Chapter 85

“Christina’s right. You dance across those pads and the longer you spend time on them, the more likely it is that you’ll fall,” Ezra tells him.
“What do you suggest then?” he growls.
“One step per pad, fast, no more than a second. Five steps and you’re across,” I say to him.
He scrubs his hands over his face, and I look at Sebastian.
“Is there any reason he can’t go again?”
“No. But he’s already challenged an Alpha today. You can only challenge once a day,” he says.
I look at Noah. “I’ll go with you.”
He looks at me, “You would do that?”
“I still have to run my route. At the rate I’m going, I won’t be completing the Beast today, so why not run with you?” I tell him.
“Thanks!” he says.
I look up, seeing all of the instructors watching me.
“There’s no problem with that, right?” I ask.
“No problem, as long as you’re sure you want to forfeit your opportunity to defeat an Alpha today,” Alpha James
says.
“No, Christina. You don’t want to do that,” Noah says.
“Trust me, it’s not like I was going to miraculously get through the Beast today. Even Tyler and Ezra are only getting through one challenge a day and there are at least four more after the one I’m on. Come on, let’s go.”
We get into the starting position, and I look at Noah. “Don’t let it get in your head. One step, one second, get across in five steps,” I tell him.
He nods and when Sebastian calls it, I rush forward. I leap my five steps and turn, just as Noah lands on the platform beside me.
“YES! ” he screams.
“You’re not done yet. Focus,” I tell him, turning my attention to the bar climb.
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I dry my hands on my shorts as Noah watches me. He does the same and when I leap, he’s only a moment behind me. We begin climbing. He’s slower than I am, but I’ve had daily practice on this all week. When I slide onto the plat- form, I turn and wait for him.
“Come on, Noah, you can do it,” I tell him. I can hear the other Alphas cheering him on as well.
When he slides up to the platform, he’s panting.
“I’m fucking doing it!” he says.
“Yeah, you are. But there’s more to go,” I say, looking over the rope bridge and assessing the targets. I’m on the side that the instructors usually use, so the targets are on my left rather than my right. I check the trajectory of the arrow launchers and make my way across the rope bridge with only a small slice to my calf.
“Holy shit!” Noah says, having watched me get across. He swallows hard, then runs. It’s the wrong decision and as he’s swinging from the bridge, I hear an arrow launch and a moment later he has an arrow through his arm and he’s falling to the ground.
“NOAH!”
“We’ve got him, Christina, GO!” Sebastian says to me.
I turn, racing through the fire, bracing for that last blast of heat.
When I get to the ice, I take a deep breath. ‘I ride the Beast, it doesn’t ride me.‘ I whisper, trying to encourage myself.
I open my eyes and begin leaping across the icy pillars. As I leap from the third to the fourth one, my leg slips, and I land hard on my hip at the edge of the fourth pillar. I yelp involuntarily before falling to the ground. A moment later, Sebastian is there.
“Hold still. You hit really hard that time,” he says, his fingers carefully prodding my hips. “It doesn’t feel broken to me, but you need to get to the infirmary. Come on,” he says, lifting me up. I flinch at the movement.
“I think I can walk,” I tell him as James and Noah walk over. Noah has his shirt wrapped around the wound in his
arm.
“Broken?” Alpha James asks.
“I don’t think so, but just in case, I’m carrying her over. Come with us, Noah.”
He starts to walk away, but Alpha James voice stops him.
“Christina, you keep trying to defeat that challenge by doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. I believe that’s the definition of insanity. You need to take your own advice to Noah. Stop doing what isn’t working and do something different,” he says.
I nod.
“You have the weekend to think about it and heal from that wound. I can already see the bruise moving down your leg,” he says.
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Chapter 86
Chapter 86