Chapter 51
I take a deep breath, then focus. You can do this, Sebi. Come on.
“Come on, Sebastiana! You’ve got this!” Alpha Benjamin encourages
I take off running, pumping my arms as hard as I can. I hit the wall and climb, using my momentum to race of the vertical surface. As soon as I feel the momentum begin to shift and gravity take hold, I push one last time and reach for the top of the wall.
My fingers just barely grab it, but I hold on, forcing myself to hang on by my fingertips until I can get a better grip. Then I pull myself over the top and roll onto my back, panting.
“Ring the bell, Sebastiana. You earned it!” Alpha Benjamin says.
I get to my feet, and walk over to the bell, ringing it. I wish I felt more excited about today’s achievement, but it feels like I’ve checked a box and now need to move on to the next box.
From below, I hear the cheers of the other Alphas.
“Well done,” Alpha Benjamin says.
“Thank you, Alpha.”
I climb down the stairs to the ground where Dane and Ryan are waiting for me.
“Congratulations, Sebastiana!” Ryan says excitedly, opening his arms
for me.
“Thanks,” I say, giving him a fake smile and by-passing his offer for a congratulatory hug. I’m still furious with both of them.
When I walk back out to the group, Cassie runs up to hug me.
“You did it!”
I finally smile, hugging my friend.
“I did.”
When I open my eyes, I meet Shane’s. I immediately look away, not at all interested in seeing the betrayal in his eyes, like I somehow used him to defeat The Beast.
Instead, I get passed from Cassie, to Cole, to Justin who congratulate me on my success. I manage to avoid getting close to Shane. I don’t know if he would have congratulated me or not, but I’m not willing to find out.
Shane
There’s a deep, bone-chilling cold that has entered my body. No amount of clothing or hot showers can take the bite of it away. As I watch Sebastiana look away from me, being congratulated by our friends on being first to reach the top of The Beast, I realize that it’s the loss of her closeness, the loss of my friend that is causing the bitter ache in my body.
I somehow manage to get through Sparring class. My mind is still in such a state of turmoil, that I feel almost dizzy. What’s right? What’s wrong? Which feelings do I trust and which ones are weaknesses for someone to exploit?
I can’t seem to clear my head enough to answer that question.
During lunch, I watch one of the other Alpha heirs explode, standing and heaving at the person sitting across from them at the table. Alpha Benjamin is there almost instantly, speaking quietly to the Alpha. He has a hand on his chest, ready to intervene if the Alpha heir tries to fight the other Alpha. But after a few minutes, the Alpha heir nods and the two of them walk out of the cafeteria.
Today’s afternoon class is Dealing with Crisis. Until now, this class has been strictly textbook learning and going over different scenarios as a group. However, when we walk in this morning, there are two chairs at the front of the class facing each other.
“That’s new,” Justin murmurs.
“Great. It looks like it’s time to start real-life crisis management. They broke us just in time,” Cole grumbles.
