Page 9 of Loving a Warrior

“It pays to be a winner!” Salazar pointed at Shane. “Have a seat and rest.”

“What?” Matt’s voice throbbed with fury. “That was a tie, at the very least!”

Shane bit back a grin as Salazar got in Matt’s face. Matt didn’t give an inch. Yep, this guy was a meat-eater for sure.

“Clearly Hovland passed you at the end,” Salazar ground out. “And don’t you ever fuckin’ argue with me again. This is your one warning. Get your ass wet and sandy. Now.”

“Hooyah!”

The look of dislike Matt flicked him should have frozen Shane in his tracks, but Shane just rolled his eyes. Arrogant little pissants like Matt hadn’t fazed him in Marine recruit training and they sure as hell wouldn’t faze him here.

“Your reputation in the teams starts here, people,” Salazar shouted as men rolled around in the sand at his feet. “This is a small community, and we’re all watching. We wanna know who’s gonna fight through the pain and cold water. We wanna know who wants it so bad, he’d rather die than quit. Whether you make it or not isn’t up to me, or any of the other instructors…it’s up to you.”

“Hooyah!”

“I saw who went the extra mile this morning, who crawled out of his comfy bed to help your class leader. Everyone, on your feet!”

When they were all upright, Salazar pointed to Matt. “How do you say your name?”

“Nye-tick, Instructor.”

“That’s a fuckin’ alphabet soup of a name. In fact, I ain’t even gonna try to remember that. I’m just gonna call you Alphabet Soup. You got a problem with that, Alphabet Soup?”

“No, Chief. It’s not like anyone’s ever made fun of my name before.”

Matt’s voice was quiet, and if Salazar heard the sarcastic inflection to it, he decided not to show it, instead seeming very pleased with himself as he turned to Shane.

“You two showed good teamwork and initiative this morning, and I like that, so now you’re swim buddies. Got it? During training you don’t go anywhere without the other, not even a trip to the head.”

He paired everyone else off, promising dire consequences for anyone who went anywhere without their buddy. Despite his hunger and exhaustion, Shane wanted to laugh at the mutinous look on Matt’s face, wondering why the dude hated him so much, in the next instant deciding he didn’t care. His competitive nature had surged to the forefront just now, giving him a much-needed boost, and if he had to use Matt’s dislike of him in order to succeed, well…

As they stared at each other, Shane could tell the exact same thought was going through Matt’s mind, too.

Bring it.

Chapter Three

Matt shivered in the predawn darkness and pressed close to the man in front of him as the dude behind practically hugged him in an attempt to stay warm.

No more homophobic remarks, huh? Priority’s shifted from acting macho to trying not to freeze to death.

“Report,” Salazar demanded.

“One hundred and two men assigned, Instructor, with eighty-nine present. Nine DORs, four in medical.”

“Your class lost nine men in one day. They decided this training wasn’t for them, and we haven’t even gotten to the hard stuff yet.”

Right. The “not hard” stuff had already put four guys in medical. Matt couldn’t help but glance at Shane, fury blasting through him at the memory of the day before and the smug look on Shane’s face as he’d rested while Matt rolled in the sand.

Hope you enjoyed that, ’cause it’s not happening again.

Salazar ordered them all into the pool to get wet, then divided them up into smaller groups. Two groups at a time were bound hand and foot and tossed back into the water for drown-proofing exercises while the rest of them huddled up on the deck, teeth chattering.

“The key to this is not to panic,” Salazar called out as the guys in the pool bobbed up and down, gasping for air, other instructors wearing masks and fins circling around them, ready to help in an emergency. “You have to be comfortable in the water. To a SEAL, water is a haven, a refuge, not something to be afraid of.”

Matt’s heart threatened to pound its way out of his chest when it was his turn. He took deep, calming breaths while his hands and ankles were zip-tied together, and he sucked one last gulp of air in and held it as he was unceremoniously shoved into the deep end.

He sank to the bottom like a stone, completely disoriented, some of the students nearby thrashing around and bumping into him. Guys were panicking right and left, and Matt rolled to his side and tried to wriggle away from them. His own panic lurked along the edges of his consciousness but he beat it back, getting himself upright as he’d been instructed. He stood on the bottom as long as he could, and then, lungs burning, shoved upward and took a measured breath of air, trying not to gasp, before sinking back down.