Filed to story: Shifter Academy: Taming Her Wild Mates (Ivy) Book PDF Free
“Did you read the handbook?” Jackson asks suddenly, and this time I look up at him, completely baffled. Why – why on earth is he asking me this seconds before we enter the course?
“What handbook?” I ask.
He turns a little to look down at me, frustrated. “The one your fucking uncles wrote, Clark.”
I scowl, realizing that I never even knew there was a handbook because Rafe and Jesse – they’ve probably had it memorized since they were kids. “No, I never read the handbook,” I murmur, turning my eyes back to the gauntlet ahead of us. “Interesting phrasing,” Jackson murmurs, glancing over at the Lieutenant at the sidelines, who starts to raise his whistle to his lips. “When they describe the rules for going through the course, it’s very clear that candidates will be disqualified for actively helping each other. But, there isn’t any language that prevents you from using other candidates’ bodies as leverage.”
“What?” I breathe, staring at him in utter confusion.
But Jackson – he just turns his face away.
And suddenly the bell whistles, and I swear he’s gone in a flash – And I’m just left standing here alone on the start line, wondering what the hell – “Go, Clark!” the Lieutenant barks. “The trial has begun!”
Cursing at my idiocy for letting him throw me off the game, I launch into a sprint, heading into the course already behind on my time.
I’m gasping for breath by the time I get to the sand pit through which I have to army crawl under a heavy cargo net. This obstacle marks the final third of the course, which means that I’m almost done – but it’s also the part that always slows me down the most.
I dive in without hesitation, trying to push myself as hard as I can, not giving myself any time to hesitate or take a break even though my heart is pounding with the exertion.
Rafe is right. I’m a Sinclair. We don’t fail at shit like this.
And the chain climb, which is next?
Well, I’m just going to have to handle that when I get there, aren’t I?
In the meantime, I use my legs to propel me forward, my thighs burning as I use my stomach muscles to hold my body in the air as much as I can, my forearms moving fast to take my weight as I move towards the edge.
By the time I get to the end of the sand pit I’m red and panting, my tongue sticky with The Hidden Princess At All-boys Alpha Academysand kicked up into the air by the sixty-some cadets who are already ahead of me in line, including Jackson, who has already overlapped me. As usual, he – like Rafe, Jesse, and Luca – goes through the course twice in the time it takes the rest of us to do it once, earning a completion bonus.
But, considering that he didn’t even look my way when he passed me…I’m counting my blessings.
I roll out from under the cargo rope, giving myself ten seconds to lay on the ground and catch my breath, as Rafe advised I do, before I try to magically levitate myself up this chain or something –
But as I lay stay still, carefully counting my breaths, suddenly a heap of sand hits me in the face – And I gasp, sputtering and roiling over onto my stomach as I frantically wipe at my face, hacking sand from my throat. I finally shake the majority of the sand away and get a glimpse of fucking Graham Wright smirking over his shoulder at me as he starts to pull himself up the chain – God, what an asshole –
He puts a further thirty-second dent in my time as I work to spit the sand out of my mouth and ensure that it doesn’t get in my lungs. Then I pull myself to my feet and start to jog towards the chains, cursing the Wright family and passively plotting their deaths when suddenly I stumble in surprise, because – Because fucking Jackson is right there, kneeling at the corner of the chain obstacle, again tying his damn shoe –
I slow my pace but keep moving, trying to figure out what the hell is going on with him – I mean, honestly, if his boots are messing with him that much, why doesn’t he just take them off and go? This is going to put a severe dent in his time – he’ll still get the completion bonus, but this will be the worst time he’s ever recorded, and he’ll certainly have given the title for this course to Rafe, who…
But as I jog towards the chains, my mind working fast, Jackson raises his head.
And looks directly into my eyes.
I slow further and he scowls at me, glancing down at my feet, clearly telling me to get a move on.
I hesitate for a second but then start to run, faster now. He lifts his eyes again to mine and nods, one, solidly. And then, shocking me, he returns his gaze to his shoe, his body curled over, his shoulders flat above him almost like…
Like…a table.
Or a platform.
I gasp as I suddenly realize what the hell is happening.
And that…that I have one shot to take advantage of this gift Jackson has laid at my feet – And I don’t know why he did it – maybe as an apology for trying to choke me? Maybe as a thanks for the simple act of inviting him to breakfast?
But for whatever reason he did it – Jackson has opened a door for me to fucking make it into the academy.
His words at the start of the obstacle come back to me as I pick up speed – “There isn’t any language that prevents you from using other candidates’ bodies as leverage.”
And as my focus lands on the flat expanse of his wide shoulders?
I see exactly how he’s positioned them for me.
As leverage.
