Everyone at the compound was friendly to her, but she still felt out of place. She was the only human here unless she counted the children who arrived at the compound with Sister June and Duncan, but she didn’t. The children didn’t know vampires and hunters surrounded them; Lucien had told her the vampires altered their memories regularly to keep them safe.
There was also Elyse’s father, who was still human, but his daughter was here, and he’d found a place working with the head of security, Roland. She didn’t know if she’d ever find a home here. She also didn’t know if she wanted to stay. Before the Savages disrupted her life, she had a purpose. Now, she felt utterly lost.
On the morning of the seventh day, she meandered into the garden for what felt like the hundredth time. She strolled among the rows of plants and stopped to smell some newly blooming roses before continuing toward the fountain in the center.
It was there she discovered Kadence and Simone standing with their hands over their heads and their legs braced apart as they looked toward the sky. She’d taken a couple of yoga classes, but she couldn’t remember the name of this pose.
She started to retreat, but before she could, Kadence opened her eyes and spotted her. “Hi,” she greeted.
Callie smiled as Simone lowered her hands.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Callie apologized.
“You’re not interrupting,” Kadence said. “Would you like to join us?”
Callie hesitated and almost retreated, but she missed the company of others. Lucien spent most of his days training. He returned to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her, and they spent their nights entwined in each other’s arms, but it wasn’t the same.
“I’m not very good at it,” she said.
“That doesn’t matter,” Simone said. “It’s a big stress relief.”
“I could use that,” Callie said, and they chuckled.
They’d been friendly since she arrived, and considering she had no idea how long she was going to be here, she decided to make the best of it. She stepped off the end of the path and strolled over to join them.
“I don’t have a mat,” she said.
“You won’t need one today,” Kadence said. “I’ll bring an extra one tomorrow that you can have.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I take them from the gym.”
“Do you do this every day?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a great way to start the day,” Simone said.
Callie had enjoyed the classes she took, but she never had the time to commit to it. Now, she had all the time in the world.
She stopped a few feet away from them, and they returned to the position she initially found them. Lifting her hands over her, she followed their movements. She was nowhere near as graceful as they were, and she almost fell over a couple of times, but by the end of the session, her body was a lot looser.
“You did great,” Kadence said as she rolled up her mat.
“Thanks,” Callie said. “I feel a lot better.”
“We do training exercises with the hunter women in the afternoon too, if you want to join us,” Simone offered. “Willow usually leads that group.”
“I’d like that a lot.” She didn’t know how long she would be here, but she might as well make friends and learn how to defend herself while here. “Those Savages….”
Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of the right word to describe them.
“Are horrible,” Kadence said.
“Yes, and must be stopped. I don’t know what I can do as a human, but I refuse to be as defenseless against them as I was last time.”
“We can help you with that,” Simone said she tucked her mat under her arm.
Callie fell into step beside Simone and Kadence as they returned to the mansion and descended into the gym. She’d been in the gym once before when Lucien gave her a tour of the place. It was empty then, but now it was full of vampires and hunters battering punching bags, sparring with weapons, jumping rope, or running on treadmills.
Her gaze roamed those gathered within as she searched for Lucien. When she spotted him, a smile tugged at her lips, as he and Declan circled each other on a mat.
Standing outside the mat, Killean had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall and watched them with a critical eye. Willow stood next to him. Her head tilted to the side as she focused on Declan.
Callie’s breath caught when Lucien went in low to take Declan down, but Declan deflected the movement. Lucien was far stronger than when they first met, but he wasn’t completely healed. He’d gained weight, but his clothes were still a little loose on him.
“Lucien’s looking a lot better,” Simone said as if she could read Callie’s thoughts.
“Yes, he is,” she murmured.
Still, she didn’t think he was ready for this. However, she was probably overprotective. He’d come to mean so much to her over the past couple of weeks that it made her heart ache to see Declan deflect him again.
“They’re all stubborn,” Kadence said, “and infuriating; we worry about them all the time, especially when they go out to hunt.”
Callie tore her attention away from Lucien long enough to meet Kadence’s sky blue eyes. “You go out there to hunt with them sometimes.” It wasn’t a question; she’d seen Kadence leave the compound with some of the others.
Kadence laughed. “Far more often than Ronan would like me to, but he has no choice. I’ve trained hard to become an asset instead of a hindrance out there.” She waved her hand at Simone. “We both have.”
Callie wondered what that must be like. There was no way they would let her go out there as a human, and she didn’t blame them. If she didn’t get herself killed by doing that, she’d most likely get one of them killed.
She and Lucien had never discussed her ever being anything other than human as they continued to reside in their small bubble, but that bubble would soon pop. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life aimlessly rambling the grounds as she hid here. There was something infinitely sad about the idea of doing so.
Lucien made a move toward Declan again, and when he went to deflect it, Lucien darted to the right and enclosed his arms around one of Declan’s thighs. Declan grabbed Lucien’s arms, and the two of them went to the mat.
Callie gave a small fist pump and then blushed when she realized Simone and Kadence had seen her. She had no idea if it was acceptable to cheer for one over the other.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be,” Kadence replied. “We understand.”
Callie smiled at her and then followed as Kadence continued through the gym to the back wall. A stand full of mats lined the wall, and they slid theirs into two open spaces.
Callie spent the next few days meeting Kadence and Simone in the morning for yoga before having lunch with Lucien. Afterward, she attended the hunter training. She felt more comfortable with the hunter women; they weren’t entirely human, but they weren’t as fluid or graceful as the vampires.
Kadence had explained to her that at one time, hunter women weren’t allowed to do anything like this. Some still refused to participate in the training, but many had taken an interest in learning at least basic self-defense.