Page 101 of Abandoned Oaths

“Fuck!” She smacked the mat. “I thought I had you.”

“You looked exactly where you were aiming.”

She sighed, dropping her forehead to the ground. “Dammit.”

“I doubt a human would have caught it, but it was too obvious for me.”

She pushed up to her elbows, not bothering to get my weight off her. It would be futile. “It’s because I’m tired.”

I took pity and swung my leg over, sitting next to her. “That’s a horrible excuse.”

She rolled onto her back and turned to look at me. “My coach would make me run three miles for even trying to pull that with him.”

“Is that what you need?” I cocked a brow.

“Maybe?” she sneered at the treadmill. “But I hate running inside.”

“That’s what makes it a good punishment.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And cruel.”

“So you haven’t suppressed that much of your wolf?”

She stared at the ceiling. “No, not even I could get rid of the desire to be outside.”

That she wanted to, and maybe even tried, was depressing. She hated her shifter side so much, I couldn’t understand. Finding out who, or what, we really were was the greatest day of my life.

It explained so much. Why we’d been abandoned. Why we were different from other children. Why we’d been isolated. It gave me understanding, power, and a level of self-acceptance I never dreamed possible.

Shifting was freedom. Accessing all of me. Unleashing a part that spend too long locked away.

Being here was hard for many reasons, but the top was not being able to change into our wolf forms. Not running through nature, feeling the earth beneath my paws.

Living in a big city was unnatural for us, but not unbearable. The itch to escape into Everglades and run was tempting, but easy enough to push away for now. That need would grow. It had only been a couple of weeks for us, but she’d resisted the urge for years. I couldn’t imagine.

“Nena, your phone is buzzing,” Cruz called from the living room.

She grunted as she pushed herself up, and I followed her out. She picked her phone up from the kitchen counter and frowned.

“What?” I asked, not caring about being nosy.

“Alessio said he’s going to be busy for the next few days. He doesn’t want me to worry if I don’t hear from him.”

She turned to me. “That’s weird, right?”

“What part?” Cruz stood from the couch and came to her other side.

“That he’s letting me know ahead of time?”

“You are his girlfriend,” I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. “But it’s not like he won’t have his phone on him. Couldn’t he just tell me he’s busy if I called?”

“Yeah, but this is more respectful.” Cruz sounded annoyed. “It’s what you would say to a person you care about. He’s being proactive and communicating.”

“Stupid green flags,” she muttered.

I ignored her. “He’s also letting you know not to expect to have plans with him.”

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