The Pack's Hacker (by Cooper) novel Chapter 286

Hacker

Last night, Wendy and I got a lot of work done digging the trench for the security lines. We made it a game, and I love her competitive spirit. Her wolf is beautiful and my wolf, Saggio, purred loudly at how beautiful Dasha is. She stood proudly, letting him look her over. Then she’d rubbed her face against his, her wolf showing mine the same affection that Wendy showed me. I’m glad that her wolf seems to accept us as much as the woman does. 1

By the time we got back to the packhouse, showered, and ate dinner, it was late and we were both exhausted. Since Hijack made a point of joining us for dinner, and Yana had followed him like a cute little puppy, I didn’t have any time to steal more kisses.

This morning I sent Sphinx a message in our chat.

Me: See if your father will let you spar with Hijack today.

Sphinx: Why? Why not you?

I love that she’d rather spar with me than Hijack. But this is important.

Me: He’s going to realize that something is up if he hasn’t already. I want you to prove to him that there’s no weakness on our

team.

Sphinx: I’m not sure Dad will let me. He’s very protective of me.

Me: Defeat him and then tell him you want to spar with someone else. He’ll be surprised, but I bet he’ll allow it then. Sphinx: Okay…

I can feel her anxiety through the chat.

Me: You can do this. Just like we did yesterday. Push past your fear. I have faith in you.

Sphinx: Thanks, Hacker

Me: Thank me by taking your father down today.

I’m sure if the camera was on, I’d see her rolling her eyes.

I close the chat and get ready to spar. It’s always nice to work with a new group of people when you’re sparring. There’s always something new to learn.

When we get to the sparring field, Sphinx and Yana come to stand beside me and Hijack. Warren and Yorick notice, but they don’t say anything until they assign partners. Then they call both girls away.

“You want to tell me what’s going on with you and Sphinx?” Hijack says, turning toward me.

I could take his question two different ways, so I choose the easier one.

“I identified a potential weakness that I believe I’ve now eliminated,” I say, nodding at Wendy when she turns to look at me. She presses her lips together and turns to face her father.

“And you didn’t think it was important to tell the rest of the team about this weakness?” he growls.

“Not if I could eliminate it before it became a problem.”

“This is about her problems on the sparring field, I take it?” he asks as we get into our fighting positions.

I’m not surprised he knows. We take turns monitoring Sphinx and her activities making sure she doesn’t do anything she shouldn’t. Since he’s interested in her as well, he would have logged on to watch her spar in the mornings or afternoons just like I did.

“Hopefully after today, we can say ‘What problem?’ And I notice you didn’t say anything to the team either,” I say, looking

over at her.

“Come on Wendy, you can do this,” I whisper.

I watch her attack her father. He gets in three hits before she freezes. He backs off immediately.

Hijack and I begin sparring hard. Because we’ve both been trained at the Academy for three years, we’re evenly matched. But my mind is on Wendy so when he takes me down, I use the opportunity to look over to see how she’s doing.

‘Come on, come on, come on, you can do this’, I think to myself when I see her frozen again. Her father is talking softly to her.

She nods, then looks over at me.

‘You can do this,’ I mouth to her.

She nods again, and I watch her mouth set with determination.

I get up, but now Hijack is watching her too. We stand slightly away from the other warriors to make sure we don’t interfere with their sparring.

Warren tags her once, twice, then three times. I see her start to freeze, then she pushes through it, leaping at her father who is shocked and unready for her attack.

“Yes, Wendy!” Warren shouts happily when she sweeps her legs behind his and takes him down.

She stares at him a moment then runs and leaps into my arms. “I did it!”

“Of course you did!” I say hugging her tightly.

“Is this what you two were doing out here yesterday?” Yorick says from beside us.

Wendy immediately pulls away from me as I turn to face her brother.

“Your family wasn’t pushing her. I did. We needed her to work through her mental block before she came to the Academy. Her weakness becomes our weakness,” I tell him honestly.

“Ready to test your skill against me?” Hijack asks her, as Warren walks over.

“I want to test my skill against one of you,” Yana says.

“Let me watch your sister, Yana, then you can take on an Academy third-year and we’ll see what you’ve got,” I tell her.

“Come on, Wendy, kick his ass,” Yana says.

“Language, Yana,” Warren says, but he’s watching Wendy.

“Hey, whose side are you on? I let you help me all afternoon yesterday,” Hijack says to her. 1

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