I hit the person’s helmet.
He raised his hands and gun just as a pellet smacked the base of my spine. “Got you again, Clark.”
I grabbed my walkie talkie. “I’m out. Lucas is at the south entrance of the tunnel, Liam.”
Just as I spoke that, Lucas raised his gun to me again, but before the jerk could get another shot in, a pellet hit him on the thigh.
I wheeled, half expecting one of my teammates to have shot him, but found one of his own instead.
“Stop picking on her, Mason,” August growled.
Lucas glowered at him before prowling off.
“Thank you, but you didn’t have to do that,” I said
“This is a preview of the trials, Ness. They’ll stab you in the back the first chance they get. Drop out. You hear me? Drop. Out.”
“I drop out, and I have to pack my bags this afternoon.”
“I’ll talk to the elders.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
He huffed. “I won’t stand around to watch you get hurt.”
I laid a hand on his forearm. “It’s a game, August. They’re not going to kill me.”
“They might not kill you, but they’ll-” His body jerked as a pellet smacked his back.
Liam had crawled out the other side of the tunnel and opened fire.
“What will we do to her, August?” His voice was as harsh as his close shot.
“You won’t hesitate to hurt her,” August bit out.
“Didn’t you hear? Nothing can hurt her.” Liam was tossing my words back at me with such a derisive tone, that for a second, I tightened my gloved grip on the gun, tempted to shoot at him.
But I took the high road; I spun and walked away.
If this wasa preview, then at least I knew what to expect.
My body resembled a sheet of blotting paper. Like ink smudges, bruises marbled almost every limb on my body. The worst one was on my inner thigh.
My team ended up winning. Not that I’d felt in a celebratory mood. After the game, I’d vanished into my bedroom to take a hot bath, then donned leggings and a super soft off-the-shoulder tee. I skipped wearing a bra because the wires dug into my bruised ribs. On the upside, my cheek and jaw were looking a lot better. My werewolf blood was kicking in and working its magic.
I simply prayed my body wouldn’t decide to change tonight. I didn’t think I could take any more pain.
A text from Lucy had me heading to the laundry room in the late afternoon. Now that the weekend was over, all the beds had to be changed.
I loaded up the industrial-sized washers with sheets and pillowcases and duvet covers, trying not to gape at certain stains. I washed my hands twice then started on the ironing of the loads that had already been washed and dried. I fed sheet after sheet through the rotary iron, watching the furrows smooth out of the fabric, feeling them smooth out of me, too.
I cracked my neck, working out the kinks brought on by lugging heavy gear and constantly watching my back. As I reached for a bulky duvet cover, I felt a disturbance in the air, caught a whiff of sawdust and Old Spice. I turned to find August standing in the doorway, knuckles raised.
He froze. Without knocking, he slid his hand into the pocket of his sweatpants. “Your aunt told me I might be able to find you here.”
Of course she did.”Did you come to tell me how stupid I am again?”
Surprise carved his face. “I never said you were stupid.”
I grabbed the duvet cover, folded it in half, and thrusted it into the iron. I heard him approach…smelled him approach.
“Ness”-his voice was on my neck-“I don’t think you’re stupid.”
I didn’t turn. “So why are you here?”
“I’m here to tell you that I’ve decided to return to active duty.”
I let go of the duvet and whirled. “You’re going back out there?”
“Just for a few months.”
“Why?”
His eyes raked over my face. “I miss it.”
“Is that why you broke up with Sienna?”
“News travels fast.”
“Is it?”
“It’s part of the reason. The other part is that she’s a sweet girl who deserves a good guy.”
“And you’re nota good guy?”
“I’m not good”-he watched the rotary iron spin-“for her.” He wet his thick bottom lip.
I’d never noticed August’s lips before. He had really nice lips.
“Will you give me your phone number?”
“You want my number?” I breathed.
“Yeah. You know”-he smiled-“so I can call you.”
“You’re not leaving because of me, are you?” I realized how conceited that sounded only after it popped out of my mouth. I raked my hair back. “You know, because you don’t want to see my ass handed to me.” A spot of heat spread over my jaw and throat and spilled into my chest
Shut up, Ness.