Challenged - Skinwalker Book 2

Chapter 14

Sierra was late down to breakfast with the result that she ate on her own - and the best of the food had been devoured in her absence. Evidently attendance at meal times was not mandatory, but there were obvious drawbacks for being late for them.

She was just finishing when Kal came in, and her irritation immediately flared to life. Apparently oblivious of the fact that his mere presence had created the scowl on her face, he seated himself casually on the bench opposite her.

"Ken mentioned that you weren't feeling so good this morning. Are you doing a little better now?" His words hinted at concern that his demeanour simply couldn't echo.

"It was nothing I couldn't handle," she grumbled defensively.

Of all the people that could have found out about her apparently idiotic slip up, he was the last one she would have chosen.

He sat silently for a while as he eyed her speculatively, making her feel uncomfortable.

"You missed the run-down I gave Devon about the roster. We went ahead and chose some time slots for the two of you, but I don't really trust him to fill you in on the details. He seems like a good guy, but he's a bit distracted at the moment."

Yeah, well, the only thing Devon is good at focusing on, is the female form...

"Everyone around here works shifts during the day, so their training sessions are slotted into the gaps in their schedules. We train together - more thoroughly than we did yesterday - at least twice a month, but most often the training is one-on-one with me..."

Oh joy...

"...or in pairs. I've paired you with Devon or Geoffrey for the time being, until your skill level increases. You guys are all adults and I don't expect to have to run around after you making sure that you get your required fitness training in. I prefer to focus the time I spend with the team on more constructive facets of training."

"What exactly is the required fitness training?" Sierra inquired.

"There are two obstacles courses - the indoor one you ran yesterday, and an outdoor one. There's also a five mile jogging track that starts on the edge of the western fields. I expect every team member to complete one of the three at least five days a week in human form, and the obstacle courses should ideally be done at least three times in a row. If you slip up on your fitness, I will catch you out at some point."

"Consider me warned," she replied snidely.

She didn't mind keeping fit - in fact, she quite liked it - but a little flutter of glee swept across her chest when she saw him frown in response to her tone.

"In addition to the fitness training and group training, there is combat training, transformation training and animal combat training."

Sierra couldn't stop her eyebrows dancing up in surprise to that statement. She hadn't really considered that her physical education could be so varied.

"We will leave the animal combat training until you are a little more grounded in hand-to hand. All the primary team members are required to perform two hours of combat training four days a week, and an additional two hours of animal combat training twice a week. Transformation training ranges from half an hour to an hour and is only required once every two weeks."

"Got it," Sierra replied smugly, despite the fact that her brain was reeling to do the math. She was trying to figure out when it was, exactly, that she was supposed to get any actual work done - whatever that was going to be.

Kal frowned again at her snippiness, then studied her for a moment and added:

"Don't worry - there's more than enough time to fit everything in and still have some over for play."