Chapter 3

Xena's POV

Martha's eyes widened in shock before narrowing again. "Logan!" she hissed.

I could see Dad's jaw tighten. "X," he said, turning to me. "Did you complete your chores?"

"Yes, sir. I did them this morning before school." My voice rose unconsciously.

Martha said coldly, "She's lying."

"No, I'm not!" I yelled back. "See?" I pulled out my phone, opened my email, and showed him the time-stamped pictures I'd taken of each completed task. "All done at 6:30 AM, before school."

"Looks like she did it." Dad nodded slightly. "What are you doing this evening?"

"Ama and I are going to run to the pizza place in town and have dinner there," I answered in a cold voice, unsatisfied with how he was handling this.

"Alright, have fun and remember not to be too late," he said flatly.

"By the way, Dad," I added, "the son of Alpha Benedict from the Boneash Pack is coming by the shop tomorrow at five for a custom job on his motorcycle. His name is Ryder."

Dad's eyebrows rose slightly and turned to leave. "I'll stop by to meet him."

Martha clearly wasn't happy about being cut out of the conversation. She followed Dad back inside, already launching into complaints about how I needed to be disciplined.

Logan lingered behind with Samuel and Leonard. "What did you do to piss her off this time?" he asked once Martha was out of earshot.

she was already waiting there. I can't wait to

inside. "Running away isn't the

countered. "Dad said you can't take over until

mate is here?"

a blue tracksuit, slipped it on, and checked my reflection in the mirror. Not bad. "Well, I hope he likes to travel, because I'm planning to see the world for those

sighed heavily. I knew he hated this situation as much as I did, but he was bound by his sense of

like it, but what do you expect me to do? A girl can only take so much, especially when no

for you," Logan said,

I assured him, "But you know you can only do so

his fists clenching

spar anyway." I grabbed a hair tie from the table by the door and loosely tied it back into a pony

joke. "That's not the same thing, and

"I love you, bro, but I don't have any options. I need to go run." I

my room, already changed

smilingly. "See you

pizza place in

and I headed out, passing by Dad's office. Even through the closed door, I could still hear Martha's shrill voice complaining about me. I quickened my pace, eager to put as much distance between myself and her

take?" Ama asked as we

can take the long way to the pizza place." The Center was the neutral town where all packs coexisted,

"Sounds a bit hard."

we started jogging, I felt the familiar weight in my legs and the tension in my shoulders. But with each stride, the burden lightened. I increased my pace, Ama keeping up beside me. I slipped my headphones over my ears, letting the music drown

ground, the burn in my lungs, and the beat of the music. Each step carried away my worries and anxieties, dissolving them into

ten miles later, we reached the town, stopping at our usual lamppost-our unofficial finish line. We both hunched

wheezed, her voice raspy.

as Ama. I took a sip from my water bottle and grinned at her. “You've been having too many desserts lately. Next time I call you

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