“It happened to you…” I said in barely a whisper. “I saw that little room with all the claw marks on the walls." My words quickened as my panic started rising again. "They kept you locked in there, Talon. I don’t want that to happen to me—or to you. I don’t want to—”
“Rowan, calm down now.” Cade’s bark cut through the panic in my chest. Then his voice softened. “Talon is right. That will not happen. We won’t let it."
I forced myself to breathe slowly, taking a deep inhale and exhale. “Then what am I supposed to do? How can I control the wolf when I can barely keep her calm now? I’ll be terrified and anxious. Am I just supposed to walk in and act like I’m not?”
“That’s exactly what you’re going to do,” Cade said evenly. “You’ll take your sedative right before the appointment. We can’t risk your wolf making an appearance.”
Ryker leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. “What exactly are they looking for anyway? I mean, Zolkos already took enough blood to drain her last time. Plus all the samples they took without our permission while she was in a coma.”
“That’s what we’re going to figure out,” Cade said, glancing at Talon. “We need to know what they are after, what they suspect. Until we do, we keep our heads down and play this smart. Rowan goes to the appointments, does what Zolkos says. Let him think she’s compliant.”
Ryker snorted. “Rowan and compliant are two words that don’t go together.”
I shot him a glare. “What if they notice something? Or worse, what if they already know something?”
“Let us handle that, Pet,” Talon said.
Cade exhaled, leaning back in his chair. “In the meantime, you'll keep training, Rowan. Shifting lessons in the woods will continue. It's imperative that you develop your senses and control. If anything goes wrong, you'll have to be able to shift on command. We’ll also start combat and self-defense training. You can’t afford to be helpless.”
“I’m not helpless! I think I proved that when I killed that direworg last night, and those alphas that attacked me!”
Killian came to my defense. “Little Bird bites,” he said withpride in his voice.
Talon’s eyes gleamed with intensity. “Your wolf is strong, and her instincts are good. But you couldn’t even summon her last night without being chased through the woods. You need control and discipline. And the alphas you killed? You caught them by surprise. The next ones will be harder to kill than that.”
“So you’re saying the only reason I’m alive is because I got lucky? Thanks, Talon.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Pet.”
“Wow. Great. Thanks for the pep talk.”
“Don’t take it personally, Kitten,” Ryker said with a chuckle. “Tally here’s just hard to impress.Ithink you’re a badass for killing that direworg. Saved Killian’s ass, too.”
Talon rolled his eyes, and Ryker just grinned wider.
The two of them started bickering back and forth about whether I could defend myself until Cade’s bark cut through the noise. “Enough!”
He sighed, rubbing his temples. “This isn’t up for debate. Talon’s right. Rowan’s instincts are good, but her control is lacking. She needs extensive training, and we have to be careful not to get caught while she’s learning.”
“So what, you’re just going to keep dragging me into those infested woods at night and hope I don’t get eaten by a direworg?”
Cade shot me a warning look. “We will protect you, Rowan. We’ll start small, form a perimeter while you shift, and stay alert. They don’t normally travel that far south, but I underestimated how much has changed since we’ve been gone. During the day, we’ll focus on strength training and self-defense drills. Our packmate-bond is complete now, and your scent has muted, so you can go,accompanied, to the training facility onbase.”
I perked up at that. It meant they were letting me off my leash, finally giving me some breathing room. How long had it been since I’d left our dorm for anything?
Sensing my excitement, he reiterated, “accompanied,” just to drive home the point that someone would watch me every second.
My mind raced, replaying everything we had discussed: the science visitation, Cade calling me helpless, and the need to gain control over my wolf.
Talon caught my inner monologue, and his attention turned to me. “You’re notcompletelyhelpless, Rowan. But right now, you’re unpredictable, and that’s dangerous for all of us.”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll train, listen, and learn. I’ll do whatever you all tell me to, and I won’t complain.”
Ryker laughed. “You say that now, but I give it a week before you’re back to getting spanked for calling Cade a control freak.”
“Because he is,” I muttered.
Cade groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You all test my patience.”
