Chapter 20

Luka

As Caleb held me, his blue eyes looked into mine. “I’ve made my decision about your training.”

“You have?” It seemed obvious he’d say no.

“You can train—”

I wrapped my arms around him and let out a happy cry.

“—But alone. I can’t risk you being injured.”

“So, I have to work out with a trainer by myself?”

“Yes. Me.”

I was excited that I would get to spend hours per day with him. At the same time, things could get awkward fast. I was accountable to my mate about my health and body. Nothing awkward there.

But it was either working out with him or risking my wolf not returning.

“I’m in. Nice to meet you, Coach Caleb. I’m your new client.”

“I hope to work to your satisfaction, Ms. Shaw.”

“If not, I suppose I’ll have to fire you.”

Caleb half-smiled, only half-amused. “Let’s step into my office.”

He took me by the hand and led me into his private study, where he started flipping through the spines of binders on the shelf, clearly looking for something.

“Ah, here it is, my first training logs. I had an incredible coach, Philip Montalban.”

He flipped the pages, and it involved running, stretching, gentle weight-lifting, and body movements for strengthening. I got tired just looking at it.

“You’ll need a good night’s rest then.” He walked me to my bedroom right away, and at night I dreamed about getting healthy.

In the morning, he woke me up at the crack of dawn.

“So early?” I wiped the sleep from my eyes.

“We have to build a routine and discipline, and the best way is to do it first thing in the morning.”

“But does the morning have to start so early?”

“Believe me, Luka, you’ll grow to love it. There’s nothing like time to yourself in the morning before the world wakes up.”

Any time just for myself was a miraculous change of pace from before. “I could grow to like mornings.”

“Great! In the upstairs fitness room, you’ll find your workout clothes, hand-picked by Mia of course. Then meet me in the front, by the fountain.”

I looked in the mirror, and I barely recognized the person I saw. Clean, with hair brushed, and the most fashion-forward exercise clothes that existed. I didn’t see any tags, which I assume meant it was couture, made just for me.

Caleb looked amazing in his workout clothes, which skimmed his body, showing just a hint of his perfectly sculpted abs without being showy. His biceps were almost as big as my skinny thighs.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you, Caleb.” But he looked even more beautiful than me.

“Let’s warm up.” He led me in jumping jacks, dynamic stretches, and jogging in place. I was tired already. I couldn’t believe this was the pre-workout and not the genuine thing.

“We’re going to run five kilometers. That’s three miles.”

It may as well have been 300. I had no idea how I would do it.

Caleb could see the fear and dread on my face. “I know you can do it. You’ll surprise yourself by how much more you can do than you think.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” I wrung my hands, looking at the grounds leading into trails in the woods. I hoped I didn’t have a heart attack in there.

At first Caleb started out at a moderate pace, but he started going faster. Too fast.

“I can’t keep up.” I panted, pulling on his shirt.

“Try.” He sped onward, and I wanted to cry. But I kept going, hoping he would at least stay in sight.

I huffed throughout the trails, staying close on his tail, counting on his white shirt as a beacon, one fading fast. I tried to go faster to keep up, but I just couldn’t. He had told me it was an out-and-back course, so I knew I wouldn’t lose him completely, since he’d be back. But I feared his reaction if he knew how little progress I made.

I ran for what seemed like forever, and I wanted to stop and take a break. I nearly sat down on a log in the shade, telling myself: “You stupid, weak girl.”

But I heard it in Declan’s voice, not mine. Immediately, I grew angry. He didn’t control me anymore. How could I let him control my mind?

I had to continue. With every step, though, I wanted to stop. I felt myself slowing down, and fighting my exhaustion.

I saw Caleb running back in my direction. Was he done and leaving? “Come on, Luka. You’re only a mile in.”

I wanted to say, I can’t, but I was too winded to speak the words. But it was like he knew.

“You can.” He took my hand and lifted me off the ground, then held me in his arms. I suddenly had energy.

“You think so?”

“I know so.” His voice grew less rough than it had been before. “All you have to do is get to the end of the half-way point, another half-mile. And then all you have to do is go back on autopilot.”

He kissed me on the cheek, and that was enough to get me moving again. This time I could keep up with him, and I never stayed more than a few paces behind. He gave me a high-five once we reached the halfway point of the out-and-back.

It got harder, but once a short amount of time passed, Caleb let me know there was only a kilometer left, less than a mile. “I can’t believe it.”

I wanted to kiss him when we finally got back to Caleb’s private fitness complex, but I knew that could set back my progress. It was hard not to, especially with the sexiness of his exertion.

We cooled down in the alpha king fitness facility, like a dojo, doing stretching exercises that helped relieve the soreness. After an exercise on the floor, Caleb began kneading my calves and legs. It felt like a painful pleasure, but a forbidden one.

I wanted to pull my legs back, shy from him touching them. “It’s part of the training,” Caleb insisted, and I believed him.

Caleb showed me the machines for stretching movements and strength training. He demonstrated how it was done. Watching his muscles in motion, seeing how strong he was, I was overcome with desire that I had to suppress. The scent of his pheromones gave me energy for the workout.

“Now you.” Caleb wiped a gleam of sweat from his chiseled face. “Ten reps.”

He made it look so easy. But when I got on the machine, it was so much harder than it looked. My face turned red and my body dripped sweat.

“Four…Five…” I tried to hold it, to push forward to do the sixth one, but I just did not have the stamina. It fell onto me as I pushed my sixth rep. I failed.

“We’re only a quarter done with the calisthenics, Luka. We have more to go.”

I was on the verge of tears, from the physical strain and from disappointing Caleb. “Caleb, I’m recovering from years of abuse to my body. I can’t do this all on the first day. Please don’t make me do this.”

He examined my body, which felt both threatening and appealing. “All right, Luka. Go back to your room and rest. But focus on complying with the training program. It’s essential to your health.”

I walked back to the mansion, dejected. If it continued being this hard, I didn’t know if Nela would ever return. I hung my head, just wanting to go straight to my room and hide there until I needed to come out.

“You. Luka. Omega trash.”

God, what now? I looked up. It was Olivia.

“Olivia! Weren’t you…why are you…”

“Imprisoned? Yeah, it turns out, when you’re a daughter of one of the elders, it’s not sanctioned to give such harsh punishment just because of some omega.”

I stared her down. “Hopefully with your newfound freedom, you’ll be conscientious about your words and actions and the effect they have, regardless of the rank of a pack member.”

Olivia scoffed with a hateful look. “You don’t know everything, and you’d be wise to watch your own behavior, omega. I hear more things than most people, and the elder council has been pressuring Caleb to choose a pack Luna for a while. And yet I see he hasn’t chosen you.”

“He says it’s not time yet. But I’m his mate.”

“You keep telling yourself that. But you and I both know the real reason: he’s not going to degrade himself and the pack with you. You’re not worthy of him, and he knows it. You’re a bedmate, not a mate. You’re just lying to yourself if you think anything else.”

She was right. He told me one thing, but in his actions, he did something else. He wasn’t outwardly as cruel as Declan, but all alphas are the same. I didn’t want to be fooled.

I was just a bedmate.