3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Bellarose
“ H ugh! I need you to fucking help. We’re only a few weeks from starting harvest, and I’m up to my eyeballs in paperwork. Can you please take something off my plate?” I berated the man in front of me.
“Sorry, Luna. That was never part of my duties,” the insufferable beta answered from where he was sitting in front of my desk.
“And dealing with you and running the vineyard wasn’t part of mine, but here we are. Everyone is doing things that aren’t part of their duties. Everyone except you.”
“I don’t do paperwork, Luna.”
“Then what do you do?” I said, only just stopping myself from shrieking in his face.
“I train.”
“What else?” I said, breaking the pen in my hand.
“I’m the Beta,” Hugh answered, unbothered by my anger. If the little twat only knew what I was capable of doing to him if I ever lost my shit, he wouldn’t keep pushing my buttons.
“And you need to be more. So either pick up some other responsibility that helps the pack or—”
“Or what? You’re going to banish me? How does that help your issue exactly?” he interrupted with a smug smirk that I wanted to slap off his face. I took a calming breath and smiled, leaning back on my chair.
“I’m not banishing you, Hugh. I’ll just be demoting you.”
“You can’t do that!” he yelled, standing up from his desk. If Hugh liked anything more than fucking a woman, it was the title and power that came with being a Beta. Without it, he was nothing, and he and I both knew it.
“I can do whatever I want. The council is making me Alpha soon and until then, I’m still the Luna. Which means in the absence of my Alpha mate, I rule the pack. So, report to the fields tomorrow morning. If you’re not there, I’ll start looking for your replacement,” I assured him, leaning forward so he could see how much I meant every word.
“Just like you’ve been able to find new members?” he challenged.
“Maybe it’ll take a while but I’ve been surviving without a beta this long, I can keep doing it.” I shrugged.
Hugh gritted his teeth and stomped away, and I sat back in my chair and let out a puff of air. That conversation had been a long time coming, but he had one point. If Hugh didn’t show up tomorrow to work in the fields, I was going to have a hard time finding a replacement, and it was going to be shit for morale.
I stood and went to pick up Adam. We had dinner, went through our bedtime routine and then I headed to my room.
I was never able return to the room I shared with Brandon, so I was sleeping in one of the Alpha rooms a few doors down from it, leaving my old bedroom untouched. It was a little smaller than the master bedroom, but served its purpose. I never used it except to shower and sleep.
I plugged my phone in and scrolled through Instagram for a while.
I pulled out the blade and watched myself plunge it back into the body before me. I let go of the handle and felt the tears fall from my chin, wetting my shirt as I crawled over to cradle my mate’s head in my lap, watching the life leave his eyes. A sudden sharp pain rippled through my abdomen.
I was hyperventilating when I awoke from the nightmare. The sobs wrenched from my lips, and my hands went to my stomach.
‘Breathe, Bells. It was just a dream,’ Cory’s voice was soothing and full of emotion.
‘My pup,’ I sobbed.
‘I know, Bells. I know. It’s over now. It was a dream.’
Cory talked to me until I calmed down, telling me how brave I’d been that night, how proud he was of everything I was doing for the pack, and how much he loved me. It wasn’t until after I stopped crying that I managed to take a look at my phone and caught the time.
‘I’m sorry to wake you up so late.’
‘I was up,’ he answered, rapidly quelling my apologies.
‘It’s five am. You shouldn’t be up. Is everything okay? Did anyone get attacked?’ I noticed the hesitation in his voice for a moment, but when he finally spoke, I understood why.
‘No. Lucas and Leo have colic. We’ve been up most of the night.’
‘Poor pups. Give them lots of kisses for me,’ I told him.
Cory still worried his happiness and his pups were a sour reminder of everything I’d lost. It wasn’t. My brother deserved the world. I was happy for him and loved those two little guys so much.
‘Always,’ he answered.
‘I’m going to shower and get started on some paperwork. Love you, Cory.’
‘Love you too, Bells.’
I got out of bed, but instead of showering, I went downstairs and worked until it was time to head to the fields.
I woke up little Adam, and we walked with a breakfast wrap toward daycare.
“Luna, can I come with you today?” he asked, looking up at me with his big brown eyes, melting my heart, but I couldn’t cave so easily.
“No, sweetie. None of your friends will be there,” I answered.
“But you’ll be there.” His reasoning was sound, but wouldn’t work.
“But I won’t be able to play with you. I have to work while I’m there.”
“But you’re the Luna,” he said, his lip trembling.
“I know, Adam, but everyone has to work, or the grapes will go bad,” I explained.
“Because all the mommies and daddies died?” he asked, tearing at my heartstrings.
“Yeah, baby,” I answered, combing my fingers through his hair.
