Page 5 of Mariposa (Queens Command #1)
VIOLET
TWELVE MONTHS UNTIL GRADUATION
Champagne Coast by Blood Orange
I can’t believe I’m here, and not only have I survived the first few days, but I’m thriving. I’m meeting new people, making friends, and bonding over our situations.
The first week flew by. It was a lot of yelling, paperwork, medical, and shots in my arms and ass, but I’m solid. I’ve never felt so confident or so at home in the Army.
I belong here.
“Everyone, meet your instructors for the next year! Or better known as TAC.” A tall, lean man roars in front of me.
A camo green shirt and camo pants cover his fair skin.
His gaze is on me for only a second, and then he stomps down the line.
He glares at all of us, one by one, sizing us all up like we’re children.
“I’m Sergeant Booker. We are all your teachers, advisors, and counselors.
This is Sergeant Slater,” he points to another massive man beside him.
He stalks by me, but this time, his glare is so evident behind his sunglasses that I don’t need to see his eyes to know what he thinks of my presence here—the only female in the class.
He doesn’t want me here. It’s so apparent by how his stare lingers on my body for seconds that feel like minutes as he balls his fists.
I refrain from cowering. My back stays straight with rigid shoulders and a mindset focused on only one thing—graduating.
He scoffs like he’s disgusted. He walks away and heads towards Sergeant Booker, who continues introducing all the instructors.
When Sergeant Slater gives me his back, I smirk.
It’s satisfying knowing my existence and perseverance pisses him off.
It’s pissed off a lot of people lately. I continue to listen as the sun hits my skin.
My olive tone has been tanning deeper since I got here.
“Everyone and their grandmother knows who Operator Grim Reaper is…but it’s not him who the military and our enemies fear.
It’s another man with a perfectly polished career.
Everyone calls him a devil, and they call him that for a reason.
” A man to my left whispers, distracting me momentarily.
My brows narrow in annoyance as I try to focus on the sandy-blonde man with a dark mustache.
Sergeant Booker walks up and down the line between us, and I stay still, holding back my own curiosity and questions.
“You mean…” another one squeaks beside me.
“Uh-huh…he’s here, too. We’re all fucked.” he grumbles before continuing. “Who do you think trained alongside Grim Reaper? Who do you think taught him all he knows? The devil was created by another.”
“Who?” his friend questions, gloom laced in his lazy tone.
“Operator Beast.”
“But what’s his actual name?”
I roll my eyes, and finally, I snap. I don’t want to get kicked out so soon because I can’t hear Booker’s orders. I just got here. I have a lot to prove, and I will not get kicked on the first day because the men next to me want to engage in gossip.
“Can you guys shut the hell up?” I quip, turning to them.
At first, my gaze meets Willis’s, and his thin pink lips lift into a cheeky, immature, snarky grin.
His eyes look me up and down like he’s trying to undress me, and it makes me quiver.
He opens his mouth—probably to throw a dirty, misogynistic insult my way—but then his entire demeanor shifts.
He pales, tearing his gaze away from me just as a large shadow appears over all three of us.
Someone clears their throat behind me, and I can feel all the hair on my neck standing up. I turn back around slowly, in the position of attention, tucking my hands on either side of my thighs and holding my breath.
“What’s my name, Willis?” The sound of a deep, smooth voice has my heart jumping into my throat. He’s standing right in front of Willis, but I keep my eyes facing the tall, North Carolina evergreen trees in front of me.
Willis’s jaw drops as he takes in the size of the instructor, who hasn’t been introduced yet.
“Now!” he barks out with a vicious tone that makes my blood run cold.
Jesus , is this how it’s going to be? I haven’t even looked at the man yet, but his voice does something to me. It’s deep and husky. I survived basic training, and no one has ever had a tone that made my heart skip.
“O-O’Connell. K-Kade O’Connell, sir!”
Kade? O’Connell?
As in…?
No.
It can’t be .
“It’s Master Sergeant O’Connell.” His tone shifts into something dangerously calm, and I honestly think it’s more intimidating than when he yells.
I blink rapidly as my brows knit together, trying to defy human anatomy and not break into a sweat. I tighten my fists and try to sneak a glance, but I decide against it when the tall, massive shadow moves toward me.
No .
I drop my eyes to the ground just as large, sandy combat boots come into play in front of my own planted footing. My feet look obnoxiously smaller than his.
I’ve caught the attention of the monster everyone’s been whispering about on the first damn day.
Just my luck.
“Isla…” he murmurs nonchalantly like he’s bored.
His massive fingers poke at the last name on my uniform.
I trail my eyes from his long legs onto his broad, muscular chest. He’s wearing the same camo top.
He has tattoos on one side of his arm. Detailed snakes and skulls are intertwined with each other.
He folds his arms against his chest. I try not to stare, but his body demands everyone’s attention.
He’s standing in front of me like he’s ready to light the whole world aflame because he’s pissed. He’s in the flesh, and dammit, he’s enchanting. The kind of beauty that radiates masculinity and villainously handsome features.
His dark brown, shaggy, wavy hair is gelled back on the sides.
He has a dark, short beard with little strands of blond and silver that hug his perfect, sharp jawline.
His lips are perfectly shaped and full. There’s a scar on his neck, and another massive one cut straight through his brow and seared into his cheek, like he was slashed by something.
Even his aviator sunglasses cannot disguise the large diagonal scar.
His tongue darts and sweeps his bottom lip like he’s not impressed by me.
Finally, he removes his sunglasses, and I’m met with cruel, mismatched, ice-cold eyes. One is a bright navy blue, and the other is a vibrant green. Eyes that could make any girl’s heart stop and blood turn into liquid fire.
He narrows his eyes at me like he’s testing me, studying me like I’m a parasite.
His jaw ticks as I hold his gaze. If he’s trying to intimidate me, he’ll be waiting a long time; I’m not going anywhere.
I keep a poker face, hoping it’s enough to mask that even though I’m here with a fight in my spirit, I can’t help but want to sink into a little hole and hide whenever he’s around.
“I’m Kade O’Connell.” He tilts his head upward, no longer giving me a death stare, and faces the rest of the class.
“You all are in my hell now! I run this inferno, and if you want to see the light at the end of this tunnel, you’ll have to fight for it!
” he growls. Flashes of his perfectly straight white teeth and sharp canines make their presence known, along with the vein in his neck pulsating as his deep voice continues to wreak havoc.
Booker and the rest of the instructors smirk, with their arms crossed—all incredibly fit and massive.
They’re watching every single student light up with fear as we all shout, “Yes, sir!”
“You’ll have to fucking earn it!” he exclaims, like he’s enjoying this a bit too much.
He turns back to me, forcing butterflies to flock and gear into fight or flight mode in the middle of my chest. I look straight into his heterochromatic eyes again so he knows I can take him. I won’t let him or any of my instructors intimidate me.
He whistles and hollows his cheeks with a quick tilt of his chin.
“I’m going to enjoy breaking you …” A short, unsettling pause slithers in between us.
He has his sights set on me, doesn’t he?
But then he finishes his taunting sentence.
“ All ,” he says slowly, but this time, he finishes his rant calmly, giving me and everyone here a whiplash.
He smiles darkly because even though he’s announcing it for everyone to hear, it’s me whom he’s looking directly at, like he can’t wait to see me fail.
His boots skid amongst the dirt and pebbles as he walks away, taking the ability to breathe oxygen into my lungs with him.
I’ve done exactly what I didn’t want to…caught the attention of the one they call the Beast.