Page 59 of Surge of Heat

Evander

We each havea metal pipe in our hands. The pipes are the same size and length. Dr. Duncan walks in front of us with his clipboard, jotting down notes, and Granger is doing the same from a corner. He looks absolutely like a man deserving to be Dr. Duncan’s number one. Both men’s expressions are identical too, like they’re absolutely fascinated. Not that I blame them. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

“Okay,” Dr. Duncan says. “Bend them.”

I don’t hesitate. I bend mine as far as I can, then look across Sam to see that Aydan has done the same.The bastard.We’ve been neck-and-neck all day, and I’m done with it. I’m ex-military. I’ve spent my whole life sculpting my body into a weapon. There’s no way he’s just as strong as me.

“Impressive,” Dr. Duncan says, scribbling down our results.

Sam holds her bent metal up. “I know you two are in a dick-measuring contest, but I bent the damn thing too.”

I smile and kiss the top of her head. “You’re a real killer.”

Aydan glares at me over her head. “I know you’re strong. There’s never been a doubt about that.”

Dr. Duncan stops his pacing in front of us. “Now, the concrete wall. We’re going to see how hard you can hit it, but don’t go crazy. We don’t know a lot about dragons and broken bones.”

I can’t help myself, I think back to my healing process after the green dragon. “We need time to heal, but we heal faster than other people, and shifting seems to help decrease the amount of time we need to heal.”

Dr. Duncan nods. “We have notes about your healing process, but we still need more data. Otherwise, we’re just being reckless.” Then he leads us to a concrete wall in one corner of the gym. “Ready?” We line up. “Set. Go!”

I punch with all my might and pain explodes across my fist. It’s not enough to knock me to my knees, but I definitely feel it. It doesn’t matter though, all that matters is that Aydan did worse than me.

Looking at the wall, I see we all have a hole surrounded by cracks and marks. Sam’s is by far the smallest. And mine? It’s the biggest.

Aydan notices it too. His stupid cocky smile falters and then slips into a frown. His gaze meets mine, and I grin back, flashing my teeth. He takes a step toward me, and I tense, ready for another fight.

“How do the three of you feel?” Dr. Duncan asks.

“Fine,” Aydan and I say at once, followed by Sam saying, “it hurt a little bit, but I wasn’t hurt.”

“I think all three of them felt that,” Granger says, eyeing me suspiciously. “I just think they don’t want to show their soft dicks.”

“Soft dick?” I repeat. “I never have a soft dick. Ask Sam.”

“Fucking prick!” Aydan says, and Sam is suddenly in the middle of us, keeping him back.

“Tell your friend to watch his mouth,” I tell Aydan, gesturing at Granger.

“You leave him alone!” Sam says, with more anger than I would have expected.

She thinks Granger is this soft, squishy baby, but I know better. Since day one, he’s been just as possessive of Sam as the both of us, he’s just better at hiding it. I hate that she acts like he’s completely off-limits, because sometimes I want to punch him just as much as I want to punch Aydan.

Dr. Duncan clears his throat. “Now, a race. From one side of the gym and back again.”

Our angry group heads over to one side of the gym. As always, we line up with Sam between us. She shoots me a dirty look, and I know I’m on her shit list, all because of precious, innocent Granger.Like hell.

“On your mark, get set, go!”

We take off. Only, Sam is like a flash of light. She darts past us and has touched the wall long before Aydan touches it, and then I do, just seconds behind him. None of us are out of breath, but Sam looks happy again.

“Interesting. Sam seems to be the fastest, then Aydan, then Evander. But Evander seems to be the strongest,” Dr. Duncan says as he jots down notes.

“I’m the fastest,” Sam says, bouncing on her toes in a way that’s far too darling.

“I’m the strongest,” I say, absolutely intending on flexing.

Aydan gives a dark smile. “Based on a couple tests. That doesn’t mean you are.”

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