No matter how hopeless I felt it was to attempt to teach Aleks things he did not have any sort of natural talent for, I did not want to give up on the boy.
It was still important to me to try to give him a role that was significant; something that he could use to establish himself as a respectable member of the pack, in a role that was more suited to him than trying to act like a younger version of his uncle.
I didn’t want to make it obvious, but I hoped that he could see that this as my attempt to help him, and that developing these skills was something Ares would truly appreciate.
If he was able to learn these things, he would be able to protect our pack in a way that was particularly important to Ares.
The trouble was, he was truly abysmal.
I had felt this awful pang of guilt when
