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“I can’t move,” I groan.
Tristan nudges my foot with the toe of his shoe. “C’mon, don’t give up now, Sloane,” he urges, giving me a little smile of encouragement. “You’re in the home stretch.”
I blow out a breath, then move to sit up. My ab muscles feel like they’re on fire when they constrict and I cry out, doubling over and hanging my head between my knees. “I can’t.”
“You can,” Tris assures. He crouches down in front of me, reaching out to lift my chin so I meet his eyes. “C’mon, don’t you wanna go see Madd?”
Just the mention of my mate’s name gives me a surge of motivation. I nod weakly, taking Tristan’s hand and allowing him to help pull me to my feet. Then I hobble along with him as he and Ares lead me off the practice field and to the parking lot, where we pile into Tristan’s SUV.
Thank fuck we’re driving to the next destination rather than running. I don’t think I would’ve been able to handle another run after Ares’ challenge.
I lean my head against the window as Tristan drives, spacing out and not paying much attention to where we’re going. My shifter healing is currently working overtime to try to repair my aching muscles, and I’m so tired I feel like I could sleep for a week. But like Tris said, this is the home stretch. I’m almost finished, and then I can rest.
I’m too drained of energy to even speculate as to where we’re headed, but when we pull up to the old lodge, a pit of dread settles in my gut. They said that the final challenge would be facing my own greatest fear. This is exactly what Tristan warned me about.
A feeling of numbness settles over me as the three of us climb out of the SUV and load up in an ATV instead, my brother behind the wheel. He starts it up and drives away from the lodge, following the path of the ski-lift cables overhead.
I see a cluster of people waiting up ahead at the base of a support tower, and Tristan slows the ATV to a stop as we approach them. The rest of the gang’s all here- Lo, Avery, Archer, and Madd- but it’s Iver who steps forward to greet me when I disembark from the ATV.
“This one’s mine, fear of heights,” he says, pointing up at the support tower.
I feel the color drain from my face as I tilt my head back to look up. The support tower is a round metal structure with a ladder running up one side and a T-shaped platform on top. It’s at least thirty feet above the ground, and the mere sight of it sets my teeth on edge.
I lower my chin, meeting Iver’s eyes as I subconsciously retreat a step.
Madd abruptly breaks away from the others, shouldering past Iver and approaching me. He gets right up in my space, reaching out for my face and framing it in both hands as he gazes down into my eyes. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he says, the low, gravelly tone of his voice soothing all the sharp edges of emotion that have risen in my chest. “But I have no doubt that you can.”
Our gazes lock and I feel the bond between us pulling taut, followed by a wave of calm, like he’s pouring it from himself right into me. I stare at him mutely, wringing my hands to try to hide the way they’re trembling.
“We’ve done this a few times before,” Madd continues. “We’ve got a harness rigged up, so even if something were to happen, you won’t be in any real danger.”
I nod, glancing up at the tower again. Though Madd’s reassurances should alleviate my fears, they don’t. This may not be the exact spot where I fell, but for the torrent of memories that flood my brain when I look up at the support tower, it may as well be.
“Plus, I’m coming with you,” he adds.
That gets my attention.
I snap my gaze back to his, my jaw going slack. “You are?” I breathe.
He clenches his own jaw, nodding.
I blow out a shaky breath. Tilting my head back, I look up at the lift again, then back at Madd. Then up again, then at him.
“Okay,” I finally rasp. “You’re right. I can do this. I have to do this.”
“You don’t have to,” he clarifies, stroking his thumbs gently against my cheeks. “You’ve still got a spot on squad leadership either way. We already agreed.”
“No,” I whisper, taking a step backwards. His hands fall away from my face, and I crane my neck to look up at the damn tower again. “I need to do this for me.”
Madd closes the distance I put between us, wrapping his arms around me and tugging me in close. He holds me tight to his chest, the warmth of his body bleeding into mine, and I feel myself start to melt against him. His touch calms me, helps me find my center. My own arms wind around him, holding on tight, and after a few minutes, I finally work up the courage to let go and face this last challenge.
I get strapped into my harness while Madd is strapped into his own. He holds my hand the entire time, grounding me and giving me the confidence I so desperately need to go through with this. I’ve faced everyone else’s fears today, but this time, I’m facing my own. I mean sure, thistechnicallymay be Iver’s, but this ski-lift has haunted me for a long time now. It’s finally time to let go of old ghosts.
I’m the first to climb, stepping up to the base of the support tower and grasping onto the worn metal rung. It’s warm beneath my palms, the heat of the sun leeching into the metal, and with a last deep breath, I haul myself up, planting my feet on a rung as I reach for the next one.
Once I’m a few feet off the ground, Madd starts to climb up after me. With him at my back, it isn’t as scary as I expect it to be. Honestly, it almost feels like climbing the old utility ladder to get up to the roof of the squad complex, something I’ve done hundreds of times without a second thought. As I ascend, I focus on the rungs in front of me rather than the sweeping landscape of the forest around me. I don’t look down, only up, up, up.
When I finally reach the top, I breathe a sigh of relief, my biceps straining as I pull myself onto the platform. Rather than standing, I scooch on my butt away from the ladder, watching as Madd’s head pops into view and he hauls himself up to join me. He crawls over with a lazy grin on his face, seemingly unphased by the climb we just endured, and plants a big sloppy kiss on my mouth.
