Chapter 13 Fried Food and Friends
Chapter thirteen
Fried Food and Friends
Ididn’t know where I was going.
I didn’t have anything.
No phone. No money.
No home. No family.
My chest felt tight.
I walked aimlessly through the long streets of Lucian Hill.
“Hey, get in.”
I hadn’t even noticed the car crawling beside me until Darren called to me through the open passenger window of his car.
He stopped, and I got in.
“Was last night that bad?” he asked.
“Huh?” I asked, turning to him.
He smiled sadly; his brown curls were damp against his forehead like he had recently washed his hair.
“The shift. Harriet, what’s wrong?” he asked, concern lacing his voice.
“I just need to get away,” I told him.
“Away?” he asked.
“From everything,” I answered.
He nodded and started to drive.
Soon we were pulling up outside Heaven’s Bar.
“Here again?” I asked.
“Frankie is Pack Sandstorm; it’s kind of unofficially sponsored by the Pack,” Darren explained as we walked towards the entrance.
Inside, I was surprised that we weren’t the only customers. Darren sat us at a small table in the back.
“You need food and hydration,” he told me. “Got any allergies I should know about before I order?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Great, I’ll be back in a few,” he said, and I watched as he made his way to the bar to place an order.
He returned carrying two glasses of orange juice.
“Here you go,” he said, placing the drink in front of me.
“Thanks,” I said. I was thirsty.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Who’s Andrew?” I asked.
Darren set his glass down.
“Is he there?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Did he say something to you? Is that what’s wrong?” he asked.
“No, I mean, he obviously doesn’t like me. I was just caught off guard, I guess,” I said and felt embarrassed. What must he have thought of me?
Was I meant to tell Darren that his aunt and I were true mates, that she was inside me last night, and that I woke up alone this morning and found her fiancé, whom I had no knowledge of, standing in the living room?
I couldn’t tell Darren the truth. But without the truth, I must have seemed like an emotionally dysregulated omega. Go me, living up to the stereotype!
“He’s a douche,” Darren said. “He catches everyone off guard every time he speaks. I don’t know if I’m being insulted—it feels like an insult.”
“How did Cole and he even meet?” I asked.
Darren looked away like he was guilty of something.
A waiter brought out two overly large plates, a fry-up of bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes with syrup, placing them in front of us.
“Need anything else?” the waiter asked.
“No thanks,” Darren answered and took a drink of his orange juice.
“It’s my fault,” he said.
“What’s your fault?” I asked.
He nodded to my plate.
“You should eat,” he said.
“Darren, what’s your fault?” I asked pointedly.
“No one thought I’d be a beta. Sure, our line isn’t only alphas, but it’s been strong for generations.
I threw everything off. It didn’t just mean that Cole became next in succession.
It meant that there was no one after her.
I don’t have siblings or cousins. It’s Mum then Cole; that’s it.
It makes the Pack unstable, open for coups from within or outside.
A strong succession line is necessary for any Pack, especially so for a Pack as powerful as us,” he explained while cutting up his pancakes.
“Cole’s being married off to the heir of Pack Derecho to make alpha children?” I asked.
“Kind of, yeah. It’s more than that. Andrew isn’t the direct heir; his brother is.
Cole with another alpha will likely have alpha children.
Mum wants her to have three kids—at least two—just to be sure.
Pack Derecho is a strong Pack; they provide private military and technology services.
Coupled with Sandstorm Credit House, it’s a powerful union.
“Having familial bonds between our Packs isn’t new, I think, like my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather or something was originally Pack Derecho and married into Sandstorm.
It’s been a while, long enough that there isn’t a solid connection between our Packs anymore,” he explained.
“Eat, please,” he said, pointing to my plate and taking a wolfish bite from a rasher of bacon.
“It’s important to eat after the full moon. ”
I cut into my pancakes and began eating. I hadn’t known how hungry I was until I tasted the sweetness.
I hummed in appreciation.
“Thanks,” I said.
“I find that food can make everything better. I gained twenty pounds within a month after my first shift.” He laughed.
“I’m sorry. Alpha superiority is bullshit,” I told him bravely.
He smiled conspiratorially.
“Don’t let Mum or Cole hear you saying that.” He laughed. “But between us, I totally agree. So what? They have huge wolf forms. Big deal. It’s not the Middle Ages anymore,” he said.
I smiled in agreement.
“So, Cole is being forced to marry him?” I asked.
“It’s not like she doesn’t have a choice. But it’s what’s best for the Pack. She has a duty to carry on the line of succession and to foster ties between packs. Cole’s always taken her responsibility to Sandstorm seriously,” he told me.
