Page 1 of His Sunshine Baby (The Silver City #2)

I throw a new punch, hitting my target right in the stomach. He takes a couple of steps back, catches his breath. I don’t give him any rest and change position for a side kick. This time, he sees it coming and uses his hands to shield his flank. Never mind, I shift my balance at the last second, and my other foot flies to hit him right in the head. He’s sent flying away while I fall back on my feet.

I hear a whistle of admiration but ignore it to walk to my opponent. That last one was a bit too much, I think.

“Are you okay, kid?”

“Yeah, I’m a bit dizzy. You got my jaw, but damn Elena, that was a cool move. You have to teach me that last one.”

I can’t help but smile. He is a good kid. No matter what, he never complains. I hand him a water bottle while he sits up. We have been at it for twenty minutes at least, that should be enough. I start unwrapping my hand wraps and head to the gym entrance. Daniel is waiting for me on a bench.

“Someone is in top shape today,” he says while staring at the teen still in the boxing ring.

“Danny, you know I hate when you whistle while I fight!”

“You were done. And I can’t help it, you were smoking hot and fierce. It was so exciting!”

I roll my eyes. He sees me fighting almost every day, how does he not get bored? I grab my Adidas jacket, but just when I am about to head to the shower, I notice a figure entering the gym.

“Damn,” I mutter.

“Elena!”

Crap, the Alpha looks angry. I lower my head, waiting for the storm. Danny just froze, too. We already know what he is about to say, but we can’t avoid it. My wolf is already on all fours, annoyed, but I must tame her. The Alpha almost runs up to me, furious.

“How many times do I have to tell you? You are supposed to train him, not kick his ass in front of everyone!”

Everyone? There are only half a dozen people in the room! Aside from Daniel, two guys are lifting weights, and a young she-wolf is shadow boxing in the next ring. And none of them cares whether I beat Chris or not. The kid runs up to us as soon as he hears his father’s yelling. Despite his swollen cheek, he steps in between his father and me.

“Father, stop it! I asked Elena to do this! Everyone already knows I’m not strong enough, how can I get stronger without getting my ass kicked?” Chris says.

“You’re my son! How am I supposed to face the rest of the pack if my own son gets his ass beaten in front of the whole pack!”

Here we go again. The Alpha hates when I show my strength and am stronger than his son. But Chris is four years younger than me, and he doesn’t even have an adult body yet. He’s good enough for a boy his age.

I have a hard time containing my wolf. I’m not happy about this scolding either, but I don’t want to make a scene. The Alpha hates it no matter who I train anyway. Even with the youngsters, I am supposed to train them without fighting or just let them win. I only agreed to fight seriously today because Chris insisted, a lot. Usually, I would only fight other warriors of the pack, and I would still be holding myself back against them. But no one is blind. They all already know I’m way stronger than most. Our Alpha is the only person who wants to keep up appearances.

“I’m sorry, Alpha.”

I may as well submit right away. Otherwise, this will go on for hours, and I can’t take my shower until then. His father growls, but Chris pushes me to go.

“Father, can I talk to you?”

I gave Chris a silent thanks with a nod. I know his dad will yell at him for being weak, but he is ready to endure it so that I can go. A really good kid. Daniel follows me into the ladies’ changing room when the yelling starts again from behind us. We both ignore it.

Daniel waits until the shower is running to talk from behind the curtain, ensuring the Alpha can’t hear us.

“Seriously, I have never seen an alpha with such a stupid inferiority complex! Why does he always have to take it out on you?”

“Danny, Chris is the one getting scolded right now. I’m good.”

“I don’t care, Elena. You or the kid, same thing. Why can’t the Alpha leave you alone!”

I leave Daniel to his rambling, ignoring my best friend to focus on the cold water running on my skin. The feeling is amazing. While the water chases the heat and the sweat from my body, I do a quick check-up. I have a bruise on my left side, but that’s it. Well, Chris is getting better. A few months ago, he couldn’t even hit me. I’m proud of my student.

Danny hands me my towel when I come out. It’s still early in the morning, and now that I’m all cleaned up, I’m starving.

“Do we have time for breakfast?” I ask while grabbing the clothes in my bag.

“Let’s drop by George’s. I can text him our order. What do you want?”

While we argue about what to eat, I put on my baggy jeans, a gray tank top, and a large hoodie. Danny makes an annoyed face.

“What’s with the boyish clothes? Why don’t you ever show off those curves and abs?”

I ignore him. We have this same argument every day, but no matter how much my best friend hates my style, I ignore it. I like comfy street clothes! And I hate showing off my body. I don’t need other people to look at me. The more invisible I am, the better. Daniel keeps complaining until I cut him off.

“Danny, shut up. You’ll get to dress me up when we go out, okay? Can we go now?”

He pouts, but at least he is not complaining. Instead of drying my hair, I just put it up with a pin. We are in June anyway; it will dry in no time. We leave the clan’s gym and get into Danny’s car. It’s an old Toyota. He bought it two years ago from one of the old guys from the pack. It was a rubbish car, but Danny managed to make it decent by covering the cigarette burns, adding new tires and a radio, and painting the rusty parts.

