Alone • Liam Dunbar

Five

I sigh as I crouch in front of her, my hands hanging from my thighs. Lori's high chin falls as she realizes I'm not buying into her puppy dog appeal, able to see her weariness clearly.

"There's nothing wrong with admitting when you need to stop," I say gingerly, hoping my tone could battle the lecturing nature of my words. Lori's expression shifts to something somber.

"You don't need to stop," she mumbles, her fingers fiddling with the fraying edges of her wraps as a distraction. I make a mental note to buy her new ones.

"I've been doing this a little bit longer than you have." I chuckle lightly at her ambition.

Lori was unaware of the details of my past with the Argents. It wasn't something necessary for her to hear, nor was it something I wanted to relive. But, by leaving it out, it made her clueless to the fact that my skill set wasn't acquired in the most healthy of ways. She didn't have any reason to compare us, especially because I couldn't even imagine using Gerard or Kate's methods of teaching on her in a million years. 

"Everyone needs a break, even me. There's no shame in it," I tell her. 

"Is that you don't carry your daggers anymore? You're taking a break?" Lori wonders. 

"Something like that," I answer her vaguely, not wanting to dive into the gritty details. 

Lori never saw me as a cold-blooded killer that hunted down her kind. She only saw me as a hunter that fought for them. She heard the way her pack used to talk about me, but never saw with her own eyes the things I had done, and it made her image of me almost an illusion. There was something inside of me that once sought comfort in destruction, and peace in thinking of myself as nothing more than another weapon that waited to be wielded, so not using the tools of death was more than "taking a break". It was a way to combat that very thing inside of me.

Lori's eyes travel across the room, looking at the displayed dagger the Calaveras gifted me. 

"I want a dagger," she murmurs. 

"You have claws," Brett remarks as he overhears his sister, his voice dripping with amusement. 

"Daggers are cool." Lori shrugs defensively. 

I laugh at the idea of her running around in her shifted form with a dagger. The image was entirely ridiculous, but I didn't berate her for it. She deserved to have such childish wishes. 

"Tell you what, once we complete your training, I'll give you one of mine." 

Lori's eyes widen gleefully. "Are you serious, Jac?"

"I would never lie to you, chīsana hato." I smile down at her. 

"Does that mean we can keep training then?" she asks, still trying to test the boundaries. 

I frown, giving her another stern look. 

"Eventually, you'll learn to take it," I say, rising from the floor. I hold my hand out to her, a gentle offer. "But you can't do that without rest." 

Lori nods, a little defeated but still accepting. She places her hand in mine and allows me to pull her up. I reach out to ruffle her dampened hair afterward, earning a soft laugh in return. Brett stands, too. He stretches as he gets up from the couch, his bones audibly popping.

"Technically, you can rest after you've done your homework," he teases his sister. Lori lets out a dissatisfied groan in return, throwing her head back in exhaustion. 

Brett and I shake our heads fondly at her understandable reaction, though, our attention shifts away from Lori as the door to the loft slides open. We all turn in its direction, finding Liam waiting on the other side.