Chapter 17
“I’ll make sure she gets her ribs wrapped,” Shane says, keeping an arm around my waist.
“Thank you, doctor.”
“I’ll see you in two days, Alpha.”
Shane helps me to walk out of the medical center. I realize that taking deep breaths isn’t all.
“Hungry?” he asks as we walk.
“I could eat. What did I miss today?” I ask.
casy at
“When Dr. Whit told me that you were going to be out for several hours, I went to afternoon classes. We only have one together on Monday afternoons. I took notes, but I also asked around, and Helen is taking the Pack Management curriculum. She let me copy her notes for you, so you can keep up,” he says.
“Shane, that was so nice.”
“I know how important the Academy is to you, T. And I was feeling pretty helpless. I don’t like feeling that way. I needed to do something to make me feel like I was doing something and that helped.”
When we walked into the cafeteria, Cole, Justin, and Cassandra came over to check on me.
“Damn girl, it looked like you were practicing to be a bird shifter. How are you feeling?” Cole
asks.
“Like shit,” I say, grinning.
“Are you going to be able to eat?” Cassandra asks.
“Yeah. I’m hungry, but I’m going to take it slow,” I say.
Even though they’ve already eaten, the group comes to sit with me while Shane goes to get two plates of food.
“So, how bad is it? Alpha Dane said cracked ribs,” Cole asks.
“Yeah, three cracked ribs. Pretty much everything hurts, but for now, I’m off sparring and have some pain meds for tonight to help me sleep.”
Shane is back quickly with a variety of food for me to eat.
“So, are you going to tell us what it was like?” Cassandra asks me.
“What do you mean?” I ask her.
“The Beast,” Justin says.
Shane puts a few smaller bowls in front of me – soup, yogurt, and sliced bananas. “Try these,” he says, winking at me.
“It’s hard,” I tell her. “It’s exactly what the instructors said it would be. An obstacle course to challenge you mentally and physically.”
“But what does that mean?” Cassandra asks.
I look at her, then look at the other three. “You don’t really think that I’m going to tell you how to defeat The Beast after I went first and got my ass handed to me, do you? There are points for whoever completes it first. If you want to know about The Beast, try it yourself.”
“Seriously? Not even a clue?” one of the Alpha heirs asks from the next table.
get
“No. Not a clue. I’m not giving up my position because I told you what was coming. I didn’t that information before I rode The Beast, so I’m not giving it to anyone else because I was the only one brave enough to go first. Screw that,” I say.
Fuck off, Ewan. If you want to know, ride The Beast yourself,” Shane says.
I look at Shane. If there was anyone who I would give a clue to, it would be him. We’re still in competition, but he also made sure that I didn’t fall behind just because I was in the medical center all afternoon.
“If you want a clue, here it is,” I say. Shane’s head whips around. I can tell he’s ready to tell me not to say anything, so I wink at him.
“If I had to guess, I’d say Shane will make it through the fourth challenge unlike me.
