“Oh, okay. Appreciate you, I’m sure they will feel much better running in than these larger ones.”
“Did you have a good night with Lina?” he asked, after a few moments of silence.
“Yeah, we had a really great time. I think she might have shared some trade secrets,” I said, before flashing him a little smile.
“Ohhhh boy. What did my dear Titi blab about?”
“I’m honestly too embarrassed to repeat any of it,” I said, my cheeks burning, eyes in my lap.
He gulped so hard. My eyes shot up and stared at him.
“Yeah… exactly,” I said.
“I’m… well… I can’t believe she told you that,” he said.
“Well, she didn’t tell me everything. Said something about mating and binding, but she didn’t explain that,” I told him.
“Oh…” he said.
“What is binding? I mean, I assume I know what mating is,” I asked.
His eyes got even larger. “Nope. We are not doingthateither.”
“Aw, ruining all the fun this morning,” I teased.
“How about we go for a run?” he asked.
“Together?”
“Well… you’ll be running, and I’ll be running separately. I was thinking we could go down the dirt road, change up the scenery. Break in those new shoes,” he said.
“I ‘spose we can do that,” I told him.
We cleaned up breakfast and did the dishes. Then we headed outside. Normally, I’d be walking or running to check on theeaglets, but instead, we headed down the dirt road. It felt much longer running it instead of driving it.
“Faster, Zalayuh,” he called out from behind me.
“Ya know I’m out of shape,” I said in between breaths.
“Well, a wolf is chasing you, and you need to run faster,” he said, closer to me than he was seconds ago.
I sucked in a breath and demanded my legs to go faster.
“Better, but I’m still right behind you,” he said, and he was. He was right on my heels.
“I don’t think I’ll ever outrun you or a wolf,” I said. I could feel his presence right behind me.
“No, you won't, but you have to try,” he said. His breath hit my neck, and goosebumps popped up all over my arms.
Focus, Zalayuh, focus. Run faster. I had it in me. I pulled a little ahead, but only for a second. I quickly weaved to the right. He picked up and got right behind me. I stopped, and he ran into my back. I threw a punch to the stomach and then darted back toward the house. It only stalled him for a few seconds. He was right back on my tail.
“Low blow, Zalayuh,” he whispered in my ear. Chills ran down my spine.
I forced my legs to go as fast as I could. Once he would get close to me, I’d weave to the right and then back to the left. It worked for the most part, leaving him a couple of steps behind me. Once we made it back to the house, my breathing was ragged. I bent over trying to catch my breath. He walked past me and into the house. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath, and my tongue was dry as sandpaper. He wasn’t gone long before his feet came back into my view.
“Here,” he said. “Water.”
I gasped for air and reached my hand out, grabbing the glass. I swallowed down the water in between my heavy breathing.