Logan could only imagine. His years in the military had taught him to put his ego aside, though, for the good of his team. For the first few months, he’d doubted the oracle’s wisdom in setting him up as their leader. Needless to say, it hadn’t been an easy transition for him.
Hell, it still wasn’t. More than anyone, he knew the pitfalls of being a leader. It only took a few near-miss missions before Logan accepted his new fate. In order to do the oracle’s work, they needed to be a team. And he was the only one of them with any leadership experience at all in that type of role.
“We going again?” Gideon asked. He pulled his shoulder-length hair away from his face and wrapped a leather band around it.
“I’m game,” Vice said.
The thought tempted Logan. They didn’t have access to the hellhounds often, so having one to train with helped hone their skills. With their Goddess-given gifts, hellhounds were formidable foes. His team needed to be sharp, and hellhounds were the biggest challenge they had.
They’d had a long week, though, and with only Scout, Gideon, and Aleron present, it didn’t make sense to push them harder.
“Nah. Let’s order pizza.” The scent of it still wafted to his nose, and he’d not eaten since lunch. He craved some good-old delivery-style pizza. He should be annoyed that one of them had been so easy to hunt because of the strong scent. Probably Scout. The kid never seemed to stop eating.
Then again, that orange-scented bodywash had Aleron written all over it. He’d save the nag for another day when he’d use their scents against them in a training class. He grinned again. That would be a fun one.
“Whoop!” Scout shouted excitedly and leaped over the railing. He landed on one of the upper barriers they used as mock-buildings before flipping and landing in front of them in what could only be described as a superhero landing.
Logan growled as yet another training opportunity presented itself.
“Shit. I did it again.”
“You land like that, you break a leg or ruin your knees. Do it again.”
Scout groaned but darted away. Moments later, he’d reset at the doorway to the control room. He repeated the same move, except this time when he landed, he rolled, letting the impact spread throughout his body and not focus on one leg.
“Better. I see it anymore and I’ll have you doing a hundred reps. We clear?”
Scout nodded.
It wasn’t the first time he’d had to prove to Scout that everything in the movies wasn’t real. He’d actually pulled up some behind-the-scenes footage and shown him the rigging that allowed the stunt performers to pull off the moves. Scout absorbed every bit of training like a sponge, even if he still messed up on occasion. Logan never forgot how young and untrained Scout was when they’d met.
The youngest member of their team had been a surprise late-addition by the oracle. Logan hadn’t even known the young man would be at the mission, but he’d proved invaluable at the last minute. Scout looked even younger than his twenty-two years, which came in handy when their missions took them to places inhabited by those younger than the other members of the team.
He’d also been a much-needed buffer between the other team members. He’d become their mascot, in a way, and his addition had helped them gel into a true team. Scout absorbed every lesson they taught him, from Gideon’s expert blade work to Aleron’s observation skills. Logan worked with him on tactics and hand-to-hand fighting.
“Pizza ordered,” Aleron said. “As a side note, there are a multitude of cuisines in the world. I’d love it if we had something other than pizza once in a while. Why not shake things up and order sushi?”
“Because I eat sushi and five minutes later I’m starving,” Gideon said.
“True story,” Scout said. “We could do hibachi or something, though. Grandpa Logan over there would approve. All major food groups are represented.”
Logan grabbed Scout in a headlock to protest the teasing. “One, I’m only a few years older than you, brat. Two, dairy isn’t in hibachi.”
“It is if you drown your rice in yum yum sauce like I do.”
“Wrong. Try again.” Logan finally released Scout from his hold and got a scowl from his teammate. The young wolf still had a lot to learn where self-defense was concerned, but he’d come a long way in the past few months.