Roman eyes both women carefully.
Avery looks slightly amused, keeping her gaze fixed on the woman, looking straight through Roman.Amelia is seething, snarls leaving her mouth.Roman sighs, shaking his head at them both."Mother, being an Unfortunate isn't a terrible thing," he reprimands, before turning to Avery, "you need to work on your temper."Avery knows she does, so she stays quiet, instead opting to take a seat, watching Amelia like one would watch a tiger."How dare you defend her!" Amelia gasps, before storming out of the room in a huff."I'm very sorry about her," Roman states, before walking back to his desk, "since my father died, she has been prone to mood swings."Avery nods in understanding, "I heard about his death. We couldn't attend due to a rogue attack. My father always speaks of yours highly."With all of this being said, the two sit in silence for a moment."So, what's your favourite colour?" Roman asks, pulling out a ring binder with various coloured pages scattered throughout."I like grey," Avery shrugs, observing him frown a little, before leafing through his binder."Third floor, the grey room is yours for the week, then," he nods, standing up.She does the same, quickly following him as he strides out of the office with his ridiculously long legs. Pacing up the stairs, the two make it to the third floor in very little time.Roman strolls down a corridor and makes a few turns, Avery behind him, trying to memorise the twists.Eventually, after so much walking that Avery starts questioning how big this house is, he throws open a door.The room is flooded with light from its floor to ceiling windows, with white wooden furniture complimenting the soft grey walls. There are plenty of built-in wardrobes and drawers, much to Avery's delight - it makes her feel a bit better about overpacking so much stuff."I'll have your bags sent up. The teenagers will bring them up in a few minutes, I believe. They'll be interested in meeting you, I think they might think that you're a guy," Roman chuckles, and Avery gapes at him."You could have told them I'm female!" She cries out, shaking her head at him."That would ruin my fun!" Roman beams, "There's nothing else to amuse me, so teenage boys thinking that you are ALPHA Wilcott might inspire some enthusiasm.""I may as well be Alpha Wilcott," she sniffs, turning her back on him, and running her hands along with the blanket on the bed. To her delight, it's soft and silky."I'll be going now. You know where the office is. I'll send somebody to get you in an hour, and then we can go over the schedule for while you're here, if that suits you?" Roman continues, leaning against the door frame as he watches Avery in amusement."Yep, that suits me perfectly," she nods, eyeing the door attached to her room.Once Roman leaves, she flings open the door, finding a small bathroom."Oh." She says aloud, slightly disappointed. With the glamour of the room, she was expecting more. She's perfectly happy with her accommodation, but she thought maybe a claw foot tub, or a waterfall shower would greet her.Whatever, Sonya whines, can we explore outside now?Avery rolls her eyes, ignoring her wolf. She begins exploring her room, finding a home for everything.The bathroom is fully stocked with anything anybody could ever need - razors, a small sewing kit, painkillers, and an unusual amount of tampons. Eyeing the five boxes curiously, Avery decides she doesn't have the energy to get an answer about them.A knock on the door makes her sigh, shaking her head as she walks over to open it.Before she can even lay a hand on the handle, the door flies open, revealing five excited young teenage boys.Avery towers over all but one of them, staring down at them in mild confusion.They produce her bags, also looking very confused."They said the Deputy Alpha of Rapid Rock was here!" One of the boys gets out, with a big grin on his face."Where is he? Is he gonna train us?" A second blurts, and one of the others has a look of realisation dawn on his face."As your friend here just realised, I'm the Deputy Alpha of Rapid Rock," Avery sighs, running a hand through her hair, having forgotten it's in a rat bun.Her hand gets stuck, but she plays it off by holding the hand there and reaching up to take the hair elastic out with the other.Redoing the bun in total silence, she stares at the boys who are looking at her like she had a second head."Yes?" She asks, seeing a look of curiosity on one of the pups faces."Are you gonna train us?" He repeats the question one of the others asked earlier, and Avery observes them warily."Not that I know