“Follow me.”
He leads us into a fenced area.
“This isn’t part of the park. Well, it is, but it's private land, and we got a grant that allowed us to build this out here so long as we made sure we trained peoplewho requested it. Now, you need to understand, Bonnie holds the record at eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds.”
We round a corner, and I stop, my eyes getting wide and huge, and I just stare because it’s like my dream playground.
“Oh, wow,” I breathe out.
“Shotgun!” Kota shouts and races up, climbing the wall with ease. He sits on the top for a minute, surveying the rest of it, before standing up and flinging himself across space and onto a net that he climbs as easily as if he’s walking up stairs.
When I tear my eyes away, I find Rory and Cyn stretching.
“What are you doing?” I ask them.
“Trying to beat her record.”
That’s right, Bonnie has the record on this obstacle course. I suddenly hunger to steal it from her, to prove I’m an alpha that is worthy.
Her dad pulls out a stopwatch and points out each section. “Climb the wall, then you have to get through the vertical rope maze. The pits are next, then you’re crawling. Up the wall again, rope climb. Well, you get the drift.” Sanderson pauses. “He sure is having fun out there.”
I’m almost jealous of him.
“Right, well I’m glad to see how excited you four are.”
Rory gets ready, and Sanderson glances at his stopwatch.
“Go.”
He shoots off. I step up beside Sanderson and look out.
“I’m looking to know if you guys are going to be working with Bonnie, going out with her on the trips. Am I hiring you?”
“We wouldn’t leave her alone,” I say with quiet confidence. “We don’t need money, we just want to be with her.”
“Great. So, I’m going to teach you everything I know so I know you’re safe out there,” he says.
“And it starts here?”
“I can get a good feel of someone on the course. What kind of brave you are, what kind of stupid, your physical capabilities, and what you love.”
“You can see all that?”
“And then some, but I’ll teach you that, too.”
And then, to my utter shock, he throws a knife at Cyn.
My alpha spins and snags it out of the air.
We all stare at each other. My anger is roiling, but I dare not attack. I watch him like he’s a dangerous snake.
“Interesting,” Sanderson says and strokes his chin. “Just how trained are you?”
“Very,” I say thickly.
“Good. That will make this easier. Good time, you’re twenty seconds too slow,” he says to Rory.
Rory spits a curse, but Cyn’s up next.
