Chapter 629

"That was awesome!" Jesse pants, pumping his fists in the air when we arrive back at the Castle forty-five minutes later. Both Jackson and Rafe beam at each other as they, too, catch their breath, apparently agreeing with him.

But as I drag myself gasping up the last little hill towards the door, my arms screaming against the weight of the rifle, my legs aching and my heart pounding, all I can do is glare to demonstrate that I vehemently do not agree with them.

Jackson's plan was as devious as it was simple. All I had to do was run our regular route and then, at intervals that he planned out, stop and...shoot. You know, just attempt to aim and fire accurately at a moving target - usually Jesse - while my heart pounded, and my breath rasped, and my hands struggled to hold the gun steady.

And then, as I usually failed miserably to hit anything I aimed at, I had to run to catch up with the group! Just start sprinting, as soon as my heart rate lowered enough to fire, to catch up with these stupid Alphas and their big long legs.

"I hate," I pant, gasping in air as I glare at all three of them, finally getting to the group, "all of you."

"It'll get easier, Ari," Rafe says, grinning at me with his hands on his hips. "Though this was an amazing idea, Jackson - I love it - I want to do it too -" I glare at my brother, my fingers tightening possessively on the rifle, making him laugh.

"You did so good, Ari!" Jesse laughs, turning a little so I can see the splatters of purple paint that stretch down his back where I hit him twice. "You actually got me! I'm very impressed."

"Seriously, Ari, you're going to get better and better as we do this every day," Jackson says, grinning at me and putting an encouraging hand between my shoulder blades.

"Every. Day?" I gasp, staring up at him in shock.

My mate's grin deepens. "It's a useful way to combine fitness with a new skill. We'll run further and further apart – we'll have you basically sniping on the run in no time -"

"I've changed my mind!" I groan, my shoulders slumping as I take a stumbling step towards my mate, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "I don't want to be ambitious anymore! I don't want to learn new things! Or, if I do, I want to take up something quiet and peaceful, like illustrating manuscripts - I'll knit for the war effort -"

"Nah, it's a great idea," Jesse says, coming to my other side and adding his own hand to my back so that he and Jackson can sweep me forward between them into the Castle. "And when you get really good at it, you can run, and I'll shoot at you!"

"Never," I growl, whipping my head to glare up at him. My cousin just laughs at me, looking forward with interest as we enter the castle. And even if my lungs still ache, and my body feels absolutely wiped of any energy that Jackson gave me this morning - I do have to admit, I see how the skill is useful. If I can move and shoot as accurately as I do laying calmly in a blind?

Yeah. I get it.

“Hurry up, Clark!" Rafe says, clapping his hands behind me and making me skitter forward as he laughs. "No dragging your feet now! We've got breakfast to get to!"

I snarl as I glance over my shoulder at my brother, but I hurry my steps as told. Because breakfast - and all the coffee I can drink - sounds amazing right now.

Unfortunately, the moment we enter

the breakfast hall, our little group of four goes completely still. Because as we look around, it's perfectly clear that...something is very

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different here. That something quite

big has changed.

"Where...where is everyone?" I whisper, noting that half of the tables in the hall are empty - aren't even set for breakfast.

"Holy shit," Rafe whispers next to me, looking over at Jacks.

Jackson just looks grimly over at him.

"What's going on?" Jesse asks, as anxious as me. "What am I missing?"

“Come on," Rafe says, his voice grim, reaching out a hand and wrapping it around my arm protectively. "Let's talk about it as a group."

The four of us walk over to our littlenoveldrama

?

table where Luca and Ben are already sitting. As soon as we do, someone stands up from a table halfway across the room and begins

to walk towards ours as well.- Despite everything, my face brightens to see that it's Tony.

“Does this mean what I think it means?" Tony asks, arriving at the table as we do.

I sit down in my seat, craning my neck to look around at my friends my hand slipping instantly beneath the table cloth and into Luca's, who sits on my right. He gives it a squeeze.

“Look," Rafe sighs, looking first at Tony and then around at everyone else. "Jacks and I don't have more information than anyone else but.....”

"But yeah," Jacks cuts in when Rafe's words fail him. "Yeah, I think that the room is empty because they sent the second-year Cadets to the front."

I gasp, my eyes going wide, my free hand flying to my chest as I process this.