WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

CHAPTER 23: WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?
~ Harper’s POV~

Waking up the next morning, the first thing that crossed my mind was the way Gabriel kissed me. I had only ever kissed one guy before last night, but it was nothing like the kiss Gabriel and I shared. He kissed me like he didn’t care if anyone saw. The thought of the way the desire was building between us last night made me shiver. I wanted him to claim me so badly. I don’t even want to think about being with someone who is not him. Things shifted in my mind the moment he admitted his feelings to me. I got undressed and took a quick shower. I brushed my teeth and dried my hair. Again, I pulled it up into a messy bun on the top of my head.

I had training again this morning. I decided to apply some makeup. I know, it’s ridiculous to wear makeup during a workout and training but I wanted to look good for Gabe. I tried to keep it natural looking, but I added extra mascara making my already long lashes look even longer. I had walked over to my wardrobe to pull out my only workout outfit that I had when I noticed another one was also folded neatly in my drawer. It was the same kind of twist back sports bra and leggings. The only difference was this one was a powder pink instead of a bright peach color. This must have been Kelly’s doing. I’ll have to thank her and pay her back for this later.

I slipped into the pink workout outfit and rechecked myself in the mirror.
“Good morning, are you training today?” I heard Gabe’s voice through our mind link.
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it. I just have to get some breakfast first. Do I have time?” I asked.
“Yeah, you have about fifteen minutes.” I smiled to myself. “By the way, what are you wearing today?”
“Just another workout outfit, why?” I was a little confused. Doesn’t everyone wear workout clothes to training?
“Is it tight?” Gabe’s voice was low and seductive over our link.
“What if it is?” I said flirting back. Gabe, let out a low growl over our link. “Maybe I should change.” I said, smirking at myself.
“No, please don’t!” Gabe said. I didn’t have many more options in the way of what I wore to training anyway.
“I will meet you on the field in less than fifteen minutes.” I told him, closing the link before he could distract me any further.

I made my way down to the dining hall. I grabbed a turkey sandwich and some water. I started walking toward the back door of the packhouse. On my way I passed Samantha and her minions. I heard her giggling and whispering about me to the other girls. I didn’t want to allow myself to get mad at her already this morning. I don’t have time to worry about her petty high school drama. My focus is on training today. I passed her up and made my way to the field eating my sandwich before I arrived.

Once on the field, I noticed everyone had already arrived. Some pack members were doing their stretches, and some had already begun warming up.
“There you are, Harper.” Tanner said jogging up to me. “Are you ready to dive a little bit deeper into training today?” I gave Tanner a big smile.
“Hey Tanner! Yeah, I’m excited to get started. I want to hit it hard today. It looked like everyone’s already started. I better get my stretches in.” I said replacing my water bottle on a bench nearby. I stepped away from Tanner, giving myself a little extra room to do my stretches.
“Great! Finish your stretches. We will be lining up shortly.” Tanner patted my shoulder and then jogged away to greet other pack members who were doing their stretches. He was a great beta, always so involved. I was sitting on the ground with one leg outstretched in front of me, trying to bend forward and touch my toes.

While stretching, I scanned the field of pack members looking for Gabriel. I wonder if he’s here yet. With that thought, my eyes fell on a sweaty Gabriel already in the middle of his workout. He was at the chin up bars. Every time he pulled himself up every ab and arm muscle would flex. His sweat was dripping down his tan skin.

I bit my bottom lip, never wanting to look away. He let himself drop from the bars, then grabbed his towel and wiped the sweat from his face and neck. His silver eyes met mine, then grew dark as he gave me a sexy smile. This time I didn’t care that he caught me looking, I plan to have fun with him today. He’s going to find out that I can be a naughty little temptress too.

I stood up and gave him a flirty smile. I turned to the side, trying to be as sexy as one could be while stretching. I kept eye contact with him, as I spread my legs leaning over to touch my toes without bending my legs. He knew I was teasing him. His eyes turned possessive, and he caught his bottom lip between his teeth. Still leaning over, I smiled at him again and gave him a wink.
Then I leaned back up into my standing position.

