Page 71 of Brutal Reign
My breath hitches, heartbeat thundering as they stride purposefully in my direction. I’ve unwittingly captured their undivided attention, and between the intensity of those stares, I couldn’t look away if I tried.
“Oh great, here come your stalkers,” Hayden scoffs wryly.
I barely even hear her over the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears, the twin bonds between me and the boys pulling taut as they draw closer.
“Wasn’t sure you were coming back,” Seb drawls as he approaches, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk that’s far sexier than it should be. He comes to a stop in front of me, forcing me to lift my chin to maintain eye contact since he’s a freaking giant.
“Can’t get rid of me that easy, Walker,” I quip, tossing my hair back as I shift my gaze to Ace beside him. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
Ace shrugs a shoulder nonchalantly, his lips curving into the ghost of a smile. It’s totally on-brand for him to downplay something as big as winning the squad recruit wolf tournament. The man’s too damn humble– probably because his best friend has enough arrogance for the both of them.
“Alright, recruits!” a deep voice calls out, and we all simultaneously turn to look toward the doors of the squad complex as Javi Cruz steps out onto the field with a crate in his hands, some random guy from the squad trailing behind himwith another. Javi’s mated to my cousin Lo, but he’s not a squad leader himself and hasn’t led any of our training sessions before. I furrow my brow in confusion at the sight of him, about to ask my friends if they have any idea what’s going on. Before I have a chance to voice my question, Javi speaks again and answers it.
“The squad leaders are busy deciding which of you will get cut from training camp this afternoon, so me and my buddy Luke here are taking over this morning’s training session,” Javi announces as he comes to a stop in the center of the practice field, tipping his head toward the shaggy-haired guy tailing him. “We figured it might be fun to change things up by heading out for war games this morning.”
A ripple of excitement spreads through the crowd, all of us perking up eagerly at the mention of war games. They’re basically an intense version of capture-the-flag, and it’s definitely a welcome change in pace from the typical Friday morning cardio sessions.
Javi drops the crate onto the ground at his feet, shoving a hand into his back pocket to pull out a slip of paper. “Alright, listen up for your team assignments,” he says, clearing his throat before he starts rattling off our names and corresponding team colors, prompting us to come forward and grab mesh vests from the crates that he and Luke brought as they’re called.
I get fielded to the gold team, while Hayden, Gus, and Kendrick are all fielded to black. Ace shoots me a satisfied grin as he’s also announced for gold, but when Seb’s name is called for the opposite team, he makes no effort to conceal his discontent. I stifle a chuckle as he scowls and grumbles under his breath, kicking at the dirt like a petulant child as he stoops to grab his black vest from the crate. The guy’s obviously unaccustomed to not getting his own way.
Once everyone’s been assigned to a team and is donning their corresponding vests, we file out through the complex gate, ourexcitement palpable as we hike the trail out to the area in the forest designated for war games.
“Gold team, you’ll be with Luke,” Javi supplies when we come upon the fork in the trail leading to the first bunker, handing the gold flag over to Luke and waving for the other team to continue on with him. “Black team, follow me.”
Seb casts a longing look in my direction as he’s forced to move along, and I swear I see Ace wink back at him.Smug bastard.I throw up a wave to my friends as they depart with Javi, then turn to follow Luke and the rest of the gold team recruits over to our bunker to strategize for the game. Ace sticks close to my side, and I’m actually glad for it since Jake and Chandler were also fielded to gold.Yay.
We approach the small wooden platform that’s been erected in the clearing, Luke hanging our team’s flag off the top before hopping back down and swiveling to face us. “I’ve got a bet going with Javi, so we need to win this thing,” he remarks, rubbing his palms together. “Anyone have any ideas for strategy?”
Chandler shoulder-barges past me, pushing her way to the front of the group. “I want to be on offense,” she declares, lifting her chin haughtily. “I’m one of the fastest runners, so I can cross the boundary line with the flag, no problem.”
“I want to be on offense, too,” Jake puts in, moving to step up alongside her.
“Okay,” Luke drawls, drawing out the vowel as he nods his head slowly. “We’ll need people on both offense and defense, but we should probably work up an actual strategy, first.”
“Just don’t get your patches pulled, what else is there to talk about?” Jake scoffs.
“Our approach, for one,” Ace murmurs, swiping a hand over his chin. “Tactics for how we’re going to get past their defenses, our plan for our own defense to stop them from getting too close to our bunker…”
“Exactly!” Luke exclaims, grinning at Ace like he’s his star pupil. “So, any ideas? I’ve got a few thoughts, but this exercise is for you guys, so let’s hear yours first.”
Jake cuts a glare in Ace’s direction, but he doesn’t even turn his head to acknowledge it, listening intently to the other recruits as they begin throwing out suggestions.Why is his quiet confidence so damn sexy?I find myself instinctively shifting a little closer to Ace, butterflies taking flight in my belly when the backs of our hands brush.
He’s a distraction. I’m barely paying attention to the discussion, sidetracked by how good he smells every time the breeze kicks up and the low, soothing tone of his voice each time he opens his mouth to speak. The harder I try to ignore him and focus in on the task at hand, the more I find myself sliding side-eyed glances his way, my wolf practically purring with contentment just to be this close to him.
After about ten minutes of back and forth, our team finally settles on a strategy that’s somewhat sound, Luke looking a little frazzled as he drags a hand through his hair for the tenth fucking time and blows out a heavy sigh. “Alright, so we’ve got offense and defense set, but we’ll need a couple of people to guard the bunker,” he mutters exasperatedly, glancing around. “Any takers?”
“Riv and I can do it,” Ace offers, nudging me with an elbow.
I snap out of the daze I’m in, jerking my head sideways to meet his ocean eyes. “Uh, sure,” I agree, cheeks heating in a blush. I quickly turn away to hide it, tipping my head down so my hair conceals my face from his view.
“Okay let’s get to it, then,” Luke directs, clapping his hands together. “Everybody go ahead and get in position!”
The rest of the gold team recruits scatter like ants, rushing away from the bunker to get in formation for the start of the drill. One by one, they disappear into the forest, Luke trailingafter my teammates to go meet Javi at the boundary line so they can blow the whistle and officially get war games underway. Meanwhile, Ace and I are left behind. Alone.Yeah, this isn’t a recipe for disaster or anything.
He turns to stride over to the bunker, muscles bunching and flexing as he climbs up onto the rickety wooden platform. It creaks beneath his weight as he pivots around, crouching to offer me an arm, and I fight another blush as I reach out to grab on, allowing him to pull me up. The guy is stronger than he looks, though, and the momentum sends me tumbling forward into his chest. I murmur an apology as I step back, way too flustered for my own good.
“How’s your hand?” I blurt, awkwardly attempting to make idle conversation.