Ch. 12：First date

He opened the car boot and brought out the equipment. He came along with a dumbbell, battle ropes, a stop-watch, a whistle and jump ropes.
He hung the whistle around his neck and held the timer to his chest. “You see that tree with the markings over there?” He said pointing at a tree five hundred metres away “you are going to run there and back. I want to check out your speed.”
I stretch out my muscles and feel the adrenaline rush. My heart starts to race in anticipation. At the sound of the whistle, I take off running.
I run a minute slower than I would in my wolf form, but I manage to impress him with the time.
“You did better than I expected” he said, his demeanour towards me changing. “You were better than most of the guys I train. Since your speed is good, we will be focusing on your other aspects”
“Such as?” I asked, eager to learn more.
“Your strength, agility, core training, stance and self defence” he listed off his fingers “let's start with the core training. We’ll use running to test your agility. Have you ever used a battle rope before?”
“No” I answer honestly
“That's fine. I will show you how” he said and picked up the battle ropes.
He lines them up and crouches to a squatting position before he picks them up. He starts wiping them on the floor with speed, creating a large gust of dust in the process. I watch the muscles in his arms and legs strengthen.
He stopped after five minutes and gave them to me. “All you need to do is repeat what I just did for ten minutes, then take a minute rest and prepare to run again.” Carlton said without a change in his breath from the mini work out.
I pick them up and do as he said.
“Go a little lower,” he pressed down on my shoulders at his words.
“Widen your feet a bit” he said and kicked them apart himself.
“Straighten your back,”
“Stretch out your arms”
He fires off, correcting every mistake. He only lets me stop when the timer goes off. He halts my attempts to sit and rest.
“Keep your body in motion. If you sit now, you'll find it hard to continue”
The minute went so fast, making the rest time look like a fluke. He asked me to stretch before I run again. I crouch to a starting position and wait for the whistle.
At the sound, I take off, faster than I did earlier. This time, I'm thirty seconds slower than Athena. If I keep up at this pace, I'll be at the same wavelength on both my human and wolf form.
“Better,” Carlton said after checking the time. “you have good speed, but I believe there's still room for improvement”
“Let's move on to strength training.” He said, picking up the dumbbells and handing them to me. “You will be doing a series of exercises with this.”
He demonstrates a series of movements and asks me to do them. Like before, he points out every mistake and fires off corrections. I repeat the same action for the next few minutes, by the time he gives me a break, I'm already gassed out.
My breathing had turned irregular. I ignore his previous warnings about sitting down to rest and flop down on the floor. He lets me off for about ten minutes, before I'm hauled back up.
“I know you are tired. We've been at this for almost two hours. You lasted longer than most people would and you haven't complained.” he said praising me at my dedication “just one last thing before we call it a day. Jump ropes.” he said waving the jump ropes at my face.
I groan, but get up anyway. “I would advise you stretch out your muscles and release the tension before you begin”
I do as he said. I started when he gave the signal. Each time I made a mistake, or stopped, he'd reset the timer and ask me to do it all over again. We went at it for almost an hour before he gave me a break.
By the time he released me, my muscles had already turned to mush, I was covered in sweat and a little dirt. We take the next few minutes to get to know each other as we both rest.
He gave me a warning of what the next training would be like and promised not to go easy on me. If this was going easy, then I understand why Josh said what he said.
We shared a few laughs and forged an unspoken connection. By the time Jason came to pick me up, we had formed a camaraderie.
“Alpha,” Carlton stood up in greeting to Jason, while I waved a little from the side. He responded to both our greetings before he turned to Carlton.
“Carlton, how was it?” He asked about my progress.
“She's better than most of the guys,” Carlton answered, smiling. Jason smirks back in return “I already expected that”
“Ready?” He turned to me.
“Yeah” I answered
He led me to the car and opened the door for me first, before he settled in behind the wheel. We left Carlton behind as he packed up all of the equipment he brought along.
We converse on the way back. The flow of the conversation came naturally. By the time we got to the pack house, the clouds had become a little darker. The moonlight shining through the red sun, at that point, I wished the training ground were farther so this moment could last longer.
He walked me to the door of his room. I place my hand in the door knob, ready to open it when he stops my action.
“I laid out a dress on the bed for you. I can wait for you to shower and change. I would like to take you out on a date.” he said.
I tap into his thoughts and see he was afraid I'd reject him and his determination to try again until I change my mind about him.
“I would love to.” I said smiling. My cheeks heat up. It took self control for me not to run away like some school girl whose crush just spoke to her for the first time.
“I will wait for you downstairs. You can take your time.” He said.
I take a few seconds to admire his taste. The gown he picked was elegant and casual at the same time and it was the perfect size. I head into the bathroom. I shower and shave my legs. I whistle a tune as I get ready.
I slip into the gown and apply light make-up on my face, before I leave the bedroom.
Either my scent or the sound of my footsteps must have alerted him of my presence. He walked to the bottom of the stairs, head bowed.
The moment he looked up, his breath seized and he stood there, frozen in time. The look of admiration, love and acceptance on his face became my undoing.