Page 53 of Attraction

“Look, you’ve done this before, right? In training. You know you can carry the weight so… You partnered-up at advanced training, right? I mean, you didn’t skip that part?”

“No, I didn’t skip anything. It’s just… well, it wasn’t that damn far.”

“No, that’s true and to be honest, well, none of the other medics have done it—but all of them gave it a go. Oh, except that one… we had this one medic, Darius scared him to death, and we had to call up a medivac.” He laughs. “But I get the impression Darius doesn’t scare you all that much.”

“No, he doesn’t scare me, but he pisses me off.” She frowns as she remembers him throwing her books around her office and his attitude and tone towards her.

“Well, that’s good, so channel it in the right direction. C’mon Kat, I know you can do this.”

She sighs loudly as she looks across the open stretch of ground—the others all now a mere speck on the horizon. Digby stands—pulling her to her feet and picking up her kit.

“So, what’s it to be?”

He goes to step in the opposite direction and with a momentary pause, she grabs his arm.

“Wait!” Then, looking him in the eyes, she takes a breath. “Alright c’mon. I’m gonna do it. I can’t bear to look at his smug face if I don’t.”

“Yeah and you know Darius, he does smug nearly as well as he does arrogant.” He laughs as he places a hand gently against her cheek and strokes her face. “Kat, you can do this.”

She sips more water and takes another breath. “Okay, well let’s see how heavy you really are.”

* * *

“Fuck!” she cusses loudly, angry and frustrated with herself. “I need to stop! Urgh… goddammit, Shit… I thought I could do this.” She bends over, dropping Digby with a heavy thud on to the ground—the sand, which he reminds her,‘is not a soft landing.’Taking deep gasps of air, she rests her hands on her knees. She’s exhausted. Her back aches and her shoulders hurt, and her legs are shaking from the surge of adrenaline coursing through her body.

It’s the fourth time she’s been forced to stop in the last half-hour and each time it’s becoming harder to get going again. Picking him up is becoming a strain, and the effort required saps every reserve of the little energy she has left.

The more exhausted she becomes, the shorter between rest stops. But slowly and determinedly, step by step, she’s making progress—and they’re nearly there now.

The sun is setting, and it’s becoming cooler, which helps. As they sit down and rest again, to take on more water, she checks her reserves—they’re low and she’s conscious they won’t have enough left for the long walk back if she fails. Taking a breath, she sighs loudly, looking towards the ridge they need to get to. It’s in clear view now and they can make out the others, individually, standing in a line across the top, watching them. She sighs. To quit now would be heart-breaking. But her legs are shaking from sheer exhaustion and they feel like jello. She’s not even sure they can hold her own weight, let alone Digby’s.

“C’mon Kat, you’ve got this! It’s not far now.” Digby’s still willing her on—the impossible is nearly over and he’s in awe of her effort. Even doubting how he would have fared on this terrain. But now he can see that it’s taken everything, and he worries it really is just a step too far—Darius has put it just out of her reach.How in God’s name would they even have the energy to walk back?He has no idea.

“Will you shut the fuck up. You know what… I can’t listen to you anymore.” She gasps. “You did this. I should never have got involved with you, it was a huge mistake and it’s going to cost me my place.” Laying back in the sand—resting, she catches her breath. “But I can’t let him fuckin’ win. I can’t… I can’t look him in the eye, ever again, if I don’t do this.” Leaning on her elbows, she stares again at the ridge. “Arrgh… he’s a complete asshole.” She grits her teeth and flops back, closing her eyes.

“Kat, c’mon you’ve said that every time and every time you’ve gone farther. One last push and this is over: you’ve done it. C’mon Kat!” He grits his teeth and hisses at her. “Kat, get the fuck up!” he orders. “Hell, I can smell food and I don’t know about you, but I am fuckin’ hungry. Just one more push and you’ve done it.”

“You know, if you don’t shut the hell up then I might just murder you here and bury you in the sand so no one can find you,” she growls. She takes a deep breath to calm herself. She wants to cry from sheer exhaustion. Inner her—Luna—claws to get out, ready to rip everyone’s throat’s out, even though she probably doesn’t have the energy right now. “You know I wish we were back in that forest, lying in the grass in the moonlight,” she says, smiling. She wipes sand from her mouth and takes another drink, enjoying the now cooler evening air. Laying back, she looks up at the stars she takes a deep breath and smiles. “Tell me a story.”

“Tell you a story?” he laughs. Digby cocks his head to one side and frowns. “You want a story, right now? About what?”

“I don’t know. Tell me about you?” She bows her head playfully and turns, leaned on her elbow, resting in the sand as she looks at him. “How come you’re here doing this?”

“Well, what the hell else would I do? I mean, where else does an Alpha wolf get to legally kill people and keep a pack this day and age? The military is perfect. No one questions too much and it’s an outlet for all that pent-up aggression. But you’ve gotta know that, right?” He laughs.

“Yeah, true, but what I don’t understand is that the guys, Zak, Bud, Oz, they all look to you. I mean, Darius seems kinda out of it—guess it doesn’t help that he’s a moody-fuck most of the time.” She laughs. “But still, they treat you like the pack leader.”

“Maybe because I am—for them?”

“So, what, you were a bonded pack before he came along? I don’t understand why you would let him take over. I mean, I’ve never known two male alphas in a pack? Well, apart from a couple of gay Alpha friends. It works for them, but not in this situation. How do you even get that to work?”

“Look, Darius he… well, he’sdifferent. Besides that, we’ve been together, hell, more years than I wanna count. Something happened and… well, we saved each other and I guess we’re bonded. But the leadership thing…” He grins. “You can blame the Navy for that. Truth is I got my ass busted down from Master chief—would you believe I can’t hold my temper? I kinda hit a Commander. Anyway, I’m not cut out for that bullshit, all that sucking up to cake eaters. Darius, he can pull that off. He likes all that crap, plus they don’t give him so much shit, mostly because they’re afraid of him.”

“Yeah, I noticed that—people are scared of him. So, I guess that’s why Zak looks to you? I can tell he doesn’t see Darius as his leader.”

“Zak’s good, he’s my… my stepbrother, adopted brother… foster? Oh hell, I don’t know what you call it officially, but we’re brothers, grew up together. His Mom, well… she fostered me. You’re right, they have their issues, but there’s more to it—it’s not simple. As I said, Darius is…Darius.Look, we should think about makin’ a move. So what’s it to be?” When she doesn’t move he tries again. “Kat, do you hear me, we should—”

“Yeah, I heard you. I’m just enjoying the moment. Being out here with you, it feels so strange. Do you know, I wanted this job for so long and then…Boom!Here I am doing what I wanted. And then there’s what’s happened between us—that’s real madness.”

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