“Why? Scared of becoming my bitch?” I had already dug myself my grave, why not shoot for a hole to China?
He curled his lip at me. “Keep talking like that and we won’t have to wait for Fight Night.”
“You want to call your mommy now or wait until you’re crying like a baby?”
He snarled and grabbed me by my throat, a warning to submit, and I smirked at him. “Go on, try it.”
Broken nose and fucked ankle or not, I knew I could easily beat this guy in my skin. He didn’t faze me, and my blood was boiling.
“Hunter, that’s enough,” Lobo interjected, stepping between us.
“Why are you protecting this bitch?”
“Someone has to!” He shouted back, getting in Hunter’s face. “What the fuck is wrong with everyone? We shouldn’t treat women like this!”
I growled, shouldering him out of my way. “Fuck off, Lobo. I can take care of myself.”
He turned to me, still fuming, his eyes glowing. “You shouldn’t have to!”
Hunter shoved Lobo away from him. “In case you have forgotten, she’s a wolf, Lobo. She got Griffin killed. She doesn’t belong here. Someone needs to step in and tame her or kill her. All a female wolf is good for is carrying the lineage, and an untamed female wolf is a dead wolf. If you keep protecting her, she’ll die.”
I rolled my eyes, tired of the pissing contest, and even more annoyed by their sexist mind frames. While they faced off, I turned and slowly edged away. Once I slipped off, I briskly walked towards the Den. I didn’t want to be late for dinner.
I was fucking starving. That sandwich was long gone. If they were giving out food, I’d be the first in line.
7
Dinner was about what I expected. The food was barely edible like the hospital’s cafe back home, and everyone gawked at me while I shoveled it into my mouth.
I sat alone, which was way more preferable than keeping company with any of these whackos. It was like Asshat had said. If I wanted friends, Girl Scouts was down the road. No, these men were animals that I could never trust.
Several snide comments were thrown my way, but what was I supposed to do? Fight anyone and everyone on the spot? Tempting, but I had to play it smart.
I ate as quickly as I could before I got the fuck out. The longer I stayed, the higher my chance of harassment. Besides, I had a super early morning run, so I wanted to get as much rest as possible. The more shit-stirring I did, the less likely it was that I would leave here alive.
I had to stay alive for Mom.
Unable to sleep, I laid in Ethan’s old bed and stared up at the ceiling. This wasn’t anything new. The wolf twisted and tore around inside me. Over the years, she had become more and more active, keeping me up at night. I knew, deep down, that I had even less time than Mom had to figure this out. My wolf was stronger than hers and she wanted out.
I’d be lucky if I made it to thirty at this rate. Hell, after meeting all these assholes, I’d be lucky to last a month here.
I tossed and turned for most of the night, my mind always finding its way back to Mom. I wondered how much worse she had gotten since I’d left. She’d sent me away because she didn’t want me to watch her die. She was too proud for that. And I did want to seek revenge for her. I wanted to find help, but part of me knew that this little rescue mission was hopeless. Mom would die while I was here. There was no way I could do the impossible and also make it back in time.
It hurt so fucking bad. Mom had always been truthful with me, even when it might’ve been better if she hadn’t. Our lives had never been easy. I knew she loved me, but when she looked at me, she would always see a part of him. Sometimes, I felt more like a prop to remind everyone of her strength for keeping me despite my father than her actual daughter. I knew she didn’t mean it like that, but all those years of her showing me her scars and stirring this hatred inside of me had caused a leak in my heart. Now, whenever I looked at myself, I saw what she saw that night.
A monster.
After all those years of what she had considered brutal honesty, she now chose to pull back and soldier me off. She thought she was making a sacrifice, sending me off to kill my father so she could die alone, but now that I was away from her, I was angry. I felt like an asshole for being angry though. She had sacrificed so much for me as a child, so that I could grow up to learn and fight and not end up like her. But she’d emphasized that last part so much.
“Don’t be like me, Mellie. Learn now so that you don’t let anyone hurt you like me.”
