The following day, stepping out of my room, I find Nate standing in front of my door.

"Nate," I say, a little surprised to see him.

"Come with me," he says and walks down the stairs.

I follow him to the living room, and he doesn't speak until I sit down.

"I've realized that finding your Mom by yourself is important to you. I've decided to let you continue with your search on one condition," he says, and for the first time since I met my mate, I smile at him.

"What's your condition?"

"I must come with you."

"You want to come with me? Why?" I ask, surprised.

"It's the only way I can ensure your safety and once we've found her I can make sure you return with me."

This is what the girls and I were talking about yesterday. He's so possessive over me, but he doesn't show any other emotion toward me.

"Agreed," I agree because I won't have to worry about him stopping me.

"Good. We leave tomorrow," he says, standing to leave.

"Thank you."

"I didn't have a choice," he grinds out and walks away.

***

The next day, I wake early to get ready. I walk downstairs after freshening up. Nate collects my bag from me when I reach the last step. I walk outside to the car so we can get going. I see Ana, Chloe, Liam, and Dan waiting for us by the car.

"I can't believe you're leaving again. I'm going to miss you," Chloe says, pulling me into a hug.

"Me too, but I'm happy you're leaving with the King's permission this time," Ana says, joining in our hug.

"I'm going to miss you too. I'm relieved he's allowing me to go this time. It's better this way," I agree with them.

"I hope you find your Mom soon," Chloe says, releasing me from our hug.

"Me too. I'll stay in touch," I say, entering the car.

"Bye," they say, waving at me as Nate drives away. He got in before me after speaking to Dan and Liam. I'm sure he was telling them how to handle things while he's away. Dan and Liam are going to be in charge until he comes back.

***

"Thank you again for helping me find my Mom," I say to him while he's driving.

"Like I said last night, I don't have a choice."

"All the same, thank you. Where are we going?"

"Back to the cabin."

"Why there?" He must be talking about the cabin where I was staying with Scarlett's trackers.

"A human claims to have seen your Mom entering vampire territory that isn't far from the cabin."

"Lucas was telling the truth then." I don't know how to feel right now. I'm relieved to have a direction in which to look, but it's in vampire territory. Her chances of being alive are slim.

"Who is that?" he demands.

"The boy you almost killed when you came for me. Are we going to go in? Won't that be dangerous?" I'm surprised he's willing to consider it. Nate might not be so horrible if he's agreeing to risk his life. Maybe he isn't as bad a person. I'll consider that he may not hate me.

"It is dangerous. That's why we will be prepared and not go in foolishly like you almost did."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, my cheeks turning pink.

"You think I don't know the real reason you had on that horrible makeup was to pass as a vampire as you entered their territory?"

"You knew," I say, surprised he is only mentioning it now.

"I did. Never try to risk your life like that again. Ever," he growls.

"I won't." I sign, accepting his authority on this. "How are we going in?"

"When the time is right, you'll know. First, we have to train you."

"Train me for what?"

"In case you face another vampire."

"That is a good idea," I agree with him. He can't always be there to save me. I need to learn how to defend myself.

"Yes, it is."

***

I wake the next day to a pair of blue orbs staring at me. I rub my eyes and sit up. Why does Nate have his face shoved in my face? Is something wrong?

"Nate, what are you doing here?" I ask, yawning. I alsmot pick up my phone from under my pillow to check the time but stop just in time. I don't want Nate knowing I have a phone.

"It's time for your training," he says, and I look at him. He's dressed to workout.

"Isn't it too early?" My blinds are down, but I can tell there's no light outside.

"No, it's not. You have ten minutes to get ready and meet me downstairs," Nate says and walks out of my room.

Why are we training so early? I remove my phone from under my pillow. It's six a.m. I was right. It's still early. I think about arguing with Nate about it, but I know better than to waste my time. I climb out of bed and walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I'll shower after our training.

I walk downstairs once I'm done freshening up. I join Nate at the end of the stairs and we walk outside together.

"This is how our training will be every day. We'll run in human form for an hour then combat skills for two hours in the morning. In the evening, we'll run again but in wolf form to increase speed, then fight to enhance wolf combat skills."

"Okay," I say, psyching myself up. Nate has everything figured out for my training.

