Harley had failed to ask when training would start.

Looking back on it, she didn't know why she thought it would start later. Maybe she'd been holding too tightly onto the idea that Will would be nice and let her sleep in like an actual human being.

Instead, she'd been tackled. "Wakey wakey!" Someone shouted in her ear.

Once the initial panic was over—her brain immediately telling her she was being attacked—she let out a groan and burrowed further under the covers.

"Harrrrrrrllleeeyyyyyyyy" Bailey somehow found her hip and tickled it. "This is your wake up call."

She mumbled something into her pillow that sounded an awful lot like 'Go the hell away'.

"I would, but I can't." The sheets disappeared and Harley was left looking bleary-eyed at her friend. "Our all-powerful rogue hunter wants to get you started."

"Why couldn't we start later?"

At that, Bailey shrugged. "Will is a morning person."

"But I'm not. Isn't this supposed to be my training?"

Her friend laughed. "It is. You know what? You go give him a piece of your sleep-deprived mind and I'll stand back for moral support...with a video camera in my hand."

That sounded like a terrible idea. Harley didn't know Will very well, but she did know him enough to know that he could be stubborn when it came to defense and protection.

"Ugh, fine. I'm getting up."

It took her twenty minutes to brush her hair and teeth and put on a t-shirt and sweatpants. She could've done it a lot faster if she had to, but she dragged her feet as a way to rebel at the god-awful hour.

Her tiny clock on the dresser said eight. Eight!

Bailey waited outside the doorway. "Ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be." She rubbed at her eye. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Will trains the rest of the wolves in a clearing about a mile from the pack house. He wants us to meet him there this morning...though I'm sure you'll be bouncing back and forth between the clearing and the workout room in the basement for the rest of your training."

They began their walk over to where Bailey directed them. Because it was eight in the morning, the sun was already out, but it hadn't gotten quite warm enough yet for Harley's tastes. She should've grabbed a coat. Instead she had to cross her arms to keep the cold from settling in.

It took them about 15 to 20 minutes to find the clearing and when they did, Harley's footsteps almost halted.

There wasn't much to the area—really it was just a section without trees. With the overhang of the trees, grass refused to grow much more than a few straggly patches here and there.

She could smell the damp dirt at her feet, but that wasn't what had her freezing up.

Will stood in the clearing ahead of them, his broad back to them. Wolves of all colors and sizes formed a loose circle around the commotion in the middle.

Because of the angle, she couldn't quite see the violence. But she heard it.

And that was enough.

The encouraging howls of the wolves around the circle, the low rumbling growls, an uneasy whine as two animals clashed.

Her entire world tilted around her, her vision tunneling, and she grabbed at the nearest tree for balance.

"Harley?"

She closed her eyes to try and find her balance. Between the darkness closing around her and the weight on her chest, it was all she could do to keep breathing.

Sparks danced across her eyes and the lightheadedness battled against her.

Slender hands gripped her shoulders. "Will!" Bailey shouted near her ear.

Breathe. Her brain screamed at her. Breathe.

"Set her on the ground." Will directed at Bailey. "Harley? I need you to put your head between your knees." When she hesitated he said, "Come on, Har, you need to ground yourself."

She did as he instructed. "Slow, deep breaths." His voice was calm in her ear. Reassuring. "Breathe. You're okay. Just breathe."

The world crept back to her in tiny increments and, after what seemed like forever, she was able to lift her head.

Instead of focusing on Will and Bailey around her, her eyes locked on the eight or so wolves watching her.

Ice shot down her spine.

"Dismissed." Will called out. "You are all dismissed."

The wolves scattered.

"I'm fine." She told them, unable to look at them.

Bailey sucked in a breath. "As if! Darlin', I've seen a lot in my time, but—"

Harley could feel the weight of Will's analyzing stare. "She'll be okay." He said with quiet confidence.

"Will—" Bailey hissed out.

"I said, she'll be okay, Bailey."

They helped her up, watching her carefully. Though she'd succeeded in making the atmosphere awkward, she made herself stand up straighter and move past it.

Will decided to smoothly move past it as well. "Bailey, I'm good from here, thanks."

Bailey crossed her tan arms. "I'll stay and watch, if it doesn't bother you."

Harley frowned at her friend. "You sure, Bailey?"

"Of course. I'd love to see him work you until you're dead."

Alarmed, Harley glanced at Will. "She's just kidding, right?"

He shrugged. "I can neither confirm nor deny that."

Oh gosh, what was she getting into?

Bailey parked herself next to a tree on the edge of the clearing while Will led Harley in some warm-up stretches.

"Arms higher." He called out.

Harley already felt out of breath. "They are high!" She puffed out, slowly doing arm circles.

First it was arm circles, then it was ten laps around the clearing, twenty lunges, thirty crunches, and finally one hundred jumping jacks.

"It's going to be a slow start," Will said as she jumped, "if this is how it's going to go."

Aggravated, dead tired, and horribly embarrassed, Harley dropped her arms completely. "What's the point?"

Will's lips thinned. "What's the point of what?"

"This!" She threw her arms out, gesturing at everything and nothing. "This whole thing! It's not like I'll ever be in a situation where I fight for the pack," the pack would never have a bumbling, latent wolf fight for them, "let alone a battle. You're just wasting your time."

Something flashed behind his eyes. "It's not about fighting for the pack at all. It's about learning to defend yourself. No matter what happens. I would have thought that you would know that."

Harley bit back a snarky response and instead went with, "Do you do this to all your trainees?"

He nodded. "You have to teach the newly shifted the importance of keeping a tight leash on their wolves. Otherwise control is easy to lose and becoming a feral wolf is a very real possibility." He picked up a skinny abandoned twig from the dirt. "Our wolves might start out like this, but the athletic training helps them learn control, first through their bodies and then through their mind."

She'd never have to worry about losing control. Never have to worry about a beast inside of her making decisions for her. Never have to think about her wolf taking over.

But also, not ever truly getting to share in the experience of having a wolf.

Will sighed, stepping closer until Harley had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye. "Look Harley, I know this isn't going to be easy. I know that. I remember my own training. It sucked." He sent her a gentle smile, "Mathias was better at it than me."

Hearing her brother's name from his lips sounded like a foreign language. She rarely spoke his name, only thought about him and her parents. "Mathias?"

"Don't you remember? We started training the week of—" He cut off. "Anyway, your brother was more naturally athletic than I was."

"Will, you were twelve." She said, ignoring the way her throat had begun to ache. "I don't think you can really judge a twelve year old on his athleticism."

"Maybe not. Either way, Mathias started to show me up that first week."

Harley bit her lip to keep in a sudden smile. "It didn't help that you were kind of chubby."

He scoffed. "I was not!"

She shrugged. "You kind of were...Willie."

Will laughed then, and it was a sound she would continue to play over and over in her mind for the rest of the day. It was soft, but easy, and it flowed right through her ears.

"I'll have you know, I was big-boned."

"Yeah, sure."

"Whatever. Don't call me Willie."

At 9:30, they wrapped up the rest of the training. Harley had been able to go back into it with a bit more determination and followed through with the rest of the exercises—though they might've been sloppier than Will liked. Afterwards, Will set up a training schedule with Harley—Well, more like he told her when they'd be training, which often fell right at the ass crack of dawn.

The second that he told her she was free to go, she was out of there.

Sweet freedom.