Page 28 of Alpha Games
“Coming in at four o’clock,” John shouted.
I fucking hated when people did that.
It took me a half second to calculate the imaginary hands on a clock face and I barely missed the spear that landed in the dirt by my feet.
We switched positions again as I growled. “Use left, right, north, south. Anything but a damn clock.”
John’s deep laughter bellowed from his chest as a spear sailed through the air, going wide. Another handful of Alphas gathered at the starting line.
It was Chad’s snarling face that caught my attention. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum as he chucked his spear and shifted into his wolf midair.
I didn’t have time to laugh for long. “Duck!”
John dropped to the ground behind me as the spear flew over our heads. Chad had aimed directly for us instead of a target. The bastard.
I was going to enjoy winning.
“I’m too old for this shit.” John scrambled to his feet as we started up the incline on the slope. He watched our backs as I focused on finding the footholds over the rocky outcropping.
“To your right,” he yelled.
I jerked my hand away as a spear embedded in the dirt and then hoisted myself up over the rocks lining the foothill. “Are they targeting us?”
“Feels like it.” John groaned as he slid over behind me and we started running again.
My shins were straining from the effort of the slower jog backwards and my wolf was snarling in frustration. But the rocks and dirt slope offered us some advantage in distance from the next wave of Alphas lining up. As long as they…
“Oh, come on.”
“Where?” John spun around, panicked.
“I don’t know,” I barked. “Just run.”
We took off together up the mountainside, abandoning our earlier strategy in favor of getting the hell out of the target zone. At least five spears whizzed through the air, heading in our direction.
The flags waved up ahead as the ground grew steeper and the dirt looser under our boots. The sound of a wolf in pain, a whining horrid howl, filled the air.
I looked right, seeing Trenton’s blond wolf roll back down the mountain flipping jaw over heels with a spear sticking out of his flank.
“Watch out.” Aspen’s blood-curdling scream stopped me dead in my tracks.
A spear cut the air in front of my face.
Go to her,my beast demanded, fighting me for the shift.
I held back, gritting my teeth as Trenton’s wolf tried to stand and lost his footing. The last of the Alphas reached the spears and the wolves who’d thrown were closing in.
“You coming?” John yelled from up ahead.
Trenton’s wolf locked eyes with me as he laid there panting. Another spear whizzed through the air.
Damn it.I slid down the slope, dodging the spear, and scooped Trenton’s wolf into my arms as the javelin landed where his body was seconds ago.
Cheers rang out above us as John crossed the finish line. I came a few steps after, dropping Trenton’s wolf off with the medics who worked quick to remove the spear before his skin healed around it.
Shaking from adrenaline, I turned to look over the course. The last of the Alphas were easily running up the hill with no one throwing spears at their backs.
Blood boiled in my veins.