Chapter 33: The Team Challenge

Roxanne barely registered what had happened as she stepped away from the arena, the noise of the crowd only fully hitting her a few seconds later. Some students were cheering, others whispering in disbelief, and she caught fragments of it as she walked, someone saying they thought Joanna had her, another remarking that maybe the Moonstones hadn’t been protecting her for nothing. That last comment irritated her more than she expected, since she didn’t want her win credited to anyone but herself.

Isla crashed into her before she could dwell on it. "You beat her!"

"I noticed."

"You actually beat her!"

"I heard you the first time," Roxanne said, laughing as Isla grabbed her shoulders and asked if she understood what this meant. She looked toward the scoreboard, her name sitting officially above Joanna’s, and for the first time in weeks she wasn’t anyone’s rejected mate, or Dorian’s ex, or Arabella’s former best friend. She was simply Roxanne Silver, winner of the match.

Liam reached her first among the brothers, declaring his training had clearly worked, and she reminded him he’d lost a race to her not long ago. He insisted that had been strategic, and when she pointed out he’d cried about losing, he claimed emotional devastation instead. Lucien arrived behind him, immediately noticing how she favored her shoulder, and told her to ice it that night. She argued she’d just won and deserved to celebrate instead, and he said flatly that she could celebrate with an ice pack, which made Liam groan about nobody ever letting Lucien plan parties.

Roshan silently handed her a cold pack he’d apparently already prepared, and when she asked how he knew she’d need it, he simply said she’d been favoring the shoulder since the second round. Kai hadn’t said much yet, just watched her for a moment before finally speaking. "You didn’t fight angry."

"I listened."

His mouth lifted just slightly. "Good."

As they left the arena, students who used to stare at her only because of the royal protection now approached with genuine curiosity, one asking how she’d predicted Joanna’s attack, and she answered honestly that she’d simply watched her. She realized then that she hadn’t needed the Moonstones to win this fight. She just liked having them there when she did.

A bell rang across the grounds not long after, calling everyone toward the field for the next announcement. This stage wasn’t individual. It was a team challenge testing speed, tracking, wolf control, obstacles, and strategy, with the winning team earning a major boost in the overall rankings. Liam lit up immediately, calling it the section they were finally good at, and Lucien warned him not to get overconfident.

Gathered around the course map, each brother started planning according to his own strength, Lucien claiming the route, Roshan noting three false trails, Kai taking the physical section, and Liam claiming speed for himself. Roxanne studied the map and noticed something none of them had, that the course wasn’t built to reward individual talent, since several sections required the whole team to make joint decisions.

"You’re all planning like you’re competing alone," she said, pointing to a narrow shortcut buried in the route. If they sent their fastest runner ahead without flagging it first, the rest of the team would be locked into the longer path. Roshan studied the map again and admitted she was right, and Lucien agreed without hesitation, calling it a good catch, which surprised her more than it probably should have.

He turned to her afterward and asked where she wanted to be positioned, and she blinked at the question, unused to being consulted rather than placed. She chose to start near the front, where she could read patterns quickly, and Kai asked if she was confident. She reminded him he’d trained her, and he told her not to disappoint him, which prompted Liam to make an exaggerated gagging noise about them flirting over the battle plan. She threw the rolled-up map at him without missing a beat.

Their practice period turned into something closer to fun than work. Liam raced her through the first section, deliberately taking a ridiculous route, and she still beat him, calling out his obvious sabotage while he insisted he was simply a beautiful liar. With Roshan, she struggled through overlapping scents until he told her to ignore everything but one, and once she isolated it correctly, he told her she was annoyingly good at this. Lucien taught her short hand signals instead of shouting instructions during fast movement, since everyone was already listening to their own instincts, and when the group responded perfectly on her second attempt, he simply said better, which felt like enough.

Kai’s section was harder. He walked her through the wall, the beam, the jump, and the landing platform, and when she came up short on the jump, he caught her around the waist before she could hit the ground. Neither of them moved for a second, his grip firm but careful, her heartbeat stumbling as his eyes dropped briefly to her mouth before returning to her eyes.

"Again," he said.

"You’re unbelievable."

"You almost made it."

"You could’ve said that without catching me."

"You would’ve hit the ground."

She pushed back, embarrassed, and told him next time she wouldn’t miss. His mouth curved slightly. "I know."

Joanna approached while they trained, bruised but composed, and told Roxanne she’d fought well. Roxanne hadn’t expected that and thanked her cautiously, but Joanna’s expression hardened right after, promising she was still going to beat her. Roxanne smiled and told her not to make excuses when she lost, and Joanna said she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice before walking off. This time, Roxanne wasn’t afraid of her at all.

Dorian had been watching from the edge of the field the entire time, seeing Roxanne laugh with Liam, accept something from Roshan, get trusted with strategy by Lucien, stand close to Kai. The four of them didn’t treat her like someone they were merely protecting anymore. They treated her like she belonged among them, and that bothered him more than he wanted to admit. When Arabella pointed out he was staring again, he denied it, though his eyes drifted right back to Roxanne, and he found himself remembering when that laugh used to belong to him.

At the starting line, the official explained the final rule. Every team member had to complete the course, and if even one failed a required section, the entire team lost. Liam’s expression turned serious, Roshan studied the terrain one more time, Lucien checked over each of them, and Kai looked toward Roxanne.

This wasn’t about beating anyone anymore. She had four people counting on her, and she was counting on them just as much.

"Stay together," Lucien said.

Roxanne looked at all four of them and understood something she’d spent weeks trying to avoid. Needing people wasn’t the same as being weak. She didn’t need them to save her.

She wanted them beside her.

The starting horn sounded, and the gates flew open. Roxanne launched forward alongside the four Moonstones, no longer trailing behind them, no longer being protected or carried.

She was running beside them, and the entire academy watched the Moonstone team disappear into the course together.