"Come closer."

"Why?"

"Stop asking questions and come closer," he tells me again. I don't move immediately, so he drags me to him.

He pulls me to him by the waist. I wasn't expecting him to do that, so I raise my hands to shield myself from bumping into his chest. My hands are on his chest, and it feels amazing—hard and sculpted. He bends down to wrap something around my waist, which puts his face closer to mine. I lick my lips as I stare at his gorgeous lips. They looked soft which contrasted on such a hard man. I resist the urge to press mine against his. His hair drops in his face, and I have to stop myself from pushing it away from his eyes.

"Let's go," he says once he's done with my waist.

Wait, what was he putting on me? I was so engrossed in admiring him, I didn't bother to see what he was doing. I look down at my waist and notice he tied his jacket around me. Why?

I'm in a simple workout outfit—a long-sleeve tee, and leggings. I check my ass to see if something is on my ass that he had to cover, but there's nothing. If anything, my ass looks nice in the leggings, bigger even.

"Why did you tie a jacket around my waist?" I ask, trying to keep up with him as he walks outside.

"I don't need other males seeing what's mine," he says, simply.

"What's yours?" I ask, confused. He doesn't want to mate with me, but he's calling me his?

"Yes, what's mine. We're running. I don't want those human males or unmated wolves staring at what's mine," he says. I can't believe he just claimed ownership over my ass. A smile graces my face at his possessiveness. For the first time, he wasn't harsh about it.

"Okay," I say, smiling.

***

We don't even jog for more than ten minutes before I get tired. I'm not a fit person. The only reason I'm not fat is because I'm a werewolf. Running in wolf form burns enough calories to keep me from getting fat.

"Nate, can we take a break?" I ask, panting and almost out of breath.

"No. We just started," he says, and continues running. I drag my lazy ass and try to catch up to him.

"Move it, Elizabeth. We don't have all day," he yells at me because I'm going at a slower pace than him.

"Sorry," I say and try to increase my pace.

***

All morning the only words I hear are move it, don't stop, keep it going. Nate is the worst trainer in the world. He's so harsh and pushed me. I didn't have time to feel tired.

We ran for an hour and did some combat training. I almost cried every time Nate hit me. It was part of the training, but the pain was real. I got in a few punches, but with my strength it was like a baby punching a rock. He said that he was going easy on me. By the end of our morning training, I looked like I'd fought a war. At night was the same thing. Nate beat my ass in wolf form.

***

The following day's training is a little different but in a good way. Nate decides to add a few more activities to help me build strength.

"Lift it!" he screams at me to lift a giant tire. He says it'll help build my muscles and enhance my physical strength.

"I can't lift it, Nate," I say, dropping the tire on the ground after getting it up halfway.

"You need to. Now lift it!" he commands again.

I take a deep breath, use all the strength I have and lift the tire. It feels like a thousand kilograms, though I'm sure it's not.

After moving the tire back and forth for about fifteen minutes. Then we move to ropes. I feel like my hands will break as I slam the rope on the ground. Humans do this to stay fit? If I didn't have to go into vampire territory, and needed this training to do it, I'd never do this in my lifetime.

***

In the evening, we train in wolf form again. We finish running, and it's time for combat trainging.

'Attack me!' Nate mind links me in wolf form.

'Okay!' I say and try to attack him.

I run at full speed and try to attack him from below since he's so much bigger than me. But Nate anticipates it and catches me with his mouth, throwing me away from him. He didn't dig his teeth too deep into me, so I'm not severely injured. I hit a tree when he threw me, but I dust myself off and get back on all fours.

"Again," he says. This goes on for the rest of the evening.

I attack. He flings me away. He hits me. Tonight, I don't get a chance to hit him. By the time we're done, I'm so exhausted that when I change back to human form, I lie down behind the tree where I put my clothes. I know Nate isn't hurting me intentionally, but my body is struggling to recover from the hits.

I'm trying to gather the strength to stand when I feel something dropped on me. I look up, and I see Nate bending down to lift me. He scoops me off the ground after he adjusts a light blanket over my body. I snuggle close to him as the sound of his heartbeat calms me down. I unconsciously close my eyes and allow myself to drift into sleep.