ROSE
I am beyond angry at what Rachel just did to me. Instead of heading to the CFO and COO offices on the other floors, I return to the basement to see Rolando to give him my official complaint for HR. As I exit the elevator, I can hear Rolando and Monica talking. As I get closer, I realize it is about me. Crap.
“Rolando, I wasn’t trying to snoop. It was on the locker room floor. I picked it up just to see what it was. Honest. How will she afford this? Maddie needs the school, but Rose is killing herself already to pay the tuition. What do we do?”
“You’ll do nothing,” I answer her question as I enter the room and take the tuition notice from her. Both sets of eyes snap over to me and widen in surprise at getting caught. “I’ll figure something out, I always do. It isn’t for you to worry about.”
“But…”
“No buts, Monica. I have someone helping me look into scholarships and other assistance. Everything will work itself out, you’ll see,” I say with a halfhearted smile.
“Mi bonita, we raise money, si?” Rolando says with a nod. I just sigh.
“I’ll think about it, okay?” I relent, simply because I just don’t have the energy to fight them. They love me and I love them, but this isn’t their concern.
Monica crosses her arms, and she gets that stubborn look in her eye that I am all too familiar with, “We aren’t letting this go, Rose. We will brainstorm and figure it out. You’re not alone, why do you always act like you are?”
“As much as I care for you both, you need to realize that I am alone. I’ve always been alone. Monica, you have your own school to deal with and pay for. Rolando, you have Maria and her health issues, plus all the grandkids. I am not either of yours’ responsibilities, neither is Maddie. So please, I beg you, don’t fight with me on this. Now, Rolando, I need to speak with you about an incident and place a complaint with HR please.” I say, trying to end this embarrassing conversation. I hate not being able to provide everything Maddie and I need.
Rolando moves back to his computer and opens up his HR link. I turn to Monica, “I appreciate the concern, Mon, I really do. Maddie and I are lucky you all care for us like you do. But I’ll handle it. You need to get to your route before you have your own HR complaint about laziness.” Monica just rolls her eyes at me and leaves.
I place my complaint and go into details about the incident with Rachel. Rolando is concerned about this coming back to bite me in the ass, but I don’t care. No one will make me feel unsafe at work. I’m totally screwed if it costs me my job, but staying quiet is how more bad things happen to good people. We have to let those in charge know when power is being abused, so changes can be made. Even if I’m not taken seriously, the next person might be because I started the ball rolling.
I finish up my route with no other issues. My mind is reeling though. The conflict with Rachel floating to the back of my mind, it is less important than the tuition problem. How will I afford this? I think about it all through the day and I have come up with zero solutions other than stripping and prostitution, both of which, are completely out of the question. I sigh as I change into my uniform for my second job and don my winter wear at the end of my shift. I head out to pick up Maddie from school, still chewing on the problem at hand, but with complete awareness of my surroundings.
Maddie is a bundle of bouncing energy when she emerges from the school building, like she always is after her day. She adores school. She had a pop quiz in Algebra that she aced, of course. She gave her presentation in English and the teacher loved it. Her fellow students apparently calling her a kiss-up, but she doesn’t care. She loves the praises from her teachers and seeing those big red As at the top of her papers.
I know the situation could change at any moment regarding her classmates though, so I listen intently, making mental notes on any kids she mentions and file them away for later. We walk hand in hand to Patty’s Diner where I wait tables until 9pm during the week, 10pm on weekends. We come through the doors and Patty, the owner, just beams down at Maddie.
“There’s my little genius Mad Hatter! Come give Patty Melt a big hug!” Patty has a thing with nicknames which I find adorable. Plus, she always finds a way to comment on Maddie’s brilliance and sweet personality versus beauty and that pleases me so much. Beauty fades, but a sharp mind and kind nature stays with us forever.
Maddie runs around the counter and engulfs Patty in a monster hug as I make my way to the back to put my things away and get my apron, waving hi at Stanley who’s manning the grill. I see Maddie settling into her little 2-person booth as she pulls out her homework and Patty sets chocolate milk and a fruit yogurt parfait in front of her as her snack. Maddie is chatting excitedly to Patty, telling her all about her good day and it makes me smile. I have to keep her in that school. She doesn’t have many friends, but the education she is receiving is top tier. Public school can’t come close to giving her what she needs.
I roll my shoulders back, pull out my notepad and greet my first table of customers for the night.
