Chapter 22

Luka

Every morning I woke up with the mantra: “Today I will be better. Today I will not let Caleb down.”

Or myself, although that seemed like it might never happen.

I put on my favorite workout ensemble, an athletic skirt and a frilly exercise top. Courtesy of Mia, of course.

I opened the vanity drawer and put on the shade of lipstick that Mia liked, a terra cotta-brick color. When I first wore it, I rubbed it off right away, feeling like a clown. But I was starting to get used to it.

I did my hair up in a french braid, which I had learned from braiding the hair of the nobility at Long Lake Pack.

It had gotten to the point the last few days where I could actually sense Caleb walking down the hall to get me. At first I was at the door, to show how eager I was, but now I experimented in front of the mirror with different ways to answer when I opened it.

“Hello, your majesty…” I told the mirror, puffing my lips out like a pillow. My brown hair was starting to look silken rather than ragged.

“Is it time to train already?” I said to the mirror again.

“Your mate is ready for some close contact…” I said to myself, jerking my hip to the side.

“Luka?” A knock on the opening door.

Shit. I really hope he didn’t hear that.

“Yes? Um, hi.”

“Good morning. It’s time for training?” He pointed to his wrist, as if it were a question I should have asked myself, instead of making him do it for me.

“Oh, yeah. Right.”

I was conscious of my steps, wanting to look graceful. Instead, I ran straight into an ottoman.

“Oof!”

“Are you all right, Luka?” I couldn’t tell if it was concern or annoyance.

I laughed. “I’m fine. Just a little…uncoordinated.”

“All the more reason to be careful with you. We’ll work on gracefulness.”

Man, add that to the list of things you do not want to hear in the morning.

When I got to the doorway, he looked me up and down. Like most things Caleb does, I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

I went toward the left, on the way to the front door.

“Wrong way!” Caleb said, amused.

“We’re not going to the training facility?”

“Not today. We’re going to the one inside the mansion. It’s more intimate there.”

I’m glad I’m walking behind him, because I didn’t want to see the huge grin on my face.

He was totally no-nonsense this morning, though, which in its way was endearing. It must be a big responsibility to be not just alpha of his own pack, but the king of all the surrounding packs in the country. Sometimes, when I thought about who he was, I got vertigo, like I was about to fall from the sky.

Then I reminded myself how lowly I am. Even if his status was in the heavens, mine was far, far down below.

The huge bright training room had a bunch of new equipment since the last time we worked out here. Gone were the isometric workout machines, replaced by mats, foam bricks, and strange decorations, including crystals and statues. The music is different, too, more serene.

“We’re going to go through a series of asana poses today, Luka.”

“Asana?” It sounded like laundry detergent.

“You know, stretching. Yoga.”

“Um…”

“You haven’t heard of Yoga?”

I tried to imagine what those syllables could possibly mean. A cartoon character? Some kind of cloth? A game?

I shook my head, confused.

He shook his head, smiling enigmatically. “I’m jealous of you sometimes, Luka.”

“Me?” I pointed to myself. “You’re joking, right? You’re the alpha king.”

“It’s a type of exercise. Mystical, a lot of stretching.”

“Just stretching?”

“It’s a lot harder than it sounds. It’s probably easier to show you than to tell you. But we’ll also be doing Krav Maga, and the last thing we’ll do is Capoeira.”

“Those are words?” It sounded more like magic spells.

Caleb threw his head back and laughed. “There’s so much for you to learn. I’m almost jealous.”

I looked askance. “Jealous? Of me? Why? You’re the king of the entire nation, you rule over, what, like, twenty different packs?”

“Twenty-four.” Caleb grinned. “But it’s not all parties and official visits. I got trained from such an early age with all the decorum, all the protocols, and the knowledge that one day I’d have to fill my father’s shoes. So, getting to see the world fresh—it may not seem like it, but that’s a gift. And you get to experience it all.”

I nodded slowly, silently. “I’d never thought of it that way. So. Tell me about this yoga.”

“I’ll show you instead.” He pointed to two mats. “Green one’s mine, purple one’s yours.”

Once we got to our stations, Caleb proceeded to sit on the floor. He placed his hands palms-down, and lifted the rest of his body.

