Eight

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?