A slightly uncomfortable silence follows his comment.

Our life has never been as uncomfortable as it has been since we came here, Sonya comments irritably, scowling.

Shut up, drama queen, is Avery's response, as she scowls as well.

"Are you gonna have them train after that?" Roman asks quietly, rubbing the back of his neck.

The back of his neck and his cheeks are slightly red, which makes Avery smirk - was he embarrassed, or did she make him nervous?

"I don't think so. When they get back from this round, I think I might just sit them down and talk to them about ethics or their futures or something," she mutters back, rubbing her temples gently.

She couldn't wait to get back to her room and have a bath, and she felt that longing with every fibre of her being.

"Yeah, you could talk to them about your position and how you got it," Roman chirps up, and Avery shoots him a look.

"Most Alphas don't know that information, so I'm not going to tell your teenagers," she responds with a slightly cold tone to her voice.

Roman goes quiet, and he looks slightly regretful.

Avery catches up to him, walking alongside him and matching her strides with his.

"How are you liking it here?" He asks awkwardly.

"It's too hot and too bright, and I haven't gotten to go to the beach yet because I have so much to do," she sighs, her words revealing her frustration.

"Well, tomorrow is our pack's day of rest. Why don't you take the day off, too, and we can go to the beach together?" He suggests, and she eyes him silently.

Like a date?, Sonya asks enthusiastically, practically scratching at the insides of her mental prison.

He has a mate, Avery reprimands, trying to figure out what to respond with.

She's dead, Sonya shoots back excitedly, and Avery is slightly appalled at her wolf's attitude.

Avery realises Roman is staring at her waiting for a response, and she blinks a few times, staring at him vacantly.

"Yeah, that should be good. I got nearly everything I needed to do done today anyway," she finally says back, nodding her head as she speaks as if trying to reassure herself.

As if? That's exactly what she's doing; she doesn't really do dates because she doesn't feel like she deserves to take the surrogate place of somebodies mate.

And it doesn't help that she has no idea if this is a date or a show-and-tell by the Alpha of the pack that she's visiting.

You make everything so complicated, Sonya sighs, shaking her head.

And I suppose you would just screw him and hope for the best, Avery scowls, clenching her jaw.

It has every other time we tried it, Sonya retorts smugly, and Avery can almost picture the expression on the wolf's face.

They arrive back to the area where the two girls are, and they lean against separate trees.

"So, will I meet you there? Do you know how to get to the beach?" He asks suddenly, and Avery shoots Roman a glare without turning her head entirely.

"I'll get Carolyn to show me," she mutters, and Sonya throws herself down in a huff.

But we won't get any saucy makeout sessions in the corners of the house then, Sonya whines, and her grumpiness is so pronounced, that a whimper escapes Avery's mouth, causing her to clap her hand over the bottom half of her face and stare ahead of her like it didn't happen.

The three other people present all stare at her in confusion and mild shock, but the sound of footsteps quickly deters them.

Exactly, you pigheaded bitch, Avery responds, gritting her teeth and then blowing her whistle to signal the wolves to stop where they are.

The group of wolves that arrived stumble to a halt, freezing in place once they stop.

Wolfheaded, Sonya corrects smugly, and Avery forms a mental block between her and her wolf so that she can't hear her anymore.

"Shift back, we aren't running any further today," Avery shouts, and the wolves scamper off in different directions, their tails between their legs at her high pitched tone.

Slowly, the amount of adolescent wolves increases, and as they shift and dress, they sit in rows in front of their Alpha and Avery.

"You guys can sit down now," Avery murmurs to the two Omega girls, who join the outskirts of the crowd silently.

"What do they do if they have no clothes?" One girl suddenly asks from the crowd, and Avery rolls her eyes.

"They go look for some. They have five minutes," she scowls, slipping back into Roman's hoodie.

"We're going to be talking to you about the future," Avery announces, "I want every single teenager that was here linked in with somebody so that they know what's going on. I'm doing this once, and then you guys can ask questions at the end."

There's a ripple of excitement that runs through the crowd, and everybody seems to sit up a little straighter.

"First, I'd like for us to run through some ground rules for not only these sessions, but also for your future roles, whatever they may be," Avery begins, noting the arrival of a few more wolves, who quickly shift and join the group.

"I don't want anybody talking when I'm talking. If you aren't going to pay attention, don't come, it's as simple as that. These sessions are not mandatory, and I don't particularly care if you show up. I'm as happy to teach five of you as fifty of you. So show some respect," Avery snarls, seeing a boy pale.

"I wasn't targeting anyone with that little speech, but now I know who to target," she smirks, cracking her knuckles.

"As Deputy Alpha Wilcott said, these sessions are not mandatory. If you don't want to come, you don't have to, but you should. This is a rare chance to see how another pack train and Rapid Rock is particularly well versed in fighting and tracking. If you don't show respect to Deputy Alpha Wilcott, however, you won't be allowed to attend," Roman announces, his face looking like it was carved out of stone.

"We don't believe in cheating. Today, one of your fellow teenagers, Henry, got stuck in the swamp and could have died because he tried to take a shortcut. This is not to be mocked; we are using him as an example. A lot of you would have done the same thing. I want this to be a lesson for all of you - he could have drowned before we got to him, and he would have lost his wolf," Avery states, and there's a ripple throughout the crowd.

A lot of the crowd looks appalled at the revelation, and there's a low buzz of chatter, which Avery expected and allows for.

It isn't every day that somebody nearly dies, and if it is, they aren't used as an example very much - it's usually considered rather rude, but Avery doesn't give a crap.