But that wasn’t going to happen right now, so she pushed herself as hard as her body would let her and was surprised when she was rewarded with a burst of speed that got her ahead of more than half the team. She couldn’t beat all of them to the logs, but at least she wasn’t stuck behind the bigger guys. They would have slowed her down.
She raced across the logs behind Remy, Cooper, and Connor Malone, jumping from one narrow telephone pole to the next as easily as if she were running down a sidewalk. It was exhilarating to move so fast across something that was less than twelve inches wide and ten feet off the ground. It was also terrifying, especially when she thought about how much it would hurt if she fell off moving at this speed.
The last log had to be at least fifteen feet above the ground and she automatically slowed down. She immediately chided herself for being a coward, but it turned out that being careful was a good idea. Up ahead, Cooper threw an elbow back at Connor, disrupting his stride just enough to send the big sniper tumbling off the telephone pole. Connor hit the ground with a thud, which was immediately drowned out by the howl of triumph that Cooper let loose.
Khaki almost slowed to drop off the log to check on Connor, but the man was already on his feet, circling back to go through the obstacle again. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn he was running with a broken arm. She realized there was another part of this game that Hale hadn’t mentioned—catching Becker might be the ultimate object of Rabbit, but apparently, making sure no one else caught him if you couldn’t ran a close second.
Footsteps thudded behind her. She stopped worrying about Connor and started hauling ass. She didn’t know if one of these guys would toss her off the log from behind, but she didn’t want to find out.
She launched herself off the end of the log and hit the ground rolling, surprised she was so comfortable with a move like that. She’d never done anything this crazy before, but it seemed to come naturally.
She chased Remy and Cooper to the next obstacle, then to the climbing tower after that, but she couldn’t make up any ground. Mostly because she wasn’t trying too hard. After watching Jayden practically shove Max right through a plywood wall, she decided keeping her head on a swivel might be the best way to do well at this game. As hard as some of them were going at each other, she might actually win—if she could just avoid being taken out by her teammates.
She followed Remy and Cooper through several fake building facades, jumping through empty window frames and running up stairs, then climbing down from roofs. She didn’t catch sight of Becker the whole time. Then again, none of them probably ever would. He was that damn fast.
She cleared the last building and turned for the finish line—the PT sandbox—where Becker was standing with a smile on his face. She was only ten feet behind Remy and Cooper, who were still battling for the lead. She might be able to catch up and pass them if she picked up the pace. Then she heard footsteps pounding fast behind her. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder and practically stumbled when she caught sight of Riggs on her tail. Like the other guys, he’d gone werewolf too, and his gold eyes glinted in the early morning sun.
How the hellhadhe caught up to her? She hadn’t seen him since the start of the chase. She pushed harder, trying to pull away, but Riggs closed the distance between them again. She might have been more agile on the obstacles, but she simply couldn’t run as fast as the guys when they shifted. All it would take was a shove from her squad leader to send her tumbling head over heels through the finish line like an idiot. As fast as she was going, she wouldn’t stop tumbling until she reached the parking lot.
What a way to make a first impression.
Khaki was so sure Riggs was going to take her out that she almost backed off and let him pass her. But something inside her refused to give in, and she pushed even harder.
She tensed, sure the shove was coming, but it never did. Her squad leader stayed right behind her the whole time. Werewolf or not, she was breathing hard and fast by the time she crossed through the sandbox and slowed to a walk on the far side. She resisted the urge to lean over and gasp for air and instead glanced at Riggs as he walked it out beside her. His fangs had retracted, as had his claws, and there was a light sheen of sweat coating his bare chest. It was all she could do not to reach out and run her hands over all that glistening muscle.
She bit her lip and dragged her gaze away from all that tanned perfection to find Riggs watching her. Had he seen her checking him out?
If he had, he didn’t call her on it. Instead, he regarded her with those dark, enigmatic eyes, then turned and walked back to the sandbox.
Whattheheckwasthatabout?Khaki had a sinking feeling that her squad leader could have blown past her to the finish line if he’d wanted to, then gloated about it afterward. She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t. Maybe he wasn’t a complete asshole, after all.
Reaching up to push back the hair that had come loose from her ponytail, Khaki slowly walked over to join the guys in the sandbox. Cooper and Remy were about to come to blows as they argued over who had cheated more in order to gain the second-place finish. Remy’s Cajun accent came out more when he was angry, and it was hard catching everything he said, but she got the gist of it. These guys were even more competitive than she expected. Riggs stepped between the two men.
“Knock it off,” Riggs growled.
Khaki felt the hair on the back her neck stand up at the power in those deep, rumbling tones. It must have had the same effect on Cooper and Remy because they stepped away from each other, teeth and claws retracting.
“Okay, everyone,” Mike said. “Hit the showers.”
That sounded good to Khaki. She was covered in so much sand, she felt like a sugar cookie. Considering the guys were just as sweaty and dirty, she thought they’d be as eager for a shower as she was, but they were all standing there staring at her with weird looks on their faces.
“What?” she asked.
Hale rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. “Um, we only have one set of open bay showers.”
Khaki frowned. Open bay showers? What the hell were those? Then it hit her. “There’s no way in hell I’m showering with all of you.”
Cooper’s mouth twitched. “Oh, come on. Think of it as a team-building exercise.”
“Yeah,” Becker agreed with a grin, then added, “We promise not to stare.”
Khaki doubted any of them would be able to keep that promise, especially Becker. And while the idea of seeing all the guys naked was definitely interesting, she’d never seriously consider it.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Riggs studying her. “Not gonna happen,” she said firmly. “I’m all about team, but I draw the line at showering with a dozen men at once.”
“We can break up into groups of three or four if that’ll make you feel better,” Remy told her in that sexy Cajun accent of his.
She shouldn’t laugh at their juvenile teasing, but she couldn’t help it. “Forget it.”
