Chapter 20
Gabi’s POV
It is the middle of June, and I am going to test to join the training squad at the end of the week. Hudson, Easton, and Jameson all stepped up to help me. Heath had really gone all out and had brought in a Taekwondo expert who I spent the whole weekend training with last weekend, in the conference room in the packhouse. Heath didn’t want Alan to find out about it, so it was all done under the radar. Apparently, Tatum, in a fit of jealousy, because she wanted Alan for herself, told him that I was easy, and just wanted to sleep with him to get a warrior boyfriend and that was why he didn’t want to be around me. He could have asked me or gone to Alpha Heath, but I guess as the whole pack knew that Heath and Von doted on me, they needed to keep that to themselves. I only found out because Eden had been in the bathroom when Tatum and the bitch brigade came through the last week of school back in May and had been laughing and talking about it. Eden had to pee all the time towards the end of her pregnancy, so she was in the bathroom a lot. Eden stayed quiet so they wouldn’t know anyone was in there, and she had to keep her and the baby safe. She couldn’t fight this close to having the baby, and she didn’t know how they would react to finding her there and having started a rumor about the girl the Alpha couple had taken under their wing.
I loved Heath and Von very much, even though it had only been three months of knowing them. They showed me how much they cared about me with every action they took for me. I am a lot stronger mentally thanks to Von and physically stronger thanks to Heath. It is down to the wire now as I know Alan is going to try to prove me as being a fraud, and only there to try to hook up with one of them, but he would be wrong. They were all nice, well not Alan, and attractive men and I called three of the four of them friends. Heath thought I was ready to do this, and I kept my mouth shut about what Tatum had told Alan, and that Alan fully believed the rumor about me. I knew full well that if I did say something about it, Heath and Von would call a town hall meeting to get it cleared up and Tatum would be punished. Alan could potentially be demoted, and he was a good leader, so I did the only thing that I could and just trained harder. I graduated three weeks ago from high school, and I was in the gym for two hours a day strength training. I also had an hour each of Krav Maga, Jiu-Jitsu, and Taekwondo as I was taking no chances of failing, there were a lot of people rooting against me as other girls had tried before to get on the training team, and all had failed. They were all assuming that I would fail too, as I am just a girl against four men. I also trained for two hours a day with my weapons. From my bow and arrow, my handgun, as well as my knives, Kamas, and Sai.
When I get tested, I will be given the dulled training blades with special paint on them to show if I made a kill contact, and I had the smallest paintball gun they could find, so I could semi-holster it in my thigh holster, and if I hit them with a kill shot, they were out. It was me against the 4 trainers and I was determined to win. The testing would be held in the woods as they wanted to make it as difficult a test as it could be. I cannot pick them off as they come to me with the gun, as they will be able to hide behind trees, and it would probably be some hand to hand by the end of it, and as I knew Alan was making it his goal in life to disqualify me, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Hudson had warned me that that was a part of the reason that Alan wouldn’t train me, was because he wanted to use Krav Maga against me to get the win. Alan was the best at it, and I was really thankful that Jameson had taken a few classes to get back into the swing of it so he could train me on the side. Jameson excelled at several different forms of martial arts, and he didn’t mind getting the refresher. Jameson also took the time to show me some MMA moves that he thought could help me, as I needed the element of surprise to win this, as the deck was stacked against me. I think he, too, was wanting to see Alan learn a hard lesson about judging people based on someone else’s perception of them, instead of learning who they actually are, because so many have agendas these days. Alan may be surprised by me, and not the other way around.
The day of the challenge came, and it was on a Saturday. It had originally been planned for the morning on Friday, but so many wanted to be there to see from the stands whether I could win a spot on the team, that it was changed to Saturday. It is the middle of June, so I was in a long tank sports bra and my leggings. I wore my camo set, as I didn’t want to stand out too much in the forest. Angela had braided my hair and it was braided from the front to the back, and the braids were put together in a bun at the back of my neck. I didn’t want them to be able to use my hair against me as it normally fell down my back and almost to my butt in waves.
I just needed to concentrate on getting the guys beat. The second half of the challenge was my marksmanship, with the bow and arrows and my gun. I had my thigh holster on and the paintball gun in there, as well as it could be. I can shoot them if I hear them coming, but as good as these guys are, and they have been on the team since they turned 18. I know I am going to be put to the test today. I was allowed to go out first and I hid on the second rung of branches about 24 feet up in a tree. They never said I couldn’t use height against them under the rules. It could be a gray area, but when I asked Heath about it, he grinned and said, “Go for it little one”. I am perched in the tree with my back pressed against the tree, my eyes closed and listening for any sound that would tip-off that someone is nearby. They are not allowed to use paintball guns on me, just their own Sais, Kamas, and dull knives that also have the blades marked with the special paint. They have to engage in hand to hand or use their dulled weapons to be able to take me out. There are 8 judges in the forest with us, as well as Alpha Heath. They cannot use an actual kill grip on me, they just have to get me in it, and if I cannot get loose, within a minute and a half on a kill move, then I am considered dead. I know Alan will be the last one standing as I think he has hidden away and will send the other three in to draw me out. He wants the kill on me, and I refuse to give it to him.
