Chapter 19

The next morning I wake up with a groan, because they really did torture us yesterday. It was an endurance competition that lasted pretty much all day. We had to stand on a balance beam with a pail of water, of all things, on our heads and a staff stretched across our shoulders. At regular intervals, the Leutenants would come around and add weights to our staffs so that it was a test not only of how long you could stand there and whether or not you could stay straight, but also how long you could endure increasing weight on your shoulders.

It was absolute agony, only compounded by the fact that I somehow got placed next to Jackson. during it, so I had the added challenge of enduring his exquisite smoke–and–pine scent the entire time I stood there. And god, the more I smelled it, the more I realized that there was something else layered beneath it – something warm, and rich, and delicious, like…cherries? God, I don’t know, but whatever it is, it works.

Needless to say. I did not win this competition. I didn’t shame myself I have good balance after years of ballet and made it somewhere to the midway point of candidates. It was the weights that took me out eventually when they added a final set of sandbags to the ends of my staff, I just collapsed – completely ate dirt while water from the pail splashed all over me.

And, damn it. I could have sworn that I heard Jackson laughing at me, even though when I scowled up at him his face was totally blank.

It came down to Jackson, Rafe, and Jesse at the last, and we were all required to sit and watch them in silence, missing lunch and dinner, while they all stubbornly just stood there, refusing to give up even when it meant that the rest of us starved.

Eventually the Captain made them all go to one foot, which took Rafe out pretty fast, to my surprise. He scowled as he sat next to me, though that was the only sign of his disappointment.

And then it was all Jesse and Jackson for another hour before Jackson wobbled, just once, and his pail fell down. Even though Jackson himself didn’t fall, the Captain called it in Jesse’s favor.

Jesse and Jackson shook hands, but I could see Jackson’s disappointment. He’s at the top of every list, but he hasn’t come in first in a single evaluation since the logic exam, and even that he knows he only got because I let him turn his paper in first.

But then again, neither has Jesse, who was beaming when he came over to accept our congratulations.

Still, despite his enthusiasm at winning, I could tell that Jesse was beat. He skipped his shower and fell immediately into bed. And this morning, even though Jesse is always up first and waking me with a happy smile….he’s dead asleep right now, his face totally slack and pressed into his pillow.

I grin as I climb down from my bunk, proud of my cousin and also a little pleased to see him out of energy for once. He always seems to have three times as much as the rest of us.

But I sigh and decide to give him the morning off, pulling on my boots – I always sleep in my

fatigues, much to my chagrin – and heading to the bathroom to give my teeth a quick brush before moving towards the door. Because even if Jesse is asleep I’ve got a routine to follow.

I mean, I know that I showed up to this Academy kind of desperately and on a whim, but the closer and closer it gets? The more I really do want it.

So, I push open the door to the barracks and get started on my run without my cousin, going on our usual trail at the speeds at which he usually makes me run. And when I slacken a little bit, I grit my

teeth and tell myself not to go easy just because Jesse isn’t here. And then I push myself to go even faster.

Even without my cousin it’s an usual morning. The countryside around the Academy is usually clear and bright, with little pockets of fog hanging low in the hills, hiding from the rising sun that will inevitably burn them off. But today the fog is thicker, hanging in the air and sticking to my cheeks in tiny droplets as I run through it.

I smile as I go, though, because it looks kind of cool and spooky – like running through a cloud. I start to look forward to breakfast now as I crest the final hill, wondering if Jesse is going to fall face–down into his eggs like he used to do when we were preteens and he was going through a growth spurt. God, he’d fall asleep at the craziest moments, his body just taking whatever rest it needed whenever it needed it. One time he fell asleep mid–conversation at the dinner table, his cheek falling right into his mashed potatoes.

We’d all laughed, and Uncle Roger had gathered him up in his arms to carry him to bed, but

I slow, abruptly, when I see a dark figure forming in the fog ahead of me. His head is down as his arms pump – he’s running too –

But there are only two people who are that all, and that broad, in the barracks right now.

And one of them is a prince who absolutely does not get up for a morning run.

My steps stutter to a stop as Jackson comes more clearly into sight. His head whips up as he senses.

and I freeze on the path, my eyes wide and my hears me, smells me, I don’t know what

me

arms out like an idiot, ready to bolt.

–

But when his eyes light on me, and he realizes who I am, and his mouth lifts in a sneer, I realize that my instinct was correct. This man – he is not just going to pass me with a casual morning hello.

F**k. F**k! What do I do? Do I run?

But I’m out of time.

“Where are your bodyguards?” Jackson snaps, stalking towards me, his eyes livid.

“Um,” I say, keeping my eyes on him, not at all able to come up with an answer better than that. My mind goes completely blank in my panic.

SUN, TU IVIGI

“Great,” he growls, stepping close so that there’s only a breath between us. I tilt my chin upwards, staring up at the mountain that is my mate, fear streaking through me.

Go! My wolf urges me, for once logical and not telling me to kiss him or something stupid. Run! Get back to Jesse and Rafe!

But before I can move Jackson grabs me by the front of my uniform, twisting it in his fist and hauling me with him so that I stumble backwards until my back is pressed up against a tree. I pant in my fear, staring at him like a trapped animal.

“Then it’s time for us to have the conversation that we should have had that first night.” Jackson hisses, “when you sent me on a wild goose chase after my mate.”

“Um,” I say again, my eyes darting to the side, trying to come up with something, anything.

“And then,” Jackson continues, “why the f**k you smell like her. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Maybe you would have gotten away with it if we hadn’t been paired up in that bout, but I got close enough, Clark, to realize that you f**king have her scent on you – ”

My mind suddenly flashes back to that moment in the ring. Because that’s not what he said then – he didn’t say “why do you smell like her,”

He had said “what are you?”

Which means…

Which means that something has changed. Either he talked himself out of realizing what I am – or he forced himself to forget the pulse in the air – the way my hands heated – noveldrama

–

But he doesn’t think I’m her – hasn’t yet figured out that I’m a girl –

“Please!” I beg, pressing myself against the tree, turning my face away from him and pressing my eyes shut. “Let me go! I’ll tell you!”

But, unfortunately, it was the wrong thing to say.

“Let you go?” he growls, leaning closer. “Fat chance, Clark – I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

My heart begins to pound almost out of my chest.