She didn’t have to have me after her assault, though I was glad that she did keep me. But the way she talked about it made me feel like she regretted her choice in the end. It was a double-edged sword.
I was glad that she talked to me about it. I was glad that we had been open and honest with each other… But at the same time, it killed me to know that my very existence hurt her.
I wanted revenge for Mom, but I wanted to be with her even more. Lying in the bed of the man who’d died because of me only solidified what I was. Maybe that was the point.
I’m a monster, and I deserve to be alone.
Eventually, I did fall asleep, only to wake up in a cold sweat to a blaring alarm at four. I slapped the off button and scrambled out of bed, my wolf already awake and pacing. Throwing my hair back into a ponytail, I brushed my teeth. I pulled the bandage off my nose, wincing at the bruised mess but I’d sweat all the adhesive off. My ankle and ribs still ached but I knew I had to put on a brave face.
I changed into a ratty pair of leggings and a tank top, frowning when I realized I didn’t have a pair of tennis shoes. All I had was my boots. They hadn’t failed me yet.
I grabbed my keys and pepper spray and headed quickly down the hall, brushing past a few other men in workout gear. I stood at the elevator, waiting for it to open, and then I rode it all the way down. Luckily, it was early enough in the morning that no one seemed to be in the mood for idle chit chat.
I made it to the Brick without any assholes trying to start a conversation with me. There were still a few minutes before report time, so I stood with the gathered group of men and stared up at the dark sky. The stars were out still, but the moon was gone. A few men murmured in quiet, groggy voices around me.
“Hey, Princess. I didn’t think you’d show.”
I snapped my eyes down to find Nyx standing in front of me. He wore a pair of joggers and a tank top. His hair was messy but his piercing eyes were wide awake.
“What, and miss our fun little group exercise? No way.” I rolled my eyes. “This reminds me of my Zumba class from back home!”
He laughed, seemingly in a better mood than he was yesterday. “Really?”
“No.”
After an awkward silence, he said, “You seem nervous.”
I gave him a hard look. “Should I be?”
He shrugged. “Usually I’d say no, but your body isn’t made for these activities. I’d be surprised if you lasted the first thirty minutes.”
I clenched my fists in annoyance. “You mutts have a bad habit of underestimating me.”
He smirked at me. “What’s a simple bitch like you gonna do?”
“This simple bitch is gonna break her foot off in your ass—”
“Line up!” Someone yelled.
Everyone scrambled into order, leaving me frozen and out in the open. An older man stood to the side at the front of the line, tall and poised. His black hair was slicked back, long enough that it reached his collar. Despite his gruff demeanor, his tanned skin had smile lines around the corners of his mouth. A pair of black-rimmed glasses sat on his nose, and stubble shadowed across his jaw and upper lip.
In different circumstances, I’d call him a snack.
“Miss Lopez, since it’s your first day here, you’ll be carrying my bag on our run. I’m Dr. Aspen, by the way.” He strode over to me and placed what had to be a bag of bricks in my arms. “Take your place at the back of the line.”
A few
men giggled.
“Excuse me?” I huffed, trying not to pop off on the professor, but also annoyed with him making me his personal pack horse.
He narrowed his eyes at me before speaking slowly. “You put your arms through the straps, and you carry the bag on our run this morning. I believe it’s fairly straight forward. Do you need a demonstration or do you think you can manage it?”
My nails dug into the bag, and I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood. I couldn’t mouth off to this guy, at least until I understood where he fit in the hierarchy. I didn’t want a literal whipping on my first day. Stomping to the back of the line, I slipped my arms through the straps and adjusted the weight so it was a little more comfortable.
“From now on, Miss Lopez, your spot will be at the back of the line. Every morning, we meet here for our run. This morning is ten miles. As usual, we’ll do the Centipede Run. This means that each person at the end of the line will sprint to the front and so on as we make our trek. Following tradition, for the rest of the week, if a person doesn’t want to make the sprint, they can tag the rookie to do it for them. The person at the end of the line when we finish will stay through breakfast to complete an additional five miles. Let’s begin.”
