To Suffer With

Chapter Seventeen - I'm Yours

Five days on and I found myself slipping into an easy routine. My days were spent going through boxes of complaints passing those with merit onto Roman. Roman also had me helping him build a list of victims and trying to decide on appropriate compensation. As if a monetary value could ever undo the hurt that had been caused. But it was something at least. To say life was pleasant would be a lie. But it was something that wasn't awful either.

Roman was always so busy that the time I had with him was never spent on anything but the task at hand. I know that if I told Roman I wanted to spend time with him, he'd drop everything but I liked the distance between us.

"Brett," I call out to the werewolf girl up ahead of me on the path.

Brett stops short eyes drifting from me to the door to the packhouse seemingly considering if she would make it there before I caught up. Evidently, she decides she can't because she turns to face me arms crossed.

"What do you want?" she questions me, tapping her foot impatiently.

I wonder briefly what a Brett without attitude looks like.

"I just wanted to know where Roman is," I say.

Usually, I wasn't the one looking for Roman. He often came by the cabin once a day to discuss things and then back at nights as a wolf of course.

Brett flicks her wrist over checking the time before nodding back to the opposite side of the pack house. "Training," she tells me before turning away from her hair whipping back in the wind behind me.

"Helpful," I mutter under my breath wishing she had told me exactly where to go. Though as I glance up, I figure I could just follow the trail of sweaty werewolves.

The training ground I discover is on the west side of the property. Several groups of wolves were in the midst of training, some in wolf form, some not. The resistance had a pretty casual training schedule which was defined by laughter and smiles for the most part. The wolves seemed to take their training a little more seriously. Seeing them in action was frightening and made me question the validity of winning a war against them. Some of the wolves were clearly quite young, early teens at most.

Roman was on the far side of the training ground my eyes seemed to locate him immediately. Like most of the wolves around here, his upper half is devoid of covering. Golden muscles gleam in the sun, his muscles flexing as he pours water over his body. He might as well be a damn commercial. It seems like I'm not the only one who thinks so. I can see female wolves admiring him as if they even had a chance. Annoyance slides over me at their obvious attraction to Roman. Surprise washes the annoyance away, why did I even care? Why did the sight of Roman shirtless make me want to admit that I was attracted to him? I curse myself. It was Roman's mark on me I decide that's what was causing this.

With renewed determination I march up to Roman who smiles at my approach.

"Al," he greets me dismissing the wolves around him with a simple nod.

"I wanted to ask you something," I tell him shifting my feet nervously, "you said I could leave the pack-house if I wanted and I would like to. Now I mean."

Five days not leaving this place was making me stir crazy. Though I knew Roman had said he'd let me leave I was terrified he would renege on his words and keep me trapped. Or worse decide he had to accompany me.

Roman leans down to retrieve something from the bag beside him while I try to ignore the ripple of his muscles. I couldn't understand what was happening to me today. Roman throws something cold and metallic my way and I catch it barely. They're keys, car keys clearly.