Wolfsfoot (Kingdom of Wolves #1)

Two warriors walk into the entrance where we are standingand look over at Chief Glen. “The border warriors are in place, but all elitewarriors are on their way here.”

Chief Glen turns to me and gives me a small smile, which isa tick of his top lip. “Good morning, Tati. Alpha Walker has informed me you’llbe shadowing two of my warriors this week. But he also told me something abouttree climbing. Now I’ve seen Lyle here climbing trees all week with his closecircle of friends, but I hadn’t known it was an exercise.”

Giggling because I’ve watched Lyle and his friends trying toout-climb each other, but none as yet can beat my record. “Yes, it’s somethingmy trainer at home has had me doing often. It’s good for agility, strength, andendurance.”

“Who do you train with at home?”

“Drake Redwood trains me, but his wolf Polaris is far harderon me than Drake is.” I can’t help the smile on my face because Polaris is ataskmaster, but he’s also got a sense of humor that you wouldn’t expect a wolfto have.

“Drake Redwood, my, my, it’s been a lot of years since Iheard his name. Oh, this will be interesting to see. You’ll be shadowing me andSloane for the first couple of days, then you’ll shadow Jade.” I notice hegives Jade a warning look, but she doesn’t react. That doesn’t have me fooled,however, because I’ve seen enough she-wolves like Jade to know she’ll bide hertime.

Two more warriors walk into the building, and I step asideso they can pass me and stand near Chief Glen. They look at me with interest,but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a female Alpha or just because I’m female.

“Let me introduce you to all these assholes,” pointing fromthe left to right. “Lucas, Eli, Mac, Jade, you know, and Sloane.” I give themall a small nod and smile as they are introduced, and apart from Jade, they allreturn the gesture.

“Sloane, you and I will be with Lyle and Tati. But we’re allgoing outside to test out this tree climbing I’ve been hearing about.”

Lyle throws his head back and laughs loudly before lookingat Chief Glen. “I’ll bet you two days of border patrol that none of you canbeat Tati’s time.”

Chief Glen looks at me carefully, then at his warriors,turning back with amusement in his eyes. “No.”

The warriors argue that they’ll beat my time, and why wouldtheir Chief think they couldn’t do it? Oh, they’ll prove us all wrong. I,however, can see the Chief and Lyle grinning in amusement.

We can do this Tati. It’ll be fun. We have to watch Jade.She’ll cheat or try to hurt us if we don’t watch her.

‘Yeah, I agree Ebony. We’ll both watch out for any dirtytricks she may play.’

Outside and entering the forest area, I look around and picka tree with a huge thick trunk. One, you’ll not get your arms or legs around,but I’ll be able to extend my claws enough to dig in for the climb. It’s tallenough that I’ll be able to get high and place a mark they all have to reach.

“This one.” I point at the tree. Then do stretches, warmingmy muscles and ignoring all the talk behind me. Once I’m ready, I turn and lookat Chief Glen. “I’m ready. Can you time it?”

“I’ll time it. How many climbs are you doing?”

I look at Lyle, and he grins before advising. “I think sixwill do it, Tati. It nearly killed me the first time I did six.”

“Okay.” Turning to Chief Glen. “Six it is.”

“When you’re ready, I’ll start my stopwatch.” Which he takesout of his pants pocket and holds up for all to see. He has a huge smirk on hisface, and I’m thinking he knows more about my tree climbing than I originallythought.

Getting myself mentally ready, I nod at Chief Glen to lethim know whenever he says ‘Go’. I’m ready for the climb.

“GO!” Chief shouts, and I take the five steps to the treefast.

Launching myself upwards and using my claws and the tips ofmy trainers, I scramble up the trunk, into the branches and snap a branch whenI’ve gotten as high as is safe. I descend as fast, but as soon as I’m lowenough I jump from the tree, throwing myself to the ground where I land bendingmy knees to take the shock, before running to the Chief, turning and doingagain.

The sixth time I jump from higher than previously, but stillland with the help of Ebony without injuring myself and run to stand next tothe Chief who clicks the stopwatch.

Looking at his stopwatch, back to me, then back to his stopwatch,he chuckles. “That’s going to take some beating. You’ll have to do it in lessthan 4 minutes, 28 seconds.”

Lyle laughs, grabs me around the neck, and drags me to hischest, where he hugs me tightly. I can feel the laughter rumbling in his chest andI can’t help but think that he’d have been a good mate, but sadly, he’s notmine.

“I’ll go next,” Jade states, giving me a look that has herthinking she’ll beat my time. I shrug because it doesn’t matter to me if shedoes or not. This is something I take seriously only when I’m training withDrake.

“GO!” Chief Glen shouts and Lyle lets go of me, turning towatch, but he’s not shouting encouragement as the other warriors are doing.He’s watching every move that Jade makes watching closely.

Leaning towards him, I whisper. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t know, just a feeling.”