┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

TRAINING

NOW THAT NELLY WAS OFFICIALLY A PART OF THE PACK, SHE WAS BEING INVITED TO EVERYTHING.

Hikes, late night hangouts at Sam's, fucking barbecues— you name it, she received some form of an invite from someone that was on her 'tolerated' list. Most of the time it was Sam doing all the inviting, but on certain occasions, she found Paul on her damn doorstep.

She'd been steadily declining them for at least a week until the Sam came to the Sequoia residence bright and early one Friday morning, promise of a pack training session leaving his lips.

Nelly all but laughed in his face, noting that the time barely reached seven in the morning, but the look on his face was dead serious. And oh yes, he used the term 'mandatory' to describe the event. Of course.

"You can't be serious!" she seethed, still clad in her pyjamas as he shoved his way into her home.

"I'm dead serious," was his response before he took a leisurely seat on the couch. He gave her a pointed look. "Go change."

After a few seconds of the two shifters staring one another down, Nelly groaned before making her way into her room while making sure he could hear the way she dragged her feet in disdain.

That was how Nelly found herself to be in the middle of the woods at seven o'clock sharp, clad in running shorts and a tank top, amidst the other pack members around her.

She almost shrivelled in on herself when she realized that she and Sam were the last ones to arrive, mostly likely due to him making the detour to bring her. And to make matters worse, she found herself situated in between said man and the boy she'd been trying to avoid the most.

Nelly caught the way he looked to her with a small smile, and all she could muster up was a jerky nod in return. Her chest hurt at the action, at the space between them, and she mentally cursed. Stupid ass bond.

The next thing she noticed was little Brady Fuller, the smallest among them, and was looking severely out of place. The pair made eye contact, and suddenly all Nelly could see was Tate standing right next to him.

But no— the body next to Brady's belonged to the Littlesea's youngest son Colin. He was just a head taller than her brother's friend, but she knew he was around the same age as Brady.

The subtle ringing in her ears stopped at the sound of Sam's booming voice.

"It's Nelly and Brady's first training session since their phase, so they'll be observing today," Sam stated to the crowd gathered in a circle. "The rest of you are gonna start with a lap to the creek, before circling back."

The others shot off like damn rockets in the direction of what Nelly could only assume was the creek. All that was left was her, Sam, and Brady, who eagerly crossed the space between them and catapulted himself into Nelly's arms.

"Hey, buddy," she laughed easily, almost stumbling back at the sudden movement.

The way he was squeezing her was like he never wanted to let her go. Though, he eventually did, and planted himself at her side. "Are you scared?" he asked.

Of what? she wanted to question in return, because she was quite literally scared of everything these days. Instead, she pushed her most convincing smile onto her face.

"Nope, and you shouldn't be, either."

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

With Brady at her side, the pair watched as the others completed various training exercises for the rest of that morning. Though she had yet to partake in any, she could almost feel herself breaking out into a sweat just from the intensity of it all.

Most of the exercises happened when the others were phased, giant wolfs brawling with one another in the dead of the forest. Honestly, Nelly found it pretty entertaining, especially whenever Paul sore loser Lahote lost to Leah Clearwater during their own matchup.

Before she knew it, training was concluded, and the others began phasing back behind the trees that they put their respective clothes behind. She and Brady would be going all in next Friday, seeing as they met for sessions like these once a week.

"Patrols are the same for this week, but with some minor changes," Sam told them as the others began packing up their things. "Brady's with Jared, meaning Nelly's with Paul."

Nelly breathed out a sigh of relief, because the last thing she wanted was to be paired up with Kim's damn boyfriend for multiple three hour patrol shifts. She'd gladly suffer with Paul, because at least it wouldn't be as awkward... or at least she hoped it wouldn't be.

However, there was a singular cry of discontent that echoed around the group; and you guessed it, it had come from Embry Call's direction.

"Sam, you can't be serious!" he complained.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Paul's my third in command for a reason, Embry," he responded, ignoring the way the boy's lip curled back. "She'll be fine."

Nelly didn't have to be a genius to know she was the one Sam was referring to. But the question in her head remained; did Embry's denial stem from a lack of trust he had in Paul, or did it stem from the fact that perhaps he was a little jealous?

Either way, Paul wasn't helping his case at all with his childish response. "Yeah," Paul smirked, sticking his tongue out in the boy's general direction.

That earned him a threatening growl from the now steadily retreating Call boy, his back turned as he left with his fists bunched at his sides.

Before she could help it, her foot stepped forward in an attempt to follow. The rational side of her brain thankfully made herself reel it in, feet planted on the ground as someone came up to her other side.

"We usually go to Sam's for lunch after training," Paul said, his shirt leisurely hanging off of his shoulder. "She makes a killer grilled cheese. You should come with."

His demeanour was nothing but friendly, and it was a stark contrast to the version of him that she was used to. But there was still something holding her back.

"I still I've had enough wolfy-ness for one day," she said, hoping that excuse would be enough to satiate him.

But Paul, the ever observant boy that he was, clocked the fact that she didn't explicitly say no. "Okay. I'll just tell Em you said her cooking is ass, then."

Nelly's eyes narrowed in his direction. "You wouldn't dare."

Paul raised a challenging eyebrow. "I wouldn't even feel a shred of remorse."

And somehow, Nelly knew he was serious about that.

"Fine! But fuck you."

"Woah!" he responded loudly, clapping his hands over Brady's ears, the boy having witnessed the entire thing from his place on Nelly's other side. "Language! There's kids around!"

Brady elbowed him in the gut for that comment. "I'm thirteen!"

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

i'm officially redacting the renesmee vs pack plotline because i neeeeeed my babies to have a pack-centred summer!!!

also need not worry; no love triangles here— i just love writing paul so i rlly couldn't help myself LOL friendship incoming

all my love xx