Chapter 44: 44: Desert Ops

MAX

Desert training is grueling, leaving us with barely any downtime as we prepare for the testing phase. I haven’t seen much of Ginger lately.

We attempt to catch up during meals, but it’s not always feasible. Our desert assignments sometimes last for days, and when we return, we’re too exhausted to do anything but shower and sleep.

Sometimes, my mind wanders to Ginger, wondering if I should be pursuing anything at all. We’re both too young to know who our mates are, but my time is approaching.

Her birthday is just a few months after mine, and soon we’ll both be twenty-one. A part of me feels I shouldn’t be trying so hard to get to know her, especially since it could end up hurting one or both of us.

When you find your mate, there’s no denying it, and it’s rare to reject a fated mate. I know I would never do that.

My parents are living proof of the significance of the mate bond. I want the same for myself.

It’s four in the morning, and we’re packing up to head into the desert for our final test. After two months of this, it will finally be over.

Then, they’ll send us to different packs around the world for meetups with the alphas. It’s time to network, possibly forge some alliances.

I’m eager for this. It feels like a break, at least physically.

They tell us we’ll be doing some physical training at each pack, learning their combat techniques. There’s hope for some takeaways for each of us.

Once that’s done, we get to go home for two months to work with our fathers. I’m most excited about that.

It’s also during this time that I’ll turn twenty-one, so perhaps I’ll find my mate sometime in the following year.

I step out of the barracks to load my bag into the Jeep they’ve prepared for our desert trek. They have several of these ready to go, to drop us off.

They can’t fit all the Trainees into the Jeeps, so there will be several trips out and we’ll be dropped in different places in groups of two. Naturally, Derek is paired with me.

There’s no question about whether I can get out of it. He’s starting to grow on me and I like the guy.

He has a sense of humor that’s similar to Beck’s, but he’s quieter. The quiet, I appreciate.

He’s figured out when I’m in a mood and would automatically keep to himself. This makes our assignments together easier to handle.

As I toss my bag in, Derek points over to the side of the pack house. “There’s someone waiting over there for you.”

It’s Ginger, standing somewhat hidden in the shadows. I guess she doesn’t want to be seen, as we’ve tried to keep our friendship under wraps.

I walk over to where Ginger stands and wait for her to speak. “I just came to say good luck. Watch out for rattlesnakes and scorpions.”

Her voice is quiet, so as not to carry across the driveway. I nod.

“I will. But why are you standing out here at four in the morning? Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

Ginger intertwines her fingers with mine. “I should be, yes. I know you’ll be leaving after this test and if I don’t see you again, I just wanted to say I enjoyed getting to know you.”

Ginger looks at the ground for a moment and then takes a deep breath before continuing. “If you don’t find your mate this summer, will you tell me? Call me maybe? Once I turn twenty-one, maybe we can find a way to meet up with one another. I would like to find out if this connection with you is more.”

She looks up hopefully and I pull her close to me, wrapping her in my arms. “I’d love that Ginger and thank you. I’ll see you soon.”

I pull away and kiss the top of her head, taking in the scent that’s uniquely hers. She gives me a weak smile, nods, and then lets go of my hand.

Ginger turns on her heel and walks toward the back of the pack house, waving at me as she rounds the corner. I feel a sense of loss for some reason, and I hope that whatever this is, it will be more.

MAX

They drop Derek and I into the desert about twenty miles south of Sedona. We have a week to find our way to a base camp that’s going to be set up just on the outskirts of the town of Sedona.

During that week, we’ll be attacked at times that we won’t even know it’s coming. We’re to fend off the trainers.

No one is to kill anyone or seriously injure anyone. There will always be one person in the party with the attack group that will serve as a mediator of sorts, stopping the fight at the right time.

They’ll deem if we’ve passed or not. We have to live primarily off the land, catching food as we can and eating plant life that’s edible.

I truly am not looking forward to this part of it, as it’s difficult to find food in a desert environment. We’ve packed some jerky in our packs and extra canteens of water, and I’m determined to try and make it last.

I’m also determined to be done with this before the week is up. They give us a map of different checkpoints to look for.

I unfold it and turn to get my bearings. The sun is just rising in the East, which means it’s still cool out here.

We have a chance to cover some distance before it gets too hot. I point out the first checkpoint, while Derek measures out the distance using the map scale.

