Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
ONE WEEK LATER
ROSALIA
“Verona,” I groan, burying my head in my pillow. The skin grafts from my shoulder down to where my back meets my ass mean that I am bed bound, but I’m not fucking dead. “We’ve done as much decorating as I can stomach. I’m bored!”
“Ooh. She full named you,” Ciro grins from the ground. “You’re in trouble, Princess.”
“I may be, but Nico owes me a dollar. I told him this would happen.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nico chuckles, pulling out a dollar and handing it to Verona.
“You all are mean,” I pout. “I need something to do.”
The skin grafts are covered in bandages, and the surgeon said Dr. Walsh can change them while I recover at home. I drove the hospital insane with the amount of security Nico had there, and my anxious pack probably didn’t help things.
Dr. Winters agreed that it was best for me to go home, and if necessary, he’d make a house call. He’s in his early forties and married to his job. For some reason, I thought he’d be older to have Dr. Walsh’s professional respect.
Nico threw a lot of money at the surgeon’s practice, stating that he didn’t want Dr. Winters to take us pro bono because we have the ability to pay.
I have a feeling he’s also going to make an anonymous donation because the work the doctor does is important.
Knowing I won’t have the hateful reminders of my kidnapping carved into my body is everything.
I can only imagine how important it is for others.
“I hate facing the wall.” I’m getting the beginnings of a plan in my mind, and I need to play this right if I want it to happen. “Could you turn it around so we could set up a conference video call?”
“Who do you want to call?” Dario asks, leaning against the wall as he gazes at me with his eyes half mast. He only appears lazy behind his glasses. I know he’s already planning out how best to make what I want come true.
Now that the hated beeping is gone, I’m not in any danger of cardiac arrest, I want to work.
“Silas and Pack Mayor. I want updates on the shelter, and how things are progressing. If nothing is happening with it, then I want to help move the ball along.”
Anyone else would scoff at me. What the hell am I going to do from a bed?
My back is covered with bandages, I’m naked from the waist up, and I should be comatose with pain.
Instead, I have this untapped energy inside of me and my mind is racing.
I’ve never been normal, and I don’t plan to be anytime soon.
“I think we can make that happen,” Dario grunts, pushing off the wall. “Get up! Let’s get our queen what she wants.”
Everyone gets up quickly, as if Dario had barked at them to move. Instead, he didn’t raise his voice, or sound angry. People simply do what Dario wants when he has a plan to put into place. If he thinks that makes him lesser as a beta, then he’s sincerely mistaken.
“Don’t wobble the bed,” Nico says. Each member of my pack finds a section of the bed to lift, including Vero. She helped move furniture with Nico while I watched on a video call, and that’s how we’ve been tackling the house while I’m on bed rest.
The skin grafts need to connect to their new blood supply. I don’t want them to fail, because this is too important to my mental health. The scars carry too many memories for me.
“What are you trying to do?” Dr. Walsh asks, leaning into the room as he watches my pack. Since I can’t turn without straining my back, I pretend to ignore him, acting as if I can’t see him through the mirror Pablo placed on the wall so I can see who walks in and out of the room.
It was making me crazy to talk to someone who was no longer in the room. Or worse, I was constantly startled by someone who didn’t announce themselves. It was fucking with my anxiety. Now, that won’t happen anymore once they turn me.
“Getting a new view!” I exclaim excitedly as my pack lifts the bed and turns me until my head faces where my feet were.
“That’s one way to get what you want,” Dr. Walsh sighs.
“I can follow the rules,” I remind him.
“No, you rewrite them so I can’t complain about it. Now what are you doing?” He watches as Pablo hooks up his phone to the television I never watch and then a video call I put up on the screen.
“You’re…working?” he asks, gaping at me.
“I’m bored. I may as well fucking do something with my time, Doctor. I had a therapy appointment yesterday, I am well enough to do this,” I reply.
“Impossible,” he grumbles, leaving the room as I smirk.
“You’re going to put him in early retirement,” Verona says as the call is picked up.
“Pablo? Is everything alright?” Silas asks, looking through the screen.
“How do you feel about a conference call?” I ask, watching as Pablo puts the phone down where Silas can see me.
