Chapter Thirty-Five #2
“I didn’t expect it to be so expensive, is all.” I looked at the price tag and I winced. A few hundred dollars is nothing to me, but for someone working as a guard. It would probably mean a lot.
“No worries.” I grabbed another box and put it in the cart, then looked at the girls. “Did you want one?” I could see Wendy eyeing the box, so I laughed as I grabbed a third. “You guys know you can just tell me.” Wendy blushed.
“We know, you always tell us.” Wendy nodded.
“But she doesn’t want you to think we are friends with you just for the money.
” Toya smiled as she hugged her to her side.
“What I’ve been telling her and what is hard for her to actually understand is that you aren’t throwing your money around because you have to.
But because you want to and the money is nothing to you. ”
Wendy shook her head. “Money always means something.”
“I made some fantastic investments months ago. Plus, my father’s money.
I am more than comfortable.” I grabbed her hand.
“Wendy, you are my sister, one of my closest friends and I am more than happy to help when I can, where I can.” I waited until she met my eyes.
“I need you to understand that money means nothing to me and if you need it all, you have to do is tell me. I can’t help if I don’t know. ”
She waited for a few seconds before a tear dropped from her eye. “My Alpha is threatening to raise our rent, and my mom’s pay was just cut.”
Toya stepped closer. “Why was it cut?”
Jora came closer, too. “Are you Mrs. Sandlewood’s daughter?” Wendy nodded. I turned to Jora, and he raised his hands. “I overheard some she-wolves closer to Vince talking about how the secretary stepped out of line and Vince is pissed.”
“What else did they say?”
“Just that he thought she was the person who notified the King about some of the information about the school she shouldn’t have, and he was squeezing to put her in her place.”
I pulled out my phone and scrolled. I had all the Alpha’s contacts stored in my phone. I pulled up Wendy’s Alpha’s number and hit call. Wendy tried to grab for my hands but I pushed her hand down and waited. The phone rang a few times before a groggy whine came through. “Hello?”
“Hi Alpha Kirk, it’s Amy Maclean.”
“Alpha Amy? Why are you calling me this late?”
“Oh, I just heard something that I needed to deal with right away. Now Kirk, do you remember ten years ago…” I trailed off as I waited for him to remember me diving into the lake by the Alpha summit ten years ago to save his daughter.
She was about three and she had wandered away and fell in.
The adults were too busy, so I dove in, being a scrawny eight-year-old who had just learned how to swim.
She wasn’t breathing, so I did the only thing I knew how to do; I ran with her in my arms straight into the meeting room to my father, who performed CPR, saving the pup. Unfortunately for the nanny that lost his daughter, though, she was killed before the night was up.
“Of course I remember.” His voice sounded clearer.
“Honey, who is it?” His Luna’s words were soft.
“It’s Amy Maclean.” I heard the shuffling of blankets and then the phone clicked. We were on speaker.
Then the Luna’s voice came clearer. “If you need anything, we will do what we can. You saved Maddy.” I smiled, perfect.
“Actually, I do need something. A friend of mine is from your pack and she just told me her mother is having a little bit of an issue with her house. I just wanted to see if I could clear it up for her. I’ll buy it out right, of course, but I just don’t want them worrying any more.”
“Who is it?”
“Mrs. Sandlewood, her daughter Wendy, is my friend.” There was a thick silence.
“Do it.” His Luna murmured. “No, I don’t care what Vince said. She saved our daughter, for goddess’ sake.”
Kirk cleared his voice. “No need for money, Amy. You did us a service, and it’s our turn to return the favour. The house is hers. I’ll sign the title over to her in the morning.”
“Thank you Alpha. You and Luna Marie have a good night.” I would not argue with them.
I also pulled up my banking app and sent Wendy a transfer.
Thankfully, I didn’t need her information, just her number.
I looked at her. “I need you to send this to your mother and before you say no, please understand that what Vince is doing is because of me.”
There was a ding, and a wide eyed Wendy pulled out her phone, and screamed. She nearly dropped her phone, but I was ready and snatched it from the air. “Amy, I can’t accept this.”
“Of course you can.” I handed back her phone. “Remember, he is going to push harder and harder until it’s too much for your mom to work at the school anymore. She won’t have an income to take care of herself, or you. She will need a buffer until all of this blows over. I’m giving you this buffer.”
Wendy’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you sure?”
“More than anything.” I kissed her brow and then grabbed the cart. “Now let’s go, before something else dramatic happens.”
Jora looked at his watch. “Yes, it’s getting very late.” We rushed through the checkout and headed back to the school. Toya and Wendy were talking low in the back when Jora turned to me. “Thank you for the garden, Amy.”
I waved him off. “It’s no issue, Jora.”
“I know you feel that way. But I know my mate will love that silly little garden.”
I turned to face his side of the car. “Honestly, it is the least I could do for your help with taking us to the store this late. I know you aren’t supposed to take us out past eight. So I appreciate it.”
He glanced my way and then nodded. “You know, you are so different from what I expected.”
“What do you mean?”
He was a little hesitant. “When I got the position here, when everyone moved in, I heard that the Alphas here are assholes. And they are. Most Alphas here are complete dickheads. But you, Toya, back there, all of your friends are actually amazing. You took the time to get to know us and you never used your rank to make any of the guards here feel like we were less than.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“Most Alphas from other packs need to assert their dominance over Betas and Gammas from different packs, but you never made me feel like that was the case.”
I smiled. “Can I let you in on a secret?” He nodded.
“It’s because it isn’t the case. Alphas don’t actually feel the need to assert their dominance over wolves that aren’t in their pack.
We do if there is a lower wolf in our packs acting up, because it interferes with our pack structure.
But with wolves outside of our packs, we don’t feel the need.
” I looked back at Toya. “Have you ever felt the need?”
Toya shook her head. “My father always told me it was just an excuse for assholes to be assholes.”
The air thickened. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Jora’s voice was angry.
“What?”
“You are telling me this entire time it was just a lie for these dudes to bully others?”
I made eye contact with Toya and then we both nodded.
“Pretty much.” I turned back in front. “It’s sad, but it is the same as the BS that they say about men needing to sleep around after their first shift.
They say that Alphas especially need the extra outlet to get rid of their extra aggression, but in reality, it’s just so they can fuck whatever they want without real repercussions from their mates. ”
Jora’s face fell. “I never thought of it like that.”
“What? That males use it as an excuse?” He nodded. “Did you sleep around?”
“Well, no.” He blushed. “I wanted to wait for my mate.”
I pointed to him. “Exactly, as do I. But most males have been using this as an excuse for millennia. And not just wolves, but human men, too. They have too much generation or testosterone to be faithful. But it’s just an excuse to abuse yet another person and have them fall into line, anyway.”
Toya and Wendy nodded. “It has become such a common practice that you have to expect your mate to have been with another she-wolf.” Wendy’s words were soft.
“But.” I pointed out. “The same cannot be said about she-wolves.” Toya scoffed.
“There was a Beta in my pack that slept with anything that walked. But his mate turned out to be one girl that slept with him earlier in the year, and he lost his mind.”
Wendy turned. “Had she slept with anyone else?”
Toya shook her head. “Nope, just him. But he screamed at her for being a whore and not waiting for him to realize he was her mate. He nearly rejected her, and the only reason he wouldn’t is because his wolf refused to.”
I turned back in my seat. “Men are stupid.” Even Jora nodded as he silently drove back to the building.