“Okay.” He finally conceded quietly, his shoulders slumping in defeat and breaking my heart.
“Hey, how about I come get you for lunch, and we walk to the park for a bit? Just you and me?” I suggested, making his little eyes light up and he gave a giant smile.
“Yeah!” he said, wrapping his little arms around my waist and giving me a fierce hug before he went to join his friends. I set an alarm for eleven on my way to the fields and greeted Eric as I arrived.
“Good morning, Mrs. Salonen,” he greeted me back with a smile.
“What do I have to do to get you to call me Bells?” I asked him. This man was the closest thing I had to a friend here, and he still called me Luna or Mrs. Salonen whenever he saw me.
“When you go back in time and are reborn into someone who’s not a Luna or Alpha,” he chuckled. “There’s a new worker out today. Know anything about it?” He motioned over to where Hugh was being escorted by one of the supervisors.
“I guess he found his pack spirit. Where do you need me today?” I answered, inwardly relieved that I wouldn’t have yet another thing to add to my to-do list.
“There’s some crowding on the east quadrant. I marked them with a purple ribbon for ya.”
“I’ll get on it,” I assured him and then quickly shifted into my wolf. I picked up the tearaway clothes I wore anytime I worked in the fields and ran toward the place he directed me to. I shifted back once I saw the purple markers and grabbed one of the many hoses we kept around the area.
I sat on my ass before the plants. My gift wasn’t growing things, but manipulating the earth, and that helped transplant without hurting the roots. I examined the three plants. It was a little late in the season for them to be moving, but sometimes the rain made it happen and we didn’t catch in time to move them before the earth dried and the plants continued to grow that way. These were leaning together but not close enough to rip the roots.
If the plant’s roots tangled together too much, I wouldn’t be able to move them, and the sun wouldn’t be able to get to where it needs to. I put my hand to the roots of the plant as I held on to the stem to keep it steady and willed the dirt to move away from the roots. Once the earth obeyed, l pulled the grape plant out and reset the soil. I moved a foot away and had the soil make a hole, set the plant in it gently and then asked the earth to gently surround the roots. I made sure to saturate the earth with water and added a stake next to it and tied the plant to it for good measure. I felt the happiness of the earth hum back to me as I gave it a pat of thanks before moving on. I repeated the process a few times, getting the six of seven plants clustered together until they were finally in a happy line. With a little luck, the plants would continue happily, and the grapes would see no disruption in their growth. We needed a good crop.
I shifted and ran back to Eric.
“We should water the east side. The earth is dry.” I told him, handing him the purple markers.
“I’ll see to it,” he answered.
“Anywhere else?”
“No ma’am. We’re good around here.”
“Okay, I’m going to head into the wine cellar. Link if you need me.”
I made my way down to the cellar. Our vineyard generally aged the wine only for a few years before we sold it. We relied on selling volume.
I checked the temperature before I examined the rows of casks, checking for leaks or signs of issues. We already had one year missing from the cellar. Over fifty percent of the crops were destroyed last year and without the people to process it, all I could do to salvage the crops was to sell them at the farmer’s market. There were three wines we would be bottling and selling this year. A five-year, a ten-year, and a fifteen-year. The fifteen-year wine was more like seventeen.
Brandon had wanted to expand into fine wines and age them twenty years, but we wouldn’t be able to take the financial hit we took last year if we waited. A fifteen-year-old wine would fetch a decent prize and help bridge the gap.
I went back to the pack house around eleven and made Adam and me a picnic basket with sandwiches and fruit. I grabbed a few apple juices from the fridge and then, because mom always taught me that life was better with something sweet, I grabbed a couple of packaged pecan-swirls from the cupboard. It wasn’t the greatest meal, but Cory inherited the cooking gene, not me. I could make some basics but left all the baking to the professionals.
After lunch, I holed up in my office, but before I could get work done, my phone rang. I smiled when saw the caller ID and picked up.
“Hey Vi, how’s it going?”
“Okay. Just checking in to see how you were,” my sister answered.
“Buried in paperwork, as usual. Got the harvesting in a few weeks. What are you up to?”
After a deep sigh, she said, “Trying to figure out if taking online classes to finish my degree is worth it or if I should defer again.”
“Are all of them available online?”
“No. Most of them, but there are a few only available in person.”
“Will they penalize you if you just take the online ones this year? Is there an order that they need to be taken?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, isn’t that the first thing you should find out?”
“I guess, but I don’t want to go see my counselor and she doesn’t do online meetings.”
I saw her dilemma and I bit my tongue. I knew how hard everything that happened to Violet hit her, but at the same time, I thought she needed someone to push her a little more. Violet had always been timid, and she always hid behind mom’s skirts as a child.
