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“Is that a normal thing?”

“No.”

I adjusted the strap on my hydration pack. “The full route is four miles.”

Sloane huffed. “You said date, not torture.”

“It is a date.”

“You brought me to a mountain and announced I’d be participating in aggressive cardio.”

“You’ve been training, so it shouldn’t be that bad.”

She tilted her head. “Hudson, you’ve been training your entire life. I’ve been jogging intermittently for a few months and complaining about it every chance I get.”

“We can walk whenever you need.”

That satisfied her enough to begin.

The trail climbed gradually through the woods before narrowing along the ridge. Pack members usually covered it quickly in wolf form, following scent markers and familiar turns.

On two feet, the route changed. We noticed details wolves moved past too quickly. Fallen logs covered in moss. The water running under flat stones. Birds calling from the upper branches while sunlight moved through the canopy.

Sloane started running at a cautious pace. I matched her.

For the first half mile, she focused entirely on breathing. Then she found her rhythm.

“This is surprisingly not terrible,” she said.

“You sound disappointed.”

“I had several complaints prepared.”

I laughed. “You can still use them if you’d like.”

“I don’t want to waste good material.”

We reached the first hill. Sloane looked up. “That looks intense.”

“It ends eventually.”

“Everything does. That doesn’t make it appealing.”

We slowed to a fast walk. She kept pace without asking to stop.

Months earlier, the incline would have exhausted her. Now she climbed with strong, determined strides, breathing hard but recovering quickly when the ground leveled.

“You’ve gotten faster,” I said.

“I had a strong motivation.”

“What was it?”

“Pretending to have the stamina of a wolf.”

She bumped her shoulder against mine. I caught her hand before she moved away. We ran the next section together. At one point, Sloane attempted to jump over a shallow ditch, misjudged the landing, and crashed into me.

I held her upright.