In a straight line it’s three miles, but we already know it won’t be a straight line. The map shows a deep cavern that we’ll need to traverse around.

I mark our current location on the map, and we head North. We can go that direction for approximately two miles and then will have to skirt to the East.

It’s smartest to cover as much ground as we can before it gets hot, and then seek shelter until the sun goes down. The desert will be cool at night and offers us a better chance of surviving the heat.

The question is, where do we shelter? We’re told of caves we can hide in, clusters of trees when we get closer to Sedona, and caverns that will offer some shade when the sun is not directly overhead.

We make good time getting to the point where we have to turn toward the East. The cavern here looks to be several hundred feet down.

Staring across to the other side, I notice trails carved into the rock and alcoves that almost look like people had lived there. We did learn that the Native Americans in this region had once upon a time carved homes into the rock walls.

It kept them cooler and away from the elements. This might be an opportunity for us to take shelter, once we’re able to get around the Eastern end of the cavern.

We can turn to the West and find these shelters later, provided they’re on our route. “Derek, how much longer do you think we should walk before we find a spot to rest?” I ask, my eyes scanning the desert landscape as he measures distances.

“I want to keep going until we can’t anymore. I want to be out of this desert by the end of the week. When we stop, I’ll show you on the map where I think we should head next.”

“I want to take the fastest route to each checkpoint and then get to base camp as quickly as we can. I can get by on little sleep if I need to. It’s something I learned from years of training with my dad,” I glance at Derek, hoping he won’t protest.

Derek exhales sharply, shaking his head in disbelief. “I’m all for getting this done quickly, but how little sleep are we talking about? We still need to be able to fight. It’s not just about dragging our asses through the sand.”

I can’t help but chuckle. I wonder why the Goddess and the council decided to pair me with him. “Can you fight on four hours of sleep?”

Derek looks at me like I’m crazy. “No way, man. We need a plan that doesn’t involve us dying out here.”

I raise my hands in surrender. “Okay, man. We’ll figure it out. Let’s keep moving.”

***

By the time night falls, we’ve reached the first checkpoint and are halfway to the second. We’ve managed to catch a small rabbit, which isn’t enough to feed one of us, let alone both.

But we’ll split it anyway. We find a prickly pear cactus and cut it open carefully.

The thorns are dangerously sharp, but the inside is edible and not too bad tasting. It also helps to keep us hydrated.

We sit with the rabbit roasting over a small fire. We don’t really want the fire, but we need to cook the meat.

It’s not the best place to sleep, so we decide to eat and then move on a bit further. There’s a small area with Joshua trees not too far away.

As we talk quietly, Derek suddenly stops mid-sentence. “Do you hear that?” he whispers.

I strain my ears, using my werewolf senses to pick up on the faintest sounds. Sure enough, I hear the soft rustle of movement through the sand.

Just as I’m about to stand up, three wolves burst into the light of our campfire, snarling menacingly. This is it, our first real fight. They didn’t waste any time.

One of them lunges at me before I can even think about shifting. His teeth sink into the arm I instinctively raise to protect my throat.

I remember we’re not supposed to kill, so I have to rethink my usual strategy. Instead, I punch him hard in the throat, forcing him to let go of my arm.

Normally, I would have unsheathed my claws and aimed for his throat. I’m so focused on my own fight that I don’t even notice what’s happening with Derek.

But within minutes, I have my attacker pinned down, without even needing to shift. He reverts back to his human form, and I help him up.

The moderator watches from the sidelines as we wait for Derek to finish his fight. After a minute or two, Derek’s opponent is down as well.

“Good job, Alphas. We’ll see you soon.” The three of them shift back into their wolf forms and disappear into the darkness.

Soon after, the sound of a dune buggy engine starting up echoes through the night. “How did we miss that engine sound earlier?”

“I don’t know, man. But this means we’ve got two more attacks to prepare for. I think they’re waiting for the right moment to strike, when they know we’re vulnerable.”

That’s my best guess. They’ve fitted us all with GPS trackers, supposedly to prevent us from getting lost and dying.

But now, I suspect it’s also to help them plan their attacks. It makes perfect sense.

“Bring it on,” Derek responds. With that, we sit back down to finish our meal and prepare for the rest of the night.