Page 5 of Brutal Reign
After dropping my duffel amongst the other recruits’ luggage, I scan the crowd for a flash of violet, quickly spotting my friend Hayden and jogging over to join her. Her odd hair color makes her easy to spot. I once considered doing somethingsimilar to my own hair, but when I asked her about it, she went into detail about how labor-intensive it is to maintain the pastel violet hue and I quickly lost interest. I barely have the attention span to occasionally apply makeup, let alone sit in a hair salon for hours on end every six weeks.
“How’d you manage to ditch the parentals?” Hayden asks as I approach, tossing an arm around my shoulders and guiding me into the fray.
“I didn’t,” I grumble, flickering a glance toward the far corner of the field where the elders are congregating.
Hayden winces. “Well, at least you made it here, eh? That’s a step further than I thought you’d get.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I snort, shrugging her arm off.
“You know what I mean,” she sighs. “C’mon, the rest of our pack’s this way.” She pivots around, beckoning me with a flick of her head.
I swivel my gaze from side to side as we shoulder our way past the other recruits, sizing up my competition as we thread through the masses. Though most are strangers, there’s a few familiar faces in the crowd– and one in particular I’ve been dreading seeing.
My heart skips a damn beat when my gaze snags on the guy that towers over all the rest; a six-foot-six menace with a jaw cut from stone and a grin that would make the devil himself swoon. Sebastian Walker is surrounded by people vying for his attention, but I know all too well how dangerous that attention is and how hollow it leaves you feeling once it’s gone.
We were friends once.Bestfriends. Up until a few years ago, Seb Walker and Ace Conway were the center of my universe, and it felt like the three of us against the world. Then one day they suddenly woke up and decided they were too cool to hangout with me. They dropped me like a bad habit, and it broke my fucking heart.
I try not to think about those days anymore. Last I heard, Seb and Ace are still joined at the hip, though, so it’s weird that only one of them showed up at training camp. Rumor has it that Ace decided to forgo the squad to apprentice under his dad at his family’s tattoo shop. Part of me wonders whether that’s the truth, or if Seb casthimaside, too.
I snap my head back around before the asshole can catch me looking his way, following Hayden over to join the rest of our packmates. There are eight other kids here from Summervale, and while most of us run in different circles, the comfort of familiarity draws us together. It isn’t long before we fall into easy conversation, speculating about whether we’ll do any actual training today and what kind of torture the squad leaders are planning to put us through over the next six weeks.
They may look big and bad, but the squad leaders don’t scare me. They’re the daughters and sons of the other Alphas in our alliance. Our parents are tight, so I’ve known them all my life, and I’m even related to some.
Maddox and Avery Kessler are cousins from my mom’s side, while Iver and Lo Anderson are cousins from my dad’s. That only leaves Tristan and Sloane Masters, who are basically family now through mate bonds, and the three Raines siblings: Archer, Andie, and Ares. For me and Seb, training camp is just a formality– based upon our parentage, there’s a place carved out for each of us in squad leadership once this is all over. It’s our birthright.
I catch sight of my cousin Avery and her new mate exiting the building onto the field, so I jog over to say a quick hello and remind them to take it easy on me. I’m not above using my connections if it’ll help me make a mark at training camp, especially because seeing Seb has already knocked me off-kilter.Whenever I’m around him, I’m reminded how insignificant I felt when he and Ace iced me out and my self-confidence seems to evaporate.
“Whoa, is that him?” Hayden asks when I return, making heart eyes over my shoulder at Avery’s mate.
Everyone’s heard about the scandal of my cousin being kidnapped by the shifter hunters only to discover one of them was her fated mate. Cameron Knox didn’t even know he was part shifter until he wolfed out on the night of the full moon and their bond snapped into place. Needless to say, his loyalties shifted, and he wound up being integral in bringing down the hunters’ Guild that had been terrorizing our kind for the past decade. He’s the reason we’re all here– now that the hunters are dealt with, training camp has been reinstated.
I glance back at Cam, smirking to myself. “Yep,” I reply, popping the P. “And if you don’t want to get on my cousin’s bad side, I’d wipe up the drool.”
Hayden’s face reddens as she sheepishly averts her eyes. “Shit, he’s gorgeous,” she breathes, fanning herself.
“So is Avery,” I reply with a shrug. “Would you expect her mate to be any less?”
“No, butdamn. He’s got some half-brothers, doesn’t he? Any chance they’re single?” She licks her lips suggestively, winking.
Hayden’s a little boy-crazy…or a lot. Pretty sure the only reason she signed up for training camp was to gawk at all the hot, sweaty dudes on the squad.
I roll my eyes, chuckling to myself as the crowd around us suddenly quiets and I swivel to face the center of the field. The squad leaders have formed a line, staring out at us with hard looks on their faces designed to intimidate. It’s definitely working on my peers. Everyone around me is suddenly standing ramrod straight, giving them their undivided attention. My cousin Madd is positioned in the center of the line, and he clapshis hands together to silence the last of the chatter as he steps forward.
“Listen up, recruits!” Madd booms, clenching his jaw tight as he sweeps his stony gaze over the field. “So you’re here because you wanna be warriors for the security squad, huh?”
Heads bob eagerly and I find myself nodding along, captivated by his powerful, authoritative tone.
“Then you’re in the right place,” he continues, folding his heavily tattooed forearms across his chest. “Over the next six weeks, we’ll be evaluating each of you to see if you’ve got what it takes to be an elite warrior for the six-pack alliance. We’ll assess your skills. We’ll push you to your limits. You’ll eat, sleep, and breathe squad life, and if you survive, then you might just be lucky enough to make the cut.”
Everyone stands a little taller, the spike of excitement palpable.
“Most of you won’t, though,” Madd adds with a smirk, sucking the energy right back out of the field of hopefuls. “We only take the best of the best, and the purpose of training camp is to weed out the weak. If you can’t hack it, we’ll send you packing. It’s that simple. Every day you’re here, you’ll be tested.”
The recruits around me are suddenly looking pale-faced and terrified, hanging on Madd’s every word as he reads us the riot act. I guess that’s fair, since Maddox Kessler is a scary motherfucker to most people, but I see straight through that dark, menacing facade. The growly Alpha is a big softie underneath. Only for the people he loves, which is why I consider myself lucky to be one of them.
“Your first test starts right now,” he continues, flashing a wolfish grin. “Fifty-four of you showed up here today, but there’s only fifty bunks in the barracks. You’ll need to earn your bunk by putting in twenty laps around the track, and once they fill up,that’s it. The four of you who finish last will be going straight home.”
We draw a collective gasp. They’ve never weeded out recruits on day one before.