Damn it.
Julian never texted more than twice, let alone said please. Which meant, if I didn’t come, he would hunt me down. Then I would spend the next hour getting a lecture from him and end up doing what he wanted anyway just to shut him up. Honestly, if we were sleeping together, it would have been easier to deal with all the trouble I was always getting into.
Blowing out a long breath, I hung my head. I only got a few feet down the hallway before I realized I didn’t even know where the gym was or that we even had a gym here. What was it used for? A class? Recreation?
“Hey.” I stopped a student, their eyes widening in fear. A strange reaction I hadn’t come across yet.
Their eyes darted around, their voices shaking as they spoke. “Uhhh... yes?”
“Do you know where the gym is?” I tried my best not to sound annoyed. I hadn’t even done anything to cause such fear from the students. Surely my parents’ name couldn’t be causing this much of a reaction.
“Oh, uh, the gym.” They paused for a moment and then pointed down the hall. “It’s on the first floor, toward the exit to the Wolf’s Den.” They offered me a small smile. “You know those meatheads can’t help but spend every waking minute working out.”
“Riiight, well thanks.” I offered what I hoped was a pleasant smile before heading in the direction they pointed.
A few minutes later, I was pushing the gym doors open.
It wasn’t like the school gyms I’d seen on T.V. with a large basketball court and then maybe a weight room somewhere else. It was closer to the training room at the Hunter’s Guild with an area for sparring and different weights on one side of the room. The whole area had a track painted on the ground encompassing the entire area.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. My mom spent more than her fair share of time at the guild, she probably took notes from them and implemented it here.
When I stepped into the room, the sound of weights clinking slowed and then stopped. A handful of students walked or ran around the track. While no one was using the training mats, the weight machines and benches were mostly occupied by whatlooked like werewolves. Guess that student wasn’t wrong about them spending all their time in here.
“Miss Durand.”
I turned toward Julian’s voice. He stood on the opposite side of the gym near the mats, a bundle of black clothes his hand. He quirked his fingers at me instructing me to come over there.
Gritting my teeth, I stalked across the gym, crossing through the track and passing by the weights. I received several jeering comments and low growls but more of them just glowered. No love lost with the werewolves.
Stopping in front of Julian, I glanced over my shoulder at curious looks we were getting. “This is being discrete?”
“I’m a hunter and a professor. There isn’t an instructor here for the type of sparring you’re used to and...” he lowered his voice, giving me a pointed look, “This will keep you from having another incident.”
I huffed. “Still... it’s going to look weird.”
“It’s fine. I talked to President Fleming. and he agreed—”
“You talked to Tristen about me?” My tone went up an octave.
Julian blew out a breath, rubbing his brows with his fingers. “I have class at eleven, so if you’re going to argue with me about every single thing we aren’t going to get much training in.”
I glared, crossing my arms over my chest. “Maybe I don’t want to train with you.”
“Maybe you’d like to train with one of them?” Julian jerked his head toward the gym. “I’m sure any one of them would like to get their claws into you.” He gave me a pointed look, an obvious jab at my recent injury.
A few of the wolves had abandoned their weights and were watching us intently. No doubt straining to hear every single word.
Suddenly, Flynn’s words from class came to mind. I didn’t know if it was pride or if I was simply tired of everyone thinking I was just some human with powerful parents, but I dropped my bag on the floor and turned back to Julian.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
Lips twitching, Julian tossed me the black clothing. “Good. Get dressed. Let’s show these wolves what you can do.”
Chapter 12
Julian
I leaned against the wall of the gym, waiting for Jack to come back from the locker room. My eyes scanned the gym, taking in every supernatural creature in the room, the exits, the possible weapons.