I clapped in amazement. “Wow.”

“Now you,” he said.

My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

“No.” Caleb broke into laughter. “We’re going to start with easier stuff. I’ll show you a pose, you’ll mirror it, and I’ll come over to adjust you.”

“Maybe I won’t need adjustment…”

“Maybe.” Caleb’s lips made a skeptical straight line. “First one is easy. T-pose.”

“Let me guess,” I said. I tilted to the side with a hand curved toward my hip and the other arm extended, as if I were pouring out the bittersweet liquid.

I thought Caleb would be proud, but instead he exploded with laughter. “That’s a funny joke.”

I felt cornered into silence again, not understanding what was funny. I thought it was a good inference. My face was blank.

“Tea pose? It’s not after a teapot.”

“Oh. Not a golf tee, right? Declan would talk about golf sometimes, I had to carry the tees around for him.”

Caleb shook his head, clearly still thinking I was joking, until he saw I wasn’t smiling. “No, Luka. The letter.”

I looked down, twisting my mouth to the right.

“You know, the letter? T? Like, ‘Territory?’ ‘Transfiguration?’ ;Terrific, tantalizing, talented training teammate?’”

I slowly looked up, and he could see it on my face.

“You never learned to read, Luka?”

I shook my head, lacing my fingers together. “I’m worthless, I know.”

With a look of genuine concern, he gracefully walked over to me, placing his arm around my shoulder, stroking my arm.

“Not at all, Luka. It makes you more impressive.”

“So first you’re jealous of my ignorance, and now you’re impressed by my stupidity?”

“You shouldn’t talk about yourself that way, Luka. We’re going to focus on training, but you will definitely learn to read. I’m excited by how much of the world that will open to you.”

“I’m like a child, aren’t I?”

“No, Luka. You’re a woman.” He looked at me for a few minutes, then straightened up, remembering the mission. “Well, consider this your first yoga lesson and your first reading lesson. This is the ‘T’ pose.”

He demonstrated with his arms lifted perpendicular to his torso, so straight it was like he was drawn with a ruler.

I lifted my arms up like him. He came over behind me, so close I could feel his breath, and he lifted my arms up higher and straighter.

“Like that,” he said quietly into my ear. His scent was incredible, and I loved the feel of his strong yet soft hands on my own.

“And that is the letter ‘T.’” He drew a straight line in the air and a horizontal line on top of it. “Tee.”

“Tee,” I said through giggles. “Are there poses for every letter?”

He lifted an eyebrow, thinking it over. “That’s a good question. If not, we can make one for each. There are 26 of them.”

“Twenty-six?! How am I going to remember all of them?”

“There’s a song for that. But let’s worry about that after your health is restored. You ready for the next pose? It’s a hard one.”

“Oh, no. Really?”

“Mm-hmm. It’s called mountain pose.”

“Oh my god, do I have to get high up for it?”

“If you can’t do it, it’s okay. It’s a lot to ask.”

I inhaled deeply, mustering my courage. I didn’t want to embarrass myself again. I watched closely.

“Okay, now pay attention.” Caleb stood straight, feet together, and affixed his arms straight down by his sides.

I kept watching, waiting for him to do something else. It dawned on me that that was it.

I picked up my foam block and threw it at his head playfully. It ducked and hit a shelf that held balls for sports, which bounced all over the hardwood floor.

“Good aim!” He had a devilish grin.

“Jerk,” I said, jokingly.

The session was actually quite challenging after a while, with a number of downward-facing dogs, cat pose, chair pose. But ‘T’ pose was my favorite, because it made me think of Caleb teaching me with so much care and no condescension at all.

As I got stronger, we did longer sessions with a greater variety of poses. There was bridge pose, which I liked doing, because Caleb would inevitably come over and lift my back from top to bottom to make sure I was high enough, and I loved the feel of his hands all over me, just grazing over my behind.

His scent was like a reward for the hard training, especially when his face had beads of sweat, like a glaze over his gorgeous skin.

After a week in the yoga studio, Caleb said he had a present for me.

I had no idea what it could be, or why he’d give it to me here. But it didn’t matter. He got a present, just for me?