Free Remy by Susan Bliler Page A

Remy turned his back on her.  “ You fix it.”
    Shane snarled, “Maybe I will!”  He stalked off toward the barracks, and his threat to do something about how Harlow was being treated and trained shouldn’t have made Remy as livid as it did.  It shouldn’t have twisted something inside him.  His beasts were tearing at his insides, a daily fucking occurrence now that Harlow was here.  Hell, he had to fight every damn minute just to keep his eyes off her, and even then his ears were primed for the sound of her voice and the commands of her team lead. 
    “I know what you’re doing, bro.”  James was back in his face with that damn apple.  He stared at Remy as he chewed.  “You’re staying away from her cuz she’s Mason’s sister.”
    “Keep your voice down,” Remy growled.  “Her team doesn’t know that, and she doesn’t need them finding out.”
    James took another big bite of apple, glancing over Remy’s shoulder.  “Maybe they should.  Maybe, if they knew her brother was a Walker and the CFO, they’d stop fucking with her.”
    And they were fucking with her.  He tried not to watch her, but every night at chow she looked worse and worse.  She was always bruised or beat up.  Hell, she was just getting to the end of her first week, already sporting a mouse under her eye and a fat lip.  None of the other trainees looked like that at the end of the day. None of them pushed their evening meal around their plate with their head rested in their hand before they gave up and dumped the contents into the trash, stumbling blindly back to the barracks for the night.  All of this had Remy confident that Harlow would tap any day, yet every evening she made it to chow, every morning she was in line for PT looking miserable and weak.  Every day his gut clenched a little more with the knowledge that she was suffering, and every day his disappointment was laced with pride.  She was a lot tougher than he’d given her credit for, and the more damage she took, the more difficult it became for him to keep from doing…something.
    “What do you think Mason’s gonna do when he finds out she’s having a rough go of it?” James’ words pulled him from his reverie.
    “He’s going to do what he should have already done,” Remy growled as he stalked away.  “Pull her off the team.”
    ***
    Josef had given Harlow permission to duck out of training early so she could hit the showers before the guys got to them.  Humiliated, she stepped away from the fight circle where a woman she knew only as Nyree was creaming David.  It was awesome, but even that couldn’t bolster her mood.
    Turning, she ducked her head and made her way slowly back to the barracks as the truth began to settle its weight over her soul.  She was a terrible soldier.  Sure, she was in good shape, and had gotten better each day at PT and running, but with everything else she was crap, and today only proved it.  Granted, Josef had directed her and David to talk out a plan before just going at it full-bore, which David completely ignored, jumping her before she could prepare herself, but still it hurt that she’d been unable to defend herself.  The fact that everyone saw only made it worse.
    “EnemyHunter.”
    Her head jerked up as she nearly ran into the wall that was one of the Walker Sentries standing in front of her. 
    “Tomorrow, I’m pulling you out for one-on-one training. Commander McCabe has approved it.”
    She jerked her head in a nod and the Sentry walked away. She thought the offer should give her hope, but it only made her feel like more of a failure.  Looking over her shoulder, she watched the other Sentry teams as they cheered Nyree when she punched David in the throat, sending him falling on his ass, gasping for air.  Eyes drifting over them, Harlow realized they were like family to each other, and she was just an outsider. Just like before.  Even here, she didn’t fit in.  Mason had called himself a misfit,