Garcia' POV
Nancy purrs with satisfaction in my mind as Atticus takes off like a shot. My wolf is practically vibrating with competitive energy, determined to beat her mate at his own game.
We trail behind Atticus into the dense woods, watching him barrel past the first orange marker. Nancy picks up her pace slightly while the sound of Atticus crashing through the underbrush grows more distant down the incorrect trail.
"Is there a way we can stay hidden from Atticus?" I ask my wolf. The mate bond usually makes it impossible to truly disappear from each other, and once he realizes we've taken the lead, Dmitri will push him to catch up.
"Naturally. There's a good reason nobody ever managed to track us down during training." Nancy's response triggers a brief, strange sensation that vanishes almost immediately. The feeling reminds me of our old hide-and-seek games with my training squad, where I'd always be the final person discovered.
