Chapter 429

“Are you ever going to choose me?” he asks.
“Of course. But like you said, you don’t know the entire obstacle course yet,” I say.
“What’s the bet?” Benjamin asks, jogging over.
“Level three,” Alpha Ezra says immediately.
Ryan looks at me. “What do you think?”
I look at Shane. “If he gets past three, he’ll make it past four, but I agree with Alpha Ezra. He’ll go down on level three.”
I watch as Dane gets Shane and Jackson set, then counts down. Both men race up the incline, leaping onto the bar and beginning to climb.
“See, Nicky. That’s how it’s supposed to be done,” Cole taunts him.
“Shut the fuck up,” Nicholas growls.
I stay focused on Shane. He’s strong and strength gets you through the first two obstacles. The reason I think he’ll fall at the third is because you have to move fast without overthinking it. There are padded cylinders that spin as you go across. If you move too slowly, you’ll lose your balance and fall. Since I bulldoze my way through everything, level three was easy for me. But that’s also why I got knocked off at level four and why I know that Shane will make it across level four easily. He thinks through every move he makes before he makes it. But it will also make level three difficult for him.
Shane disappears into The Beast for the second strength challenge. I tilt my head and close my eyes, listening to his progress. Since I know what he’s up against in these early stages, I can picture what he’s doing.
I hear Jackson run across the padded cylinders, making it to level four. Then I hear Shane stop, assessing level three. It’s quiet and then I hear the thump of a body hitting the cylinders and the ‘oomph‘ of Shane losing the air from his lungs before his body falls from The Beast to the ground.
“Shane!” Dane says, rushing over to him.
“I’m good,” he squeaks, sitting up.
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Chapter 22
I walk over to him, smiling. “Well done.”
“I only made it to level three,” he says, as Dane gives him a hand and helps him up.
“Better than Nicholas,” Dane says quietly.
“I’d have to be dead not to be better than him,” Shane says.
“Do you need to go to the medical center?” Dane asks, looking him over.
“Nah, just some bruises and a bruised ego.”
“Are you okay?” Jackson asks, jogging over.
“Yeah, thanks, Alpha.”
I pull Shane’s arm around my shoulder and walk with him as he limps back to sparring.
“Anyone else want to try?” Ryan asks.
“Hell yeah! I want my turn,” Cole says.
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“What’s the bet?” I hear Benjamin ask and I smile as I leave Shane with the other Alphas and step back over to the side.
It feels good to be here, finally, making a name for myself at the Academy.
Shane
Well, day two of the Academy kicked my ass, but I guess that’s why I’m here. Since I now know what level three is about on The Beast, Tiana and I talked about why she succeeded and I failed.
“For the same reason you’ll succeed with level four and I failed,” she said, grinning at me. I realized she wasn’t going to give me the answer. Except, she did if I was smart enough to figure it out, which I am.
“Run like the wind, then stop and think,” I say. She grins and nods her head at me.