Chapter 5 GRANT
GRANT
I park the car in front of my house in the woods. It has received an update in the last few years.
What was once an inconspicuous townhouse is now more like a three-story cabin. It still retains its rustic charm, which I appreciate very much, especially since I spend most of my time here.
Leena steps out of the car, her face filled with awe. “Is this your home?”
“It's not just mine. It belongs to my pack.” I give a beckoning wave. “Come with me.”
Leena nods and follows after me. I walk up the pathway and reach the entrance of the house, opening the door for both of us.
As soon as we step inside, we're greeted by a familiar smiling face. “Grant, you're back,” Molly says. “I see you brought a guest.”
“She isn't just a guest, Molly,” I reply. “This is Leena and she'll be staying with us till further notice.”
“Welcome,” Molly greets her with a genuine smile. “I'm glad to have you here with us. Can I get you anything?”
“We'll circle back to that,” I state. “Can you gather the rest of the staff and wait in the kitchen in about thirty minutes? I'll show Leena to her room and we'll be right back.”
“Will do,” Molly says before leaving.
“Who's the nice lady,” Leena asks, genuinely looking happy. I'm pretty sure it's because she realizes now that we aren’t the only ones living here.
“She's Molly, the chef,” I answer. “You'll meet the rest of the staff soon enough. Don't worry about it. Come on.”
I walk toward the stairs and Leena catches up. “So, I'm one of them, right?” She asks when we start climbing the staircase.
“In a manner of speaking. You'll be working with me, but you're not a house staff. They take care of the building, but you are here as my assistant.”
“I see,” Leena replies with a nod. “I hope the rest are as nice as Molly.”
“We're a family here. Everyone cares for each other.”
“Good, because I can't be fighting anyone off. I hope they know I'm not a threat.”
“A threat?”
“Yeah, like I'm not trying to intrude on their space or take you away from them. I don't want some crazy lady coming after me because they think I'm trying to steal their man.”
I shake my head. “You have nothing to worry about,” I say as we reach the top of the stairs. “You're not my type.” Leena pauses three steps down with an annoyed look. I chuckle as I walk away from her. “Aren't you coming?”
She catches up as I stop at one of the doors on the top floor. I twist the knob and open it, revealing the space. Leena and I enter the completely furnished room.
“Woah,” she says. “It's like I'm in a hotel.” She remains wide-eyed as she moves from the bed to the dresser, to the wardrobe, to the reading table, and finally to the bookshelf. “You even got me books. How did you get all this set up if you just found out you're going to have an assistant.”
“I texted Jackson on our way here. He's sort of the handyman around the house. I'm not surprised he was able to get all of this set up so quickly. What's shocking is that he took books from my private library for you.”
Her eyes light up again. “There's more? You have a private library? Can I see it, please?”
I lift a hand, stopping her. “It's private for a reason, Leena. It's just for me.”
She pouts but forgets the sadness when she goes back to the books. “You must have a lot to be able to fill a shelf on such short notice.”
“You could say that.”
“Am I sharing this room with anyone?” Leena asks. She tugs some of her hair behind her ears as she talks. The subtle motion is enough to distract me, but I quickly recover.
“No, this is yours alone. No one else is allowed to come in here. You have all the privacy you want… and a good view, too.”
I move to the window and open it, letting in a strong breeze. Leena gasps at the view from up here. “I can see everything… wow. Is that the town we passed on our way?”
I nod. “We'll get to that later. You're safe here, Leena. I want you to let your wolf side free. Here, there are no cages. You can even go into the woods and transform as much as you want.”
Leena rubs the side of her arm and looks away. “I'm not sure I want to do that… It hurts too much. I don't want to transform unless it's absolutely necessary.”
I let out a small sigh. Wolves that get turned usually have it worse because their transformations are as painful as what young wolves experience, maybe even worse. Leena is still new, so there's a lot more pain to come.
I feel so bad for her.
“Come. It's time to introduce you to the staff.”
“Okay,” she chirps.
We go back downstairs and head toward the kitchen. I give her a brief rundown of everything in the house.
“Ten bedrooms?” she exclaims.
“Yeah. Most of them are larger than yours, but that's because wolves have to share sometimes. We have a lot of people who come here, but it's mainly just to transform. Most of them leave without having to use a bedroom. This is also a sanctuary for wolves going through a hard time.”
“Like me,” she states.
I have no clue if she sees this as a bad or good thing.
“Yes, like you.” I enter the kitchen first to see the staff waiting.
“Hello everyone.” They chorus their greeting back.
“This is Leena. She's my new live-in assistant.
Some of my friends have felt it wise for me to have a bit of help, and I've agreed, knowing that some of you here have said the same thing. Leena will be staying with us, so please welcome her.”
Everyone waves at her and she waves back. “Thank you for having me. I look forward to getting to know you guys.”
She isn't shy. That's a plus.
“Leena, you've already met Molly, our chef. This is Jackson, the handyman.”
“Thank you for the bookshelf,” she says immediately. “How did you get that set up so quickly?”
“Yes, how did you set that up,” I reiterate.
Jackson rubs the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. “I had a shelf lying around in the shed, and I figured it would be a nice addition to the room. I didn't want to leave it empty, so I borrowed a few books. I'm sorry, I can—”
“It's fine. Ask next time.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“This is Craig. He's in charge of plumbing and electricity. Ramona and Raph are the cleaners.”
The twins wave enthusiastically.
Leena smiles at them, clearly starting to grow comfortable. “It's wonderful to meet all of you.”
“Alright, Leena and I have business to discuss. You can get to know her later.”
I usher my assistant out of the kitchen, but this time we head outside. “Do we really have business to discuss?”
