Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(59)

Before Katherine could respond to that, Markus blew his whistle and the two girls rushed to where the others were gathering at center gym. Before they had even got there though, Markus blew the infuriating whistle again. “Twenty laps, ingrates!” he howled.

Katherine was immediately relieved. Yes, twenty laps were a lot. But running, at least, was something she could do. Running, she enjoyed.

Katherine paced herself the first ten laps, sticking with Melanie for the most part. Soon, however, her pent up energy – it’d been weeks since she’d run last – demanded that she go faster. The dark-haired girl didn’t seem to mind when Katherine left her in her dust. She quickly passed two other girls, one boy, and Melanie’s friend Angus. By the time she’d finished all twenty laps, she was somewhere in the middle of the pack. She beat Priscilla by a good thirty seconds.

When everyone had completed all twenty laps, Markus once again blew his whistle. This time, he allowed everyone to reach center gym, where he told them to line up. “What a disappointing performance,” he immediately wailed into them. “I ask you to run a measly two miles and the last of you clocks in at over seventeen minutes.”

No one said a word.

“Vincent,” Markus snarled, turning to the boy who had finished with the fastest time. “Why is this unacceptable?”

“A pack is only as strong as its weakest member,” he immediately answered.

It was obvious to Katherine it was a slogan that had been nailed into him and the rest of her classmates.

“That’s right,” Markus agreed. “My own pack, in fact, has recently gained a new member,” he continued, causing Katherine to tense. Nearly all of her classmates turned to look at her. Some were subtle about it. Others, not so much. She was hyperaware of the alphas near the wall eyeing her as well.

What in the hell was Markus doing?

“She is, by far, the weakest of us.”

Katherine’s face burned. Her fingers itched to ball into fists and punch the man, but somehow, she managed to control herself.

“As beta of the Prince pack, it is my job, of course, to strengthen her – to strengthen my pack.” Markus finally met Katherine’s eyes. “I want a hundred push-ups, princess. Now.”

It took a moment for Katherine to get her body to move. When she finally managed, it was an even greater struggle not to pounce on the man. But she refrained. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing he was rattling her.

Trying her best to ignore the eyes on her, she slowly got on her hands and knees and began doing the push-ups. She knew that there was no way she’d be able to do close to a hundred of them. Not even half probably. She was tired from running and pure strength was in no way her strong suit.

Katherine was right. She collapsed onto her stomach after thirty-seven.

After a bit of yelling from Markus, she was able to handle ten more. But that was it. Forty-seven out of one hundred. If it had been some sort of test – and it was Markus, so it undeniably was – Katherine had failed. Spectacularly.

He had no sympathy for her, of course. “Pathetic,” he’d muttered under his breath – but certainly loud enough for her to hear – before gesturing for her to get up. Using her shaky arms to push herself from the floor, she stood.

Many of the alphas, Katherine noticed, were talking quietly to each other.

Great.

Once she was back on her feet, Markus informed the small group of teenagers that they’d be playing dodgeball for the rest of class.

As if the man hadn’t already proven he hated her.

Markus split them up into two teams and sent them to opposite sides of the gym before setting an array of balls – some small and squishy looking and others large and rubbery – near center gym. Once he was ready, he blew his whistle.

Katherine didn’t think she lasted two minutes in the first game. She’d been pelted by three balls at once. The second game she didn’t do much better.

Then the third game began.

Katherine didn’t know how she’d managed it – probably a mixture of quick reflexes and sheer luck – but she was one of the last two members of her team still standing. Then Vincent had chucked a ball into the chest of Agnes – a member of the other team – at the same time that she had hit him in the leg.

And it was only Katherine. Katherine and the last remaining boy on the other team. Rip.

He immediately began hurling balls at her. Katherine was able to dodge them all, but just barely. As he bent down to pick up yet another one, she took her chance. She grabbed a ball from the ground and channeling all her inner fury – directed towards both Rip and Markus – she lobbed it at him.

And the ball hit him. Right smack in the face. It even left a red mark.

For a moment, the whole gym was silent. Then her entire team cheered and with a gigantic smile glued to her face, Melanie wrapped her arms around Katherine’s torso and squeezed.

The girl could hug, that was for sure.

They played one more game of dodgeball after that – Katherine was out almost immediately – and Markus sent them back to the locker rooms to clean up.

There were no stalled showers, only a large communal one, so Katherine hung back fifteen minutes before finally stripping and quickly hopping under the spray.

Over the sound of the running water, she heard Priscilla talking about her near the lockers. “Poor girl,” she said, “I don’t even know why Bastian is bothering with her. She’s a weakling. Even Markus thinks so. There is no way she’ll survive the change.”