On the plus side, it assured me the Sillin was important toher.
Now if I could justfig—
Liam swiped my ankle with his foot, sending me flailing backward. Air whooshed out of my lungs with an audible, “Oomphf,” and little stars spangled myvision.
I blinked. The stars glittered less fiercely, but they were still there, brightening the maze of metal tubes crisscrossing theceiling.
I wasnevergetting backup.
Ever.
Liam brushed his brow with his forearm, pushing back the locks of dark-brown hair plastered to his forehead, before extending his arm. Even though my hand felt attached to a massive dumbbell, I heaved my fingers off the mats and latched onto Liam’s. He hauled me up so fast I stumbled against him. The contact had me pitching backward. Thankfully I stayed upright, but that had little to do with my footwork and everything to do with his solidgrip.
Averting my gaze from his piercing one, I slid my hand out of his and rubbed the back of my hot neck. “I’m beat, Liam. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to run tomorrow morning withMatt.”
He observed me slowly and silently, his musky, minty scent ribboning off his gleaming skin and filling the air, stirring many conflicting emotions withinme.
After an entire minute, he nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay, we’redone?”
When he nodded, I contemplated fist-pumping the air, but the effort that would take feltremarkable.
“And okay to canceling your run. You’ll do enough running on Sundaynight.”
It took my frazzled brain a second to remember that Sunday night was the full moon—the entire pack’s night out in fur. After a certain age, werewolves could only shift during the fullmoon.
Last month, I’d run with the pack for the first time in my life. I’d experienced another first that night too. I wondered if Liam was also remembering our kiss. Even though so much had happened since then, I’d forever cherish thatnight.
As we walked over to the bench where Sarah was trying to convince Lucas to cut his hair or jump on the manbun-trend wagon, I said, “Shouldn’t we be training infur?”
“We’ll get to that,” Liamsaid.
“And shouldn’t we be practicing withSillin?”
“We’ll get to thattoo.”
“When?”
“You visit the Watts’ construction site, and suddenly, you’re in ahurry?”
So he knew . . . Had he smelled August on my fingertip, or had Matt informedhim?
“Why are you suddenly sounhurried?” I volleyedback.
His expression, which had been far from open, shuttered up. He snatched a bottle of water from the bench and tipped the rim to his lips, squashing the plastic between hisfingers.
Concern edged Sarah’sfeatures.
“You told me I wasn’t allowed to date him or hang out alone with him. I wasn’t alone, and we’re not sneaking around, so I don’t get why you’re giving me attitude about this.” Suddenly, I wasn’t exhaustedanymore.
“Hey, Lucas, can you show me where the water fountain is again?” Sarah asked, springing off thebench.
Lucas pointed to the back of the gigantic room. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his outstretched finger and heaved him up, letting go as soon as he was on his feet. If I wasn’t seething, I might’ve laughed at his stunnedexpression.
She jutted her head, and he followed suit, even though he seemed reluctant to leave Liam and me alone. What did Lucas think I would do? Claw up Liam’s prettyface?
“Subtlety’s not your forte, huh?” I heard Sarah ask. Whatever Lucas answered made her bellow, “Oh my God, get overyourself.”
