Grant chuckles before reaching for my hand. All the bad feelings that have been swirling in my head evaporate as soon as our hands touch. I look at them, then at his face to see all his care for me on full display.
“Come on, it's time for us to head back. I think we've had enough excitement for the day, haven't we?”
I respond with a nod. “We definitely have.”
Chapter 17
LEENA
“Rise and shine.”
I open my eyes, a little startled to see Grant in my room. It still looks dark out when I turn to the window. My entire room is shrouded in darkness, making me realize that it's not morning yet.
“Come on, sleeping beauty, it's time to get up.”
“What time is it?” I ask, looking for specifics.
“It's four in the morning,” he says.
I groan, shaking my head and pulling the covers back over myself. “Man, you'd do anything not to have a good night's sleep, wouldn't you?”
Grant chuckles, a hearty sound that fills the room. It's not enough to make me feel any less tired than I already am though.
“Come on, we're getting up early because of you. There's a lot for us to do today and it's time we got started on it.”
It becomes painfully clear to me that nothing I say or do is going to get Grant to leave me alone. After lodging myself under the covers, I finally sit up in bed.
Grant's arms are folded and his head is cocked to the side. He waits for me as I slowly rise to my feet and battle with keeping my balance.
“There we are,” the alpha claps with a smile. “How're you feeling?”
“Like all the energy in the world has been drained out of me,” I confess.
“You'll feel better once we're outside.”
Sleep vanishes from my body. “I'm sorry, what? What do you mean outside?”
“We're going outside,” he repeats, like it's something I'm already supposed to know.
“For yoga or…” I rub my eyes, interrupting my train of thought.
“Nope, we're going outside to have another lesson on how to control your wolf side.”
I feel a pang of guilt in my chest. This exercise is definitely because I lost my cool two nights ago. It's not something Grant and I have talked about since then, but it's clearly something he's thought about to be doing this.
“Hey, this isn't a punishment,” he tells me, like he can sense my thoughts. “I'm just trying to do things that I should have done long ago. You need control and I'm here to help with that, okay?”
I slowly nod. “Alright, let's do it.”
We travel out of the empty house, which has only seen two visitors in the past two days. Molly and Jackson have come and gone, with no obligation to actually live at the house. Although I know Molly won’t stay away for long—neither will the twins.
Grant and I get downstairs, and I can still see the moon in the sky. There isn't much indication that it will be daylight soon, but I already look forward to seeing the sun rising over the horizon.
“One of the perks of being a shifter is your sense of smell,” Grant says, walking towards the woods. I slowly follow behind him, nodding as he gives his lesson. “You've clearly had trouble with that, but it's time to get it under control.”
The reference to how I'd run off because I thought I smelled gunpowder isn't lost on me. Still, I can't make any arguments, so I just nod along.
“How do I control it exactly?” I ask.
