CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AMELIA
Mother isn’t happy that Miss Ember is only seventeen and is in scruffy clothes when she is meant to be the Pack's Luna and the master's goddaughter.
“Thank you, Trunk”, Miss Ember mumbles, then directs me outside and away from Mother. She takes a deep breath when we are away from the main building.
“I’m going to be honest, we are not a traditional pack and probably never will be, the Alpha, one of my mates, is aiming for an MMA career, one of his Betas, my twin, is his trainer, the other Beta plans to be an author, in short, most of the pack has careers already or have plans for them, some plan to do college when high school is over, some are already working, being a few years older than us.
” She looks at me to see if I’m following what she’s saying, and I give her a nod.
“I’m an artist and author. I will need someone to remind me to eat when I’m lost in a creative project, as a house, we need someone to cook most meals and oversee the household.
Alma, my uncle's housekeeper, has trained the boys into a pretty good routine, and we all agreed we would stick to it and adapt slightly to your way. I’m not saying your training is wrong, but it would probably be easier for you to train a slightly different way than to train ten plus guys to do it another way.
Alma has offered to let you shadow her for a week or so, and she will always be just through the trees if you need her help.” Again, I give her a nod as it all makes sense.
“To start it will just be us, Me and my ten mates in the main house, that cabin will have my twin and his three mates, that cabin will have four single guys, there are three cabins on the other side of the lake, one will not be in use till next year and the other will house the quad as they are setting up a sister business with my older brother.” She gauges my reactions, but she won’t find much, as I know how to conceal things from my mother; we carry on walking.
“Jake asked me to give you this.” She hands me an envelope, and I quickly tuck it into my pocket, forcing myself not to snatch it from her, smoothing the fabric again.
“Eventually we will get extra help for cleaning the house and cabins, and I will ask you to sort the rota for the extras, but for now we plan to do our own laundry and general cleaning, on top of meals we would ask you to do a deep clean of the bedrooms and bathrooms once a month, even if you spilt the rooms over the month and keeping the main rooms downstairs tidy, your spare time is that, and yours for what you wish. If you want to curl up in our library and read, you can,” I stare at her in shock, but she isn’t focused on me right now.
“This cabin is to be yours, well, yours and Jake's if YOU choose to seal the bond, the contract you sign with us will take you from Liam's employ and your Mother's rule.” We are standing in front of a cabin,
“Jake has decided to stay with the Quad until you are ready, but he is to be taken on as our groundskeeper,” I notice Jacob not too far away, near what looks like a collapsed cabin. I crave to run into his arms.
Over the last five years, we have had a few stolen kisses and soft touches; there has to be a catch to all this.
“As you won’t be entertaining like a normal pack, what else do you expect of me?” she plops down on the porch step, and I follow her down, tucking my feet under my bottom, making sure the skirt of my dress covers everything.
“As long as the housework and cooking are done and you throw food at me throughout the day, for all we care, you can pose for nude photos, just nothing illegal. Alma sews and sells her quilts in her spare time, she also donates cakes to local fairs but that time is up to you, I’ve said the same to Jake and will when we take extra cleaners on but with them, the cleaning will be in exchange for a roof over their head whereas you and Jake will be paid as well as a roof over your heads.
I’m not saying we will never entertain like a normal pack, as those things will probably happen at some point,” she gives a shrug, and we both watch the guys near Jacob for a little bit.
Realising I can speak freely with her, I decided to test the waters a little,
“Is topless a rule, or am I allowed to wear t-shirts?” I hear a thud, and then Jacob is staring at me red-faced, Ember bursts out laughing, and I join her in the merriment.
“I would prefer no nudity outside your own cabin in case we do have visitors, and it also may cause problems if your mate keeps killing people for looking at your tits and ass,” Ember chuckles out, and I hum in agreement.
“You also won’t be expected to wear the uniform, this is smart for me, I’m normally in scruffs, covered more in paint than not when I'm in my studio, the guys are similar, again something more formal if we have visitors, but you do you.”
We chat a little longer, I want to look around what will be my cabin, but it makes things too real, and I’m scared. She tells me about the rest of the people in the pack, for a time and about being at school with the Quad.
“Miss, Jake needs your opinion on a few things” Miss Ember hops up, and we follow the guy over. She mumbles,
“This looks more than a compost heap”, which of course, with Shifter hearing the guys, all hear,
“Yeah, we worked out we could save some of the cabin and turn it into a groundskeeper storage house, it also means I can clean up in there if I get to muddy and don’t traipse dirt and stuff through the cabin”, Jacob says, but he doesn’t look at me, I try to look around, but I get lost in thought watching him.
“Ammy”, he whispers, then I realise most are watching me,
“Sorry was thinking about the job offer”, I feel my cheeks heat.
“You're to be the housekeeper. What greenhouses do you want? Just basic veg or more?” I glance at Miss Ember, but she’s also waiting for my answer. I duck my head and mentally calculate,
“Erm… oh… I guess if there are twenty-plus people daily, we will need a large one for veg. Would it be cheeky to have one for fruit and one for herbs? And maybe a flower one,” I look in Ember's direction, but at her feet, not her face.
“No, it isn’t. Would you just want to plant fruit or trees, too?
We have a blood dragon and a vampire; both have fruit smoothies with blood in them multiple times a day.
When they have kids, they will need some too,” Miss Ember informs me.
We never talked about species, which surprised me; she only talked about the person.
“Go big, better to have free space now and be able to add more as more people and kids arrive,” she tells Jacob,
“The housekeeper’s rooms are being turned into storage so we can make a drying room for flowers and herbs for you.
” Again, this young girl surprises me by wanting to offer so much and thinking of the future not just right now, I hear Jacob’s deep chuckle and I fight off the shudder, knowing my body is lighting up for him, Miss Ember makes a note of supplies on her phone but as she’s putting it away her stance changes to a more formal one.
“We have allocated cabin seven for you to stay in while the work gets done here, I’d like you on-site to be there when rooms need cleaning the landscape guys are staying in a cabin over the other side of the Lake so they won’t bother you, you won’t be cleaning their cabin until they leave, and a couple of our pack are moving into that cabin for security so you won’t be alone.
” She states enough truth, and I realise Mother is making her way over with the master.
“What do you mean while work is done?” My mother snaps, and the change to Miss Ember makes me double-take.
“The main house has no electricity and the water only goes to the kitchen sink, this guest cabin just needs furniture and a few last-minute checks, I want Amelia on site so that as rooms are finished in the main house they can be cleaned and furniture moved in, she is also on-site to take in any deliveries, plus if the site team has questions about the kitchen, laundry or any other aspect of her duties she is the best to answer them, what would I know about cooking? My Alpha would like to start moving in when we turn eighteen, so we want this renovation to go quickly and smoothly.” I can feel her dominance leak out, and I notice Mother flinch; the guys with Jacob have also gone ramrod straight.
A dragon swoops in and lands on the other side of the lake and then shifts.
It’s not until they get closer that I notice the dragon has a rider.
Another guy appears with a pop-up table, then grabs a box and a tool belt and walks into my cabin.
I twitch, wanting to follow him, but I turn, focusing on Miss Ember.