“Thank you Skylar. I know that wasn’t easy for either of you.” Alpha Lucas looks at me with sympathy.
I just nod and scrub my hands over my face. “I need to go workout or run or something, Alpha Lucas, what are our orders? I obviously have training to work on,” I say patting the wrapped book on the edge of his desk. “Is there anything else?”
“Warrior Brogen wanted you three to maintain your regular warrior training schedule and for you to focus heavily on Elena’s directions for you. He was not concerned with you being in school,” He rolled his eyes as we both remember Kevin’s suggestion last night, “But it might not be a bad idea for you to have a presence in the school. Those kids love you and seeing you back will motivate them to work a little harder in their own training. We need everyone ready, especially if the fight is coming here.” I nod at him.
“We could do a patrol in the school. I know they aren’t doing regular gym classes now that it’s being substituted with training to fit more time in. Jena could beef up security and monitoring too at the school and around the pack.” I look over at my friend. She still looks like she is in shock, but she makes eye contact with me and nods.
“Yeah. We should really look at all of that since there are so many ways to get into your pack because of the water access. I also don’t think Sky should be a part of the patrol loop. Don’t look at me like that, you know I’m right. Those d*ckheads are after you, you can’t deny it anymore. That is proof.” She points to the box, her fire is coming back. I know how she feels about being seen as a victim and feeling like a helpless girl. It makes her angry and she’s in a mood. “He may have been a backstabbing asshole, but he was the one person outside your team that got close to you. You don’t get to be reckless, you have to be smart. Do what you do best, analyze and give us a plan. Let the warriors do the patrols, you need to lead.”
The three men in the room are just watching us like a tennis match.
“Jena, I don’t want to be stuck here in lock down any more than you do.”
“Who said you would be in lockdown? Who is dumb enough to try that?” I tilt my head to the side and look around the room. “Well, men are stupid, so there’s that.”
“What am I supposed to analyze and plan?”
“We need to be in the school, Alpha Lucas said it himself, you get these kids motivated. We all need to be ready. Ready to fight, ready to protect. We need to have a plan to keep those kids safe, to keep your pack safe so they can make it through this.” Her eyes well up. I see what this means to her now. I move in to hug her. “They have to make it through this,” She whispers in my neck, “It can’t happen again.” She sniffles and then takes another deep breath before letting me go.
“Okay, I will go into the school, you should be with me, that way you can see what they are working with and update whatever is needed. I will keep Lil on patrol detail. It will allow us to cover more ground. Go catch up with Lil and the guys and take notes of the surroundings and we will get more border security. I really need to workout and figure out what Elena wants me to do.” I turn and look at the guys and Alpha Lucas. “Are you okay with that, sir? I’m not sure what plans you have for your warriors, but we brought this here, we really need to make sure it doesn’t cost any more lives.”
“Yes, Sky, that sounds good. Why don’t you go do your initial run around the pack Jena, and Sky after you go through your instructions from Elena we can all meet back here for lunch and Brett, Kyle, Daniel and I can go over our strategy with all of you.”
We all nod and I turn to Oliver, “Let’s go big guy, I need to hit something.” Everyone but Jena laughs, she knows what I mean.
“You aren’t going to fight me on following you around?” He sounds skeptical.
“No. One, you’d do it anyway, so there’s no point. Two, I have been tied up, tortured, beaten, starved and left for dead too many times. Clearly, I am not supposed to do things on my own and this is karma’s way of beating that into my head.”
He huffs a laugh and nods in agreement as I grab the wrapped book and head out of the room. I go to the kitchen, because I’m starving and Lenny still has the best breakfast ever. As I walk in she has a smile on her face as she hands me a full plate and then looks at Oliver behind me.
“I made you one too, Gamma.” She turns and grabs a plate that was hidden behind her on the counter. Oliver takes it with a surprised look on his face.
“Ummm, thank you Lenny.?” It sounds more like a question and she giggles.
“You are taking care of our Skylar here, not just in the mood to be lazy.” She winks at me. “Are you planning to be out all day? Should I make you lunch? You like to forget to eat when you are onto something and we can’t have that, Miss Skylar.”
“It might get a little busy, we just got orders and have things to do today. A lunch would be great Lenny, thank you. The rest of my team and the guys will be starving too, when they get back. We got sidetracked on the way down here before training. Can you make sure they eat too, please?”
“Of course, sweet girl. Now go eat, before you get busy and forget.” She winks again.
We sit at the table set near the retractable window wall and start to dig in. Lenny is a genius, this food is so delicious. She knows exactly what we need and when we need it. But, we aren’t two bites in when the unmistakable sound of heels comes down the tiled hallway. Knowing what’s probably coming I start to stuff my face.
“Lenny, I need an egg white omelet with one ounce of cheese and no extra fattening ingredients this time. Oh, and a coffee with two creams, two sugars, one pump of vanilla and one pump of caramel. And, make it fast I’m running late for school today.”
She still hasn’t noticed us, both Oliver and I have stopped eating and possibly stopped breathing to keep her from noticing us. “Lenny! Now!”
“Unfortunately the kitchen does not serve breakfast until 6am, I am still preparing. There is coffee in the pot over there, if you would like to pour yourself a mug.” Lenny says, as calmly as can be with her back to Kaley, while shooting me a side look that tells me she wants to smack this girl in the head for her manners.
“Why do I smell food then? It smells like people have already eaten in here.” Kaley places a hand on her hip stopping at the island where Lenny is prepping our lunch.
