Why didn’t he do that in the first place?
Chapter Fourteen
Taking off from the dome, we all ran as fast as we possibly could.
We stayed close, and I wasn’t sure whether it was because we were afraid to lose each other in a dangerous situation, or if it was because we didn’t trust each other enough to take our eyes off each other.
Either way, I was stuck with the three of them for a little bit longer.
I had to admit though, after the dome, I wasn’t really upset about that. If we hadn’t joined forces, none of us would’ve gotten out of there—and we definitely wouldn’t have gotten the scroll.
We ran at a flat-out sprint for what felt like forever, until all of us were completely out of breath and out of energy.
Reaching a hidden place behind some rocks next to a stream, we slid down the side of the stone face and collapsed onto the sandy ground.
My lungs felt like they were made of fire, and every breath sent shooting pains through my chest.
Motherfucker. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony? I’m competing in a deadly competition in a realm ruled by the gods, and the thing that’s gonna kill me is running.
I was beat up, exhausted, and completely over this whole Gods’ Challenge bullshit by this point.
Too bad the only way out was to keep forging ahead.
After catching our breath, Merrick, Trace, and I pulled ourselves up against the stone, leaning back. Lachlan stood up and looked around, making sure we were relatively safe before pulling the scroll out of his pocket.
The three of us sat forward, tension surging like a physical force between us.
We each wanted to snatch it for ourselves. I could sense the other men shifting slightly, and my own fingers itched to grab it from Lachlan’s hand.
The guys might be best friends back in the hallways of Magic Blessed Academy, but out here? They were competitors just like everyone else. And each of us wanted whatever clue the scroll held.
Lachlan stared at us and we stared back at him, everyone absolutely silent.
After about a minute, I couldn’t stand it any longer.
I burst out laughing.
The men all broke their heavy eye contact and turned to stare at me.
“Come on, guys, it’s not like we’re not all thinking the same thing.” I rolled my eyes, still chuckling. “Everyone here wants to snatch that scroll right out of his hand and make a break for it. But before anybody does, let me just point out that the only reason we got the scroll before anyone else was because we worked together as a team.”
Merrick swatted away a small bug. “So?”
God. Men.
“Sooo…” I drawled. “Teaming up gave us a clear advantage. The creatures and magic in this world don’t mess around, and the gods obviously have no problem dumping us into life-threatening situations. I, for one, want to survive this shit.”
“So, what?” Trace cocked a brow, brushing his shaggy black hair out of his face. “We win the competition as a team?”
I rolled my eyes at his mocking too. “Who knows? All I know is that in a competition where people have died before, maybe we need to play the long game. If you really think you can do this on your own, hey, feel free to leave. But the way that I see it, if we want to have a fighting chance of getting out of here alive, we need to do this the smart way.”
All three of them stared at me for a moment, and then looked back and forth at each other.
They were both suspicious and interested at the same time. And they weren’t just suspicious of me, but of each other as well. Each one of them was an alpha, so working as a team without a specific leader wasn’t really in their wheelhouse.
Nonetheless, alpha or not, they were all smart and practical.
Just like I was.