We take Dario’s car home – most of the time we come together and take turns driving. “Did you have training today?” I ask him. “I think you mentioned that Beta Vincent is training you in the morning.”
“I did,” Dario says, not adding any more.
“Good or bad?” I ask carefully, not sure if his silence means he doesn’t want to talk about it. He is more introverted than I am and doesn’t waste many words in general.
Obviously, I am the chatterbox of the family. Mom and I both are.
“Neither,” he says. “Beta Vincent is a good mentor, though. I am probably going to learn more from him than from Dad.”
“You do know that Dad didn’t quit training you because he thinks you aren’t good enough, don’t you?”
“I am the only one, though,” he says.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I argue. “He explained why. He thinks you need to build up more defensive moves, and that’s not his forte. That’s what Vince is good at!”
“It’s not his forte because he is an alpha,” he says, his voice calm. “But out of us six, I am the only one with that problem. He has trained all of our siblings, and he is training you.”
“You told me not to belittle myself,” I point out. “And to see my strengths instead. How about you do the same?”
“Throwing my own words back at me,” he smiles. “Serves me right.”
“We really need to get our minds off our problems,” I say.
“Yeah.”
We drive the rest of the way in silence, but that’s not unusual for us. We don’t always need words to feel comfortable with each other. When we arrive at the pack, the sun is already setting, meaning the packhouse is less busy. Dario and I make a beeline for our rooms to drop off our stuff and to take an extra set of clothes just to be sure.
On our way out, we bump into our father. “You snuck in and are sneaking out again,” he chuckles.
“Sorry,” I grin. “We wanted to go for a run.” I halt. “Don’t tell me I forgot something again! Goddess, I did, didn’t I?”
“You didn’t,” he reassures me. “Have fun. Oh,” he pauses. “Didn’t you have your statistics lecture today?” Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Dario shaking his head subtly. Dad frowns, looking a tad confused, but then smiles. “Forget it. It’s not important.”
I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I don’t want to be so oversensitive that I can’t talk about college, but on the other hand, I appreciate that he didn’t push.
“Oh, Dario,” Dad says before we can leave. “Gisela was looking for you.”
Dario perks up. “Awesome! Is she still around?”
“She is training.”
With that, we finally make our way out of the packhouse. Dario wants to go to see Gisela first. She is one of our friends, though technically she was Charlie’s friend first. She looks like a delicate little angel with her wavy, blonde hair and her big, blue eyes, but she is vicious in the best way possible! Recently, she began the warrior training in my brother’s pack and came to us for a couple of months to train here.
“Man, Liam must really think she is talented if he sent her here,” I say.
“Yeah, he wants her to train with the lycans,” Dario explains. “He is hoping she will soon be able to join the advanced warrior training.”
“Really? How do you know?”
“I asked Liam,” he says.
I grin. “Didn’t expect such a simple explanation.”
When we arrive at the training hall, Gisela instantly notices us. Beta Vincent is leading the training, and they are currently having a short break. She uses it to dash towards us like a whirlwind, hugging Dario and slapping my shoulder. “I got what you asked for, Dario,” she proclaims. “Here.”
She tosses a bag at him. “You got it?” he beams.
“Yes, Limited Edition and all!”
