30 Where Would We Go?
Caleb took Ashleigh on a tour of the medical facilities; they were larger than she had expected. They were more advanced, which she had expected. But what she had found surprising was how diverse they were.
She already knew that there would be more of a psychological presence than she had experienced in her pack, but she was blown away to see the extent of it.
Summer had a whole building dedicated to mental health. With a combination of research and treatment teams, Caleb had explained that soldiers and
civilians received routine evaluations to ensure that everyone was taken care of.
Beyond that, there were treatment and research teams for diseases, genetic abnormalities, infections. For both werewolf and human.
Ashleigh was shocked to learn how closely Summer worked with humans. Every wolf in the pack was required to spend at least two years among humans, learning and growing.
Caleb had been very open with her, answering every question she came up with. She had so many more questions she wanted to ask, but she hesitated.
She had noticed everywhere they went, that same look was thrown her way.
The Summer wolves hated her. It seemed like each time he answered one of her questions, that hatred grew.
When they had left the medical facilities Caleb had sent her back to the training arena telling her he would join her once he had reviewed another report.
‘He doesn’t get a break,’ she thought to herself as three different people approached Caleb with tablets, she assumed each contained separate reports.
It was strange. Winter had a larger territory, and more people spread throughout that territory, but Caleb seemed to have far more work than her father.
Not that Alpha Wyatt didn’t have a lot on his plate; he was always busy. But somehow Caleb’s work seemed… more.
As she stood outside of the training arena, she couldn’t help but look around and enjoy the warmth she felt, the freshness in the air, the blue in the sky.
She loved the snow and the mountains; she even missed them. But this place seemed to have already found a place in her heart.
Ashleigh’s mind wandered to the places she had seen pictures of— Bali, Portugal, an ice hotel in Sweden, Halong Bay, glaciers, marble caves, and so many more. The world was huge and beautiful. She wanted to see it all. Being here, listening to stories of working with humans, just made the idea that
much more exciting to her.
“What are you thinking about?” Caleb asked as he approached her.
“All the places I want to see,” she replied smiling.
“Ah, I see. No wonder,” he said.
“No wonder?”
“The smile, I understand why you are smiling now. Traveling is an exciting thought.”
“Isn’t it?” she laughed, “Where would we go?”
The words had left her mouth half a second before her brain highlighted her mistake.
“You!” she shouted quickly. “Where would you go…”
There was nothing she could do to hide the deep shade of red her face had taken on.
Caleb pretended not to need the correction, simply answering for himself.
“I saw several places in Peru that I wanted to visit, and something really interesting,” he said. “Cliffside camping.”
Ashleigh’s embarrassment was briefly pushed aside as her curiosity took hold.
“Cliffside camping? What is that?”
“Clear pods attached to the side of a cliff. They are small, usually, only fit two people inside. There were several set up along the cliffside, including one
that was a sort of dining room. There are zip lines set up to get from pod to pod or you could use the climbing paths.”
“That sounds amazing… like an adventure and a vacation mixed into one,” she giggled with excitement as she imagined what he described.
“Exactly,” he smiled, as he turned to head into the training arena. He leaned down near her ear whispering as he moved past her. “And the pods sleep two.”
Ashleigh’s face burned as he continued to walk away.
“Are you coming?” he shouted back without a glance.
“Yep!” she called after him.
‘I’m not going easy on him this time.’ she growled in her mind.
***
Several hours after his intense sparring match with Ashleigh, Caleb now sat in his office, sorting through all the emails and reports he had missed while they trained together.
They had agreed that for the first week it would be best to simply train together, learning strengths and weaknesses. Afterward, he would focus on teaching her defensive tactics based on her style of fighting. When they traveled to Winter, she would train him like a berserker.
In their first sparring session, they had been testing each other, and both had held back. This time, however, they had both fought hard. He had bruises and soreness as proof and an ice pack on his shoulder.
