Page 24 of The Explorer
The first thing he told Aubri and me was, “So you think you can keep up with someone like me?”
“I’m here to learn and grow,” Aubri said with a smile that was unusual for her, telling me that Sparrow had been right about Aubri’s having a crush.
The first day, Aubri worked twice as hard as any of the men. Mason and I agreed that had she been a man, she would have been the ultimate Huntsman.
Unfortunately, the eighteen Huntsmen participating in the training camp didn’t treat her with the respect she deserved. The majority of them would have fought any tournament if that meant securing her hand in marriage, but when it came to seeing her as an equal warrior, it was a different matter.
Whenever Mason wasn’t around, some of them would tease her and make things harder for her. I tried to help her by telling her to stop antagonizing them, because Aubri couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
Being an outsider myself, I didn’t yield any power with the Huntsmen, and the times I asked them to back off and leave her alone, I was either ignored or told that I lacked humor.
“Is this how you treat women?” I asked after Walker was screaming at Aubri to move her big fat butt faster.
“What’s your problem? She wanted to come so let her prove that she’s as good as we are.”
With a frown I stood watching Aubri sprint as fast as she could toward the finish line. She would have been faster than most men, but these were the alpha dogs of the Northlands and chosen because of their physical superiority.
Walker kept heckling Aubri, shouting insults, “We should have let your friend come instead of you. I bet Sparrow would have flown right through. Is that even supposed to be running? Looks like jogging to me.”
Red-faced and panting, Aubri pushed herself to the breaking point and accelerated even further.
I heard quiet whispers in the group of men behind me, acknowledging that she was incredible, but Walker and his buddy Harris were mean-spirited and laughed when Aubri tripped and dipped her knees, hands, and face in mud. Like the warrior she was, she got up, wiped the mud off enough that she could see the trail in front of her, and then she ran on.
I had already finished my four rounds in the makeshift agility course that Mason had arranged in the woods. Now I stood with the other men while Mason was at the starting line, too far from us to hear the comments about his sister.
Maybe Walker’s words bothered me more because I knew Aubri had feelings for him. I couldn’t understand why, because as far as I knew they hadn’t spent time together and in my opinion he was unworthy of her time and adoration. The man was built like a bloody ox and incredibly strong, but other than that, he seemed two-dimensional to me with his lack of empathy and kindness to an underdog like Aubri. He should be fucking celebrating her courage to show up and train with the best in the world.
With Mason positioned at the other end of the agility course, he couldn’t hear the crude comments between some of his men, but when Aubri came around for the last time, Walker turned it up.
“I bet she regrets coming here. Look at how she’s smeared in mud,” Harris said.
Putting both hands to his mouth, Walker shouted to Aubri. “This isn’t a spa, woman. You’re not supposed to lounge around in the mud and make yourself look pretty.”
The men all laughed at his joke, but I was fuming.
“She doesn’t need mud, she’s pretty already,” a soldier behind me said as if discussing Aubri like this was no big deal.
My arms were crossed, and my hands folded in fists as I tried to calm myself. If I made a scene, Aubri would be furious with me. She didn’t want special treatment and she didn’t want Mason or me to fight her battles.
Walker turned his head, responding to the soldier who had called her pretty. “What does it matter if she’s pretty when she behaves like a man? That woman could make a man’s cock limp just by opening her mouth.”
Harris elbowed his friend. “I wouldn’t mind her opening her mouth for me.”
“Sure, as long as she sucks and doesn’t speak.”
Aubri passed us just then and from the way she turned her head and frowned, I feared that she’d heard the degrading words about her.
Pushing at Walker’s shoulder from the back, I snapped, “Shut the fuck up!”
He spun in a fast movement and grabbed my hand, pushing my elbow up and my wrist back in a painful hold.
“Whoa, relax,” some of the others warned, but I was pumped with adrenaline and Walker stared at me like he wanted to break every bone in my body.
“If you can’t deal with the tone among soldiers, then you better fuck along home and stay behind your desk, pretty boy.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d used that tone to get under my skin. I took great pride in grooming my impressive beard and keeping my hairstyle sharp. He in contrast had long blond hair stuck in a man bun that looked like it had never seen conditioner in his lifetime.
His friend Harris tried intervening with a hand on Walker’s shoulders. “He’s Mason’s best friend. Are you sure you want to upset the Captain?”
