Chapter 286
Hacker
Last night, Wendy and I got a lot of work done digging the trench for the security lines. We made it a game, and I love her competitive spint Her wolf is beautiful and my wolf, Saggio, purred loudly at how beautiful Dasha is. She stood proudly, letting him look her over. Then the d rubbed her face against his, her wolf showing mine the same affection that Wendy showed me. I’m glad that her wolf seems to accept us as
much as the woman does.
By the time we got back to the packhouse, showered, and ate dinner, it was late and we were both exhausted. Since Hijack made a point of joining us for dinner, and Yana had followed him like a cute little puppy, I didn’t have any time to steal more kisses.
This morning I sent Sphinx a message in our chat.
Me: See if your father will let you spar with Hijack today.
Sphinx: Why? Why not you?
I love that she’d rather spar with me than Hijack. But this is important.
Me: He’s going to realize that something is up if he hasn’t already. I want you to prove to him that there’s no weakness on our team.
Sphinx: I’m not sure Dad will let me. He’s very protective of me.
Me: Defeat him and then tell him you want to spar with someone else. He’ll be surprised, but I bet he’ll allow it then.
Sphinx: Okay…
I can feel her anxiety through the chat.
Me: You can do this. Just like we did yesterday. Push past your fear. I have faith in you.
Sphinx: Thanks, Hacker
Me: Thank me by taking your father down today.
I’m sure if the camera was on, I’d see her rolling her eyes.
I close the chat and get ready to spar. It’s always nice to work with a new group of people when you’re sparring. There’s always something
new to learn.
When we get to the sparring field, Sphinx and Yana come to stand beside me and Hijack. Warren and Yorick notice, but they don’t say anything until they assign partners. Then they call both girls away.
“You want to tell me what’s going on with you and Sphinx?” Hijack says, turning toward me.
I could take his question two different ways, sol choose the easier one.
“I identified a potential weakness that I believe I’ve now eliminated,” I say, nodding at Wendy when she turns to look at me.
She presses her lips together and turns to face her father.
“And you didn’t think it was important to tell the rest of the team about this weakness?” he growls.
“Not if I could eliminate it before it became a problem.”
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“This is about her problems on the sparring field, I take it?” he asks as we get into our lighting positions.
I’m not surprised he knows. We take turns monitoring Sphinx and her activities making sure she doesn’t do anything she shouldn’t Since, he’s interested in her as well, he would have logged on to watch her spar in the mornings or afternoons just like I did.
*Hopefully after today, we can say ‘What problem?‘ And I notice you didn’t say anything to the team either,” I say, looking over at her.
“Come on Wendy, you can do this,” I whisper.
I watch her attack her father. He gets in three hits before she freezes. He backs off immediately.
Hijack and I begin sparring hard. Because we’ve both been trained at the Academy for three years, we’re evenly matched. But my mind is on Wendy so when he takes me down, I use the opportunity to look over to see how she’s doing.
‘Come on, come on, come on, you can do this, I think to myself when I see her frozen again. Her father is talking softly to her.
She nods, then looks over at me.
‘You can do this,‘ I mouth to her.
She nods again, and I watch her mouth set with determination.
I get up, but now Hijack is watching her too. We stand slightly away from the other warriors to make sure we don’t interfere with their sparring.
Warren tags her once, twice, then three times. I see her start to freeze, then she pushes through it, leaping at her father who is shocked and unready for her attack.
“Yes, Wendy!” Warren shouts happily when she sweeps her legs behind his and takes him down.
She stares at him a moment then runs and leaps into my arms. “I did it!”
“Of course you did!” I say hugging her tightly.
“Is this what you two were doing out here yesterday?” Yorick says from beside us.
Wendy immediately pulls away from me as I turn to face her brother.
“Your family wasn’t pushing her. I did. We needed her to work through her mental block before she came to the Academy. Her weakness becomes our weakness,” I tell him honestly.
“Ready to test your skill against me?” Hijack asks her, as Warren walks over.
“I want to test my skill against one of you,” Yana says.
“Let me watch your sister, Yana, then you can take on an Academy third–year and we’ll see what you’ve got,” I tell her.