I was satisfied with my stretching, and I was ready for training. I went to the bench where my water bottle was sitting, picked it up and took a drink. A guy that I hadn’t seen before jogged up to Gabriel, they gave each other wide smiles and patted each other on the back in a man type hug. They definitely knew each other and seemed pretty close. Tanner jogged over to them and greeted the new guy with a wide smile.

As I was watching them, they all turned in my direction. The new guy threw his hand up to wave at me and smiled widely. I returned his wave with a friendly smile. Gabriel walked to the side to pick up his water bottle to take a drink, but before he had the chance Samantha ran up to him. His face took on a look of agitation. She looked as if she was pleading to him. She reached out to grab his hands, but he pulled his hands away before she could. I was already jealous because of her close proximity to him. I didn’t want her to touch him. Was it wrong of me to feel this way? I mean they just broke up.
He took a step away from her Then glanced at me as if he was afraid that Samantha’s behavior was bothering me. He’s always so considerate. I watched as he looked back at her while pointing at her in her face.
“I’m not having this conversation with you, Samantha. I have things to do.” He tried to walk away from her, but she grabbed him by the elbow.
“Gabriel, let's just give it one more chance. We were so good together.” He jerked his elbow hard enough to pull it from her grasp.
“Leave me alone Samantha!” He continued to walk away from her.

Desperation was written all over her face. I could understand how her feelings would be hurt. I know it must hurt her that he doesn’t feel the same way for her as she does for him. I know they have things that they need to work out.

I tried to push my jealousy aside. Tanner and Samantha followed Gabriel to the edge of the field. Tanner blew his whistle to get everyone’s attention. We all lined up to hear about what was on the agenda for training today.
“Thank you to everyone who’s joined us for training today. As you know, some pack members are on bed rest due to injuries that they received during the battle last night. Rogues breached our east border. That will not happen again. We are going to double down on training. Day and nighttime guards are going to be tripled. Any suspicious activity should be reported to me right away. If you were involved in the battle last night, pat yourself on the back. You all did great. I’m very proud of you. You ran straight into battle, like you are trained to do, and you eliminated the threat with minimum injuries at that. I briefed my father about all of this today. He knows about how brave you were, and he is also very proud of you.

I expect you all to keep up your efforts during training. We must continue to get better as our threats are getting stronger. They are now targeting our borders, which is something that has not happened in a decade. It turns out we have something here that they want. And it just so happens to be one of our newest pack members. As a member of this pack, she falls under our protection.” As Gabriel said this, he looked at Samantha. “As always, pinpoint your weaknesses, focus on them and strengthen them. Ladies, you fall back under Samantha’s charge today. Harper, you will come with Tanner and I as we need to evaluate your skill set. Everyone else needs to get started on your pre workouts. Then we will move into some sparring. We will also be practicing shifting and fighting in wolf form today.” Everyone dispersed to begin doing their pre workouts.

Tanner walked around the field and ran to help spot someone who was struggling on the weight bench. I thought Tanner and Gabriel were going to evaluate me. The new guy walked over to Gabriel. Then they turn to walk towards me. I started walking and met them halfway. I smiled at the new guy and extended my hand to shake his.
“Hi, my name is Harper. I don’t think that we have met. This is only my third day here.” The guy reached out his hand and took mine. A big bright smile crossed his face. He seemed friendly.
“Harper, this is Kai. He is the gamma of this pack and one of my best friends. Tanner and I grew up together. We’re pretty much brothers. I wanted to introduce you two before we got started.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Harper. Welcome to the Harmony Moon pack. Sorry I haven’t been here the last few days. I've been out of town with my family. I’m going to be walking around keeping everyone on track today, but if you have any questions feel free to come and ask.” I smiled at him and nodded my head.
“Sure, thank you Kai. It’s nice to meet you.”