Feral Obsession

Chapter Nineteen

When given three weeks, Ruby had gotten surprisingly good at running. Alpha Keirson - she refused to call him Leon - forced her to be up and running in the early hours of the morning, every morning. Then, they would do a late afternoon run, again through the forest.

Now, she was making it about two miles, and she didn't just run with Keirson. She found herself running beside Thomas. After he had seen the bruises that first time, he found himself training Ruby alongside Kierson. She didn't want to hope that it was because Thomas wanted to make sure she was safe, but she couldn't stop the buoyant feeling in her chest.

She was getting closer, she could feel it.

It had been a blur, the past few weeks. She did a lot of physical training with Kierson, did some reading with Thomas, and found herself learning how to cook with Madison. She hated how easy it started to feel like normal, being trapped there with these werewolves.

But, it had been easy. Every day felt easier. And while she was forced to stay within the boundaries, Ruby often found herself daydreaming of escaping. She would be mid-run and wonder how far she could run away before she was caught.

But, it was never feasible. She was always with someone. And when she was sleeping, there was a guard standing by her door, waiting for the moment she tried to leave. And while Madison tried her best to make Ruby feel less of a prisoner, Kierson was always a heavy handed reminder.

If I keep training, at some point I'll be able to run those five miles. That thought kept her going, day in and day out. She didn't act out, didn't talk about leaving, didn't rock the boat. She wanted everyone to assume she had accepted her fate.

It helped that everyone was nice to her.

Everyone except Ryan. She hadn't seen him, not since he had brought her to see Alpha Kierson for the first time. She saw that as a good thing; maybe he was too busy to visit.

"Are you cooking, or are you daydreaming?"

Madison poked Ruby with the end of a wooden spoon. "Did you get enough sleep last night? I know Leon had you up late working on drills in the yard. Even I could hear him barking at you over and over again."

Ruby rubbed her sore, upper arm. She had been doing an arm exercise last night that had her feeling like jello, even well into today. She let out a groan at the reminder. "It's like he thinks he can train me into a werewolf or something. I will definitely never be as strong as he is."

Madison's laugh was kind and airy. "He hates a weak link. He'll have you whipped up into shape in no time."

The thing was, Ruby didn't doubt it. "I'm surprised he has the time to be doing this with me. I know he must be busy."

Madison shrugged as she stirred the mixture on the stove. A stew of somesort was what they were making, but Ruby was not paying as close attention as she should have. "We never talk about why you're here in the first place, but Leon takes his feud with Atlas Langdon very seriously. If Atlas comes for you, Leon wants you to be prepared."

"Me? Have you seen Atlas? There is no way, no matter how hard I train, that I'll ever be able to take down that mountain of a man."

Madison laughed in surprise. "He is big, isn't he? I've met him once, and he towers over everyone. Even Leon. Wonder what he eats to achieve that height."

"I think he eats the tenants he doesn't want," Ruby grumbled. She wondered who lived in her apartment, now. What Atlas had done with her things. She felt the familiar sadness at knowing her prized belongings, the only items she had from her childhood, were in a dumpster somewhere. Maybe even heading to a landfill. She didn't want to think about how much Atlas was charging them.