The Alpha Trials

Chapter 17

After the rest of the day's classes, I had gleefully showered and changed into the clothes that Tristan had brought for me. All while waiting for Dariya to leave the showers.

I knew she was going to have questions for me. Some that I could answer, and some that I wouldn't even know where to begin with.

How did I explain to her everything that had taken place?

As she walked out of our shared bathroom fully clothed, she walked over to her dresser without a word and pulled a brush out to begin going through her long hair. Her back was to me, but I could almost feel the unspoken questions she had been dying to ask me.

Maybe she was just as nervous to ask the questions as I was to try and answer them.

Finally, she slowly turned to face me, brush still in hand as though she was intending to use it as a weapon. Her eyes slid up to mine and stayed there for a moment before she spoke. "If you're to be the next alpha female, and I'm to be the next beta female, I think we make a pretty formidable team already."

Now that was probably the last thing I had expected her to say. Nothing about Tristan, or about Beta Logan, or the captain. She hadn't asked what the circumstances were that I had found myself in this mess, or how she had gotten tangled into it as well.

I sat on my bed with my mouth slightly agape, knowing damn well she had just cornered me with a question. "Really? That's all you have to say about everything that happened last night?"

Dariya scoffed a laugh and moved to go and sit on the bed opposite from my own. "I mean come on, Brynn. If you think about it a little more it makes sense. How else would you have known how to guide our team through the first challenge? You heard them, it was record time. Not to mention the fact that you haven't been flat out killed despite having no real skill in anything except for military history and strategy."

"Ouch, thanks for the honesty, Dar." The words were out before I could stop them, to which I quickly slapped a hand over my mouth.

Fuck, she was going to think I was an asshole now.

Her brows furrowed and a small laugh slipped from her lips. "No problem, Alpha. Just doing my job as a loyal packmate." How brutally honest of her. That could be something I could count on having when I took over one day. She would make my life easier, assuming both of us made it to graduation and assumed the roles that had so kindly already been selected for us.

A moment of silence hung over the two of us, before she read my mind and started talking again. "It's kind of fucked of them to pick roles for us. I'm not complaining or anything, but if you'd asked me two weeks ago if I thought I'd ever be in a captain rank, let alone a Beta, I'd have laughed at you," she started, before her brows furrowed again. "How does one even swear off taking a mate? How did Beta Logan just get the choice to not have a mate? Did he conference with the moon goddess herself?"

The laughter that followed from both of us felt natural, and I loved it.

"Did he say anything to you last night? About what you'd be doing to earn your rank? Beta Logan doesn't exactly strike me as the best conversationalist," I grinned, watching her rollq her eyes.

"Then it seems you already know our fearless Beta all too well. Most of the walk back here was awkward silence that made me want to rip my hair out. He acted like he was afraid of me or something. He only told me to be ready tonight for some extra training, whatever the hell that means." There was heavy sarcasm layered onto her words, and she seemed just as amused as her tone suggested.

Now that was something I hadn't been expecting. Last night, Dariya had been nothing short of terrified of the Beta as she'd followed him out. Or maybe that had just been because Tristan's actions were about as warm and comforting as a shard of ice.