~Ashton~

I can't seem to understand why Ethan would allow an underage girl to join our team. I mean it's two bads in one. Underaged + Female= Weak. And now Ethan wants me to be the 'lucky' one to go retrieve her.

"Hey Ash, how can I be of service?"

"I need my keys, Joe, hand them over." I put my hand out and wiggle my fingers.

Joe laughs, a horrendous sound that comes from his pop-out belly. "I can't give them to you. You already know that."

"Really?" I smirk as I hand him the assignment I just received.

He looks it over. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

"I did. Now can I please have them?"

He drops my ride's key into my outstretched hand. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Luck is exactly what I need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Sabina~

I awake to the irritating alarm clock ringing. Putting my hand out, I feel around for the snooze button. Once I press snooze and the alarm stops blaring, I open my eyes to find myself in Ezra's bed, his arm thrown over me protectively. Shoots, I'm not supposed to be here.

Being as careful as I can not to wake him, I slip out of his comfy bed, and escape for the bathroom where I strip out of my PJs and enter the shower. The warm water revives me as the room fills up with the scent of lavender oil.

Stepping out of the tub, I walk over to the smoked-up mirror. What does Ezra see in me?

Whenever I would complain to my mom about my jet-black hair being as thick as a horse's tail, she would tell me about how I'm lucky to have inherited my father's stunning cat eyes. She would say while stroking that too-thick hair of mine that I'm perfect, that I'm beautiful. And most importantly that I'm strong. Was she being honest?

I gaze at my reflection for another moment before going to get dressed.

Ten minutes later I find Ezra already in the kitchen munching on a slice of toast.

"How are you so quick? I was up before you..."

He shrugs. "I'm a guy. I don't take forty-five-minute showers."

"It wasn't forty-five minutes."

"You keep on telling yourself that," he smirks.

I stride over to the fridge, fling it open, and choose my favorite yogurt. Whipped strawberry topped with oats.

I then slide onto the stool beside Ezra and begin to eat.

"How intense is the training?"

"Intense," Ezra replies as he wipes the crumbs off the counter into his open palm and throws it into the trash can.

I roll my eyes at him. "How helpful."

He ignores me, strolling out of the room to go wake up Mira for school.

As I'm finishing off my yogurt the doorbell rings. Sighing, I go to get it.

"Sabina Katherine Jones, is that you?"

The guy before me is tall, with messy golden waves that fall into jade green eyes. His full lips are curved up on the sides in a smile that looks forced and his chiseled prominent jaw is clenched as if he's annoyed.

"Yeah, it is," I say as I continue to eye him.

"Good. Come with me."

I just stare at him.

"Ash?" Ezra appears behind me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to retrieve Sabina Katherine Jones." He looks at me. "I don't have all day, so hurry up."

I glance back at Ezra at a loss. Why does this guy have to be so pushy. "Go," he tells me, "I'll see you later."

Nodding unsuringly, I follow the guy who goes by the name of Ash out of the house I've grown up in for the past eight years.

I'm finally ready to move on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shiny, yellow sports car is parked at the end of the block.

"Get on in," Ash orders, opening the door for me.

I'm really beginning to dislike this guy and his attitude. I slide onto the leather seat and fasten my seatbelt.

He turns on the ignition, bringing the car to life. And then... we're off.

If anyone were to ask me to grade his driving, I will give him a big, red F. My knuckles have gone white from my strong grip hold on the armrests beside me.

"Could you possibly slow down? I'll rather not die today," I say as we swerve around another car, bile rising in my throat.

His eyes flit to me for a moment before returning to the road ahead of us. "No."

"Well then, if you crash and I do die you'll have to pay the Black family back for my funeral."

He still doesn't slow down. The stupid, stubborn mule.

The car swerves around the next corner and comes to an abrupt stop in front of the IE's Training and Testing Center. My new home. If not for my seatbelt, I would've been thrown right out the front window.

"Come." Ash is already out of the vehicle and heading into the building. I try to follow him as quickly as I can.

He leads me to a smoky-glass door, which he opens with a loud swoosh before ushering me inside.

"Sabina, it's good to see you again." The IE's leader, Ethan Mayor, smiles at me. "Please take a seat."

I do, folding my hands on my lap.

"How was your ride here?"

"Okay," I lie. It was unpleasant, horrifying, and a complete nightmare.

"Good. Did Ashton behave himself?"

"Um..." Hold on what kind of question is this? I look at his face carefully for any sign that he's teasing me but see none.

"Yeah?"

He's watching me, so I quickly reply, "I guess."

He smiles at that, which can't be good. "Excellent, because if you survive the next six weeks, you'll get to join Ashton's team."

I gulp. The next six weeks. Three of intense training and three of testing. I have to survive. I'm going to survive.

"Now Sabina, why don't you go and settle in. Your training should be starting in approximately two hours. Ashton would be so very kind to show you around."

Oh, how great.

Ash is waiting outside the office for me, hands casually stuffed into his jeans pockets.

"Ethan said you'll be so very kind to show me around."

His sharp jade green eyes scan me over as he processes my words. "Follow me," he then says in a cold tone.

He doesn't wait and I jog to catch up to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Ashton~

Be so very kind to show her around. Yeah, sure. All she did so far was prove to me how right I was. She's an annoying, weak, pampered, underaged princess, with a sharp tongue that I'm beginning to hate.

I quicken my pace, taking the stairs up two at a time.

"Is this a marathon?"

I steal a glance over my shoulder at the girl Sabina Katherine Jones (what kind of name is that?) "Yeah, it is. And you're doing a terrible job at keeping up."