“Come on, Wendy, kick his ass,” Yana says.
“Language, Yana,” Warren says, but he’s watching Wendy.
“Hey, whose side are you on? I let you help me all afternoon yesterday,” Hijack says to her.
“Family always comes first, Hijack. Always,” she says before beginning to cheer for Wendy again.
Hijack is careful with Wendy, like I was, tagging her hard enough that it hurts, but not so hard that he injures her. When she pushes past her
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usual fear, I watch the smile spread across her face.
“Nice, Wendy, keep it up,” Warren says, watching her closely. Then he turns to me. “Thank you, for whatever you did.
“I just helped her get past her own mental block.”
“Yeah, but the rest of us couldn’t do it, not even Quirin,” Yorick says, watching his sister.
“None of you has trained at the Academy like we have,” I say, turning to a very excited Yana.
“Ready to take me on?” I growl in challenge.
“Oh, you’re going down, pretty boy,” she says, dancing on her toes.
I use the time sparring with Yana to assess her skills. For her age, she is really good. She, like Wendy, will make an excellent addition to the tech team in a few years.
When we’re done, breakfast is brought out for everyone. Wendy sits beside me and I gently shoulder bump her.
“How are you feeling?”
“Great. Really great. Thank you again.”
“You’re part of the team, Sphinx. Everything we do with you, everything you learn, makes you a stronger, smarter, better part of the team.”
“I can’t wait to start the Academy next year! It’s going to be so great!”
“I can’t believe I have to wait nearly three more years,” Yana pouts.
“You’ll probably change your mind by then,” Wade, their youngest brother says.
“Do you find your sisters to be fickle?” I ask him. Being with the Hills is like being with my family. For me, it’s easy to fall into the chaos of multiple conversations going on at once. It feels like home.
“No, I guess they’re not,” Wade says, looking at Wendy and Yana. “I guess I better start thinking about which squad I want to join when I’m eighteen.”
“There are other things you can do if you get into the Academy,” Hijack tells him.
“Like what?” Yvonne asks excitedly.
For the rest of breakfast, we talk with the younger Hills about the Academy.
“Do you come from a large family, Hacker?” Warren asks me.
“I do. I have three sisters and three brothers,” I tell him.
“Older or younger?” Wendy asks me.
“I’m the second child. My brother took over as Alpha and I’m here. The next three are sisters and then I have a baby brother. Well, he’s not a baby any more. He’s your age actually,” I say, nodding to Wade and Yvonne.
“I’d love to meet him,” Wade says.
“And your sisters too. Do they ever visit you?” Yana asks.
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“Sometimes. I’ll let Sphinx know when they’re visiting and if you’re here in Yorick’s pack, maybe we can come see you.”
The rest of the day is spent finishing the trench and laying the cable. Since Hijack and Yana join us, there isn’t any time to steal another kiss from my little Sphinx.
However, before we leave, manage to sneak up to her room to set up her new computer for her.
“Don’t use the other one anymore. Just use this one. This one has layers of protection on it so that when you’re working with us, we don’t have to be as careful with what you see or have access to,” I tell her.
“Okay,” she says, watching me.
When I stand, ready to go get my bags and head out, she looks up at me with those sweet green eyes.
3
I slide my hand into her hair and lean down to gently kiss her. Her response is immediate and she leans into me.
I pull back long before I want to, stroking my thumb over her cheek.
“How would you feel about me talking to your father about taking you out on a real date next weekend?”
“Really?”
“Really. I want to see you again. We can go out to dinner, or to a park, or take our wolves for a run. Whatever you want or whatever he’ll
allow.”
“I’d like that,” she says. I can feel the heat of her cheeks under my hand.
“I would too.”
I look at my watch. “I’d better go find him before I leave. Hopefully he’ll agree. But if not, I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
“Okay,” I whisper, leaning in for another kiss.
I groan when I pull away. “If I don’t leave now, I won’t have a chance to talk to him and this is better asked face to face. I’ll let you know what he says tonight.”
“I’ll see you soon,” she says, as I step away from her.
“Hopefully very soon,” I say, walking to her door before I give in to my desire to kiss her again rather than speaking to her father.
