When she punished her body, that meant the Marines suffered too. Ivan called it morning calisthenics, but she didn’t doubt that all of the Marines were quietly creating Voodoo dolls of her in their downtime.
That wouldn’t shock her at all.
Because she did this almost every morning, the Marines had to switch out. None of them wanted to run unless they were being chased.
And she understood that.
She ran to escape the demons herself.
Her trapped running partners that morning were Raphael, Uriel, and Ivan. Her head of security wouldn’t let her run without at least two archangels, and one toady.
Lucky her.
She had to give them credit. While they preferred sparring, they had kept up with her.
Mostly.
As they reached the home stretch, she liked to annoy them as much as possible.
So, she sped up.
It was just enough to make Ivan cranky, Uriel breathe heavier, and Raphael curse her under his breath.
Sue her.
It made her giggly.
Oh, don’t get her wrong. She was running on nothing, but it made her a little happier when Ivan had to double her pace because he had shorter legs.
Yeah, she was a bitch like that.
Uriel, whose real name was Caspian, lagged a bit, and she knew that was because he was just bulky and bigger. Raphael, whose real name was Winn, was leaner, and he was faster, so he got into his place, to make sure he kept the pace beside her.
You know…
In case she was abducted by aliens, Natives, or that wonkadoodle belief that there was a wendigo wandering around on the reservation.
Honestly, she thought they put that to bed.
Apparently, not.
You heard some weird shit running down wooded roads on a Native reservation.
“You got this, Marine?” she said to Raphael.
Yeah, he wasn’t amused. Winn Sawyer was normally on Ethan duty, and he didn’t run.
He walked.
Okay, he ran after his husband, but that was entirely a different thing.
So this sucked for him, and she knew it. Ten miles was torture, and he wasn’t a boot camp marine anymore.
He was a dad, and getting older—unfortunately, like the rest of them.
“When I puke on you, don’t be shocked,” he muttered, but stayed to pace.
It just proved that the Marine Corps broke the best of them and made them do questionable things. She liked to think that about working for Gabe and the US government too.