I hear a sound to my right, and I see Hudson and Easton creeping into my area, about 6 feet apart. They don’t know that I am elevated, they are sniffing me out and if I weren’t higher up, I would never have seen them coming. They are both in long-sleeved camo outfits and they are almost totally silent as they approach my area. I already had my paintball gun in hand, and I would have to be quick to get them both with their “Kill shot”. As soon as the first sound rings out, the other one will be diving for cover. So, I used my head. I lined up the shot for the one furthest away from me, as the nearer one would be easier to pick off after I took the first one out. I hit Easton right on his heart and he went down, and so did Hudson, but I nailed Hudson with two shots going into his back and a half-inch apart and they would have gone into his heart too. I leaned back into the tree, and I waited. I have climbed this tree a hundred times and I was very good at flying down it, to the ground. I knew exactly where my feet needed to land on each branch, as I had been planning this out for the last 2 months and climbing this tree several times a day. I heard nothing and saw nothing move for 30 minutes.
I know that Alan prides himself on being stealthy and, as I really believed that I could be one of them, I had ordered myself a ghillie suit to wear in the forest. I had picked the one that had leaves on it for me to use on one of our training adventures when I passed this test. When I found out two weeks ago about this being held in the forest, I went and met with the local hunting association as they love showing off how they blend in with the forest. I take out my sight and use it to look around the area. It took me another 20 minutes, but I located two areas that blended in well, but leaves don’t grow on the trunk like that. I sat there watching them and I finally saw one of them move slightly. I needed to get one of them out of the game, so I only had to deal with the last one. When I moved to take out one of them, I knew the other was going to move and I would lose them again, but I was willing to be patient. I was also willing to drop down at a high rate of speed to take the nearest one out. I hit the ground in 3 seconds, and I knew I caught him by surprise when I hit him with 4 paintballs. I ran to where the last one was last, hoping to see where he was going, but he had already moved. I pressed my back up against the tree and controlled my breathing, as that would tip whoever was left where I was. I only needed the last one, and I suspected that it was Alan. As he had stayed back from where I was and probably had mindlinked the others to get my position. I calmed my heart as well and I asked Tala for help.
“I thought you would never ask”. Tala mindlinked me back.
“I was trying to do it on my own, but we are one, and there is no shame in us doing this together” I linked her back.
“Gabi, did you know that my name means “Stalking Wolf” if you were to look it up?” Tala told me.
“No, I didn’t. So that means that you can help me out with this, right?” I linked her.
“Yes, I already know where he is. He is coming in from behind us, about 40 feet on your left-hand side. He knows you are right-handed, so he is coming in on your weak side. Drop down and get the Kamas out. I will tell you when to strike, lower yourself down a little, he cannot see where you are behind the tree. He will attack thinking that you are standing to grab you from behind, and it will put him off balance, and that should be all we need. When he loses his balance and falls forward, cut his jugular with the Kamas. Hit him hard enough that it will be a clear mark on him, so he doesn’t clown and say it isn’t deep enough to kill” Tala linked me.
“ OK, Tala” I linked back and stayed silent, waiting with my breath normal and low. I already knew where I was going to hit him with my kamas. Once on his neck and once at the bend at his elbow. Both are large arteries and will cause you to bleed out quickly.
“He is ten feet away. I believe he is about to run up and make his move”. Tala linked me, and I held my Kamas tightly. The handles pressed tightly into my forearms for me to have total control, and I was ready to strike.
I heard a slight noise, and suddenly I saw him in the ghillie suit above me, and he was off balance and falling towards me. I struck twice, once hard on where his neck was on his Carotid artery, as I couldn’t see it for the suit, and one strike with the other Kama on the inside of his elbow on his Brachial artery, before I rolled away from him, and jumped up. I had caught him by surprise, and I heard a growl of his fury rising before I saw him get up and come towards me, even though he is supposed to be “dead” right now. I grabbed my paintball gun and hit him 5 times on his heart and then took off again, running out of the forest and towards the stands with him hot on my heels. I saw the other three guys standing there and headed for them to hide me. I heard him coming and I already knew who it was, as I saw Hudson, Easton, and Jameson all standing there waiting to protect me from Alan.