and disheveled hair had me grinning instead. “I need to find you a girlfriend, so you quit annoying me so much.”
I sat up and dragged my tired ass out of bed. I pushed Augie out of the way as I headed toward my own room. Of course, he followed, relentless as ever.
“You wouldn’t survive without me, and you know it.”
I did know it, especially with the aching in my chest from the loss of Cord. I’d be a hot mess without Augie in my life, but I wasn’t going to tell him that now and prove he was right.
“Whatever. Can I at least pee and shower in peace, then meet you downstairs?” I asked as we arrived at my door.
“If you’re not downstairs in ten minutes, I’m bringing a bucket of ice to help speed things along. If you do make it down in less than ten minutes, I may just have breakfast and coffee waiting for you instead.”
I rolled my eyes and decided he deserved a door in the face for messing with me that early in the morning. I grinned at him as I stepped into my room and just as he was about to say something else, I slammed the door closed. I heard Augie’s exaggerated huff, but his footsteps quickly followed as he retreated.
I glanced at the clock on my nightstand on the way to the bathroom and groaned when I saw it was barely after five. It was going to be a long ass day.
I showered and got ready as quickly as I could. I had no doubt Augie would have followed through on his threat in some form if I hadn’t made it downstairs within ten minutes.
As promised, I smelled eggs, bacon, and toast, along with coffee. I gave him a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek as my thank you for having food ready for me before devouring the breakfast.
“Don’t overeat. I wasn’t kidding about that marathon. You’ll be going against Davis and three others from his normal crew. He didn’t say who, but I doubt they’ll be taking it easy on you.”
I stared longingly at the food before me. My jerk of a best friend was right, and he knew how torturous it would be to put all that yumminess in front of me only to tell me I couldn’t consume it all without suffering later. So not cool.
I took one last mouthful of bacon before pushing my plate aside with half my food left. “Let’s do this,” I mumbled, assuming he’d understand me through all the bacon.
I followed Augie outside and started jogging when I realized we were headed toward the base of the mountain on the west side of our property. But nothing could have prepared me for what I would face in training later that day.