Page 8 of Specter Bred

Then I pressed the siren on my megaphone.

"Move!"

The field erupted into motion as candidates surged forward, boots churning through mud while they sprinted toward the first line of obstacles. Most launched themselves into the course without hesitation, eager to put distance between themselves and the instructors before the shooting started.

Archer and Hayes were the exception.

They paused for the briefest moment, eyes scanning the course instead of blindly charging ahead. Neither had frozen; rather, they took a moment to think and weigh the instructions. Hayes' brow furrowed as if he were looking for the catch.

Archer moved first.

She broke into a sprint, cutting away from the main pack and angling toward a line of barriers. Her movements were fluid and efficient, navigating the terrain with surprising ease despite the rain. Within seconds, she'd disappeared behind cover.

Hayes followed a heartbeat later, not nearly as gracefully.

I rolled my eyes.

A convoy pulled alongside Cutter and me, tires throwing muddy water in every direction as it came to a stop. Alvarez jumped from the passenger side and flashed me a grin.

"Ready, Grizzly?"

"Let's go."

Cutter and Alvarez climbed onto the rear platform, raising their rifles as they scanned the field of recruits spreading across the course. Both were already tracking targets. I slid behind the wheel and brought the engine to life. The vehicle roared beneath me, loud enough to carry across the course even through the pounding rain.

Heads turned as candidates glanced over their shoulders. They knew exactly what that sound meant. The hunt had begun. I knew who my first targets would be.

"I want the beta and female down first," I shouted over the engine and storm.

"Copied!" Cutter yelled, already locked onto Hayes' position.

His weapon discharged, and a second later Hayes lay sprawled face-first in the mud with a groan. Sure, they were training rounds, but they still hurt like a bitch.

I chuckled.

Then Alvarez and Cutter opened fire on every exposed recruit we passed. Most of the recruits were counting on speed to carry them across the finish line. In their rush, they'd abandoned cover and scattered across open ground. Rookie mistake. Out there, speed didn't matter if you made yourself an easy target.

One by one, candidates dropped as rounds struck them, each elimination marked by a burst of colored powder. Some dove for cover too late, others froze, while a few tried zigzagging across the field as if that would somehow save them. It didn't.

I steered the convoy through the mud, watching the pack thin with every passing second. Up ahead, several recruits had already reached the first wall and were scrambling over it.

The front-runners thought they were winning; however, it didn't matter whether they reached the finish line. They still wouldn't pass. But that didn't mean I was going to make it easy for them. I pressed harder on the accelerator, sending the convoy surging forward through the storm.

"Do you see Archer?" I called back to Alvarez as he continued picking off recruits.

"Negative, Grizzly!" he shouted over the rain.

"Can't get eyes on her either!" Cutter added.

Where the fuck was she?

I'd had eyes on Archer until she'd slipped behind a concrete barrier near the start of the course. I'd expected her to reappear moments later. She never did. One second she was there and the next, she'd vanished.

She should have been easy to spot in a crowd. The female alpha was smaller than most of the alpha candidates, leaner, and breakable like porcelain. Yet somehow she'd disappeared.

I cut the wheel sharply, turning the convoy around.

"Where are we going, Grizzly?" Alvarez yelled.