Page 71 of Forbidden

Which was why she knew she’d never go far in Military Command.

Which was why she was doing this to begin with. She’d always hated being told “no.”

The night sky lit up like day with brilliant flashes of light. Noise bombarded her, and all she wanted to do was look around her and laugh hysterically, but she couldn’t. If she was ever going to prove to her teammates she wasn’t a fragile porcelain doll, she had to do it better and faster than everyone else.

The exercise today was an obstacle course. She had to climb fences, through razor wire -- blunted, of course -- and swim pools without getting her gun wet. She had to fight “enemy soldiers” hand to hand and hit moving targets with flash grenades and blunt laser flashes from her destabilizer gun.

And she justknewthere was no way she would fail. The Academy couldn’t afford to let the daughter of its favorite general flunk out.

“Doriena! Move your ass!” Bakac yelled as he boosted another soldier over the wall in front of her. He was senior instructor for this exercise, and it was apparent he was also her personal bodyguard. Much as she really wanted him guarding her body, this wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

Ignoring him, Doriena looked around her. There were a few men shouting orders, a few struggling with the wall, the stronger ones shoving the weaker ones out of the way and using them as stepping-stones when necessary… it was literally every man for himself. Well, if she couldn’t fail, she’d help out a few of her classmates.

One very large warrior pulled a man off the wall when the smaller man impeded his progress not two feet from her. If not for Bakac’s presence, and who she was to begin with, she had no doubt she would have been the one pulled off that damned wall.

“Soldier!” Her voice carried more authority than she thought possible. “You will stop your advancement and help your brother!” When he only looked at her, smirked, and continued upward, Doriena ran to the wall and jumped as high as she could. Without a second thought, she grabbed the man’s ankles and hung on for dear life.

“What thefuckare you doing?” The warrior yelled down at her as he tried to shake her loose. Once she got a solid grip on one ankle, she braced her feet on the wall and threw all her strength into pulling the man from the wall. With a mighty battle cry, Doriena gave one more tremendous yank. The man’s grip let go and both of them fell to the ground.

Which was the one part of this she hadn’t thought out. The man was probably twice her size and weight, and he landed on her chest from about eight feet up. The breath left her body in awhoosh, and she felt the sharp snapping of many ribs. She couldn’t breathe.

“That should teach you, you little bitch,” the man hissed. “Just because you’re the general’s daughter doesn’t mean you can tell the rest of us what to do. You arenotmy commanding officer, lady.” Standing, he spat on her before leaving her to scale the wall.

Every breath was a struggle. She tasted blood and knew she had probably punctured a lung. But there was no way in hell she was going to let that big thug get away with what he’d just done.

Once again, she jumped for the warrior, who was already almost as high as he was before she pulled him off the wall. This time, however, she climbed up his body and put herself on above him. Her bodyscreamedin pain, but she climbed every inch. Once she was above him -- him swearing at her and threatening her bodily harm all the while -- she stomped his hands as hard as she could. Her boots were thick with sole and tread, so she knew every blow had to be misery for him. Still, he held on for several minutes before he finally let go and fell to the ground a second time.

Doriena lowered herself before jumping. Landing on her feet with a thud, she crumpled to the ground. The warrior was getting to his feet, but it looked as if his hands were useless.

That didn’t mean he was helpless, though.

He came at her with murder in his eyes. Doriena struggled to her feet, but didn’t make it before he kicked at her. Falling back to the ground and rolling quickly, she managed to avoid his kick, just as she’d been taught. When he roared his frustration and came at her again, she rolled to one side before he would have reached her. Using his own weight against him, she stuck out a foot and shoved hard as he passed her, and he stumbled a few steps before finally falling.

He would have gotten up a third time, but Bakac placed a booted foot on the man’s head, shoving it back into the ground. “I could kill you for what you did, soldier.” He had to raise his voice to be heard above the noise, but Doriena was certain only the soldier and she heard Bakac’s words. “Not only did you attack a member of the Mak’un family, but you pulled another soldier off that wall to save your own ass. Cowards are not welcome in Military Command.”

“It’s just war games!” the soldier panted, rolling over when Bakac removed his foot. “No one was in any real danger, and he was slowing me down. I was working on a record time.”

Bakac moved so quickly, Doriena almost didn’t see him. He dropped down to one knee and backhanded the soldier so hard Doriena heard his cheekbone crack. “This exercise simulates a real battle, youbakkara! Had you been in a real battle, you would have condemned that man to death. Which means your life would have been forfeit.”

Doriena winced. Bakac never swore at his troops. He told her it was demeaning and served no purpose other than to show disrespect and earn him a healthy dose of resentment. For Bakac to have called this man the Earth equivalent of a son of a bitch meant he was very angry indeed. And that this man was probably looking at his last day at the Academy.

“But it isn’t a real battle,” the downed soldier managed to get out as he spat blood from his split lip. “They’re not even using real munitions.” He glared at Doriena. “Because ofher, none of us will get any battle experience before we actually get in the field as part of Military Command.”

Again, Bakac backhanded the man. His already broken cheek sunk into his face even more. Bakac looked at him as if to say, “Go ahead. Say something else stupid.” Wisely, the soldier kept quiet, probably more from pain than common sense.

Bakac turned to Doriena. “Let’s get you to Medical.”

“I have to finish the exercise.” Even to her own ears, she sounded too weak to continue. But she knew that not finishing even one exercise, no matter the reason, would knock her out of the Academy completely. The Gothe’maran didn’t give second chances under any circumstances.

“You can’t. You’re not physically able.”

“Iwillfinish this, Bakac.” She tried to make her voice firm, but she wasn’t altogether certain she succeeded.

“You can try.” Bakac nodded as he spoke. “And when you finally collapse, I’ll take you to Medical and you’llstillnot complete this course. I’d be willing to bet you have ten minutes at best before you’re unconscious from blood loss or lack of oxygen.” When she opened her mouth to speak, he added, “And that’s with you sitting still. If you try to continue on, you’ll go down even faster. Either way, I’ll be taking you to Medical and I think you’d prefer to enter under your own power. Yes?”

“I really hate you sometimes, Bakac.”

He smiled. “No, you don’t. You just hate to lose.”

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