3-4 I shake myself from my thoughts. I have no control over how they act. I am not the cause for everything that they do. They have jobs to do and got serious about them is all. They are going to start the transition soon and they know they can’t mess around anymore.
“Will Jena and Lil be next to the Cunnignham’s room, or are they on the other side of the hall? I don’t know if I want anyone near them for an extended period of time.”
“They have three rooms at one end of the hall. I will put you girls at the other end, but I think that will work in our favor since you will be closer to the third floor staircase. Maybe it will derail Kaley’s actions. We should check in with Lucas too, just to see if he has had contact with Warrior Brogen about your prisoner. Anything from him on your current situation?”
“I haven’t heard from him. Either of you had orders?” I look at my friends, who both shake their heads. “Weird. I told him we would wait for orders, maybe he wants us to just stay put. Maybe they caught up with rogues too and are tied up at the moment. We’ll give it twenty four hours and then I will check in again.”
The three of us start to move towards my door when Luna Ava laughs. “Girls, you have been at this roughing it thing for too long. Stay here and shower, change, and for the love of my sanity please tell me if any of the blood you are covered in is yours. We can meet with Lucas when you’re done. Slow down, there is nothing rushing you right this moment. You could all actually rest. I think I heard you have been up for almost two days.”
We all look at each other. I know for me it’s the first real look I’ve given my friend’s since we met up with the rogues in the forest. We look like a hot mess warmed over. Even though we are all in our standard issue black uniform, it is apparent that we were tumbling around in the dirt. There are still leaves and twigs in both girl’s hair, so I can safely assume I have them in my hair too. The finishing touch is the streaks of blood we all have on our necks and hands. There is splatter across Lil’s face and Jena looks like she’s a vampire rather than a werewolf.
We all start laughing unreasonably hard. This should not be funny at all, but none of the guys said a thing to any of us about it. Although that may explain some of their reactions and the way they were talking to us.
“Sky, your clothes are still in the closet, but I dare say you have filled out in your time away. Look at these muscles.” She smiles at me. “Let me see what I can dig up for you ladies.”
We each make quick work of showering the battle off of us. Luna Ava brought us all clothes in every shade except black. I just rolled my eyes and laughed at the options, then we all fought over the darkest colors. I ended up in navy blue leggings with a white t-shirt. Jena got the black leggings and a red t-shirt. Lillian got gray joggers and an orange t-shirt.
“It’s so weird to be wearing colors. I almost feel too bright.” Lillian laughs
“I’m starving, let’s go see if we can grab some food before we head out.” I lead the girls out the door. I half expected the guys to be waiting in the hallway like they used to, but no one was there. I am actually a little disappointed and then angry at myself for feeling that way. I left to follow my dreams, I can’t expect them to just sit around and wait for me. I mentally shake myself and head downstairs. We all slow down as we hear voices coming from the kitchen.
“Daddy, fix this! She can’t be here, she’s a nuisance and she will mess up everything like always.”
“I will do everything I can sweetheart, you know that, but we can’t just attack her. She’ll be gone soon enough with her warrior missions.”
“Why not? Everything was better when she left. The pack was getting back to what it should be. She was making people rebel against me and as Luna I can’t have disloyal people in my pack.”
“I know sweetheart, and when you are Luna you can put her on an assignment somewhere out of the way, but for now tread carefully. She’s a favorite, whether it was earned or not, it’s a fact.” A groan like screech comes out of Kaley’s mouth and I decide I have heard enough.
The three of us walk in and I head straight for the pantry. “I hope Lenny left something good to eat!” I say to my friends pretending like the Cunninghams aren’t even in the room. “She always made the best snacks, but she had to hide them from the guys because they would eat them all in one sitting.”
I grab random things and hand them over then turn to walk out. She’s not worth my time and no longer a threat. I will beat her ass if she so much as approaches me aggressively. I am done with her and her rumors and threats.
We step out of the door and I take in a deep breath. The smell was so calming and comforting, this is home. The forest, the people, I can even smell the training grounds. This is my forever place, but I’m still tied to the Royal pack and the warrior compound too. It’s so weird to know that and have no idea what it means all at the same time.
Now I am curious, and have no desire to be in the packhouse if Kaley and her dad are there coming up with ways to get rid of me. So we ate and we walked the short walk over to the training grounds. I am giving a running commentary of the pack as we go. I hear a lot of noise as we approach the smallest of the three arenas.
“What in the world? It’s the middle of the day, what’s going on here?” I ask no one in particular. We walk through the gate and what I see stops me in my tracks.
All of my guys are working with groups of pups in the middle of the day on a weekday. What is happening? There’s never been training in the middle of the day before.
I walk over, waving at Delta Kyle. “What is all of this?”
“This is all you kiddo.”
“What are you talking about?” I look around as I ask him.
“You inspired a lot of things here. We train instead of doing gym class with the pups now and all of the upperclassmen volunteer to help throughout the week. With all of the little attacks and you being gone, we have all bonded being here. I think it makes the kids feel safe being able to fight. And they know you’re at warrior training getting better and they want to do the same.”
“You’ve had attacks? I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, nothing major, but attacks nonetheless. Some houses and properties have been damaged, but I think you found that out too.” He looks at me pointedly.
“Yeah, we got the idea.” Lil speaks up. “Lillian, Elite Warrior, nice to meet you officially.”
“Oh, I am so sorry! This is Lil, one of the elite warriors on my team, this is Jena, another warrior on my team, but she is also the Alpha of the Black Diamond Pack. This is Delta Kyle, Sam’s dad. Is there anything we can do? We are waiting for orders right now so we are at a stand still. And none of us could sleep if we wanted to in the middle of the day.”
“Do you really want to help?”
“Of course. What do you need?”
“Well you are somewhat of a legend here. Some of these pups have never seen you in action. What do you say to a game of capture the flag?”
