Who the hell was I kidding?
I needed it to ground myself and calm my own wolf who felt a little too excited about him touching us.
Smile. You’re on video,I reminded myself.
Outwardly I knew I looked like the picture of perfection. But inside, I was struggling to stay focused, especially with his hands on my body.
“What’s next?” I asked in a strained voice.
Monte shot me a concerned look.
“Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. There’s nothing to worry about. We’re just going to go through the basics and let you get comfortable in the harness right now. And then we’ll start with some basic belaying skills. I’ll try and expedite things as fast as possible, but you have to trust me. Give me a few sessions with you, and we’ll have you climbing places that make other people say ‘nope.’ But you? You’re going to crush it.”
Monte
Chapter 13
Our first lesson of the day went better than I expected. But it would seem that the video team expected to come in and have her trained and climbing after one quick hour or two lesson. I had to stand firm and explain to them that it wasn’t going to happen that way. There was no way I was going to put my mate in danger like that. If she was going to truly test this harness, then she was going to have to take the proper steps to learn to climb.
I had to admit she was picking it up quickly. I’d have her scaling big walls in no time—if she could get over her fear of heights.
That was understandable. We were wolves, and they weren’t exactly known for climbing.
“Why do you do it?” she asked me over dinner. “It’s terrifying.”
I shrugged. Even though we were alone in the suite, I didn’t trust that eyes and ears weren’t there too. It was why I much preferred being out in nature than in a public place like this. Phones, smart TVs, Alexa, Siri, and any other number of devices could pick up everything said and send it off to God knew where for who knew to listen in.
“You know that exhilarating feeling when you’re running through the woods?” I lowered my voice to a level no human and hopefully human device could capture. “In your fur.”
“Yeah. I know that feeling.”
“Well, in a way that’s how rock climbing feels for me. It’s a similar rush but . . .” instead of saying the word skin, I just plucked at mine so she’d understand.
She nodded. “I suppose I can see where you’re coming from.”
The rest of our break was spent quietly as she contemplated what I’d said. For me, I just enjoyed being with her. Our bond was growing, and I feared there was no way to stop it now. But I also didn’t think I wanted to.
I liked being with Zoey. She was nothing like I expected her to be, at least not behind closed doors when we were relaxed and truly ourselves. I didn’t love her fake persona used in public, especially in front of a camera, but it hadn’t felt fake as we’d gotten into the lesson.
After barely an hour break, Gail knocked on the door.
“Time’s up. Back to work and let’s move this along a bit faster. We still need to get this footage into production.”
I growled softly and scowled at her. “You cannot rush this. It wouldn’t be safe.”
“Oh come on. It’s one ten-minute clip at most. We can even edit it to make it look as if she’s higher off the ground than she is. We aren’t filming an entire documentary here.”
“Then let me work with her and you can come back for the end.”
She huffed. “Unfortunately, Bryan posted a thirty second teaser and it went instantly viral. Her fans are loving the connection between the two of you already.”
“Wait, I’m in the video?”
“Of course you are. What the hell do you think we’ve been doing all day? That was part of the agreement. And the chemistry between the two of you is the only reason I haven’t packed up and taken her elsewhere. Those sparks are gold in this industry and really hard to fake. You’re doing great. Now get your ass back in there and do it faster.”
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
Logically, I knew I would be in parts. I’d even spoken to the camera like an idiot, though I didn’t expect them to use any of that and I certainly didn’t expect to be in the teaser. What the hell had they caught on camera? I had assumed they would be focused on Zoey, so I had been relaxed and myself just concentrating on her. Once we settled into the lesson, I’d mostly forgotten about the cameras. So again, what the hell had they caught, and what connection between us was in that teaser she was talking about?
