Page 6 of Mariposa (Queens Command #1)

KADE

TEN MONTHS UNTIL GRADUATION

V iolet Isla.

When I first met her, I had no clue who she was, but after catching up with Penny, she mentioned that Adam’s girlfriend was in the course.

My son’s girlfriend is the student who’s breaking records.

Penny and I still talk from time to time.

At the end of the day, my ex-wife will always be a part of my life.

We have a mutual understanding and respect for one another to keep things civil…

civil enough to co-exist for Adam. She sends me updates through e-mails when I’m on missions or deployments, and sometimes, that means I get photos attached to them.

When I checked my e-mail three nights ago, Penny explained how they already miss Violet and attached a photo of all three of them together and captioned it with: The morning she shipped off to Basic.

Her drill sergeant warned me about the first female trainee entering my class. He had nothing but good things to say about the young woman, mainly that she’s unbreakable. A fine soldier who is making waves, but we’ll see about that.

She’s human at the end of the day. She’ll make a mistake, and then it’s back home. Not everyone graduates. She won’t be the only one to fail—more than half the class will.

Of course, we meet on more unnatural terms because my son has withdrawn himself as much as possible from me, and it’s hard to get through to him about anything, especially when it comes to his personal life.

I never get to see him, but when I’m home, I always go above and beyond to get to know my estranged son.

Now, I’m in charge of his girlfriend.

I’m her instructor. Her teacher. Her superior.

What a small fucking world.

She’s small and lean, but she hasn’t let that slow her down so far.

It feels like she uses that as more motivation to succeed.

So far, she’s passed every test, but her personality has peaked.

She’s stubborn. She never wants to accept or ask for help, and I don’t like that.

We all encourage our soldiers to take initiative, but she refuses when it’s time to delegate.

“Don’t you know who she is? She’s the daughter of the Lion.”

The Lion. Jason Isla. A former Green Beret, known as the Lion for saving hundreds of lives in one single night when they were ambushed. A good man.

Still, it doesn’t mean she’ll get special treatment from me. I don’t play politics in my class.

“I don’t give a fuck. I don’t care if she’s the president’s daughter! She doesn’t get to pass because of who her father is.”

“O’Connell, she’s passing every single test with flying colors.” Booker defends her, as always. My close friend of over twenty years has a soft spot for her, and it shows. Shane Booker is friendly, down-to-earth, and my right-hand man in life outside of our work.

“She’s stubborn. That kind of attitude will only get her and her team killed,” I argue with the cadre next to me. My arms are across my chest as I watch her struggle.

Today is pool day. Testing our limits and strengths when it comes to water operations.

She’s slowing down.

So, The Unbreakable Soldier does have a weakness.

“Or it’ll save her life and the ones around her,” Booker argues. Whistles and the shouts of instructors surround us as other soldiers complete their tasks. As soon as they’re done, it’s on to the next. There’s no stopping in this course.

“Doubtful.” I spit the tobacco I’m chewing by his shoe and smirk. “Look who’s failing? I told you she doesn’t belong here,” I whisper as I lean into his ear with a satisfied grin.

Booker grimaces and then fixates on Violet. His shoulder brushes against mine as he runs toward her. I stalk away without a care in the world.

“She stopped moving.” His words catch my attention, and I turn around with a skip in my heart; it almost makes me smile. I guess I’ll see her leave this school earlier than I thought. What a wonderful start to my day to see another one go down.

I’m an asshole. A barrier I’ve lived with to maintain the cruel mentality I carry. It keeps me from feeling .

“Sh-she’s drowning!” He blows his whistles worriedly, and I roll my eyes.

Why the fuck does he have a soft spot for her? He should be celebrating this with me.

“Someone get her out of there! O’Connell! It’s your job. Get her out of there!”

I point my chin and cross my arms against my silky Army shirt again. My sunglasses hide my signature “I don’t give a flying fuck” expression.

The next thing I know, he jumps in after her. My hand rolls through my beard before I’m palming my hips, annoyed. He grabs her lifeless body in no time and pulls her out with the help of another cadre.

She’s passed out. He places her on her back and gets to work.

I watch as I take out a cigarette and light it.

Sure enough, seconds later, Ms. Isla returns to the hellish world I’ll continue to force her and every student to live in.

She’s coughing up all the water she swallowed, and my jaw clenches with disappointment.

She lives.

“What a shame,” I murmur to Sergeant Slater next to me.

His hazel eyes gleam with dark satisfaction.

He slaps my shoulders and roars with laughter.

Our humor is dark and morbid, something normalized in the military, and I think it’s to prevent us from feeling the extent of the darkness we go through in training or deployments.

It’s better to laugh about situations than to feel.

I continue to exit the pool area and move on to the next event, where I will instruct the other students. Slater walks with me and pats my shoulder with a wicked curve of his lips because he knows I’m right. She doesn’t fucking belong here.

I head towards the next grading task and let Booker attend to the weakling.

I don’t care if she lives or dies. It’s my job to eradicate the frail, spineless candidates.

I always break them.

I always celebrate when I hear the words: I quit.

She will break for me.

They always do.