ROSE “Hi, welcome to Patty’s Diner. I’m Rose, and I’ll be your server today. Can I get you all something to drink?” I ask with a small smile as I look up at my table. “I don’t want a drink, but I’ll take your number, gorgeous.” A male voice on the right says with a snicker and his friends chuckle along with him. “Sorry, I don’t date customers. Drinks, gentlemen?” “Oh, I don’t want a date, just a quick fuck will suffice. Getting a break soon?” He replies lewdly at me, and I sigh in frustration. At least he didn’t say it loudly and catch Maddie’s attention. I don’t need her to overhear overt sexual comments directed at me. “Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave if you keep saying things that are inappropriate.” I say as I look the customer in the eye. I know my face is set grimly and coldly. The guy who has propositioned me couldn’t be older than 18 with dirty blond hair and light brown eyes. He’s a big guy but with n
TYSON I never like getting to the office so early. I am so not a morning person, but today is the completion of the purchase of Hard as Nails Security. They are a smaller security firm in our area that are in direct competition with my company, Evans Security. They’ve made several wrong investment decisions over the last few years and got themselves underwater. When I found out, I jumped at the chance to buy them out. I did some research and also found out that their CEO, who is one of the next closest wolf pack’s Alphas, has a gambling problem and owed a lot of dangerous people lots of money. I knew that was my way in. First, I began underbidding them for jobs. I was okay with losing money on a few jobs with the possibility of them not bringing in the revenue they needed to bring themselves back out of debt. When they started laying off their security teams, I swooped in and hired those guys onto my own teams and offered them transfers into my pack for them a
ROSE My mind is a complete mess today. I need to figure out what to do about the tuition issue and I need to figure out how to afford food this week. While I have gone several days without eating in the past, I was already scrounging this week due to finally paying off the medical bill I incurred last year with my homeless thief incident. I wish I had just let that shit go to collections instead of painstakingly nickel and diming myself to pay that urgent care facility. Not a joke, one week I could only pay 15 cents, but I made some kind of payment, every single fucking week for over a year. The employee who was in charge of bill outs and collections, was always so kind and understanding of my plight. She refused her boss’s insistence to send it to collections because I was making a regular, steady effort to pay. But I could really use that last $20 I gave her on Saturday. Maybe I can save some of the rejected meals at the diner for the week. I can make an in
TYSON I know, in the back of my mind, that I shouldn’t be fucking Rachel again. I know this. So why am I doing it? Why can’t I stop? “Stop, Ty. She’s tricked you. Don’t you dare mark her,” I can hear Zeus in my head. But he sounds weird, like he’s whispering to me from behind a concrete divider. It’s taking me longer than it should to climax, but I can feel myself getting there. I’m almost ready to cum, almost ready to mark Rachel as mine and finally have a Luna at my side. I have my eyes closed, trying to enjoy this, when I hear a loud piercing scream. I open my eyes and see a stunningly beautiful dark headed woman writhing on her knees on the floor, clawing at her chest. “MATE!” Zeus screams at me, the concrete wall comes crumbling down in my head and I can hear Zeus clearly. Suddenly, I smell the real honeysuckle and roses scent. It is strong and heady and completely engulfing me. I realize my mate, my true fated mate, has walked i
THOMAS I watch Tyson take off in my SUV with his mate, my Luna, injured and strapped into the passenger seat. Worry clearly written all over his face. I don’t have time to contemplate the ‘what ifs’ of her medical status. My Alpha needs me to do my job. I enter the property at the back stairwell. Before I ascend the steps, I investigate the door. It has definitely been tampered with; the lock is broken and the sensor disabled. Is that how the bomb got into the building circumventing our security systems? Why doesn’t this door have a better lock and alarm? *Niall,* I link to our Gamma and head warrior as I head for Tyson’s office, *We’ve had an attempt on the Alpha and Luna’s lives at The Tower this morning. I need you and one of your best teams, preferably one who has a background in explosives, on the 62nd floor of The Tower, ASAP.* *Yes Beta. Right away. But just to clarify, you said Luna, correct?* Niall asks. *Yes, I
TYSON I keep one ear on my mate while I am driving. Her heartbeat is slow but steady, her breathing is even. I think she is okay, at least temporarily; I keep telling myself this to keep the panic at bay because I can smell fresh blood. She is still bleeding from her headwound or one of the lacerations. Zeus is pacing frantically in my head, worry driving his animal instincts, urging me to mark her. I am fighting him for control and trying to calm him down by focusing on her being stable, despite the scent of blood. I drive up to the human run hospital and see Amanda and a few other hospital staff out front with a gurney, waiting for me. It was only a 10-minute drive, but it is nice to see some of our pack members ready to help their injured Luna. We’ve all eagerly anticipated her arrival, none more so than me. I pull to a stop and Amanda has the passenger door open immediately. “Has she regained consciousness at all, Mr. Evans?” Ugh, she called me Mr. Evans, that means some of thes
TYSON Once I’m in the waiting room, I see Adam walking in with a bag slung over his shoulder and a wide smile on his face. He is dressed in white skinny jeans with a rainbow zip-up sweatshirt and bright pink high tops. This man just screams PRIDE in the way he dresses when he’s off the clock. It makes me proud to have him as my Beta’s partner. He has never been afraid to be who he is, and that confidence has bled over into my lower ranking pack members. He has a positive personality that humans and shifters are drawn to. Rose will need his confidence and positivity to learn how to lead as our Luna. Adam walks up, bouncing in step. But his nostrils flare, and his smile fades as soon as he gets close enough to smell me. “Well, I smell why Thomas asked me to bring you clothes. You stink.” “A bomb went off in my office, Adam. Of course I stink.” “That isn’t why you stink, sir.” He glares at me as he hands me the bag. “Come with me.” I follow him down a hallway off the ER lobby. Then do
TYSON I look over at Patty as she walks into the room. She sees me and freezes in surprise. *Patty. It’s been a long time.* I link to her. *Yes, Alpha Tyson, it has.* She links back with attitude. She looks from my hand holding Rose’s, to me and then up to Rose. Patty’s face falls and goes pale at the realization that just hit her. *Shit. She’s your mate, isn’t she?* I don’t answer I just nod. *Fuck. Well, that sucks.* *Why is that, Patty?* I ask, anger lacing my inflection with a little of my aura leaking out. *Oh stop with the Alpha intimidation, Tyson. You don’t like me… that’s fine. You know what, let’s have this out and be done. Your mom died and your dad was broken hearted, but her death didn’t kill him. Just like my mate dying didn’t kill me. We both wanted to die. I can assure you of that. You have no idea what it is like having your mate die. How that feels. Yes, your father and I had a relationship. We didn’t love each other. We were not mates. We fucked. That is it. You