She glares at me through, I have to admit, beautiful, pale green eyes as her teeth grind together.

Letting out a sigh, I slow down. "Better?"

She doesn't say anything, but I do notice that she's keeping up with me better than before.

At last, we reach the dormitory.

"Girls on one side, boys on the other. Shower and bathroom stalls are through there." I point to the whitewashed painted door.

I can sense the gears turning in her head as she scans over the long 40 x 20 rectangular room. She opens her mouth to say something but then clamps it shut, deciding to remain silent.

Keeping an eye on her, I walk up to the only remaining untaken bed on the girls' side. "This bed will be yours. Your belongings are provided in the chest at the foot of the bed."

At last, she speaks in a quiet voice. "Okay. Thank you."

Oh, so the princess can be polite, how interesting?

I glance down at my watch. "You have about a little over an hour to settle in." I then allow my eyes to roam over her once again and I notice her squirm under my demeaning gaze, which brings a smile to my face. "And you might want to change into one of the outfits provided, Princess."

Before she can say anything, I'm already brushing past her and out of the room. I showed her 'around' and now my job is done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Sabina~

I watch him go, flinching when he slams the door after him. What a pleasant guy to be around.

Sighing, I walk over to the bed eyeing its thin frame and threadbare mattress, and sit down, feeling all the metal springs under me. In total there are twelve beds. Four on the girls' side and eight on the boys. Of course, the girls are outnumbered once again.

I sit here for a while just staring at the four, poorly painted, slab-gray walls. Eventually, I get up to rummage through the chest for something to change into. Picking out a black, long sleeve tee and leggings, I head for the bathrooms.

When I emerge, the room isn't how I left it, it's not empty anymore. Two guys are staring at me, their eyes sizing me up. I've heard before that the guys here can be wolves and the look in those eyes definitely prove that they are the predators. My hands begin to shake nervously and I quickly shove them behind my back, hoping they didn't notice.

"Are we that intimidating?" the dark-haired one chuckles, taking a step closer to me. Okay, he definitely noticed. But confidence is key.

I take a step back, my back coming into contact with the wall. "No. And I wouldn't take a step closer if I were you." My voice comes out stronger than expected, thank goodness.

He smiles. "How old are you? You seem kind of small..."

"It's called petite."

"Shawn, leave the poor newbie alone." The other guy finally comes to my defense and I share a look with him, hoping he'll see that I'm grateful.

"Why she seems like fun?" Shawn smirks at me.

"She's right here," I glower.

Before I can even blink, he's pressing his body up against mine, his foul breath in my face as his hands graze my hips. "You think you're clever," he snarls.

I'm too shocked to say anything.

"Shawn get off of her!" The other guy crashes into him, pulling him away from me.

They tackle each other to the floor as I continue to stand here completely shocked.

"Matthew!" Shawn cries. "Let go of me now!"

Matthew is holding Shawn in a headlock. "Not until you swear never to touch her again."

Shawn's face is beet red. "I swear," he chokes.

The larger boy releases him and he bolts from the room, leaving us two alone.

"I'm so sorry about that." The poor guy looks mortified. "There's just not many girls here, especially those who look like you. And well Shawn..."

"I get it," I interrupt. His broad shoulders slump in relief and I give him a soft smile. "Thanks for saving me."

"Anytime." He smiles back, revealing two crooked front teeth. "By the way I'm Matthew, but you can just call me Matt."

"Nice. I'm Sabina." I shake his outstretched hand, which engulfs mine.

That's when someone clears their throat and both of our heads quickly turn to the doorway. Standing there is a guy at least in his mid-twenties. He's big, with tattoos of flames and skulls painting his treelike arms. Piercings are in his nose, earlobes, and eyebrows. His dark eyes are on me. "I hope you are ready to begin your first training?"

"Yeah, I believe so." I can sense his eyes still on me as I fix my shirt.

"Then come."

He pivots on his heel and I rush to follow him out of the room.

"Are you my trainer?"

"Yup, the name is Bruno, but you are to call me Master at all times."

I scoff. "That's a joke, right?"

"No." He's dead serious.

Master Bruno leads me into a massive circular room, in other words, the training room. The place is already packed with other trainers and trainees in session.

"Over here," Bruno tells me, shepherding me over to a padded mat. "First up is to strengthen those girly muscles of yours."

"Girly?" I frown, insulted.

He smirks. "You heard me correctly. I mean look at you, you're so scrawny."

I glare at him. How dare he? "I have plenty of muscle for a girl."

"Yup, sure. Now start off with thirty push-ups. Chick chock."

"Thirty?" I gasp.

"Hey don't complain Sunshine. Remember you've got plenty of muscles for a girl. Thirty push-ups is a joke." He watches me, obviously amused.

I sputter, but get down onto the mat, starting to do my push-ups. My arms are already aching after five minutes.

Why did you have to open that big mouth of yours? It's your fault that you ended up with thirty...

I make it up to fifteen before collapsing.

"Does the Golden Sunshine give up?" Bruno's muscular legs appear before me and I look up to see a smug smile plastered onto his face.

I can't give up. I won't give up.

Pushing myself up, my muscles begin to scream, but I continue on, enduring the pain. When I'm done, Bruno gives me a hand and helps me to my feet.

"Good job." He looks at me with some approval. Only some. "Now four laps around the room. Go. Go. Go!"

Seriously? You have to be kidding me. Cursing under my breath, I begin to run around the ginormous gym.

Heart pounding.