He hissed in pain as he turned to reach for a paper. The pain made him smile as he thought back to their matches. It had been a long time since he let himself loose like that, though he did still hold back. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
The intensity she showed in battle, the seriousness with which she attacked. These were qualities he admired and respected, and frankly, he was attracted to.
Caleb had spent a long time alone in the treehouse after their conversation the day before. He was bitter and angry. He didn’t know how he would react to her. He had come to the simulation that morning, not because he knew she was there, but because he was scheduled to be there.
It was a restricted area that she should not have had access to, and he was quite annoyed when he saw her until he saw the seriousness with which she watched the simulation. Seeing her appreciation for the skills of his wolves warmed him. And then he saw her sincerity to their suffering.
He struggled to keep his distance.
Taking her on a tour of the medical facilities was unnecessary and a security risk at best. Her training with him had no connection to any of the facilities or programs, yet he found himself leading her through the halls and explaining everything they saw, answering her questions, and even giving her more
details than she asked for.
Caleb sighed and leaned in his chair.
There was a knock at the door. Caleb sniffed the air before calling out.
“Come in, Galen.”
Galen entered, closing the door behind him.
“So, how was it?” Caleb asked with tiredness in his voice that Galen took note of.
“We spent the day patrolling every border, I did not tell them about the weak points, waiting to see if anyone would notice them or point them out. Saul,
Winter wolf, he took note of several. He waited until the tour was over and the others had gone off to their break before mentioning it.
He noticed the first few and planned to make suggestions of how to strengthen the defense, but on the fourth, he realized something.”
Galen smiled, Caleb nodded and wondered more about Saul as a person.
“Did he know?” Caleb smiled.
“He did,” Galen smiled back, “he said that he realized they were purposely placed because of the way they were laid out. Whether it was intentional or not he noticed that they were within a certain range of the sentry post and contained some of the easier terrains to traverse.”
“Yes,” Caleb nodded, “so that it leads them in a direction that is easier for us to control.”
“Right, he suggested that not all should be laid out that way. According to Saul, if he were trying to find a weak point in our defenses, he would do exactly what we did today, walk the perimeter. And he would have noticed the same thing and become suspicious. His recommendation was to place some of the weak points in rougher terrain. It would look less obvious, and, though our control would be weakened, our wolves would still do better on it than any invaders.
His final suggestion was about camouflaged sentry posts. He recommended that for the rough terrain weak points, we create false natural structures with tunnels that sentries could use to travel.”
Caleb tilted his head, that idea was interesting.
“It’s a good idea,” he said softly.
“I agree,” said Galen.
“Anything else?” Caleb asked, returning to his paperwork. “What about the other representatives?”
“Nothing else, Autumn’s representative complained the whole time that his cellphone didn’t get a good signal.”
Caleb let out a low growl when the idiot was mentioned but tried to ignore it. “And Spring?”
Galen did not respond right away, causing Caleb to look up questioningly.
“Alice was late to arrive this morning.”
“And?”
“When we could not find her, we searched, then I received a call from the security team,” Galen began.
Caleb sat up in his chair fully paying attention.
“They found her in one of the observation decks. The man who found her says she claimed to have been lost. He didn’t see a simulation running at the
time, so he didn’t find it suspicious.”
“When was this?” Caleb asked.
“It was exactly when you think it was.” Galen sighed. “I suspect she witnessed at least one of the fae runs.”
“How did she get in!” Caleb growled, suddenly remembering that Ashleigh had also entered the secure site, seemingly with no problem. “Ashleigh was
there too.”
“What?” Galen asked, surprised.
“I went to observe the treant simulation. I found Ashleigh watching. She seemed to have had no issue getting into the room.”
“I will look into this,” Galen answered seriously.
“Yes, you will. Look for any suspicious outgoing communications as well.” Caleb growled. “In the meantime, keep your eyes on Alice.”
Galen clenched his jaw before nodding and leaving the office. Keeping eyes on Alice wasn’t the issue, it was getting her eyes off him that was a problem.