Before I could even process everything he had said, the line took off. I fell into step quickly, my ankle already aching.
“Any day now, Miss Lopez,” Dr. Aspen called.
Shit. My chest contracted. I took off, sprinting to the front of the line. This is going to be excruciating.
When I finally took my place behind Dr. Aspen, I was breathless. We continued for a few minutes as the others trickled up to the front of the line. I was about one third of the way to the back of the line when a smug looking asshole tapped my shoulder and shoved me out of my spot, sending me sprinting ahead.
This continued as we went, each time pissing me off more and more. After the first mile, I was ready to quit. I could hardly breathe, and the bag of bricks didn’t help at all. My ankle burned, my ribs throbbed, and my nose stung. I was fucking miserable. And the line never even slowed or eased up.
I persisted, though. I could prove that dick Nyx wrong. I’d been through hell before, so what was a ten mile jog? I thought of Mom back in the hospital, curled up and waiting for me to come back and save her. I had to make it.
I had no idea how far we’d run, but we were on the back side of the campus and had just reached the edge of the lake. My vision was fuzzy. My legs weighed a thousand pounds. But I had to push through. Despite feeling like I was seconds away from dying, the view was spectacular. The sun still hadn’t come up yet, but the dark sky started to lighten. The water rippled and lapped along the rocky beach. Birds in the surrounding forest were already waking up and going after those early worms. If I didn’t feel like I was about to throw up last night’s dinner, I might’ve been able to actually appreciate it.
After we made the lap around the lake, my body was clammy and the pain in my ankle was almost unbearable. The weight of the bag seemed to have quadrupled, and I was embarrassed by how heavily I was wheezing. Cardio was not my strong suit. The worst part was that most of the men were hardly sweating! Jesus, it made me nervous. Just how much running had they done before I got here?
I stumbled along, tripping over my own feet, my knees feeling closer to giving out with every step. As we turned back toward the campus, they stopped tapping out and instead, ran their distance. They were going to try and stick me with the five miles at the end, but I’d probably die if they succeeded. There was no way I could run another five miles. I could barely keep up with the bag of bricks on my back. And that asshole professor was in such a good mood on his morning run that I’d probably strangle him if I had to run another five miles.
Who the hell enjoys a long distance run at four in the goddamn morning?
Finally, as the sun broke the horizon, the Brick came into view. It still seemed unreasonably far away, but at least I could see it. I was closer to the back of the line now, and the sprinters seemed to be taking their sweet time, trying to pace it. I knew the punk bitch in front of me would leisurely jog out his time to the front if it meant leaving me in the back.
“Could you go any fucking slower?” I grumbled to him between ragged breaths. I knew it was a long shot, but this was my best chance.
“I don’t think you could make it if we went faster,” he tossed back over his shoulder. Sandy-blond hair barely stuck to his forehead. Meanwhile, my wet tank was stuck to me like a second skin.
“You run like a bitch. I bet you even fight like one,” I wheezed out.
“You wouldn’t last ten seconds.”
“To whoop my ass, you’d have to catch me.”
He glared over his shoulder again, wolffish eyes glowing. “I’ll chase you to the Brick. If you lose, you’re breakfast.”
“Hmm,” I fake pondered. “I’m not sure that’s allowed—”
“Dr. Aspen doesn’t care. It’s how most of us avoid being last. But if you’re too weak, submit now and I’ll forgive your disrespect.”
I grinned at him, and as fast as I could muster, I kicked my foot up to tangle in his feet, sending him sprawling. Without looking back, I took off, hoping a shot of adrenaline would be enough to keep me going.
As soon as I broke ranks, it was a mad dash to the Brick. We were still at least half a mile out, but I sure as hell wasn’t running those extra five miles. However, with the extra weight from the bag, my ass was dragging and my breaths sounded like a freight train. I’ll have to fight dirty to win.
