Second Chance Mate (The Force - Book 2)

Chapter 2

Dax looked over her shoulder as the Director called all of the trainees over to him. Quickly, he grabbed her wrist, “Mattie if you insist on doing this, be careful. For me.” With that, he let her wrist go and she jogged off to the lineup. Mattie was not going to pass this exam. He guaranteed it. When she failed the exam, he would swoop in to comfort her.

He knew how important this program was to her. Even if she was unable to see past her own pride, the program would never recommend her to the Royal Court. If, by some miracle, she passed, which he strongly doubted, she would end up as someone’s personal guard. Maybe he could convince his parents to have her assigned to him. She would have to do everything to he said. One way or another, he was going to be with her again. Dax always got what he wanted. And he wanted her back.

Taking a deep breath, Mattie calmed herself as she stood in line waiting for the Director to explain the rules of the examination. There were not many. The examination was an assessment of each trainee’s ability. The outcome of the results, for those who finished the entire exam, would receive a ranking and a recommendation for career placement. For those who did not finish the examination, would either receive a recommendation for additional training or their journey to become a warrior for the Royal Court would end.

Usually, those who did not complete the examination receive a recommendation to find another line of work, ending their career. Sure, there were other programs to train someone who was interested in being a warrior, but none of the other programs had graduates that were accepted into the Royal Guard. Mattie didn’t even want to be a Royal Guard, she wanted to be part of its private task force to do field work. To kill Vampires. To hunt down the person responsible for killing her parents.

“This examination is an independent assessment of each of your skills.” The Director narrowed his eyes, looking at Mattie. “There is a change with this year’s examination. Anyone who does not complete all four stages of the exam will be automatically dismissed with no option to extend their training or to be re-enrolled.” Mattie felt every word was directed at her. She did not move a muscle to show any reaction to his statement, even though this was a new rule. There were only two females enrolled into the cohort, well two who made it this far. "There is no shifting allowed during the first three exams. After all, we want to have a common ground to score each trainee on." The Director gritted his teeth, having to restrict shifting. Normally, trainees would be able to shift during the third examination. However, to be cautious, he didn't want to be responsible for the death of a trainee in the program.

The Director, an older, grey-haired Werewolf warrior, stood in silence as he let his eyes scan all of the trainees. The program started with a hundred trainees. Now he was down to fifteen left standing. The two females he guaranteed would not make it to the fourth examination. A few of the males he did not anticipate making it past the first two rounds. Not that they would not make good warriors. One of the warriors was an arrogant male who would try to be the first to win at everything, which is a rookie mistake. The endurance test was designed to weed out those who could not pace themselves. Two other males had poor weapons skills. No matter what weapon they were given during the program, they were not coordinated enough to be effective with any weapon. Then there were two lean males who didn’t have a lot of muscle tone. They would make it through the first two rounds, but they were easy targets for a knockout in the hand-to-hand combat.

Many of the Royal Court members, mostly rich old men, attended to watch the examination. It was a ground for friendly betting. Betting on trainees, what round they would be eliminated and who their favorite front runner was. The Director had a summary of their training program anyone could review.

After another look at the fifteen trainees, the Director blew his whistle and the trainees went off. As expected, Tanner took off on a hard run to be the leader of the pack. The two lean trainees, Silo and Pearce, were a few strides behind Tanner. They were excellent runners, they could handle the fast pace, but they would fail during round two.

To Director Fielding’s surprise, Mattie was in the middle of the pack blending in, which wasn’t like her. She normally jockeyed for a spot in the top five, sometimes for first place. Always trying to impress her teachers and him. He made it clear to her, there was nothing she could do to impress him, but yet she still insisted on continuing her training. Today will bring him a lot of satisfaction to fail her. If she made it past the second round, he would see to it she failed during the third round. After all, he was responsible for pairing trainees for the sparring matches. But she had to pass the obstacle he set up in the endurance race. A cold smile settled on his face as the last trainee exited the arena, making their way into the forest.

Running was not one of Mattie’s favorite exercises, she preferred bike riding over running, but she learned to like it as best as she could. Keeping a steady pace, Mattie ran side-by-side with three other trainees. They all reserved their energy as they jogged in silence.

The first half of the run was downhill to the lake, which was the easy part. Reaching the lake, trainees dove into the lake to swim to a platform floating in the middle to retrieve their flag. The water was cold but felt refreshing as she was already sweaty from the first leg of the endurance test. Tanner, Silo, and Pearce were already exiting the lake with their flag by the time Mattie was diving in. Reaching the platform, Mattie grabbed her flag and started to swim back.

Concentrating on her swimming strokes, Mattie kept the yellow flag in her mouth as she swam back to shore. A few strokes in, Mattie felt something brush against her leg. Kicking her leg out, she picked up her speed, trying to get back to the shoreline. After a few seconds, Mattie felt something grab her leg and drug her under the water.

Grinding her teeth, she held onto the flag in her mouth as she tried to look in the murky water. She was unable to make out what had her leg. Kicking her legs, Mattie fought to swim back to the surface. As her head bobbed above water, she took a few quick gasps of hair as she tried to use her arms to swim away. Another pull at her leg brought her back under water. Feeling the direction of the pull, Mattie brought her knees to her chest as an outline of an underwater diver came into focus. Mattie waited until she was close enough and kicked him in the face. A swarm of bubbles blew out of his mask as she reached around and pulled on his airline, disconnecting it.

Quickly she swam back to the shoreline, pulling herself out of the water. Her running mates had already exited the lake as they looked back at her briefly. No one helped her. There were no bonus points for helping another teammate.

An individual assessment meant you had to worry about yourself and yourself only. After taking a moment to catch her breath, Mattie pushed herself up and started her jog back. The last of the trainees were making their way into the lake. Glancing back, Mattie didn’t see anyone else being grabbed under water.

Narrowing her eyes, she was more determined to finish this exam. Picturing the look Director Fielding’s face when he had to recognize her and her abilities was a dream she wanted to come true today.

The jog back to the arena was brutal. The swim expended extra energy Mattie could not afford to lose early on in the exam. A fire burned in her calves as she had to jog uphill at a constant incline. Her feet felt heavy from her shoes being soaked with water, her leg muscles began to cramp. No matter the pain, she continued to push herself, controlling her breathing.

The arena came back into view as she completed the last part of the incline. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, Mattie took a deep breath and willed herself to go. The last of her classmates were somewhere close behind her as she could hear their footsteps and heavy breathing. Some were cursing up a storm as the last part of the hill was a b***h to deal with. She could not come in last or she would surely be eliminated.

Picking up the pace, Mattie got another wave of adrenaline and started to sprint towards the arena. Glancing over her shoulder, the last of the trainees were in sight trying to catch up with her. Running into the area, Mattie crossed the finish line and hung her flag at spot number nine. She was the ninth trainee to return.

Walking over to an open area, Mattie laid on the ground to let her body rest as the last of the trainees ran in, competing for the last three spots to enter round two.

Once the last flag was placed on the board, Director Fielding blew his whistle, signaling the end of the first exam. Mattie watched him as he walked over to the board and reviewed the list of trainees who passed the first round and announced their finishing order. She did not miss the anger in his eyes seeing her name listed on the pass list to read off. He looked at her for a second, giving her a cold look before walking off.

I will finish this exam whether you like it or not, old man. I will see to it you give me my certificate showing I completed this academy.

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