Nothing like-
I cut the thought off and bring my focus back to the here and now. It's a new day.
A gorgeous sunrise greeted me this morning along with the gentle lapping of the waves outside my cabana. I meditated and focused and did some yoga. And overall I feel much more grounded.
Only now there’s this.
An obstacle course.
A pinch of dread grips my stomach for two reasons. One: my knee, obviously. It doesn’t handle running very well or at all and running on sand seems downright dangerous. And two: The entire world is about to see just how competitive Florence Karlincan get. Because even though I know it's dumb to risk the health of my already injured knee, I’m going to run this thing full stop.
There’s some shuffling as the production team hands out our team “jerseys”. Normally, when the pack for the show isn’t royal, each alpha and team is just designated a color, but because this is such a special season, they went a little farther. Forsythe is in Bravonnian blue, that sweet almost periwinkle color that dominates the Ashbourne tartan, and he has a gold crown across his chest. Grieves is in a soft dove grey with a silver shield on his. Courtland is wearing gold, with a green laurel wreath. And my team—Thayer’s team—is in maroon with a gold scepter on it.
All very royal and very Ashbourne pack, since all the colors used are pulled directly from the family tartan.
We all line up at the starting line, huddled between the colored lines that match our team color. I’m vaguely aware of the cameras and Cleo Hartwell giving us a quick little pep talk about doing our best.
And then a horn blows and I take off. Hurtling down the first stretch of sand toward the first obstacle. My team is, surprisingly, right on my heels, though most of the omegas are huffing and puffing. And I’m pretty sure Diane? Deirdre? Drusilla, maybe?—I know it starts with a ‘D’— has never run a day in her life not with how uncoordinated she is as we make our way up the white sandy beaches.
I’m impressed with myself that I’m not panting by the time we reach our destination and that my knee didn’t completely give out while running on already churned up sand.
And thank goodness for that, because the first obstacle is a zigzag balance beam stretching to a platform over the water. On the platform there’s a rope net with six bright pompoms strung up along it and attached to each pompom is a key. Each of us will need to cross the beams, climb the net, grab a key, and then return the way we came. When we have all six keys we canunlock a chest with our first set of puzzle pieces. Only two team members can be on the platform at a time.
“Leave the tallest for Thayer,” I tell them. “In fact, it makes the most sense to grab the pieces in order of height.” Which means I should grab the second to bottom one. Because only Petal, a sweet faced omega with pale peachy pink hair, is shorter than me.
“Obviously,” Joanie hisses at me. And okay, maybe I stated the obvious, but someone has to give some direction. After all, most of the omegas are too busy preening under Thayer’s attention to think properly about what we’re doing here.
And Thayer himself seems more interested in letting us figure it out among ourselves. I suppose that’s part of it, though isn’t it? Seeing how we interact with each other, who takes charge, who’s a team player. It's all about pack dynamics, though no one would be insane enough to have five omegas in a single pack.
Still the way we treat each other means something, so I give her a smile. “Should we go in order of height, then?”
Thayer nods. “I can go first and stay on the platform to help each of you up the net.”
I nod, while the other omegas coo at him in thanks.
One of Grieves’s omegas, Teddy I think she called herself, probably short for Theodora or something, barrels toward the balance beams, makes it halfway before she wobbles and falls with a shriek and a splash submerging entirely before she pops up floundering. “Help me, alpha!” The plea is fake as all get out. But Grieves still wades into the water to scoop her into his arms and carry her out while she nuzzles into his neck.
I grit my teeth and look away.
Thayer moves like water across the beams, his pace quick but steady, his back straight, no wobble at all. He reaches theplatform, flashes the cameras a practiced royal smile, and scales the net with fluid strength. He plucks the highest pompom key free, tucks it into the waistband of his shorts, and then begins his descent.
A chorus of delighted squeals rises behind me.
“Oh my god, did you see how fast he climbed?” Odette gushes, making sure she projects loudly enough for the camera crew circling us like predators.
“I bet he’ll remember who impresses him,” Joanie adds, stretching her arms over her head in a move that’s absolutely not required for this task.
Delia(?), the tallest omega on our team, steps forward as if to cross the beams— she should already be on the platform, honestly—then abruptly stops and shouts to Thayer with a coy little laugh. “You sure you don’t want to grab mine too, alpha? Since you’re already up there?” She bats her lashes like she’s auditioning for a mascara commercial.
Thayer simply gives her a polite, tight smile. “Unfortunately I can’t. Order of height is the best way.”
Which is the nicest possible way of saying:Do what we agreed on, for fuck’s sake.
“We each have to get one,” Petal reminds her. “It’s in the rules, Deirdre.”
Oh!Deirdre.I was right on my second guess.
She huffs and crosses the beams with a grace that rivals my own ballet honed balance, and then she smiles up at Thayer, letting him heft her as high onto the net as he can get her. I watch her climb for a moment but get distracted by Courtland’s booming laugh. He’s standing on the beach, laughing as two of his omegas scramble up the net, battling for the lowest of the keys.
