THE BREEDER'S GAMBIT

CHAPTER SEVEN

I hadn’t realized how much I had been holding in until I finally let go.

Training was relentless, but it was the only thing that kept me tethered to any semblance of sanity.

Without it, I would’ve crumbled under the weight of everything, Aiden’s unyielding gaze, the pressure of earning the women’s respect, the constant fear of being tested by the men. But even in the midst of it all, I felt myself unraveling bit by bit.

The bruises on my body were the least of my concerns. It was the bruising in my heart, the way I kept second-guessing everything, the doubt that clouded every step I took.

But I couldn’t afford to show any of it.

Aiden’s presence was constant. His distance was maddening, yet it only made him more infuriatingly intriguing.

Every word he said, every glance, seemed to pierce right through me. He was no longer just my way out, he had become something more.

A weapon. A complication.

And my mind—hell, my body—was at war with itself. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to push him away or pull him closer.

I knew what I should do. I had to stay focused on my survival but Aiden had a way of making me forget that. The way he would look at me when I struggled, his gaze soft and patient, when everyone else would just keep pushing me to my limits. The gentleness he showed me was both a balm and a knife.

I had learned to fight. To stand on my own two feet, even when I was knocked down over and over again. But Aiden’s kindness, his refusal to treat me as broken had started to work its way under my skin.

It was one evening after training, the setting sun casting long shadows across the camp. The air was thick with humidity, the scent of earth mixing with the faint smell of wood burning in the distance. I sat alone on the edge of the training grounds, my body sore, my mind racing, when I felt the familiar weight of Aiden’s presence behind me.

I didn’t look at him. I didn’t have to. I knew it was him.

“You’ve improved,” he said, his voice low and steady, as always.

I tensed, the words a double-edged sword. I wanted to hear them, but I also feared them.

Aiden had become a strange force in my life. He wasn’t just the leader of this pack; he was the one person whose approval seemed to matter, even though I hated to admit it. I didn’t want to want his approval. But I couldn’t help it.

“Is that why you keep pushing me?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

“Is it just to make me better, or is it because you want to see how far I can be broken?”

Aiden’s footsteps drew closer, but he didn’t touch me. He never did. His restraint was almost maddening.

“I don’t want to break you,” he said softly, crouching beside me.

“I want you to see that you’re stronger than you think.”

His words hit harder than I expected. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, not the softness in his tone, the care in his gaze.

I wanted to hear that I was just another pawn in his game, that he saw me as nothing more than a tool to wield.

But instead, I saw a man who genuinely cared, and it unsettled me more than I was willing to admit.

I couldn’t handle it.

I stood abruptly, my legs shaking from exhaustion, and walked away before I could say anything more.

Aiden didn’t follow me, but I knew he was watching. I could always feel his eyes on me, like an invisible tether I couldn’t escape.

The next few days passed in a blur. The training grew more intense, the other women more distant. I could feel the weight of their judgment, their eyes always on me, assessing me.

They were waiting for me to break. I could feel it in their silence, in the way they studied me between exercises, their expressions unreadable.

Mara was the worst. She pushed me harder than the others, testing my limits with every chance she got. She wanted me to prove that I belonged here, but the more I fought back, the more I realized something—I didn’t know if I did.

I wasn’t like them. I didn’t have their strength. I didn’t have their steel.

I had been broken.

That night, after another grueling session, I couldn’t stop the tears that blurred my vision as I sat alone by the fire.

I hadn’t realized I had started crying until the first tear hit the dirt below me.

The sound of footsteps reached my ears, and I wiped my eyes quickly, furious at myself for showing such weakness. I wasn’t supposed to be weak, not here. But I didn’t have the energy to hide it.

Aiden’s voice cut through the night air, low and concerned.

“Caitlyn.”

I didn’t turn to face him. I couldn’t.

“Why do you push me so hard?” I whispered, my voice trembling.

“Why don’t you just let me fall?

Let me fail. Isn’t that what you want?”

There was a long pause, one that stretched longer than I expected, before he spoke again.

His voice was quieter this time, like he was searching for the right words.

“I want you to stand,” he said finally.

“I want you to see that you can. And when you do... you won’t need anyone’s approval to stand tall.”

I felt a flicker of something deep inside me, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Hope? No, it couldn’t be that. Hope was dangerous. Hope was the thing that made you vulnerable.

But still, it lingered, like a whisper in the dark.

“I don’t need your pity,” I said sharply, though my words had lost their bite.

“I’m not offering you pity, Caitlyn,” Aiden replied, his voice steady, unwavering.

“I’m offering you something you haven’t allowed yourself to see: your own worth.”

It was a simple statement, but it shook me to the core. I had never considered my worth outside of what I could provide, outside of what I could offer.

No one had ever cared enough to show me that I was more than just the sum of my parts. That I could be... something else.

I turned to face him, finally meeting his gaze, though my heart pounded in my chest.

His eyes were steady, unflinching, and yet there was a softness there, a quiet strength that made me feel like I was standing on the edge of something, something I was both desperate and terrified to reach.

He didn’t say anything more. He didn’t need to.

But just as I thought I could finally breathe, just as I was about to speak, the distant sound of footsteps approached us.

I froze.

Aiden’s gaze hardened, and in that instant, I knew. It wasn’t just me who was being tested anymore.

The pack was closing in. The moment of peace I had found, however fragile it was, was about to shatter.