Chapter Five

Dakota’s POV

My parents looked at me like I was possessed.

Begging them to let me go to the border with Stefan was easy because I had somehow managed to convince Stefan train me.

I hugged them longer than usual before leaving with Stefan.

The borders wasn’t exactly what I had expected. It was much smaller than I imagine, built from rough timber and stone. It sat at the edge of a clearing, surrounded by tall pines.

Warriors moved around, some training, some patrolling but they all looked focused, strong and disciplined.

As Stefan parked the truck, a young woman in combat attire came running out of the house.

Lila, my brother’s mate.

She was a beautiful woman tall and lean, with dark hair and braided hair pulled back from her face. Her smile was so wide it seemed to take up her whole face.

“Dakota !” She threw herself at me the moment I stepped out of the truck, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug.

“Oh my gosh, look at you! You’re so grown up! I can’t believe you’re here!” She shrieked excitedly.

I giggled softly and hugged her back. Lila was my brother’s mate, he found out a year after being assigned to the border, but I’d only met her a handful of times.

“I missed you too.”

She pulled back, holding me at arms length.

“Stefan didn’t tell me you were coming. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would have made something special.”

She linked her arm through mine, dragging me toward the biggest cabin.

“Come in, come in. You must be exhausted. How long are you staying? A week? Two? You picked a great time, the weather’s perfect and…”

“Lila.” I stopped walking.

She turned, still smiling.

“I’m not here to visit.”

Her smile flickered, “what do you mean?”

I glanced at Stefan. He gave a small nod and I turned back to her.

“I’m here to stay, for a while at least. I want to train, to become a warrior like you and Stefan .”

Lila’s smile froze. Surprise flashed through her eyes real, unfiltered shock. Her eyes darted to Stefan , then back to me.

“Wait. Wait.” She held up her hands. “You? Dakota ? You want to be a warrior?”

“Yes and I don’t want you to go easy on me.” I said confidently and Lila looked up from the training gear she was sorting.

I stood in front of her, already dressed in borrowed training gear that were slightly too big.

“Come with me”

“Where are we going?” I asked, struggling to keep up with her pace.

“To meet the team.”

I stopped walking. “The team?”

Lila turned back, a wide grin on her face.

“You didn’t think it was just me and Stefan out here, did you? There’s a whole squad. And if you’re going to train as a real warrior, you need to train with real warriors.”

My stomach flipped. I hadn’t thought about meeting anyone else. Before I could protest, Lila grabbed my arm and dragged me forward.

The training yard was busy. Warriors paired off, sparring with swords and claws. Others ran drills or lifted weights.

It was barely dawn but the yard was lit with torches. Lila led me to a group gathered near the center. They were seven or eight warriors in total, different sizes and ages, yet they all shared something in common.

“Listen up!” Lila’s authoritative voice cut through the morning air like a blade and it got everyone’s attention almost immediately.

“We have a new addition to the team. She’ll be training with us from today.”

The warriors looked me over. Some nodded, some looked curious enough to spare me more than one glance while some didn’t even bother to acknowledge my presence.

A low chuckle broke the silence and my eyes followed the sound to a man leaning against a post at the edge of the group. He was tall, broad shouldered, with dark hair that fell messily over his forehead.

His arms were crossed tightly over his chest but his most distinct feature that caught my attention instantly was his eyes.

They were a sharp silver gray that swept over me with distasteful amusement like he was assessing a bug.

“When did we start taking in monkeys?” He drawled, his voice was deep, rough and dripping with mockery.

A few of the warriors snickered and I felt my face heat up.

“I’m not a monkey.” I said before I could stop myself.

“No?” He pushed off the post and I saw his muscles flex in the most mesmerizing manner as he walked closer.

Up close, he was even more annoying. He had that stupid grin on his face when his eyes stared down at me with enough confidence to make me want to punch him.

At that moment, I hated myself for being so short.

He was handsome, sure but in an annoying way.

“You’re tiny, skinny, you look like you’d snap in half if someone sneezed on you.” He tiltedd his head, his eyes glistening with satisfaction at the fact that his assessment was on point. “What’s a princess like yourself do out here in the mud?”

Lila shot him a warning look, “Hunter, be nice. She's here to train, so she’ll train with all of us.” Lila added through gritted teeth like he was also getting on her nerves.

“Train for what?” He looked me up and down again. “To be someone’s trophy mate?”

“That’s enough Hunter.” Lila stepped between us. “Show some respect.”

He held up his hands in mock surrender, but his eyes stayed on me. And that stupid grin only stretched even wider, drawing my attention to his devilishly carved lips.

“Fine, fine, welcome to the team, little monkey.” He turned and walked away, but called out above his shoulder. “Try not to cry too loud when you fall. I hate being distracted.”

“Alright, everyone.” She clapped her hands loudly, “Warm up run. Five miles, full speed. Go!”

The warriors took off without a word and it took me two good minutes to realize what was going on and run after them.

For the first mile, I barely kept up. I was barely breathing properly, my eyes stung as sweat dripped all over them and my legs ached really bad but I kept going.

The second mile, I couldn’t help it any longer so I started falling behind. But by the third mile, I was dead last and almost out of breath.

I decided to focus on just pushing through the voice in my head telling to stop. And work on my breathing, on putting one foot in front of the other.

And then, Hunter appeared beside me. I could feel his presence without looking and the worst part was, he wasn’t even breathing as hard as I was.

“Struggling, monkey?” He bumped my shoulder as he ran past. Not hard enough to knock me over, but hard enough to make me stumble.

But I refused to quit.

I had to be strong. I couldn’t afford to be weak again.

Suddenly, the world tilted.

I didn’t even feel myself fall, my legs just gave out and the ground rushed up to meet me, but I never hit it.

Strong hands caught me mid-fall. I blinked up, disoriented, and found myself staring into Hunter’s sharp grey eyes.

He stared down at me with an unreadable expression. But he didn’t drop me. He carried me away in his arms like I weighed nothing.

“Put me down,” I tried to say, but it came out as a whimper.

“Shut up.”

He headed straight for a relief tent and Lila rushed over to us as soon as she spotted me.

“She almost passed out.” Hunter said flatly, setting me down on a bed.

Lila knelt beside me, checking my pulse and pupils like a professional, “You need to listen to your body, Dakota . If you can’t handle it, you tell me.”

“No.” I croaked, shaking my head wildly as Lila pressed a cool cloth to my forehead. “I need to push harder.”

Hunter let out a harsh laugh, “you can’t even stand, what exactly is someone like you trying to prove out here?”

I turned my head weakly to look at him,

“That I’m not weak.”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “Girl’s got no strength but plenty ambition.” He turned his back on us. “That stupid combination will get you killed out here.”

“Hunter!” Lila snapped.

“What? Someone needs to tell her.” He glanced at me for a second, I thought I saw something flash across his eyes but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

“You want to play warrior? Fine. But warriors know their limits and you clearly don’t, monkey. So go back home princess, you don’t belong here.”