"The dogs are here." Hannah woke me.

I sat up looking around the room, girls were dressing frantically. The whole shed still lay in darkness, the sun hadn't even come up yet.

"What?" I asked in confusion, rubbing the tiredness away from my face. A sparkle brought my immediate attention to my hand.

Shit.

I pulled the ring off my finger and slipped it into my bra. How could I forget to take off the ring?

"The dogs, get dressed." Hannah threw me my clothes and very sleepily I dressed.

It wasn't long until I was made to stand outside our shed in a uniformed line with my roommates. We were not the only ones standing to attention outside, every shed on the boot camp was doing it.

I kept my eyes facing out front, breathing in the cold night air as several guys with sniffer dogs and flashlights approached.

A guy stood in front of Caitlin, he waved an electrical wand over her body from her head to her toes as she stood completely still, staring straight ahead.

"Clear." He announced to a tired looking Axel who stood watching from the sidelines.

The guard moved on to Holly and performed the same motion. "Clear." He shouted again before moving onto me.

He waved his wand over my body but when it got to my breasts a small red light lit up and the wand beeped loudly. The guard looked back at Axel in question.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"It's okay, I know what those are." Axel said without thinking. All heads turned to him, including mine and there was a daunting look of realization on his face.

"Eyes out front soldiers." He warned, making everyone snap back to attention instantly.

"Continue." He ordered the guard without feeling the need to explain himself.

I breathed shallowly, I knew I had narrowly escaped incarceration thanks to my nipple piercings. I have never been more thankful to have breasts in all of my life. But then the dogs came, dragging men behind them.

Shit.

"Hey buddy! You're so cute look at your little nose" I bent down and gave the German shepherd a nice little head rub.

He was a little obsessed with sniffing my boobs but mostly I think he enjoyed the playfulness of my hands, licking me happily.

"Williams! Stand to attention immediately, do not interact with the sniffer dogs." Axel called out. I backed up and stood straight.

The dog placed his two paws on my thighs, trying to jump to my boobs again. The guards looked at one another.

"Move on." Axel ordered and so they did.

It took hours for them to check every bootcamp recruit, obviously finding nothing.

I sat in the cafeteria in front of a bowl of slop. Nate sat himself down at my table and leaned in close.

"You didn't put the ring back, what happened? Did they catch you?" He whispered.

I glanced up at axel who stood to the side of the cafeteria, scanning his eyes over the whole room.

There was something different about him today, a certain melancholy to his whiskey coloured eyes. But as always his posture remained straight and strict, his brow furrowed into a deep scowl and a general terrifying aura surrounded him.

"No I put it down my bra and when the the metal detector beeped I wrote it off as my nipple piercings." I explained.

His eyes widened and then a smug smile tugged at one half of his lips.

"And they didn't strip search you?" He wondered.

"No. They know I've got my nipples pierced." I answered quickly.

"How?" His eyebrows raised, his attention fully captured and his interest peeked. He kept looking down at my breasts.

"They just do." I didn't really have a better answer without going into the whole shower story.

I glanced back up at axel, he was staring directly at us and my breathing hitched. He looked heartbroken but at the same time he was wearing a mask that prevented any of his inner feelings to be visible on the outside.

"Can I see?" Nate asked, successfully pulling my eyes away from Axel. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion before I realised what he was asking.

"No" I laughed, swatting his hand away.

"You're no fun." He complained with amusement.

Secretly I looked at axel again, he was still looking our way. His eyes were different today, the only hint at what he was feeling underneath.

I had never really studied them before, only seeing him for the hardened exterior that he constantly wears. But something about him was softened in this moment, almost vulnerable.

The professional man gone, replaced with an internally suffering human in need of consolidating.

"You think that maybe the ring had sentimental value?" I asked Nate, he shovelled a spoonful of slop into his mouth and swallowed it down without chewing.

"It's just a ring Harper. I think if his girl rejected his proposal he wouldn't want to remember that." Nate replied casually, keeping his voice hushed.

"But what if he was married or engaged and his girlfriend died or something?" I bit down on my lower lip, tugging it between my teeth as I brainstormed ideas.

"I suppose they did cause quite a scene this morning. It's either extremely expensive or irreplaceable." Nate agreed.

"I need to give it back." I decided. He dropped his spoon making a small splatter of un-consumable food spread out across the table.

"Don't you dare!" He exclaimed, not bothering to keep his voice low. "They will send you away, he'll kill you. He's got a gun in his car." Nate warned.

"I have to do what is right. I think he is sad." I told him with a sigh.

"Harper he doesn't get sad! He hasn't got emotions. He's not human." Nate seemed worried, slowly he turned his head towards Axel and then quickly turned back to me, eyes wide. "Shit, he's looking right at us. You think he knows?"

"How could he know?" I asked, keeping my tone straight. He sighed.

"Fine, you want to give it back. Do it anonymously, sneak into his building when you know he's not there and just leave it somewhere in plain sight. He is on block A and it's the third one along. I trust you can pick locks?"

I nodded. That wasn't a bad plan. Sneaking into his living quarters should be easy enough and it will eliminate me getting any more disciplinaries or having to do his pointless punishments.

"I'm going now while he's in here." I decided. Nate looked at my untouched food.

"Can I eat that?" He asked with a mischievous smile. I pushed the plastic plate towards him and stood up.

"Don't get caught." He advised.

I shot one look at Axel whose eyes seemed to follow me as I left the cafeteria and headed back to my room so I could retrieve the ring from my trunk.

"Williams!" I halted on the spot, standing to attention for one of the privates.

"Phone call for you." I rolled my eyes but followed him to the office anyway.

I spent fifteen valuable minutes of precious time updating my uncle on all things bootcamp and discussing the legal matters of my co-defendants case. Only then was I finally allowed to continue my mission.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" Caitlin distracted me.

"I have to do something, and I'm on a time limit." I rummaged around in my trunk looking for the loose bit of metal that I threw in there between a pile of clothes.

"Oh my god, is that what they were searching for? Whose ring is that?" She exclaimed coming closer and grabbing it out of my hand to inspect it.

"Shh. Don't tell anyone." I warned ignoring her questions.

"No wonder they conducted a whole search party. The diamonds on this are unreal! Whoever this ring belongs to must like diamonds." She gushed.

I took the ring back and slotted it inside my bra.

His annoying words floated back into my mind.

"You're not a diamond among the rocks."

"You don't say." I muttered quietly, rising to my feet before my own mind could tarnish him enough to not want to give his ring back.

"I'll be back soon." I told Caitlin, leaving the shed and ducking through the hedge to the staff quarters.