Chapter 9
“Oh god,” I groan, sinking my face into my hands, my dreams of becoming an
Academy cadet suddenly slipping through my fingers.
“Don’t worry about it, Ari,” Jesse murmurs, wrapping an arm around my shoulder
and giving me a manly squeeze. “We’ll train you up good. You just had one bad
day, and they didn’t measure any of the things you’re actually good at.”
“He’s right,” Rafe says, and I raise my head to see my brother looking at me
seriously. I blink a little, emotion swelling in me because Rafe looks so much like
dad when he looks at me like that, with a mix of stern expectation and love in his
eyes. “We’ll get your number up fast, Ari, you just need…a little more training.”
“Not like you two have to worry,” I sigh, leaning into Jesse for just a second
before glancing up at the board again. “You two are…” and then I scoff a little in
jealousy because their numbers are one and four. “Seriously, guys!?” I say,
pouting at them. “You had to show me up that bad?”
“Someone had to uphold the Sinclair name,” Rafe murmurs, smirking a little as
he finishes off his plate, shoveling the food into his mouth. “Seriously, Ari, eat up,”
he says, gesturing towards my plate with his fork. “You need the energy today!”
I sigh and eat the sausage in two bites, finishing up the orange as we bus our
trays and head for the door. But as I swallow the last little bit of orange, I realize
that I didn’t even look —
I spin at the last minute, my eyes roving over the rankings for their names —
Luca Grant — that one’s easy. Number five, right at the top, right under Jesse.
Does that mean…did Jesse beat him in the bracket yesterday? Surely he would
have mentioned
But Rafe — if he beat my other mate in the final match that means…
Number two.
My eyes dart up the chart, fastening on his name.
Jackson McClintock.
That’s him, I think, even as Rafe grabs my arm and hauls me out of the room.
Jackson. Luca and Jackson.
My mates.
And as we pass head towards the gym… I can’t help but feel a little thrill of
excitement twist
my stomach. Because I know who they are.
in
But they have noooo idea who I am.
At least, not yet.
1 look up at my brother and my cousin on either side of me as we walk into the
gym, moving towards the group of candidates who stand before what looks like a
gigantic obstacle course. “Thanks, guys,” I whisper, suddenly overwhelmed by a
rush of gratitude. Because honestly, if anyone can get me raised up from number
120? It’s them. “Thank you for believing in me.”
“Don’t thank us yet,” Rafe says, shaking his head down at me. “Training is about
to kick your ass. You ready for this?”
“Probably not,” I sigh, and Jesse grins at me to let me know I’m right. But I
square my shoulders and nod to them, ready to try.
By the end of the day, Rafe’s prediction turns out to be correct: I have absolutely
no urge to
thank them.
Training today was brutal. I don’t even know why they call it training — it was just
a lot of running through obstacle courses, throwing ourselves over barriers, and
climbing chains an activity at which I completely failed. None of it had anything to
do with fighting anyone, as far as I could see. And it certainly was not an activity
that played to my skill set. Thankfully, nothing today counts towards rankings —
we’ll run the obstacle course again at the end of the two weeks, which is when it
will actually affect our rank.
And I was seriously, pathetically bad at all of it. I gritted my teeth as I pulled
myself through the final obstacle — a sand pit that I had to crawl through under a
set of low ropes. As I hauled myself forward with my burning forearms, I was
shocked to see Jackson passing me, barely giving me a glare as he went.
He was close enough that I got a good whiff of his scent as he pulled ahead, an
experience that made me emit an embarrassing moan as my arms gave out so
that I faceplanted in the sand, completely overwhelmed by exhaustion and lust.
God damn it, having mates while running an obstacle course makes me look
even more pathetic than I really am.
I spit out a mouthful of sand as I crawled out of the pit.“Dead last, Clark,” a
Lieutenant said as I got to my feet, raising an eyebrow at me.
“How can I be last!?” I panted, gesturing towards Jackson. “McClintock is ranked
second, and he barely made it out before me!”
“Because,” the Lieutenant said, raising a snide brow in my direction. “McClintock
went through twice, while you did it once.”