I look kind of like a mummy with all of the layers of surgical dressing, and a blanket covers my waist down to my legs.
It’s much like how I would lay before, it’s just the same shit, different day only with skin grafts.
“I’m in. Let me grab Lyle and Easton. They’re both home,” he says, muting the call. They both jog into the room a moment later, eyes wide, and Silas winks at me as he moves the phone back to his face.
The alpha yelled for his pack and scared the shit out of them.
“God, you’re going to give me a heart attack one day,” Lyle groans as Silas unmutes himself.
“We have some business and pleasure to take care of,” he says unrepentantly, propping up his phone. “Come sit and pay attention to her.”
“We are chopped liver to him,” Ciro drawls, finding a spot to get comfortable. There are a couple of chairs that have found their way into the room, but my pack largely enjoys sitting on the floor with my bed as a backrest. “They like you best.”
“I need something to do. Please distract me,” I beg. “How are things going with the shelter?”
“We’ve hit a standstill because we need staff for the organization and a group to manage it,” Silas explains. “People have been incredibly supportive, and when I reached out after the event to gather leads for the shelter, I received pages of suggestions.”
“You have six willing volunteers to help share the load of calling,” Pablo says, shrugging. “Shall we?”
“Fuck yes,” Easton says. “The mayor is a cunt and won’t leave the police force alone about the homeless population. They just want somewhere to sleep, they don’t deserve to go to jail. Then we have nowhere else to put the criminals. It’s a vicious cycle. Savannah needs to clean house.”
“When is the mayor’s term up?” I ask.
“Elections begin next year, but it’s said he’s going to run uncontested,” Lyle grumbles.
“So why don’t one of you run?” I ask. They all get the wide eyed deer in the headlights look, and I roll my eyes. “That’s not a response.”
“Okay, okay. Fuck. We need to think about that,” Easton admits.
“Consider us chastised,” Lyle chuckles.
“Here are our current obstacles,” Silas says smoothly, picking up his computer as he pulls us back on track.
“We bought the building that’s large enough for our needs for the shelter.
It’s central enough to accommodate those who will need its services, but it needs renovation.
I need to list the job to take bids from the city for it.
There is a building next door that would make a good location for an outreach center. It’s listed at a really decent price.”
“It makes the most sense to buy it," I say, resting my head on my arms. “What kind of services will the outreach provide?”
“It’ll be where the hotline’s location will be tracked back to.
With the auction head hunters in the city, we don’t want the shelter to become an easy target,” Silas explains.
“The police don’t want to admit even now that we have a problem, and people are beginning to show concern.
Everyone is at risk who goes out to dinner, events, or comes home late from school or work.
We’re considering a solution that involves offering our own security measures.
“It’ll be a phone number people can call if they need to be walked to their car or home. Various people will receive that call, and whoever answers will provide the help needed. We can’t patrol the streets, but we can do this.”
I stare at the men who once offered me space when I needed it and take as large a breath as I can. “This will help,” I admit, swallowing hard. “I really love this idea.”
The nine of us continue to discuss plans moving forward, and then Silas divides the list up and emails it to Pablo to print out. We may be only six houses apart, but this is a nice way to work together. No one is left to manage a million calls, and we’re in each other’s company.
My pack recently bought me a new phone, and Pablo uses a burner while the video call continues. Silas mutes himself and Pack Mayor also gets to work.
My phone rings as I make my first call, and I wait nervously for Carla to answer.
She is someone in the community who offers people help by meeting them where they’re at, which is the streets.
People trust her, and since omegas aren’t trusting when they’re already vulnerable, she’ll make a good contact to speak to.
“Who is this?”
“Hi, my name is Rosalia Domino. I am trying to get an organization off the ground for people who are vulnerable. This would be omegas, female alphas, and other people. We would want to vette males who are betas or alphas due their ability to stay at homeless shelters,” I begin.
“Your name was given to me as someone who may be interested in helping with an organization like this.”
“Is this the one that the fancy charity event was set up for?” she asks suspiciously.
“It is. Sometimes, you have to wine and dine people to convince them to give you money,” I reply. “We had some hiccups after the events and now we’re back on track.”
“I really thought you all just ran away with the money. It’s been over a month since anyone has heard about this. Where is your accountability?”