SERAPHINA'S POV
"Stop—fuck!"
I doubled over, bracing my hands on my knees as I struggled to breathe through the burning in my lungs.
Someone must have connected a Bluetooth speaker to my heart, because it was thundering so loudly that I barely heard when Lucian came to my side and said, "That's enough for today, Sera."
I shook my head, immediately regretting it as the training field tilted. "No, I..." I swallowed against the dryness in my mouth. "I can keep going."
Lucian, the sadistic bastard, was gone, and Lucian, my friend, said in a gentle, patient voice, "You're done, Sera."
I straightened and winced when I felt a stitch in my side. "I haven't completed the course," I panted, resisting the urge to rub at the ache in my chest.
I'd run the obstacle course at OTS three times before I got shot. Each time, I finished drenched in sweat and mud with my palms scraped raw from climbing rocks.
But I finished.
