Chapter 35 Blood and Dirt
Lycian was still asleep when I slipped out of bed.
I moved quietly. Found old yoga pants and a tank top I didn’t care about. My hands shook while tying my shoes. The bond pulled at me. Wanting me to wake him. Tell him where I was going.
But the message said come alone.
I scribbled a note on the bathroom mirror with lipstick. First trial. Love you.
The drive to the training grounds took twenty minutes. Dawn was just breaking. Pink and orange streaking across the sky. Pretty. Wrong for how my stomach felt.
The parking lot was empty except for one truck. I recognized it. Cade’s.
He stood near the entrance to the obstacle course. Arms crossed. Expression unreadable. The morning air was cold. My breath came out in white puffs.
“You’re early,” he said. “Good.”
“What’s the first trial?”
“Endurance.” He started walking. I followed. “You need to complete the full pack training course. Same one every warrior does during initiation.”
We rounded a corner. I saw it and my heart sank.
The course stretched across five acres. Climbing walls. Rope obstacles. Mud pits. What looked like a literal wall of fire at the end.
“That’s impossible,” I said. Voice flat.
“For humans, usually.” Cade pulled out a stopwatch. “You have two hours. Most wolves finish in ninety minutes. Humans typically take four. If they finish at all.”
“Two hours isn’t enough time.”
“I know.” He looked at me directly. “That’s the point. The trial isn’t about finishing. It’s about how hard you try. How much you endure before you quit.”
“I’m not quitting.”
“We’ll see.” He gestured to the starting line. A red stripe was painted across the dirt. “Rules are simple. Complete every obstacle. No skipping. No shortcuts. I’ll be watching.”
I walked to the line. My legs already felt weak. This was insane. Designed to break me.
“One more thing,” Cade said. “If you accept help from anyone, you fail automatically. That includes Lycian. Elena. Anyone.”
Through the bond, I felt Lycian wake up. Felt his immediate panic when he found me gone. Then he saw my note. Relief mixed with fear flooded through our connection.
Be careful, his voice came through the bond. Faint but clear. I’m here if you need me.
I know, I sent it back. I love you.
“Ready?” Cade asked.
No. Not even close. But I nodded anyway.
“Go.”
I ran.
The first obstacle was a cargo net. Twenty feet high. I grabbed the rough rope and started climbing. My hands burned immediately. The rope bit into my palms. Left red marks that would be blisters by the end.
Halfway up, my arms started shaking. I forced myself to keep moving. One hand over the other. Don’t look down. Don’t think about falling.
I reached the top. Swung my leg over. Started down the other side.
My foot slipped.
I caught myself. Barely. Heart hammering. Hands screaming in pain.
“Move faster!” Cade yelled from below. “You’re already behind pace.”
I hit the ground. Sprinted to the next obstacle.
Monkey bars. Fifty of them. I jumped. Caught the first bar. My shoulders protested immediately. I swung to the next. Then the next.
By bar twenty, my grip was failing. Sweat made my hands slippery. The blisters burst. Blood mixed with sweat.
I fell at bar thirty-five.
Landed hard in the dirt. The impact knocked the air from my lungs.
“Get up!” Cade’s voice cut through my gasping. “Timer’s still running.”
I got up. Ran back to the start of the monkey bars.
“What are you doing?” Cade asked.
“You said no skipping obstacles. I didn’t finish. So I’m starting over.”
Something flickered in his expression. Respect maybe. Or surprise.
I jumped again. Caught the first bar. This time I made it to bar forty before falling.
Third try, I completed all fifty. My hands were shredded. Blood dripped from my palms onto the dirt below.
But I finished.
Next came the wall climb. Smooth wood. Fifteen feet. Only small notches for hand and foot holds.
I reached for the first hold. My bloody hands slipped off immediately.
“Chalk!” I yelled to Cade. “Can I use chalk?”
“You can use anything in the supply box. But every second you waste looking is a second off your time.”
I ran to the supply box. Found chalk. Coated my destroyed hands. The powder stuck to the blood. Made a paste that burned like fire.
Back to the wall.
This time my hands held. I climbed slowly. Carefully. Each movement is deliberate.
At the top, I dropped to the other side. Landed wrong. My ankle twisted. Pain shot up my leg.
I limped to the next obstacle.
The mud pit.
Fifty yards of thick, cold mud. Barbed wire strung across the top. I had to crawl. Stay low. Keep moving.
I started pulling myself forward.
The mud was freezing. It soaked through my clothes instantly. Got in my mouth. My nose. My eyes.
The barbed wire caught my shirt. Tore fabric. Scraped skin.
I kept crawling.
My arms were numb. My hands weren’t working right anymore. Just bloody, muddy stumps that barely responded.
Through the bond, I felt Lycian’s distress. He was watching. Somewhere nearby. Feeling every injury through our connection. His wolf was going crazy. Demanding that he help me.
Don’t, I sent it to him. Fierce. Certain. I need to do this myself.
His anguish flooded back to me. But he stayed away.
I emerged from the mud pit. Collapsed on the other side. Coughing. Shaking.
“Ninety minutes gone,” Cade called. “You’re halfway through.”
Halfway. I looked ahead at what remained. Two more climbing walls. A rope swing over water. The balance beam. The firewall.
Impossible.
I stood anyway. Started running.
My body screamed. Every muscle. Every joint. My ankle throbbed with each step. My hands were useless. My clothes hung in tatters.
But I kept moving.
The rope swing was brutal. I had to grip the rope with my destroyed hands. Swing across twenty feet of cold water. If I fell in, I’d have to swim to the other side. In wet clothes. With injuries.
I didn’t fall. Barely. My landing was ugly but I made it.
The balance beam was worse. Narrow wood. Twenty feet long. Fifteen feet high. My twisted ankle made every step agony.
I fell twice. Had to start over each time. By the third attempt, I was crying. Not from pain. From frustration.
“Two hours!” Cade yelled. “Time’s up.”
I stopped. One foot on the beam. One dangling in the air. I was so close to the end. Maybe ten feet left.
“You failed,” Cade said. Not cruel. Just factual. “You didn’t finish in time.”
“Let me finish anyway.”
“Why? It won’t change your result.”
“Because I need to know I can.” My voice broke. “Please. Just let me finish.”
He was quiet for a long moment. Then nodded. “Finish it.”
I completed the balance beam. Ran to the final obstacle.
The firewall.
Actual flames. Six feet high. I had to jump through them. Trust that the opening was wide enough. That I wouldn’t get burned too badly.
I stood there. Staring at the fire. My body is shaking. Blood and mud covered every inch of me.
Through the bond, I felt Lycian. Closer now. Watching. Terrified.
You don’t have to, he sent. You already proved yourself.
I’m finishing this, I sent it back.
I ran straight at the flames.
Jumped.
Heat seared across my skin. Smoke filled my lungs. For a second, I thought I’d mistimed it. That I’d land in the fire.
Then I was through. Rolling in dirt on the other side. Patting out small flames on my clothes.
I lay there. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Just breathed.
Footsteps approached. Cade knelt beside me.
“You failed the time requirement,” he said quietly. “But you finished anyway. Every single obstacle. Most humans quit after the mud pit.”
“Did I pass?”
“I don’t know.” He helped me sit up. “That’s not my call. But for what it’s worth? Your mother-in-law would be proud.”
Lycian appeared. Running across the field. He dropped beside me. Pulled me into his arms. Careful of my injuries.
“You’re insane,” he said against my hair. Through the bond, I felt his pride. His awe. His fear. “Absolutely insane.”
“Did I pass?” I asked again.
A voice answered from behind us. Thaddeus.
“That depends on one more thing.”