Page 74 of Specter Bred

Hayes's smile disappeared. Mine did too.

"Sir, that seems excessive," Hayes argued.

"Funny, I was aiming for soul-crushing. I am trying to kill you, right?"

Hayes' eyes went wide. Of course, Grizzly had been listening to our conversation.

I scowled as I grabbed the ruck, shooting Graves a look that left no doubt about how furious I was. We'd nearly killed ourselves tonight and every other night he'd hauled us out here after hours for some new form of misery! Now he added an additional punishment, all because we'd been talking. The sheer unfairness of it made my blood boil and pushed my temper dangerously close to the edge.

I completed the additional run with my ruck held overhead and my teeth gritted the entire time to keep myself from unloading on instructor asshole.

Remember, this is what he wants.

He wants you to lose control.

I repeated the words to myself over and over.

When I finally finished, I didn't bother checking in with Graves. I was completely fucking done for the night. If he wanted to dismiss me for it, he could. At this point, it seemed he was looking for any excuse possible. I turned and started toward the barracks.

"Archer," Graves called out to me.

I ignored him.

"You know what your problem is?" he continued, catching up to me in a few powerful strides.

Keep walking.

Don't loose your temper.

"You spend so much time trying to prove other people wrong," Graves said behind me, "you forget to prove you're right."

I stopped. His words hit me like a slap. Slowly, I turned around.

"Excuse me?" I said, teeth gritted.

Hayes started walking toward us, but I shot him a look that said I could handle it.

Graves didn't even blink.

"You heard me."

Something inside me snapped.

"No," I laughed, sharp and humorless. "I've done everything you've asked!"

My voice rose despite my best efforts.

"I've carried the extra weight, run the extra miles, and taken every punishment you've thrown at me on the chin!"

Graves remained silent and stoic, not even flinching a muscle as a flood of words spilled from my mouth.

"I've outperformed most of the candidates here, and it's still not enough for you to see my value!"

The training field went quiet and even Hayes wasn't stupid enough to move or say anything this time.

For a moment, Graves simply stared at me. Then he shook his head.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about."