Page 27 of Alpha Gray

I run, too, though I’m sticking close to the perimeter and looking for another hiding spot. I find one, then lie in wait for another gold vest. It doesn’t take long to spot a couple more of my opponents jogging through the forest. I’m a little annoyed that they’re all traveling in pairs- maybe I should’ve stuck with Judd.

As they draw closer, I realize that it’s Vienna and Hannah. I’m practically giddy with excitement- this is gonna befun.

I let them pass me before I slink out of my hiding place in the brush, coming up on them from behind. Vienna’s smaller, so I go after Hannah first, leaping on her back. I take her by such surprise that she goes down immediately-hard. I press a knee into her back as I lean over her upper body, reaching for her shoulder patches. She writhes underneath me and I can’t quite get ahold of one of them before Vienna throws herself onto me, clinging to my back and trying to pull me off of Hannah.

The three of us struggle in the dirt for several minutes and Vienna comes really close to taking one of my patches, but I somehow manage to throw her off of me. In that moment, I lose my grip on Hannah and she rolls out from under me. She scoots on her butt and kicks out her feet, sending dirt flying in my face and eyes. Though I’m momentarily blinded, I somehow manage to grab one of her ankles, pulling her back toward me. I’m on top of her again in an instant and she claws at my arms as I go for her patch. Her fingernails are digging into me, but I can’t even register pain through the flood of adrenaline as I tear one of her patches from her vest.

I blow out a breath, rolling off of Hannah just in time to see Vienna launch herself at me. I kick out a leg, deflecting her body and knocking her off balance. When she hits the dirt, I’m on her right away, and I swear she just lets me take her patch.Chicken.

“Thanks ladies!” I tease, shoving the patches into my pocket and waving. The two of them scowl as they sit in the dirt, waiting out their one-minute reprieve.

I take off again. I keep advancing toward the gold team’s bunker and my strategy istotallypaying off. I pass Judd on the way- he’s lost a patch and he’s waiting to get back in the game. I stick out my tongue as I jog by, motioning to my two in-tact patches. It’s cocky, but it’s playful, and he just grins as he watches me pass.

I’ve got the bunker in my sights when Davis gets the jump on me. I spot some thick brush and decide it’s going to be my next hiding place, but he’s already there lying in wait. I’m pissed when he manages to take one of my patches- because out of everyone, I know how this guy fights. I should’ve better anticipated his tactics, and it’s a silly mistake that lets him get the better of me.

“Time out, princess,” Davis teases as he waves my patch in front of me and I resist the urge to kick him in the nuts.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble, dropping down onto my butt in the dirt. I pull my knees to my chest, glancing up at Davis. “You better take off, or when my time’s up, you can kiss one of those patches goodbye,” I tease.

Davis smirks, then jogs off.

While I’m on my little penalty break for getting a patch pulled, I take stock of my surroundings. I’m about fifty yards from the gold team’s bunker and it looks like they’ve got two people there protecting the flag. There are basically two paths to get there- one that’s wide open, and one that has a lot of thick brush. If Davis was hiding here, they probably have more defense hiding in the cover of the brush. The clear path’s the riskiest since they’ll all see me coming, but it’s also the most direct. And I’m fast.

I want to be the one to get this flagsobad. I want the victory for my team and the glory for myself. I want to show those alphas that they were wrong about me, and I should’ve been ranked in first.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Gray

“Incoming,” I whisper as I see a flurry of movement across the forest. I’m on the periphery, falling back and observing how the recruits fare in their first war games while still giving a little bit of direction here and there. So far, I’m impressed with my team- they’ve taken out every encroaching member of the black team before they can get close to the bunker. I’m not sure what strategy they employed for offense, but it’s clearly not working for them.

I see someone sprinting toward the bunker- tall and lean, with a long blonde ponytail streaming out behind. Fallon’s making a run for it, and it looks like she’s doing it without any backup from her own team.

We’ve got a few defenders lurking in the brush and they leap out, running in her direction to head her off. She’s faster, though. I’m impressed by how she dodges and outruns each of them, her singular goal being to reach the bunker. Her grit and determination are sexy as hell.

Fallon reaches the platform, grabbing ahold of one of the boards to swing herself up. As she does, one of the recruits that was tailing her closes in and snatches her other patch off of her shoulder just as she swings onto the platform. It should be game over, but either she doesn’t know that her patch was taken or she just doesn’t care. Once on the platform, she lands a couple of good jabs on Brennan, one of the gold team recruits guarding the flag. As he staggers back and falls, she wheels to Summer, the other flag guard, and knees her in the stomach so hard that it knocks the wind out of the poor girl.

I advance, calling out to her, but Fallon doesn’t hear me. She reaches for the flag and pulls it off of its stand.

“Fallon, you’re done!” I shout, waving an arm.

She finally hears my words and looks over at me with a confused expression, but Brennan is getting to his feet and she wastes no time jumping down from the platform with the flag. She sticks it into the waistband of her shorts and takes off in a sprint.

I try to call after her, but she just keeps running. The gold team recruits look to me, wide-eyed and confused, and I realize I have to step in. I give chase- and while Fallon’s fast, she’s winded. I catch up to her quickly, try to call out, but she doesn’t stop. I finally do the only thing I can to stop her- I tackle her to the ground.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, I throw my body so that it hits the dirt instead of hers. Fallon sputters at the impact and frantically claws at my arm around her waist. I release her quickly and she rolls off of me sideways as I grab at the flag hanging out of the waistband of her shorts. I snatch it away, rising to my feet and offering her a hand to help her up.

“What the fuck?!” Fallon’s lying flat on her back, panting and glaring up at me. She lookspissed. She sits up, pushing off of the ground to rise to her feet. She moves to snatch the flag back out of my hand, but I pull it away. Then she shoves my chest, going for it again.

“You’re out,” I growl, but she just keeps coming at me, pushing at my chest and trying to get the flag back.

“Fallon!” I shout, shoving her backwards. She stumbles a bit but doesn’t fall. “You’re out!” I point to her shoulders, and from her expression I can see that my words are finally starting to register. She looks down wildly, realizes her patches are missing. Then she comes at me again.

“You can’t take it, it has to be a recruit!” she screams, pounding on my chest. I push her back again.

“I didn’t!” I hold out an arm, blocking her from shoving me again. “Reilly took it when you were climbing up the bunker!”

Fallon’s eyes are thrown wide and she just shakes her head in disbelief. “No! I would’ve felt it!” She lunges for the flag in my hand again, but I hold it out of her reach. “You’re cheating!” The anger and frustration in her voice are palpable and she’s basically throwing a temper tantrum at this point. “You just don’t want me to win! You’ve got it out for me, Gray!”

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