“No, I just figured that I could show you where the wolves go to transform.”
Leena’s face falls. “Oh…”
I let out a breath, pausing when we reach the backyard. “Leena, you definitely don't have to transform involuntarily. I only mentioned it because continuous transformations sometimes help with the pain. I understand if—”
“Do you?” Leena asks, no longer smiling. There's pain in her voice that makes me feel even worse.
“You don't know what it's like for your life to change overnight,” she adds. “I had a life before this. I had friends and I had a family. Now, I'm cut off from them because I can't control this monster inside me while around them. All of that's gone now, and I'm alone.”
“No, you're not,” I reply. “You're here now, and you have a family with you. The wolves here will be there for you no matter what.”
“It's not the same thing,” she sighs.
“I know. I get that. But it's something. I'll teach you to control your wolf side and keep it in check. Once you're able to master that, you'll be free to reunite with your family.”
Leena looks at me and then turns to the woods. Her gaze returns to me. Her beautiful eyes rest on mine for a moment. It's short, but it leaves an impact.
I realize how much I want to keep staring into those eyes. These sudden bursts of feelings and wants scare me, and not many things can do that.
“Can I be excused? I think I'd like to go back to my room now.”
“Yes, of course you can.”
“Thank you.”
She walks away, taking the sadness with her. I'm not sure if I've been able to help with how she's feeling, but I can only hope she gets better.
I linger outside for a while, moving around the house. After roaming aimlessly, I walk back inside to join everyone.
The staff is still hovering around the kitchen, and they begin to disperse after I walk through the back door. Raph and Ramona are the first to come to meet me.
“Hey, boss,” Ramona says, playing with her hair. The habit is something she's had since I've known her. Her brother, on the other hand, is always so stoic until he talks, and then everyone realizes how much of a joker he is.
“You okay?” Raph asks. “It can't be easy being a new father,” he adds.
“What?”
“The girl,” he gestures. “She basically ran upstairs before you came. I'm assuming she's in her teenage years.”
I snort. “If she was my pup, I'd be able to tell her what to do.”
The twins look at each other before bursting into laughter. “I'm pretty sure our mom and dad tried to tell us what to do growing up,” Raph says.
“It did not work, I can tell you that,” his sister finishes. “Maybe you'll have more luck with this one.”
I let out a sigh, placing my hands on my hips. “She got turned a few months ago.”
Both their eyes widen in surprise and realization. “Yikes…” Ramona states. “I haven't been around many shifters that got turned. Is it true that they're always in pain?”
“No, just during transformations.”
“Oh, shit,” the girl continues. “Wait, we all went through that, didn't we? Is it really such a big deal?”
“You went through that as a kid,” I explain, folding my arms. “I'm sure you don't even remember how painful it was, do you?”
She opens her mouth but stops when she realizes I'm right. She turns to her brother, who doesn't offer any help.
“Plus, you're able to control your emotions because you grew up with them. Imagine having a whole new sense of taste of smell right now. New sight, new urges, everything.
The twins look at me guiltily. “Damn, we didn't think about it like that,” Raph apologizes.
“I don't expect you to. All I need is for you to support her. That's it.”
They nod simultaneously. “That's something we can do,” Raph says. “But before that, can we head into town for some supplies? We need a lot.”
“Yeah, sure,” I wave them off. The pair smiles excitedly before disappearing out of the kitchen through the same door I used.
Molly wastes no time replacing them. By now, we're the only two in the kitchen. “They're not wrong, you know?”
“About what? The supplies? I believe them.”
“No,” the woman chuckles. “I'm talking about the girl. I know how much you hate working on such short notice with little preparation—”
“You've got that right. I feel like I should've made some sort of teaching plan.”
Molly laughs out loud. “Not everyone works the same way. I don't doubt that you're the one who can do this, but maybe take a different approach when trying to help Leena.”
“Hmm…” I let Molly's words ruminate in my head. “So I should think of her as a different project?”
She winces. “Okay, I know you don't hang around a lot of female shifters, but please don't call her a project.” She clasps her hands together. “Please, Grant.”
“Yeah,” I rub the back of my neck. “I get you.”
Why does it feel like I have so much to learn?
I've done this sort of training before, but with male wolves. Most of them are eager to transform and cause carnage.
It's a problem because of their uncontrolled power. What do I do for someone who doesn't even want to be a shifter?
“Have you eaten anything?” Molly inquires. “I don't even know why I'm asking when I already know the answer.”
“I'm not hungry.”
She shakes her head. “Look, I'm going to make some food for you and Leena. She'll be hungry soon, I'm sure of it. Hopefully, the girl will be able to force you to eat something.”
I shake my head. “We'll see about that.” I place a hand on Molly's shoulder and walk away, heading back to the stairs. My destination ends up being my home office.
The space is such a comfortable sanctuary. If there were a larger couch in here, then this is where I'd sleep. However, everyone in the house has unanimously decided it's a bad idea.
They fear I’ll never emerge. Obviously, the only reason that vote was unanimous is because I didn't get a say.
I move to the chair and quickly turn on the computer. Emails come in immediately, which is both a good and bad thing. It's good because it means I haven't missed anything.
Still, it's bad because there have been no updates, and I need to know what's going on with my pack.
I quickly pulled out my phone and send a progress report to Nate and Graham. Each of them responds after a few minutes, and a part of my mind can't help but think about how both men are happy now.
It's difficult to admit, but it almost feels like I can trust them more now that their love lives aren't in turmoil anymore. I lean back in my chair, briefly considering if I should go and get something to eat, like Molly wants.
As I sit there contemplating going back downstairs, a new email comes in. My eyes quickly scan through before they slowly widen.
“Fuck.”