of. Your Alpha didn't mention that to me, so you'd have to ask him," she shrugs, leaning against her door frame as she kicks her bags backwards into the room.One of the boy's eyes flashes black, before returning to their original blue."He said you could if you want to," he beams, and Avery pauses.She wanted to train pups to be the best they could be.And she had the strength to beat Alphas, most of them, actually.Giving up a few hours of her week off to fight and practice wouldn't be a bad thing, she reasons.Show these babies what we're capable of, Sonya adds deviously, and then Avery knows."Okay. Tell him I'll do it," she decides, getting ready to walk back into her room, only to be stopped by the five boys quickly hurrying after her."When?" One asks enthusiastically.She feels flattered. She isn't sure the boys know that she's an Unfortunate, but nobody has been this enthusiastic about being trained by her in a while."Uh, I can start whenever?" She says awkwardly, turning around to unpack the bag she knows she put training gear into."Ten minutes?" One suggests, looking like he won the lottery."Sure? Tell your friends if they want to join," she mumbles and hears the scatter of feet run out of her room and close the door.What the hell had she gotten herself into?It was a minor miracle that she had a set of workout gear that matched.She had a lot of half sets with her, but none matched, bar the bubblegum pink set she had put on.Dousing herself in sunscreen, she eats some of the pretzels she got on their journey to here, rubbing her face to try wake herself up.Securing her bun with an extra hair tie, she laces her trainers on, and throws a sweatshirt over her sports bra - she isn't sure where these guys prefer to train, and if it's indoors, she'll probably be cold.Grabbing her phone, and securing it in the pocket of her leggings, she bounces out of her room, trying to figure out where the gym is.Sonya snarls at her, and Avery rolls her eyes, tapping into her sense of smell to find her way downstairs. She manages to catch Alpha Roman's scent, and decides to follow it - he was the one who brought her up through this maze, so he should lead her out of it.Following the trail intensely, she sticks to one side of the wall, noting the immense nu
As the kid advances, her referee clambers up into her post, waving at Avery frantically to beckon her over.Avery walks over to the girl, leaning down so that she can speak with ease."Hello Deputy Alpha, thank you for allowing me to take this position. His name is Marcus, he's 17, and he is training under the Chief Warrior to take his place soon," the girl whispers and then pauses, looking around as if trying to remember something. "And my name is Kate," she adds after a moment in the same hushed tone, giving Avery a small, nervous smile."Thank you, Kate," Avery gives her a toothy grin before turning around and walking to her corner, watching this Marcus boy.He looks devious, and Avery takes an instant dislike to him. He whips off his shirt and throws it out of the door of the cage as she did with her sweatshirt."Um, no killing, no maiming, no weaponry attacks in this fight. Each round will last four minutes, and there will be three rounds, and whoever can pin the other for more
Marcus jumps up and grabs onto the ceiling too, his long frame making it easy for him.He aims a kick at her midriff, which she blocks quickly. While she blocks that kick, he projects himself at her like a missile, using his weight to knock her to the ground."Bastard," she hisses as he kicks her in the side while she's on the ground.Grabbing one of his feet, she rolls and pulls him down, too, before leaping off of the ground, and giving him a hard kick to the side also.Well, one became four, but she stops after six, not wanting to be too unfair.Marcus struggles to get up, and Avery makes a note of this information.She quickly puts him into a chokehold, sitting down behind him as he hits and claws at her arms.She loosens her hold enough for him to be able to breathe a little easier, but she maintains her control on him.The whistle blows again, and Kate looks mildly baffled."The score remains One-Zero. There is no clear winner of this round," she declares, waiting for the pair t