I turn on the radio as soon as we are inside. Of course, it’s an old Madonna song, Daniel loves her music. He starts humming along with “Holiday” as soon as we depart. I normally don’t drive, but I love riding in Danny’s car. I stare at the scenery outside. Living in the Arts District is like getting a free art museum tour every day. New waves of graffiti on every wall, weird pipe sculptures from time to time, and colorful houses. An old car was even emptied and transformed into an urban garden, flowers sprouting randomly all over it. I open the window to enjoy the morning breeze and sunshine. Danny is now happily singing “Like a Virgin.”

“Okay, let’s go out tonight, babe. I feel like dancing.”

“What about your exams?” I ask.

Danny is a nerd 80% of the time and a party animal for the rest of it. He is always the one to insist we go out, but also the first one to complain about his headaches before going to work. He is a biology student, but I bet none of his lab partners know that the lab rat loves going to nightclubs.

“They’re still a week away.”

I nod. Daniel is a straight-A student anyway, he will probably ace them like he always does whether we go out or not. I peek at my best friend while we are stuck in traffic. Daniel is the skinny type despite his efforts to build some muscle at the gym. But with his blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes, he is quite popular. I hate when he grows that stupid goatee of his, though. He’s too lazy to shave during the week, so he leaves it to grow wild and puts his hair back. He only dresses up for the weekend; otherwise, he picks whatever weird, patterned shirt he can find. Who said gay guys were stylish? Daniel is only good at complaining about my style.

“What is it, mesmerized by this handsome blondie?” he asks when he catches me staring.

“I was wondering when you are going to shave. You look like a caveman.”

“And you look like a boy. My sister gave you some actual women’s clothing. You know, the kind that is your size and doesn’t make you look like you live in a garage.”

I roll my eyes. Daniel hates my boyish clothes. I used to be much more feminine, and he misses that part of me. But that part of me is bound by some painful memories I don’t want to deal with.

“Okay, you get to dress me up tonight, if you shave off this beard.”

He makes a victory sign in the air.

“Moon Goddess, yes! My girl is going to be so hot with her heels, skirt, and makeup! The poor men of Silver City better get ready, I am taking an anatomic bomb to the dance floor tonight! We need to show off those killer legs! Come on, Madonna, I need to sing it. Where is that song again?”

I laugh when he starts making ridiculous dance moves to match ‘Vogue’ ’s beat. I love Danny exactly for this. No matter what, my best friend has no sense of shame. He does whatever he wants and doesn’t care what other people think, even when he’s dancing to some pop music while singing loudly with the car windows down. I keep laughing and start singing my heart out with him.

We act like teenagers until we reach George’s restaurant. I can’t stop laughing at Danny’s singing as we walk in. From behind the counter, George smiles.

“Into the groove so early in the morning? You two are in high spirits!”

“It’s Friday, and I am taking this lady dancing tonight,” says Daniel.

“Really? You should go to Pepe’s club then. It’s Pride-themed all month, and he misses you guys.”

“Sounds good. And Daniel loves Latinos.”

I wink at my best friend, who nods with a sneaky smile. Daniel’s favorite type of man is easy to remember. If they are tall, Latino, and muscular, he falls in love within minutes. George takes out two boxes with our order and clicks his tongue.

“Come on, Danny, you should find one for Elena first.”

“No, no, George. Dancing is fine, but no guys. I can enjoy myself just fine on my own,” I reply.

“Oh, come on, girl. You should give it a try sometime! A guy asked for your number again this week.”

“Was he handsome?” Daniel asks.

“Not really. And I already told him you wouldn’t be interested, sweetie, don’t worry. But if you ever change your mind about the whole I don’t need a man thing, let me know! I kept some of the numbers from the cutest guys.”

He gives me a wink and turns around to prepare our coffees. Daniel pouts.

“I hate it. Why do I have to be the sexy blonde’s friend? Why don’t I get phone numbers?”

“First of all, I’m not sexy. Second, George said the guy wasn’t that cute. And third, you’re blonde and popular too. Who was kissing that hot Brazilian guy last weekend? What happened to him?” I ask.

“Hernando? He’s from Mexico, and he wasn’t that hot.”

That’s Daniel for you. He falls out of love just that quickly. Sometimes, I wonder if he doesn’t do it on purpose because of me. He knows I don’t want a boyfriend, but he wouldn’t stick to one-night stands just because of me, right?

We pay and leave with our breakfast to eat in the car. Cinnamon roll for me, veggie bowl for Daniel, and black coffee for the both of us. It’s a ten-minute ride to my school, and I’m done way before Daniel drops me off in the parking lot. I grab my bag from the back seat and kiss him on the cheek.

“I can meet you at the lab later. My classes finish at 5 p.m.”

“You better bring coffee with you!”

I nod. This is our usual routine. We repeat this conversation every morning. The car starts again, and Daniel heads off to the science university a few streets away. I take my cap out of my bag and put it on as I head to the business school.