Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,66

and then her cheeks. When she lifted her mouth to his, their lips met, and everything was right in the world.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Over the next week, Callie spent her days exploring the mansion while she wandered the grounds. She watched the hunters and vampires drill together, work out, and run around the compound. They were like everything she’d seen about boot camp, and they worked from morning to night.

And Lucien worked with them. She was glad he was doing so much better, but it made for lonely days, and she was running out of things to explore.

Lucien had yet to leave the compound, but others went out nightly to hunt Savages. She had no idea when he would go back to hunting, but she assumed it would be sooner rather than later. Over the week, he’d put more weight on as he regularly fed from the blood bags stored in a room off the gym.

He was so different from the man she first met that she almost couldn’t believe it was the same vampire. He was almost back to his full strength again, and once he was, he would go out with the others to hunt again. As happy as she was to see him doing so well, she dreaded the day he returned to putting himself in such danger.

Everyone at the compound was friendly to her, but she still felt out of place. She was the only human here unless she counted the children who arrived at the compound with Sister June and Duncan, but she didn’t. The children didn’t know vampires and hunters surrounded them; Lucien had told her the vampires altered their memories regularly to keep them safe.

There was also Elyse’s father, who was still human, but his daughter was here, and he’d found a place working with the head of security, Roland. She didn’t know if she’d ever find a home here. She also didn’t know if she wanted to stay. Before the Savages disrupted her life, she had a purpose. Now, she felt utterly lost.

On the morning of the seventh day, she meandered into the garden for what felt like the hundredth time. She strolled among the rows of plants and stopped to smell some newly blooming roses before continuing toward the fountain in the center.

It was there she discovered Kadence and Simone standing with their hands over their heads and their legs braced apart as they looked toward the sky. She’d taken a couple of yoga classes, but she couldn’t remember the name of this pose.

She started to retreat, but before she could, Kadence opened her eyes and spotted her. “Hi,” she greeted.

Callie smiled as Simone lowered her hands.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Callie apologized.

“You’re not interrupting,” Kadence said. “Would you like to join us?”

Callie hesitated and almost retreated, but she missed the company of others. Lucien spent most of his days training. He returned to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her, and they spent their nights entwined in each other’s arms, but it wasn’t the same.

“I’m not very good at it,” she said.

“That doesn’t matter,” Simone said. “It’s a big stress relief.”

“I could use that,” Callie said, and they chuckled.

They’d been friendly since she arrived, and considering she had no idea how long she was going to be here, she decided to make the best of it. She stepped off the end of the path and strolled over to join them.

“I don’t have a mat,” she said.

“You won’t need one today,” Kadence said. “I’ll bring an extra one tomorrow that you can have.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I take them from the gym.”

“Do you do this every day?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a great way to start the day,” Simone said.

Callie had enjoyed the classes she took, but she never had the time to commit to it. Now, she had all the time in the world.

She stopped a few feet away from them, and they returned to the position she initially found them. Lifting her hands over her, she followed their movements. She was nowhere near as graceful as they were, and she almost fell over a couple of times, but by the end of the session, her body was a lot looser.

“You did great,” Kadence said as she rolled up her mat.

“Thanks,” Callie said. “I feel a lot better.”

“We do training exercises with the hunter women in the afternoon too, if you want to join us,” Simone offered. “Willow usually leads that group.”

“I’d like that a lot.” She didn’t know how long she would