Chapter 13 IF LOOKS COULD KILL
SEBASTIAN’S POV
It's during the third day of training, I start to question every life decision I've ever made that leads to today.
Including this one.
My arms burn constantly now, even when I'm not moving or doing anything.
My legs feel like I borrowed them from an older and weaker werewolf one very close to the grave and I haven't gone to change them or repair them.
Every morning I wake up sore, every night I go to bed feeling more sore and in between, I stay sore.
This wasn’t training.
This was punishment.
Pure brutal training.
“You’re still alive.” Alisander said cheerfully in my head maybe a little too cheerful as I struggled through another set of push-ups. “That’s good. Means we’re adapting.”
“I hate you,” I mutter into the dirt.
“You don’t,”he replied, pleased with himself. “You’re just tired.”
I collapse flat on my stomach when Alpha Ragnar finally calls a break.
My face is pressed into the packed earth, my lungs feel like I'm a coal miner and sweat is repeatedly dripping into my eyes that I no longer care to wipe.
Around me, the other guards barely look affected. Some take wide stretches, others laugh and one of them even yawns looking bored.
Of course.
Lucky bastards.
“We’re close,” Alisander added, practically vibrating with excitement. “Did you feel him watching?”
“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth. “And stop it.”
I can't be having a happy reaction right here just because Alisander's acting like a kid at the candy store.
“He’s our mate.”
“He’s an Alpha who very clearly decided to ignore that fact.”
That shut him up for half a second. Sweet relief.
“Temporarily,” he countered. Of course this bastard has to have a comeback. “He hasn’t rejected us.”
“Yet. He also hasn’t claimed us. Or even acknowledge it. Or even look me in the eye properly without it being like I wasn’t a mistake he had to clean up.”
“Now that's just your wounded pride talking,” Alisander said gently. “Not because you’re unworthy.”
I push myself up and stagger towards the bathing area before I say something I’d regret.
Cold water hits my head with a slap.
I sigh in relief as it pours over me, washing away sweat, dirt, and some of the humiliation.
My muscles scream but I continue to scrub myself clean.
Swatch of a deep angry red are already forming across my ribs and thighs.
I lean my forehead against the stone wall.
“What if this, all this is a mistake?” I whisper.
“It isn’t.”
“What if I get hurt? Or worse, what if I get fired and rejected?”
“Then we survive,” Alisander says simply. “As we always have, nothing changes”
I shut the water off and reach for my clothes.
They aren’t there.
I blink.
Then I look again.
Nothing.
My towel was still wrapped around my waist, damp and barely secure, but my shirt, trousers, and my clothes are gone.
“Oh no,” I breathe.
Laughter echoes from behind me.
I turn around slowly.
Trevor is with two other of the guards, my clothes draped over his shoulder like a trophy he won.
“Looking for these?” he asks with a snarky smile.
My jaw tightens. “Give them back.”
He smirks. “Say please.”
I take a step forward. “I’m not playing games.”
“Oh, you are,” he says calmly. “You just don’t know it yet.”
Maybe it's the grueling training I've had to go through, maybe it's the sexual tension I've been repressing for days or maybe it's the fact that I now sleep and wake up with a boner but something inside me just snaps and I lunge at him.
It is a stupid decision of course.
I know it is stupid even as I do it.
But humiliation and anger has a way of overriding survival instincts.
Trevor didn’t even look surprised.
He caught me mid-step then slammed his fist into my jaw.
Pain explodes across my face almost immediately.
I stagger back with my towel slipping dangerously low.
I taste blood instantly.
“Enough!”
Beta Ava’s voice cracks like thunder across the yard.
Trevor releases my clothes, immediately tossing them aside as she strides toward us. Her eyes flicker to my face and then to Trevor.
“What is this?” she demands.
“He attacked me,” Trevor said smoothly.
I open my mouth in protest. “He-”
“Don’t even,” Beta Ava cuts in, sounding bored. “I don’t care.”
The words hit harder than the punch.
“You both disrupted training,” she continues. “That's a weakness. Weakness wastes my time.”
“That’s not fair,” I blurt before I can stop myself.
Her eyes immediately snap to me, looking sharp and cold.
“Oh?” she said. “You want fairness?”
Trevor smirks beside me.
“Five laps,” she says. “Around the full perimeter. Now.”
Trevor’s smile falters. “Five?”
“I want to say four,” she replies. “But since you questioned me, it’s five. Would you like to keep talking?”
Silence.
“Good,” she said. “Now run!”
The pack grounds are massive.
We're one of the biggest packs in the tristate area.
By the second lap, my lungs feel like they are on fire. By the third, my legs feel like Jell-O with the way they are trembling.
Trevor the bastard, is running beside me breathing easy like this was a walk in the park.
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“You don’t belong here,” he hiss at me. “You’re only standing because Alpha Ragnar pities you.”
I ignore him.
Reacting to him is what brought me into the mess in the first place.
“You’ll never be worthy of guarding him,” Trevor continued. “An Omega like you? Pretty pathetic.”
Something burns in my chest.
Not rage or anger but red hot defiance.
Who the hell do they think they are knowing whether I should be here or not?!
I cross the finish line hours later, barely upright and my vision swimming.
I didn’t even realize I was bleeding again until I smelled it.
Oh by the Moon goddess I am late.
I sprint fast, if my stumbling could be called that- swiftly to Ragnar’s quarters, knocking once before entering.
He doesn’t look at me.
“You’re late,” he says flatly.
“I-”
He inhales.
Everything changes.
One moment I'm looking at him from his desk and the second, I blink and he's right in front of me with one hand gripping my chin firmly.
“Who did this?!” Ragnar demands in a cold tone tilting my head up.
His eyes are cold.
He looks unconcerned but for the first time since I’ve seen him, and I don't know how I do, he looks furious.
If looks could kill…