My heart does something stupid and fluttery.
But I keep my face neutral and my voice light as I wait for the others to finish moving the chest, following right behind Petal until I can crawl out of the last gap and rise to my feet. To find them standing around bickering.
“We’re still on the clock,” I remind them. “So maybe save the theatrics for the next challenge?”
Thayer’s lips twitch, even as he grabs the key at the start of the ropes course and unlocks the chest still cradled in Deirdre’s arms. He grabs out the second bag, tossing it in my direction, like he thinks I have the hand eye coordination to just catch it.
Imagine my surprise when I do.
“You can put that down now,” he says to Deirdre, whose cheeks flush bright pink as she drops the wooden chest to the ground with a thud.
Petal snickers under her breath, and I do the same. But I’m the one that gets a glare as sharp as a dagger thrown my way, before the taller omega takes off after Thayer, who is already a quarter way across the sand to the next obstacle.
The rest of the team takes off, and I’m with them, sort of. “More running,” I mutter to myself. “Oh joy.”
A wooden sign on my right with the symbol for air on it—an upward triangle with a line through the top third painted in yellow. Hmm… That is so out of place, that it must be important. I’ve watched enough of this show to know to pay attention to everything in these challenges. Air, I repeat to myself. Yellow. Air. Right. Another wooden sign on my left. Earth. Red. Left.
And so on, until I have eight symbols and eight colors in my head. I repeat them to myself like a mantra, putting a little tune to them.
“Hurry up!” Odette snaps to me. The rest of my team has already reached the next check point. Thayer is pushing a large barrel toward a pole in the distance. The four other omegas are just standing there watching him. As though they expect him to do all the heavy lifting, which doesn’t really surprise me, seeing as most omegas aren’t used to this type of physical activity.
Six barrels all together, one for each of us.
Without waiting, I tip a barrel on its side and start after the alpha.
Good god, this thing is heavy. Probably heavier than I can really manage on my own, given my weak knee and the unstable sand. My sneaker slips, pain spikes for just a moment, but it quickly fades. Not too bad then.
A second pair of hands lands next to mine and the barrel moves forward. I look over in surprise to find Petal smiling brightly at me. “Hey there. Thought you could use some help.”
“Thanks,” I huff, even as we pick up speed. I risk a glance over my shoulder and see the three remaining omegas are rolling a third barrel, though not very well. At least they’re doing something. Up ahead, Thayer is positioning his barrel at the base of the pole. As he jogs back toward us, I start repeating the signs and the colors under my breath.
Petal glances at me. “You noticed them too?”
I nod. “Yeah. My best friend is obsessed with this show and she gave me a rundown of all the things to watch out for during these challenges. Including random signs.”
Thayer draws up next to us, tries to nudge us out of the way so he can finish for us. But I shake my head. “Go help the others. Petal and I’ve got this.”
“You’re sure?” He asks, clearly surprised.
“Yep,” Petal says, sounding as out of breath as I feel. “We can handle this one.”
He takes us at our word and jogs back toward the other omegas who greet him with praise and thanks, and good god, was that a squeal? I go back to muttering the orders and Petal mutters them along with me.
Thayer has caught up with us by the time we reach the pole, the three other omegas trailing behind him, rather than going back to grab a fourth barrel.
As our alpha situates the barrels, I glance around, nearly swallowing my tongue when I catch sight of Grieves carrying two barrels at once, one perched on each huge shoulder as he lopes toward the pole.
Shit.
It’s going to take too long to get the other barrels if Thayer’s the only one that can move them with any ease. And frankly, I’m not sure I can make the run back over the sand again for more.
No. Better to work with what we have.
The rules didn’t say we had to use all the barrels, just that we had to reach the bag of puzzle pieces.
“Thayer,” I say glancing over to where Courtland is definitely copping a feel of Daria’s ass as he helps her scramble up a barrel, to try to reach the pieces that are still well out of her reach. “Can you lift me?”
Thayer looks at me, lips parted, then back at the bag hanging high on the pole. He gives a quick nod. Then adjusts the barrels to have a steadier base before he climbs on top, holding one broad hand down in offer to me. I take it, and he yanks me up until I’m pressed against him. “How?” He rasps.