“She left her previous fiancée for him?” I asked, remembering our conversation from the full moon party.
He nodded while chewing.
“Hannah was cool. She and Cole were solid. Had been going strong for five years, and they had just gotten engaged. Hannah was so excited—looking at venues, planning seating arrangements, the whole thing. Then I happened…” he trailed off.
“You can’t blame yourself,” I told him and reached out to squeeze his hand.
“I know, but I mean, it is my fault whether I had any control over it or not.” He shrugged sadly. “Anyway, two women can’t procreate, and Hannah wasn’t an heir to a powerful Pack or any pack; she was human.
“Cole tried to make it work. She was talking about having IVF with a donor and stuff, but it wasn’t that easy. You can’t just inject random DNA into a line like ours. The Pack Council wouldn’t agree either.
“Cole with a human was one thing when Cole was the spare sibling and I was meant to inherit the role of Alpha of Sandstorm and have kids myself to continue the succession. But when I failed to meet expectations, Cole had to step up.
“Hannah didn’t even know what was happening behind the scenes.
Humans don’t understand that type of thing.
Cole protected her from it, too, keeping it all from her, thinking she could solve the problem.
She couldn’t. It was a messy breakup. Cole didn’t have time to grieve or anything before proposals started coming in. ”
I was silent, processing what Darren had revealed.
He quietly continued eating, just letting me think.
“That’s… sad, depressing—”
“It’s fucking heartbreaking,” Darren supplied.
“Yeah, heartbreaking,” I agreed.
Cole had lost the person she loved, was planning a life and family with, all for duty to Sandstorm.
“Hey, hey, don’t cry,” Darren said, fumbling with the napkins on the table and holding one out to me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, embarrassed. “It’s just really fucking sad,” I said, accepting the napkins and drying my eyes, taking a deep breath to calm myself.
“You care about her?” he asked curiously.
I shrugged. I didn’t know how I felt about Cole.
“She confuses me,” I said truthfully.
There was no other way to describe it. Cole confused me. She sent my senses and pheromones wild. I felt chaotic like I was standing precariously in the eye of the storm when I was with her.
Darren laughed.
“Yeah, I get that. She cares about you,” he said.
“Why do you think that?” I asked.
“I was awoken yesterday morning to Cole tearing the blanket from my body and standing over my bed. Do you know how terrifying that was? She was pissed. I worried she was going to castrate me or something. I called for my Mum.” He laughed embarrassedly.
“She woke you up? What? Why?” I asked. Cole had been up and dressed and waiting in the kitchen on the morning of the full moon. I didn’t realise she had left the house and returned.
“Iona,” he said.
“Who?” I asked.
“The girl who tried to leave with you the other night,” he said.
“Oh, shit.”
I had completely forgotten about her.
“Yeah, oh shit. She blamed me. Kicked Josie out of my bed and the house too,” he said.
“Josie was in your bed when Cole woke you up?” I asked, both shocked and amused.
“Exactly. She hasn’t responded to any of my texts,” he said disheartenedly.
“I mean, can you blame her?” I laughed.
“Hey, it’s too soon to be funny,” he said.
“Okay, okay,” I said, calming myself. “What did she say?” I asked.
“Honestly, I was so frightened and shocked; I’m not sure I heard it all.
But it was definitely threatening. Something about trusting me to keep you safe and instead I allowed you to be taken advantage of, and something about how if anything had happened to you she would take my balls.
That’s when all masculinity left my body, and I started calling for my mummy. ”
I was laughing again.
“It’s not funny,” he protested, but his lips curved, suppressing a laugh.
“But she cares about you. Cole doesn’t act like that.
I know she has a reputation. The Storm of Sandstorm—the title gives her too big an ego.
But she’s old school. Her violence serves a purpose; it protects the Pack.
She doesn’t just go around like some waking nightmare, scaring people awake when they're naked and in bed with a baddie for someone that she doesn’t care about,” he told me.
“I’m so pissed with her. Josie was my first hook-up in over a year, and she’s chased out of the house by Cole. ”
“I’m sorry you were blamed for my behaviour. I don’t know what I was thinking,” I told him.
“I know what you were thinking.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Anyway, am I just meant to ignore those bite marks and Cole’s scent all over you or…” he trailed off.
“It would be the polite thing to do,” I said and took a bite of food to give myself time to recover from being called out like that.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. I wanted her scent on me. I didn’t shower for that very reason.
“You’re lucky I’m a gentleman,” he teased.