Page 161 of Silver Elite

But the teenager refuses to back down. He’s too proud. He throws himself back into the fray.

Blow after blow rain down upon him, each strike landing with bone-crushing force as his older brother unleashes a relentless barrage of attacks. Roe growls his rage. Spits out the blood that pours from his nose, his cheek, his mouth. He swings his fists in a wild, desperate attempt to defend himself, but no matter how hard he tries, he’s no match for Cross.

It’s embarrassingly obvious there is no comparison. At all. By any conceivable measure.

And yet he can’t shut his mouth. Can’t admit defeat.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Roe sneers, while his chest heaves with exertion and red rivulets drip down his face and onto the sand. “Pathetic.”

Shoulders tightening, Cross puts an end to it.

With a final, brutal strike, Roe crumples to the sand in a bloody heap, his body battered from the onslaught. He peers up at his older brother through swollen eyes.

“Fuck you, Cross.”

“You wanted it, brother.” Cross is cold and unforgiving. “Consider this your education.”

“You’re a fucking asshole!”

“And you’re a spoiled little prick.”

“Fuck you!” Roe is screaming at him.

Cross just shakes his head and leaves him broken and defeated on the sand, gasping for breath.

A trickle of fear goes through me.

As Cross hauls himself up the ledge, his gaze slides toward me for a moment. Then he breaks eye contact and disappears into the crowd.

Chapter 36

The next afternoon, the twelve of us meet in the gym. None of the instructors have arrived yet, and my fellows hypothesize what’s going on while we wait for direction.

“I think we all got in,” says one of the female fellows from Red Cell.

“They’re not letting twelve soldiers join Elite,” Noah Jones replies. “I bet they shortlisted twelve knowing that some of us will fail the final test.”

Standing beside me is Bryce. I can’t deny I’m surprised to see her here, although I suppose she did excel in some of the training sections. And the girl is fearless, I’ll give her that. She was the first to jump out of the plane during our parachuting drills.

“Daddy!” She lights up when a man suddenly steps through the door.

Bryce rushes up to a tall, dark-haired man with five stars on his Silver Block uniform. A colonel. He doesn’t hug her. Rather, he greets her with a brisk nod, as if she’s a colleague.

“You came to watch my final test?” I hear her ask, and on my other side, Kaine pokes me in the ribs.

“I didn’t realize we were inviting people to this,” he drawls, and I hide a laugh.

It doesn’t surprise me that Bryce wanted her father to witness her glorious achievement. All she’s done for two months is prattle on about how important he is.

I study the others on the shortlist. Me, Bryce, and Kaine. Kess. Jones. Anson, of course. That psychopath can carry out any mission he’s ordered. The other six recruits are members of Red Cell.

I’m still wondering what the selection process was when Cross enters the gym, tailed by Ford and Struck. The trio salute Bryce’s father, the colonel, who stands against the wall to give them the floor.

I haven’t seen Cross since he stormed out of the pit last night. I think about how close I was to going home with him, seconds before he beat the shit out of his brother without batting an eye.

He doesn’t even look my way as he addresses the group.

“You’re all here because you’re being considered for Elite. There are six available slots.”

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