Page 28 of Villainous Fate

“Self-defense and attacking aren’t the same thing,” I state, hoping to reassure him while wondering why I have such a strong urge to do so.

Hard to think of him as the competition when he reminds me so much of Luca and has Grace’s sunny disposition.

“Kinda hard to prove when one of the parties is dead,” he says, all the lightheartedness vacant in his tone as he drops his face, pretending to look for something in his cargo pocket.

Uncharacteristically, I grab his bicep, forcing his eyes to mine, partially to focus him and partially to show my support.

“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing you have an eyewitness of who started the fight,” I say with nothing but cool seriousness in my voice. “They have an adjudicator on site. This isn’t the first time a cadet has died, and it won’t be the last. They only have about a 60% completion rate. Between injuries, dropouts, and deaths, our chances are slightly better than a coin toss,” I say, trying to lighten the mood some with dark humor.

He laughs; it's low, and I can tell he tried to contain it as he coughs to cover the act.

“Well then. Time to flip a coin,” he says, rising from his position and nodding for me to continue.

Sticking to our plan, we move methodically along the right tree line. We’re both careful of our steps and the noise level. An accidental twig snap behind me has my head whipping back to see Marcus diving to the right seconds before the ground falls away.

Well, he was right about being fast.

“My bad,” he apologizes.

My eyebrow lifts, and I walk to the edge of the trap to see it appears to be an old well. Deep as shit, and about four feet wide. I can’t see the bottom, but the brick and stone above-ground attachments have been removed, and a makeshift cover was created from fallen branches.

He would have survived, but he definitely could have broken something, and getting him out would have been a time-consuming bitch.

The snapping of limbs pulls my attention, and I see him pulling together some branches.

What the fuck?

He drags them to the mouth of the well and replaces the cover he broke, taking a moment to ensure the coverage is sufficient before coming back in line with me.

“We don’t need anyone knowing we came through first,” he states plainly, which makes me realize we haven’t seen a single trap sprung on this path.

Could we be first?

Hope flares within me, and I take off again, spending more time looking for areas where I can’t see the dirt or snow beneath.

As the sun begins to set, we see the area they have been guiding us toward. A ten-foot clearing in the trees. At the center stands a table with twenty-five envelopes evenly spaced out. A large poster lays at the center of the table with something written on it.

We are first. None of the envelopes have been taken.

My heart soars triumphantly as I realize what an advantage this could be. Marcus stops next to me, concern etched on his brow.

“Trap?” he asks.

“If I were to guess, it’s a challenge, but there’s no telling what tricks they have in mind, so stay sharp,” I order before returning my attention to the clearing. We take our time to scan the treeline around the space, both of us tapping into our wolves’ sight and hearing. After not seeing anything that appears out of place, I take the first step out into the open on my way to the table.

OK Rod, what do you have for me?

Chapter 18

Marcus

Congratulations.

You've made it most of the way to your destination.

Below is an envelope with a number on it.

You will find a matching number on your map.

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