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I nodded at him and started to move away, but he grabbed my hand. “Izzy, is there a place nearby where we can swim?”

“There’s a pond a few miles out. We can run there if that’s okay?”

“Perfect.”

He double squeezed my hand and let it linger there before we both pulled away.

I wasn’t sure what I had that could pass for swimwear. I knew I had a tank top and possibly some boy shorts, but a swimsuit wasn’t something I’d thought to bring here. If I hadn’t, the others hadn’t either.

This should be interesting.

Chapter Five

Just our luck, the sky was overcast today. I stared up just as I exited the building. There would be no worries about too much sun exposure.

Calen and Theo were already outside close together, speaking in hushed tones. I couldn’t help but think they were talking about me. Soon, though, Kai came out. I made a sharp intake of breath as he stepped outside. He wore a wreath of bladed glass around his head and a short grass skirt around his waist.

He bowed to me. “Izzy.”

“Kai,” I said, shocked. “This is what you wear to train?”

He nodded. “It’s our custom.”

I took in his expansive chest along with his thick thighs. Was there something wrong with me that I seemed to like the way guys looked in skirts? Muscled legs were just plain sexy. Especially when they had Kai’s coloring highlighted by the pale grass on his skirt.

He lowered his voice. “Don’t worry. I’m wearing something under this.”

My cheeks blazed red. My mind hadn’t even gotten that far yet though it would’ve at some point. “Good to know.”

For myself, I wore the form-fitting tank top I had. I had the boy shorts on too, but over them I wore some athletic shorts that I would run in while we made our way to the pond. I’d also put my hair up in French braids, so I wouldn’t get any of it in my face while swimming and running.

Shortly after, Alexei, Rafe, and Felix walked outside. Felix made a smart remark under his breath after taking Kai in, but I didn’t care. I hoped it didn’t bother Kai either.

“The pond, Izzy?” Kai asked, ignoring everyone else.

I pointed out past the walled barrier around the school. “To the East.”

“Follow me,” Kai said. “Do everything I do. It’s customary in my country to train outside. We use nature to its fullest extent.”

And it seemed to work out well for him. Since he was shirtless and had little clothes on other than that, I could see his muscles popping out everywhere. He wasn’t as big as Calen, but he was endowed with ripples and dips that would make women stare.

Without a warning, Kai took off. He turned and ran full-blaze toward the perimeter wall. I scurried after him, not wanting to waste any time and still eager to show what I could do too. It was them picking me as much as it was me picking them. If I acted like a princess who didn’t deign to get herself dirty, I highly doubted any of them would want me.

Kai was fast. His muscles weren’t a hindrance as he jumped over the wall in one leap. I couldn’t even do that. I had to touch off the top to clear it. Impressed, I tried my best to keep up with him. Alexei was right next to me. We’d always had similar strengths, and we’d ran together for years so it wasn’t surprising to see him there.

Rafe was the one who surprised me. He kept right with Kai. Before we knew it, we’d run a mile, but not just straight running. Kai belted out instructions as we went. Soon, we were climbing trees and jumping from one to the other like monkeys before falling from high branches and landing in crouches.

We cleared ravines, jumped onto boulders, and climbed up even more trees. When we got to the pond’s edge, I was out of breath and my muscles were straining.

Kai had a glint of satisfaction in his eye.

We waited for Felix and Theo, then Calen to come. Kai then looked around with one of his infectious grins. “We usually shimmy up palm trees to grab coconuts for training, so I had to replace regular tree climbing with that.” Out of all of us, he was the least out of breath. It wasn’t that we never did anything to tax us, these were just different moves meant to work different muscles. For instance, I wasn’t used to swinging off tree branches though it had been fun and exciting at the same time.

Kai turned, taking in the pond. “Again, we usually use the waves as resistance, but this will have to do.”

“I miss the ocean already,” Rafe said, his blond hair matted with sweat to his forehead. He caught my eye and gave me a wink.

I hadn’t seen the ocean very many times at all, and I’d never seen it while on a vacation where I could sit and stare and embrace its beauty. It was always in a passerby fashion, just as on onlooker as we made our way to the reason we came to that part of the country for.