Page 8 of Lost Fate

Leander raises his eyebrows. “Show you?”

“Yeah. Whatever you remember. Show me what you know?”

“Uh. Okay. Copy my movements, I guess.”

Carefully, I watch him. He’s still stunningly beautiful, and I’m not immune to his charms, but I do notice that as he flows through the different movements, the urge that I have to jump his bones diminishes. Slightly.

Slowly, I launch into the movements as well. I flow through the different poses, correcting my form here and there, until finally, I see what he means.

It’s like when I’m at the gym to box, except… different. That’s about proving my strength to the world. Seeing how much I can destroy and how much I can make an impact around me.

This is like… proving something to myself.

The sun moves while I follow Leander’s movements. When it’s overhead, and the sweat is pouring down both of us, I pause.

“Damn,” I mutter. “That was… something.”

Leander cracks a small smile. “Yeah. It sucks that I can’t remember anything, but at least I have some muscle memory?”

“Wonder what other types of muscle memory you have,” I add casually.

I didn’t mean it to be sexual. I really, really didn’t. But the second the words come out of my mouth, all of the desire that I managed to keep at bay during the hour or so we just spent together comes roaring back.

I look away, stepping over to the porch so I can eat my long-forgotten croissant, and hope that Leander doesn’t think I’m a very creepy person. Which, he might already think…

“So. Did you bring that whole bag just for yourself?”

A little relieved, I toss him the paper bag. “Oakwood Bakery. One of the owners did some kind of online class, and they’ve really improved their pastry offerings.”

Leander bites into the morning bun. “Damn. How good of a class was it?”

I laugh. “Good enough to make a killer pastry, I guess.”

“Yeah. Well. The only thing I need now is a shower or something, and I’d call this a pretty successful morning.”

I narrow my eyes. I could definitely offer up the shower in my cabin, which would be the logical thing to do. He’s used it for the past few days. There’s a nice, normal shower there, with plumbing and everything, and if I was a good nurse, I’d send him in there with a smile and a reminder to clean behind his ears. However…

“How do you feel about a little adventure?”

Leander raises one of his eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

I let my smile creep across my face. “You in or out?”

There’s no hesitation as he nods. “In, Ember. Always in.”

I pretend that my name on his lips doesn’t send a shockwave of desire over my skin. I stretch and give him a look.

“Shift and follow me.”

The lake is technically not in pack territory. That’s part of the reason that it’s an adventure. It’s also technically a very challenging place to get to, as it’s a high alpine lake… surrounded by steep, razor-sharp cliffs.

Leander matches my pace as I run the couple of miles up the trail to the lake. I’m impressed; I won’t lie. There are very few wolves who can keep pace with me, but Leander does, which makes me think that he’s even further along in his healing journey than I thought.

What if he’s faking the amnesia?

I shake off the thought, powering up the rock scramble toward the alpine lake. I don’t know shit about Leander, but if he is faking amnesia, I’m sure that I’ll figure it out soon enough.

Also, if he is faking it, then I’m going to…

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