Anything he can do to assess how they might act under multiple sources of pressure coming from every which way, to see if they have what it takes before putting someone’s life in their hands.
Stone squeezes my hand once more before letting go, giving me a reassuring smile, even if the corner of his eyes are tight with the concern he’s trying so hard to conceal. Raiden kisses the top of my head, then discreetly feels the front pocket of my jeans to make sure the small keychain is still in place. This was one compromise I was more than happy to make once I told them I wanted to participate. If I was going to be out of their sight, surrounded by dozens of people that could capitalize on the chaos, then I needed to be able to call for help without drawing attention to myself, even if it’s only because I freaked out and wanted to quit the training exercise.
It’s a simple button, but won’t go off if it bumps against my thigh or I trip. I have to push down hard and hold it for three seconds, then it’ll send out an alert to all three of their phones. Even without activating it, the GPS tracker is running, so if someone were to rush me out of the approved radius, they’d get an alert, and could track the direction I was headed for as long as it took someone to find and destroy it. Not perfect, but unless I want to spend the rest of my life locked away in a tower missing out on life, or someone always breathing down my neck, a good middle ground I can live with.
Kodi claps his hands together once to draw attention, shouting over the music. “Supporting characters get a ten minute head start to get into position.” Settling his gaze on me, he offers a lazy smile. “Now, show me what you've got.”
Chapter 17
Amara
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I’m out of breath beforeI hit the seventh floor, but I keep racing up the stairs.
Progress, Amara. You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to keep pushing for better.
For a fleeting moment, I contemplate attempting to see if I can connect with my dragon, but shut the thought down before it can gain any traction. Stone’s gift has done wonders in helping my healing, increasing the amount of the electricity I can manifest, and my endurance. If that’s all it ever does, I’ll be grateful.
Shoving the door open, I burst out of the stairwell without slowing, racing down the corridor. Each floor in this place is set up with a different theme, used to test different skills depending on how Kodi feels like torturing people. The office is great for pissing off shifters because it’s cramped, there’s no room to shift or move with all of the cubicles, and it generally just sucks the will to live out of you. But it’s perfect for teaching men how to search for potential threats while in human form when every view is obstructed. The top floor?
It’s laid out like someone took ‘the floor is lava’ to the extreme.
Kodi obsessively drilled me on the safest path to take so I could get through to the place I had in mind to hide, while Raiden and Stone all but had aneurysms at me traipsing around the building unattended at all. Since they couldn’t spring forreallava, especially on the top floor, there are several layers of insulation beneath the metal ground cover, and a series of gas heaters and vents keeping the bed of hot coals burning.
Shoving thoughts of falling out of my mind, I pick up the pace, using my momentum to leap between the stones lining a path to a larger platform. From there, I jump from obstacle to obstacle, clawing my way higher until I’m on a perch twelve feet above the ground. Even if I avoided the hot coals, a fall from this height would hurt like a bitch. I was adamant that this was where I wanted to wait, though.
I may be working on my issues, but I’m nowhere near ready to lock myself away in a janitor’s closet somewhere and hold my breath while shifters run past, one actively hunting for me. That’s just asking for problems. Instead, this lets me have a perfect vantage point to watch any time the door opens to this floor, to know exactly who’s in the room with me. There’s plenty of light, even if I’m sweating through my shirt from the ungodly heat, and I can see if polar bear shifters have a weakness to hot environments. Not an instant fail by any means, but it’s something Kodiak should be aware of before assigning Torin to jobs if he chooses to hire him.
I lose track of time waiting, but eventually, Bastian is the first to burst through the door. He does a visual sweep of the room, finally settling on me and calling out a gruff, “You good?”
“Might fall to my death at any moment.”
He grunts, turning back to the door. “Then sit in the center, not on the edge.” With that, he leaves, and I can’t help but grin.
Jasper’s team comes in next, slamming the door behind them, and my grin only grows as I hear their assignment sigh exaggeratingly loud. “We’re supposed to be goingoutside,not up every flight of stairs known to man. You’re just making more work for yourselves, because if you keep this running around in circles nonsense going on, you’ll have to carry me out of here.”
