Fated is overrated
Chapter 72

Zeke POV

She pulls her pants from her head and removes the shirt from her mouth before throwing them back on quickly and wiping her hands on them. "Well that is something you don't see every day. That's actually really smart" our head warrior and trainer, who is standing next to us, comments to us with a glint of excitement and amusement in his eyes.

Zane and I can only grumble in response and our eyes are again glued to watching the next part. Although her hands may not be slippery now, 100 monkey bars is a LOT. Although she has caught up with a bunch of the warriors throughout the mud track, she is still probably ranked around 70 out of 80.

She jolts up the stairs towards the monkey bars and, without hesitation or looking around at anything or anyone else, she leaps into them. In front of her, I think about 40 of the warriors have dropped already due to the bars being so slippery. Some of the others are going bar by bar very carefully and clutching their arms in a loop around the bars before heading onto the next, which is taking a lot of time.

Even if she has dried her hands, the bars will still be slippery from her predecessors' hands. I watch in astonishment as she swings from bar to bar as fast as an actual monkey could, swaying to the left or right occasionally to avoid the slippery parts. "Well f*ck me" Zane mumbles.

As I glance over, I see our head warrior watching her every move with a smile on his face. A f*cking smile! He is our head warrior and about the most serious guy I have ever seen during training, and he is f*cking smiling. At her.

She launches herself onto the climbing rope effortlessly, as it seems. She is now about 10th in the standings between those who have dropped and those she passed on the monkey bars.

On the climbing rope, things are more evenly tied between all contestants as the mud has worn off their hands by now. Without her wolf strength, some of the male warriors surpass her again and she is back around 15th place when reaching the top. In combination with the running laps before this part, some of the warriors are clearly struggling physically.

The rogue seems to be in perfect shape still. If she is tired - she isn't showing it. She is now at the "zipline without a zipline" part. Some warriors have already tried using their hands and feet to slide down and dropped because the friction was burning them severely.

Others have used their clothes which have burned all the way through, dropping them to the ground as well. The rogue doesn't try to use her clothes like some of the others, she latches herself onto the rope... Backwards?

Again, this is something we have never seen before, and I am curious to see how she is going to go about this. Our head warrior is looking with a twinkle in his eyes again, his eyes locked on the rogue. He seems to be looking at her with a bit of adoration even?? It pisses me the hell off.

Unlike all the others who barrel down and either drop or are left with serious burn injuries at the end, she "climbs" down the rope. It's not fast, but it is effective as she will get down safely without injury.

She actually thought this whole course through, detailing her approach for every single part. I don't like the girl, but damn - even I am in awe of how well she strategized this and how well she is doing.

Especially considering she is a woman. And without a wolf. When she is at the end of the rope, there are 3 warriors ahead of her and 2 behind her. The ones already in the water are clearly exhausted already, they are quite slow and it's a long way to go. The rogue quickly removes her pants and shirt again and dives in the water.

Her pace is a lot quicker than the warriors in front of her, but they have a big head start on her, so it is going to be tight. She goes through the water so much faster than the others, I have no idea whether it is because the men are double her weight and already exhausted, or if she is just a good swimmer.

When they are nearing the finish line, she has caught up with the 2 guys in the lead. The other warriors has fallen behind massively. Looking over the 3 going neck to neck, the 2 guys look exhausted, while the rogue is looking determined and.. Fierce, actually. There is a fire burning in her eyes, and you can tell she is determined to win. As she is getting ahead of the 2 warriors, I see the one closest to her reach out and yank her by the hair, putting her underwater.

As a result, the other warrior wins. The perpetrator comes second and the rogue third. I hear Zane chime in "well that was anti-climactic. Damn. For a second there, I was almost rooting for her" I have to admit I almost did too, but I can't let them know this of course, so I just scoff at Zane.

Time for sparring sessions, finally! Zane and I head out towards the training grounds with our head warrior to join in. "Zane and I want to spar with the rogue.

We want the last session for the day to be with her" I tell the head warrior. He looks at me shocked before replying "but your highness, she is just a girl. And without at wolf at that. You would completely destroy her". Zane grins widely when answering for the both of us "exactly", and I can't help but grin along.

The head warrior wants to speak again, but Zane and I both let out a low warning growl and glare at him. "Do not defy us" I reply agitated. What is it with this rogue that she can so easily wrap people around her little finger? Sure, I had a moment of weakness watching the obstacle course as well, but I regained my senses now, and she still has to pay for embarrassing us.

"Y-yes your highness" the head warrior replies defeated, with a concerned look on his face. When we approach the large group he addresses the group to team up in pairs and start sparring for 10-minute sessions each.

Zane and I both pick some of the lower ranked warriors to spar with, so we can focus on watching her. If we know her moves, we can easily anticipate them and pin her down in an instant.