"Go," Avery shouts, turning on some upbeat pop music.She walks along the lines of sparring teenagers, her eyes watching sharply for any mistakes, with Kate beside her."What should she have done there instead of punch?" Avery murmurs to her, pointing at a pair of girls."Kick, and then get out of the arm-span area of the opponent?" Kate suggests, and Avery nods in approval.Once they get to the end, they stop and turn to overlook the hall."Get two knives," Avery orders, then pauses, "actually, get four."Kate doesn't question it, quickly hurrying off the collect the four knives from the rack. She gets four hunting knives, long and light to carry.Once Kate comes back, Avery takes two knives and stares at her."Try to attack me. I won't harm you, but try to attack me," she says to the shy girl, and Kate takes a step back, shaking her head."If you're gonna be a tracker, your best defence is weaponry," Avery quickly adds, seeing the girl twitch - she knew that would be the teenager's
She doesn't remember most of the walk up to her room, because she was doing her best to contain her temper.She wishes she hadn't given out about the kids, in front of the kids - but she can't go back and stop herself now.They all seemed to brighten up when she complimented all of them, which is a thing she likes to do in her training sessions. Kids don't achieve their potential if they get shouted at all the time with no positive reinforcement.Stripping off her workout gear, she remembers she left her sweatshirt in the gym.Cursing herself, she writes it down on a post-it note - she'll get it after her shower.Snatching a towel from the wardrobe, and her shower products, she stomps into her bathroom, letting a screech of frustration out while the water heats up.She really couldn't believe how under-trained those kids were. Every pack does things differently, but she could beat the future Chief Warrior with minimal effort, and mild bruising.Closing the bathroom door, and locking i
Once the main course is finished, there's a short break between dinner and dessert.A number of mothers approach Avery, one or two concerned about her training tactics, another few asking her to keep an eye on their children.One even tells her her son's allergy, which confuses her - they're training, not eating nuts. Avery is polite throughout all of the encounters, even with the one where an entitled mother says her son should get extra training."Excuse me miss," Avery begins calmly, "your son is clearly embarrassed by you showing him up like this. I am giving up my personal time to train all of these children, and I owe you none of it."The mother tries to find something to scream about, but Avery sits in silence, staring at her. After two minutes of the lady staring at her, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, she walks back to her seat in silence. "My Chief Warrior would like to book an hour of your time tomorrow to organise a schedule for the week you're here, if you w
By the time she gets through some of her files and sends them on to York, two hours have flown by, and it's almost half eight.With a start and slight horror, Avery jumps up, remembering she was supposed to meet Roman half an hour ago.Slipping her feet into trainers, she hurries down the stairs, only realising when she's almost at the gym that she forgot to put on her sweatshirt or pyjama top.The tank top will have to do until she gets her sweatshirt.Knocking on the door of the gym, she quickly walks in, being greeted with the sound of fists hitting a punching bag with a significant amount of ferocity and anger.She raises a brow, skirting around to the cage to see if she can find her sweatshirt without being noticed.She wants to have a serious conversation, and that won't happen if this alpha is staring at her chest the entire time.A throat clears as she bends over to pick up her sweatshirt."You're late. And can you give me that?" Roman calls across the room, making Avery look
Avery finds herself back in her room with no recollection of walking back to it.Sonya is baffled, sitting silently while Avery's mind is blank."It was a good kiss for me not kissing back," she mutters out loud, laying on her bed.She puts Roman's sweatshirt down beside her, not sure what to do with it - she took it because she didn't know where to put it if she didn't.Sniffing at the hoodie, she still can't find a scent on it; it's as though Roman uses a scent-blocker.Laying there for a few minutes, Sonya starts getting restless, forcing Avery to get up.Can we go for a run?, Sonya pleads, and Avery silently consents, walking down the stairs to the main door."Hey, Avery," a voice shouts, and she spins around to see Carolyn floating out of a room she hasn't been in yet, a glass of wine in her hand."Do you want to come drink with us? Please say yes!" The coffee-skinned woman beams, bouncing over to her with surprisingly steady feet."I was gonna go on a run-" Avery starts, but Car