So I kept tripping people as they tried to pass me, pretending to stumble into them from weariness. I succeeded a few times, but it backfired because I then had angry, rabid men chasing me too. As long as they couldn’t catch me, it was the least of my concerns.
The Brick was a meager hundred yards away, but I was towards the back of the dash. I could hear the predatory snarls of the men behind me gaining ground, but I couldn’t push myself to go any faster. My ankle was in agony, and my lungs felt like they’d shriveled into dust. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter coming up on my left, panting but not looking nearly as rough as I felt.
We were neck and neck with a handful of men behind us, the Brick only twenty yards out, when he tackled me to the ground, letting everyone sprint past us. It was only me and him left now. One of us was going to have to run the five miles, and the gleam in his eyes told me he didn’t plan on it being him.
He shoved up off of me, but if he was going to play dirty, so was I. I staggered upright, and before he could take off, I punched him as hard as I could in the dick and then kicked out his knees. As he crumpled to the ground, I smirked.
I didn’t have enough breath to gasp at him, but I would’ve said, “Don’t get in my way, bitch.” I staggered over to join the sweaty group in front of the Brick. Hunter was still lying on the ground where I’d left him, clutching his damaged goods.
“Mr. Reynolds, I don’t have all day.” Dr. Aspen was hardly sweating, and his breathing seemed fairly even.
In that moment, I hated his fucking guts. Slumped over on my knees, wheezing and light headed as fuck, I glared at him. He looked like he’d just gotten back from a leisurely stroll in the park. What an asshole.
He turned to address the rest of us. “Good job this morning. Tomorrow is wind sprints. Report time is four-thirty. Don’t be late.” The men bowed their heads before slowly disassembling. “Miss Lopez, a word.”
I groaned and shuffled over to the professor, trying not to limp.
“Congratulations on completing your first run.”
I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. “Thank you.”
“My bag?”
I shrugged it from my shoulders, almost weeping with relief to have it off. I passed it over to him. “What do you keep in there?”
He unzipped it, showing me a first aid kit, a bottle of water, and five bricks.
“Jesus,” was all I could find to say. Actual bricks, go figure. This
place really was hell.
“If you think this morning was bad, wait until tomorrow.” He chuckled, and the blood left my face.
Wind sprints for an hour and a half while also carrying this bad boy? Yikes.
“If it’s any consolation, Miss Lopez, it does get easier with practice.”
I shrugged, biting my tongue. That was if I even lived through it.
“One last thing, Miss Lopez,” he began, but I interrupted him.
“Please, just Mel.” I hated the formality.
He nodded once. “Where are your running shoes?”
“I…” I would’ve rather he asked me anything else. Him asking what my bra size was would've been less embarrassing. “I don’t have any.”
He seemed to ponder this for a moment. “I see.”
When he didn’t say anything more, I started to edge around him.
“Oh, and Mel?” I turned back to look at him as he slung his bag over his shoulder with ease.
“Yes?”
“I’d advise you to not interrupt the other professors. They may not be as forgiving.”
I nodded once in acknowledgment before I finally hobbled away.
8
Part of me wanted to skip breakfast all together and go lie down, but I knew in the long run that that would be worse. It’d slow down my healing, and if I lay down right now, I might not be able to get back up.
So I dragged my sorry ass to the Den. At least the smell of bacon made me pick up my pace, my stomach grumbling in anticipation. I followed the stream of men into the building. The line was set up continental style like a hotel. I grabbed a plate and shuffled down the line, piling it tall with eggs, bacon, and sausage. When my plate felt an ounce away from buckling, I grabbed a cup of orange juice and went to sit at an empty table.
I was two bites into heaven when another plate slapped down across from me. “Good morning, babe.”
I looked up from my plate to find some new asshole I hadn’t yet had the wonderful displeasure of meeting. I rolled my eyes, wanting to be left alone. It had been a long morning, and I needed some time to think. I didn’t say anything and went back to my plate, hoping he’d take the hint.
Lone Wolf's Attack Page 5
