Page 59 of Carmichael's Omega

15 - Stretching

Cassidy

The gym is a weird place. And it smells.

"You look excited," Alize says in a wry tone.

"I never really went to the gym before," I say. I was excused from gym class in high school. I look around, awed by the machines everywhere. I recognize some of them, like the treadmill, but others are just a jumbled mess of steel and ropes. There's one set of machines that draws my attention. It's a set of stairs that moves; a stair-stepper? It looks terrible.

"I want to try that," I point at the stair-stepper.

Alize eyes it, then me, doubtfully. "Let's warm you up on the treadmill, OK?"

I nod enthusiastically. I can handle walking. Most of the time.

I hop on the treadmill that Alize indicates, and she sets it up for me. She gets on the one next to me and starts, too.

"You're doing really great," I tell her. She nods with a tight, little smile. She hasn't been out of the LaNu House much, but now she needs to start re-acclimating herself to life slowly. She's scared of her mate finding her. The expectation in her pack was that she would die, either by illness or suicide. It makes my heart hurt.

And my lungs hurt. And my legs. And my stomach. I'm breathing heavily while Alize snickers lightly at me. She speeds her treadmill up, but when I try to do the same, she stops me. "No, just walk for another ten minutes, then take a break, right? Don't kill yourself the first time in the gym."

"OK," I tell her. I'm very proud when I say it without gasping.

After ten minutes, I hop off, grateful. The room moves a little, but I don't fall. Another win for me. I sit on a nearby bench and offer Alize a wave. I pop open my water bottle and drink the flavored sports drink Alize insisted that I have, 'for replenishment.'

Looking around the gym, I see a familiar face. I straighten, peering closer. On the stair-climber machines is one of the two females who confronted Carm about me just a couple of weeks ago.

I glance at Alize, who is now running with a look of steady concentration on her face. She looks like she could run for days at that speed. Lucky.

Feeling a little guilty at leaving Alize's side, I go over to the stair-climbers and... well... climb on. It takes a moment. The stairs are not meant for someone with vertically challenged legs.

The female eyes me struggling with a wary look on her face. When I finally make it to the top, I smile at her. She doesn't smile back, but she hasn't shoved me off the stairs yet. I look at the controls for the machine. Carefully, I read the instructions before starting the machine on its lowest setting. It moves, and I cling to the bars for dear life as my short legs start traveling without my permission.

"Are you alright?" the female says begrudgingly.

"I'm fine!" I lie brightly. "I'm Cassidy," I introduce myself.

She turns back to the controls on the screen. "I know."

She's silent for a minute. I let her be quiet, just concentrating on not falling off the stair-climber. My bottom already aches.

"I'm Adriana," she offers a moment later.

I smile at her. "You're in Carm's pack, right?" I ask.

She nods slowly. "Yes. The LoboGris." Silence descends. My bottom hurts. "What pack are you from?" she asks warily.

"ClearHowl," I say brightly.

Her eyes widen a little. "So... you're rich? And your Beta, he is theLobo loco."

I almost topple off of the stairs. I don't only because I don't know how to stop the machine other than the big, red button. According to every cartoon in existence, you should never push big, red buttons. "Teague isn't crazy!" I protest.

Adriana looks back down at her machine. "You know him?"

"Of course," I shift, uncomfortable in oh, so many ways. "He... um... he's our Beta."

"The Alpha who is Beta," she says.

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