Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 26

Chapter 26 

Alec POV

"Are you ready?" I jumped up and down on the stoop and looked at Cleo as she tied her shoelaces in the first rays of the morning sun.

"Yes, just wait for a second," she finished her second shoe and punched me lightly on the arm, "Stop being so impatient."

"Catch me if you can," I shouted and started to sprint back through the garden and into the woods.

"Like you don't think I can!" she shouted back and followed me quickly. By the time I had reached the edge of trees she had already caught up with me, tapping me lightly on the shoulder before sprinting further into the forest.

~*~

I lent forward and felt the muscles in my calf stretch out. Cleo her right arm locked straight in the crook of her left elbow, as she stretched out her arm muscles and looked down at me.

"Good run?" her question almost sounded like a confirmation.

"Yeah," I breathed out as I relaxed my calf. "You're really getting better every day. It's amazing how quickly your abilities are developing."

"Oh, don't get started with all of that Steel super supernatural stuff," she rolled her eyes. I laughed back at her but in the midst of my laughter I thought I heard an odd sound mixed in with the wind.

"Why don't you go inside and put some coffee on and I might be persuaded to make breakfast," I suggested. Instinctively feeling that she needed to be removed from the situation. I hadn't even identified any danger yet, but something about my Basati instincts told me that she shouldn't be here for this.

Cleo smiled widely at me, "That's a deal." She bounded up the stairs to the back door. When I heard the door close behind her I turned around, pretending to stretch my calf muscle again I focused all my sense towards the direction of the noise. The scent hit me before I spotted a small piece of Wyhatt's finger that was not concealed by the leafy undergrowth surrounding the clusters of trees where they were crouched down. I sniffed the air slightly and could confirm that their beta, Tim, was with him too. So they are spying on her now? Is nothing beneath them? They might just be trying to keep her safe, even though I doubt that was their main motive. I released my leg from the stretch and shook it out, heading towards the back door and leaving the wolves to continue to hide in the bushes.

"Coffee's nearly done," Cleo shouted from upstairs when she heard me close the door. "I'm just going to have a quick shower, feel free to get started on that breakfast," she added merrily.

I turned towards the kitchen and started to prepare some sandwiches, pulling things out of the fridge at random. I didn't know what to do with this newfound knowledge. The wolves were following us. Were they following her, me or the both of us? And to what end? I knew that they have good powers of hearing but nothing like what the Basati does. They would have to be very clever not to get caught, but perhaps they hadn't thought that far. Perhaps they were following orders and Jackson hadn't thought that far? Until I knew more, I really didn't see what telling Cleo would do. She would only be more upset with Jackson and recently she had really seemed to be a bit happier.

"So what do you want to do today?" she said as she bounced into the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich and placed it on her plate.

"Since it's Saturday shouldn't you be at the mall shopping?" I teased.

"God, you know how much I love shopping..." she rolled her eyes at me.

"Okay then," I grinned back at her. "Want to go for a trek at the mountain nature reserve. We could bring lunch with us?"