“Physically, he will be,” allowed Dante, rubbing her back in a circular motion. “But emotionally? I’d say he’s going to be a wreck. You’re both very close, and you’re all he has left.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“So you’re just going to give up?”

Her eyes flared. “Excuse me?”

Good, she was angry. Anger was a good source of fuel, and she sure needed that right now.

“You’re giving up. Never had you down as a quitter, Jaime.” She tried to wrestle out of his hold, but he didn’t even seem to notice. “Giving up? If I was a quitter, I’d have bowed down to my wolf years ago. How dare you judge me! You have no idea what it’s like to live like this.”

“I can understand if you’re tired of fighting, if you’re tempted to stop fighting what you think is inevitable—”

“Think is inevitable? It is inevitable.”

He pursed his lips. “Maybe not.”

“What does that mean?”

“What I said. I want you to come with me somewhere.” Placing her on her feet, he gestured to a plastic bag beside his bed. “I had Shaya get some clothes together for you. Go in the bathroom and get dressed. Or you can dress right here if you prefer. I’m totally fine with that.” His devilish, cocky grin did something interesting to her insides. She snatched the bag from the floor and went into in the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she came out feeling refreshed and dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans—both of which were skintight. How typical of Shaya, who was not only very fashion conscious but extremely fond of clothes that highlighted every curve.

As usual, Dante’s c**k throbbed at the sight of her. He shackled her wrist with his hand.

“Come with me.”

Sighing, she allowed him to lead her through the network of tunnels, down the stairs of the cliff face, and over to the river where the patio table and chairs were set up. “What are we doing out here?” she asked the second he released her.

Dante slowly began to circle her. “Your biggest problem now is that your wolf is getting stronger, right?”

“Right,” she confirmed, confused as to where he was going with this.

“Then it stands to reason that in order to keep fighting her, you need to get stronger. You need to perfect your self-control. I don’t doubt that it’s good, but it could be better. And I can help you with that.”

“How?”

Having done two complete circles around her, he halted in front of her. “I’m going to train you.

I’m going to give you the same training I gave the enforcers. It’s hard as all hell, Jaime. There’ll be times when you’ll want nothing more than to use the skills I teach you to slit my throat. But it will help you, just like it helps me.”

That comment had her frowning. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, baby.”

The endearment and the intensity in his eyes made a tingle run down her spine. “Why is control so important to you? I know it’s nothing to do with your wolf. He’s not damaged like mine or a little too close to the surface like Trey’s.”

“No, he’s not,” allowed Dante. “It has nothing to do with my wolf.”

“Then why?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you do well with training. Are you up to it, Jaime?” It was more of a dare than a question. “Like I said, it won’t be easy. But it will make you stronger. It all depends on whether you want to keep on fighting, or whether you’re a quitter.”

CHAPTER SIX

“A short warm up?” said Jaime, gasping, as she rose from the forest floor. “More like an effective way to break my will to live. Shifter strength and speed or not, that was some hard shit.” Dante remembered thinking that very same thing on his first day of training. First, he’d had Jaime do some minor stretching, then eighty push-ups within a minute, followed by eighty sit-ups within a minute. He’d made her repeat each exercise five more times. “By the end of your training, you should be able to do eighty of both within the space of a minute.”

“Well, hell.”

“You can always stop here if you think this training will be too much,” taunted Dante. He knew that she’d never show weakness. “If you don’t think you can—” Jaime’s expression was serious as she replied, “Get on with it, Popeye.”

“Then, let’s get running.”

“Running?”

“We need to do a full lap of pack territory, but we’re aiming for you to be capable of doing three within the space of twenty minutes. It’s what I taught all the enforcers, and not just to build their fitness level. Whenever they’re on duty, they’re required to do a lap of our territory, checking for any breaches or problems. But being fit enough to do one lap isn’t good enough. What if there’s a problem and it requires them all to get on the job as a team? They can’t afford to sit down and rest while they catch their breath, which is why they trained their bodies to cope with more. And now you’re going to do the same, because we need to build up your strength.”

Jaime gave him a curt nod. “Yes, sir.”

His smile was devilish. “You really shouldn’t say that, Jaime. You don’t want me getting ideas.”

She rolled her eyes. “So, how about that run?”

As they did their lap, Dante told Jaime the type of things enforcers needed to check for when doing a patrol check: unusual odors, unfamiliar scents or footprints or markings, damage to the forest, signs of forced entry on the perimeter fence, or any fallen tree limbs that could cause damage to the perimeter fence.

By the time they were back at the river, she was panting like crazy and bent over as she nursed a cramp in her side. But she was on her feet, which was good. He recalled that Dominic had passed out at this point on his first day. “I know I should probably keep your first session simple, take it easy on you and just concentrate on improving your fitness level,” began Dante as he paced in front of Jaime. “But I won’t, just as I didn’t with the others. I needed them to understand that this was all about so much more than that. They need to be able to also work as a team that is so in sync with each other that they’re more like a well-oiled machine.”

“Well, my joints sure feel like they need oiling.”

“Stop whining. Your accelerated healing rate will have you feeling better within the hour.”