The Unfortunates | COMPLETED

Part 12

"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 goal.

Kate hesitantly goes towards Avery with her knives and tries to stab at her, which Avery blocks with her own blade.

"Be confident in your movements," Avery announces across the hall.

Kate tries again, this time getting closer to piercing Avery's skin.

"Good, keep going. If you can't hurt me, tire me out," Avery says softly, watching the girl observe her movements, before pivoting on her foot and slashing at her.

She catches Avery on the arm, and much to her horror, blood spurts from the wound.

"Oh my god, I'm so so sorry, are you okay?" Kate gasps, dropping her knives and throwing her hands up.

Avery looks at her with a small smile, holding her arm.

"Well done. You observed me, and when you saw a chance, you attacked. That is what you'll have to do," she beams, before turning to the rest of the hall and clearing her throat.

Even over the music, everyone hears her, turning to pay attention, all except one pair, who quickly stop fighting when everyone stares at them.

With mumbled apologies, the two join everyone else watching Avery and Kate.

"Who here managed to injure their sparring partner?" Avery asks, and three hands raise.

"Who didn't want to injure their sparring partner?" Avery continues, and almost every hand raises immediately.

"You shouldn't spar with your friend. You're more likely to go easy on them, which means neither of you will be challenged to your full ability. Choose someone you don't speak to, and I mean it - if you pick your friend, you will run laps of this hall until I decide to let you stop," she warns sternly, and everyone quickly finds a new partner.

"Kate here observed me, and when she saw an opening, she didn't hesitate. This is an example of what you should all be able to do, and I applaud Kate for having the guts to attack me, a Deputy Alpha, when most of you couldn't even fight each other," Avery scolds, before shooing Kate into the crowd of her peers, and picking up the four hunting knives.

"Turn around, walk three paces to the left, and find your new partner," Avery shouts, as she walks towards the rack of weapons to put the knives back.

As the second round of sparring commences, Beta Ryan taps Avery on the shoulder gently, so as not to startle her and end up with a snapped neck, or a slit throat.

"You have excellent leadership skills," he compliments, and she nods.

"I know. I'm an Alpha in all but title," she responds before she walks up and down the aisles of the fighting pairs.

Ryan walks with her, his eyes roving over some of the fighters.

"We're supposed to be grooming some of these kids to be warriors," he sounds miserable, "but very few are up to standard."

Avery watches him out of the side of her eye, before she fixes a teenager's posture, and corrects a punch for another.

"They need to be let experience fighting. They should be shown examples. That boy fighting me in the cage was an example. They need to practice and learn theory too, but they need to be able to put their theory into practice." Avery states and Ryan raises an eyebrow.

"It's traditionally the Gamma who oversees training, especially for the youths. He had told us they were ready for trials in a few months," Ryan grumbles, catching a flying shoe, and throwing it back to its owner.

"If they go to the trials, they would be crushed, and your pack would be shamed for sending them," Avery shrugs, her blunt tone catching the ears of Alpha Roman, who grits his teeth.

"What would you do to prepare them?" He asks, appearing beside Beta Ryan, who looks particularly uncomfortable being between the two dominant creatures.

"Change their routine, schedule, and training," Avery responds, her face set like stone.

"I can't believe you let your warriors drop to this standard," Avery shoots at him, and she isn't lying, or being unnecessarily cruel - every Alpha she has worked with has teenagers training every day, as soon as they shift. The way these pups were falling around, it was as though they had been trained once a month.

"I have other responsibilities," Roman bites back, and Avery raises a brow.

"Responsibilities other than the protection of your pack, and the well-being of your future fighters?" She snarls, drawing attention to them.

Some of the teens look nervous, and all of them can feel the dominant energy rolling off of both Alphas.

Roman stares at her, growling under his breath.

Sonya scratches at Avery, begging to be let out.

This internal struggle causes her blue eyes to flash coal grey, her back tensing and getting ready to shift if needed.

"I am a peacekeeper," Roman rumbles, "I do not fight. My pack keeps the peace with others."

Avery isn't impressed by his attempt at explaining his poorly-trained warriors.

"How are they supposed to be paraded into warzones if they can't even defend themselves against their peers?" Avery hisses, getting closer to Roman, who stands his ground.

Beta Ryan looks between the two, clearing his throat gently.

"Maybe you two should discuss this later?" He suggests softly, well aware of the many listening young ears.

The two Alphas look around, both of them tightly wound and ready to spring at each other.

Beta Ryan is extremely amused - nobody can usually provoke his Alpha like this. Roman is a peacekeeper for a reason, and that reason is that he never gets angry or riled up.

"Good idea, Ryan," Avery nods, realising and feeling instantly bad that the children heard her demean their skills.

She walks to the top of the room, noticing some of the children look a little downtrodden.

"So, I think we should make this a daily thing while I'm here," she begins, "all of you have improved in the last hour. Girl with blue hair, your defence is so much better than it was. Boy in the red shirt, yes, you, you need to be more confident in your abilities, but you have a lot of potential."

She continues this way until nearly every teenager has received a compliment on something.

She walks up to Kate, and gives her a pat on the back, before walking over to Marcus, who had managed to creep back into the room.

He looks at her with plain disgust, but his disgust is mixed with fear now.

"Learn how to respect people, or you'll never achieve Chief Warrior," she hisses, slamming his mouth closed by his jaw.

 "Work on your endurance, because your strikes are good," she adds grudgingly, strolling out of the main door.