I groaned, tilting my head back, thinking longingly of the hot shower that I’d get to
take
next-
But no. Rafe grabbed my arm and hauled me towards the last task of the day: a
five—mile run that left me gasping for air because Jesse and Rafe refused to let
me finish last again and made me keep up with them the whole time. Honestly, I
had thought I was a good runner — I’m usually pretty fast — but my exhaustion,
combined with my lack of sleep, combined with my realization that Jesse and
Rafe really have been going easy on me all these years?
Let’s just say that when they drag me back to the barracks, each with a hand
under my arm to help hold me up, they’re not doing it for show.
“I hate this,” I grumble, glaring at them. “I hate boy stuff.”
“Yeah, well,” Jesse breathes, his words barely audible from his stupid smirking
mouth, “you’re the one that wanted to be a boy.”
Rafe just glares down at me, drawing my eyes to him. “What?” I ask, frowning. “I
tried!”
“You didn’t,” he says, frowning at me in turn. “You gave up. A lot. If you’re going
to make it, Ari, you’re going to have to give it your all. You’re going to have to —”
“Oh, shut up,” I grumble, yanking my arms from theirs and willing myself to walk
on my own, pushing myself to keep up with their long strides. “I can do it. I just
need more sleep.” And to not have my wolf howling after my mates constantly.
“That’s better,” Rafe snaps, his eyes again focused forward. “Hurry up, we want
to get good showers — the hot water will be gone if we’re last.” Jesse nods
eagerly and we all pick up our pace as we enter the barracks. When we get to
our bunks we all yank off our boots as fast as we can and then hurry into the
bathroom, beating the majority of the candidates there.
As we grab bathing packs off the shelf — just towels and soap again — I see Jesse
and Rafe look longingly at the tiled rows of open showers which are already
spurting hot water. But then they glance at me, sigh, and join the short line for the
three curtained showers with me again standing between them.
I scowl, hating that they’re again giving up what they really want to stand with
me, and T glance at the long row of open showers, hoping desperately that
there’s still hot water by the time we have a chance to get in — and that the
shower stalls aren’t disgusting already. like they were yesterday —
0
But suddenly my mouth drops open as I realize what I probably should have
noticed instantly —
Which I only didn’t notice because I’m a naive idiot who had the sense knocked
out of her in training —
But all the guys that are standing in front of the open showers?
They’re completely n*ked.
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My jaw drops open with what I swear
is an audible click as my eyes go
wide and scan the line of n*ked boys
in front of me, some of them
laughing and chatting with each
other as water streams over their
bare shoulders, the skin of their
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Some of them are quiet though, clearly thinking through their day as they run the
bar of soap over their muscled chests, dipping between their legs —
My eyes go even wider as one guy half turns towards me, tilting his head back
and closing his eyes as he takes the spray of water on his face. Because it’s…it’s
Luca.
1. Stop. Breathing.
My entire world narrows to the sight of him before me — to the way that the water
runs down his muscled chest, and ripples along his abs, drifting like a river all the
way down to the defined v—shaped muscles alongside his hips —
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Luca twists his bottom half away
before my eyes can drift any lower,
but this just allows my gaze drifts
A ; ,
over his perfect ass — god, I didn’t
even know there was anything to like
)
about a guy’s ass before today — but
then my attention moves to the swell
of his biceps, and then to his hands,
which run lazy strokes through his
water—darkened hair as he exhales a
deep breath, water dripping down his
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Rafe and Jesse step forward.
1 do not.
I stand transfixed, staring, practically drooling at the sight of my mate —
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Rafe suddenly turns back to me and
: . : “

goes still, his eyes flaring. “Oh my

» :
god,” he groans, grabbing me and
yanking me forward before smacking
me lightly on the back of my head.
Jesse frowns at us for a second and
then, realizing what happened, bursts
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“Ari,” Rafe growls, pushing me in front of him and turning me decidedly away
from the view of my gorgeous, n*ked mate. “What is wrong with you!?”
I blush horribly and don’t answer, doing everything I can to cool the reddening of
my entire face before someone else notices.