“Then maybe it’s best if you defer, Vi.”
“Yeah, maybe. But I need to figure something out. I feel like I’m going nowhere. I’m stuck Bells, and I don’t want to be stuck anymore.”
That was a good sign.
“Small steps, baby girl. That’s the only way to do it. One foot in front of the other.” It was something I learned the hard way.
“I managed to eat at the pack house a few days ago.”
“That’s good! That’s huge Vi,” I told her, surprised and proud of her. It’d been months since she tried.
“I freaked out halfway through,” she admitted. “I went to the bathroom and bumped into someone on the way back, and I freaked out completely.”
“Did you leave early?” I asked her.
“No. I sat in the conference room and calmed down and went back into the dining room.”
“Then, that’s still huge progress Vi. You’re making an effort. Try again and again until you feel better about doing it,” I encouraged her.
My sister was stronger than she thought she was. She just needed to realize it.
“How’s Adam?”
“He’s great. He’s always so happy,” I said, my heart warming that she’d asked about him.
“I could really learn from him,” she chuckled.
“Yeah, me too. Instead, I’m buried in paperwork that I can’t seem to get ahead of, and trying to help out in the fields wherever I can. My brain is so fried at the end of the day.”
“I wish I could help you. I was always good with paperwork,” she answered.
“Yeah, it was always surprising the way a graphic design artist like you could be so good at paperwork,” I replied, giggling a little.
For someone as artsy as my sister was, she was meticulous and OCD when it came to paperwork.
“It’s fun.”
“Only a geek like you would say it.”
“Okay, so maybe it’s not a lot of fun, but there’s a satisfaction to be found in it. When it’s all complete and sorted and the desk is clean,” she giggled.
“Well, I’ll take your word for it. I’ve yet to see that happen.”
We talked for a little while longer before she had to go. Afterward, I went online to the recruitment board to check the announcement I placed, but sighed when I noticed the comments below the notice about the rogue attack last year.
There were no new applications, and I doubted I’d get any before the council removed the warning for our pack. I went to the job recruitment site and while I was thankful for the few applications there, it was nowhere near enough.
I didn’t want to have to depend on Cory for help again, but I might become desperate enough to do it. I hadn’t told him or Dad yet, but I’d already dipped into my own funds a few times to make ends meet a few months ago. I was too stubborn to admit defeat just yet. If I told them, they’d have some opinions on it.
I walked over to daycare and grabbed Adam. We swung our arms back and forth together as I listened to his day. He was quite chatty today, going on and on about how jealous everyone else was to get lunch with me. I let him run the rest of the way toward the other kids when we started getting close to the fields. I was waving at the other women when I felt the mind-link coming through.
‘Luna, there are two rogues crossing the southern borders,’ Alice let me know.
‘Don’t engage. I’m on my way.’
“Carolina, look after Adam, please,” I said with a pointed look. She instantly understood and I saw a moment of worry flash through her features.
“Of course, Luna,” she answered, and I nodded at her.
I shifted, leaving the tear-away clothes where they fell and ran. Despite the year of training, some of the patrollers were not meant to be fighters. They were mothers and daughters. Wolves who didn’t have the stomach for violence, yet they stepped up to help regardless, because it was needed.
I’d trained since I was sixteen and still trained on the weekends to make sure I kept up my skills. I only practiced sparring with a select few, but it was enough to make me one of the best fighters in our group right now.
I arrived to see Alice and Jordan snarling, but keeping to our side of our border. After everything settled last year, I set up an earth wall outside the borders to deter intruders, but an earth wall wasn’t good material for a border and over the year, with the snow and the rain, the walls were slowly crumbling along some parts. I jumped over the girls and Coyo snarled at the rogues, daring them to come closer.
Before the attack last year, I never once considered rogues the enemy. Too many of them had come to Guardian Moon and ended up being amazing people who were dealt a bad hand, but ever since that night, I had to keep myself and Coyo from attacking first and asking questions later. Only the knowledge of the people who were part of my uncle’s pack kept me from doing it.
When the rogues only stood there, I shifted and grabbed a long shirt we kept by trees around the borders.
“You’re trespassing. Either shift and communicate or leave,” I called out.
The rogues remained in place, unsure of what to do. Minutes passed before one turned and ran, the other one snarling over at me before it turned around and ran after the other.
‘That was odd,’ Alicia mentioned.
‘Yeah. If you see any more, call me,’ I instructed. I re-erected the barrier before I headed back. People were waiting worriedly at the edge of the fields. I shifted back and pulled on the clothes I left behind.
“Everything is fine. Just a false alarm. Let’s get to work.”
They looked unsure, but nevertheless we continued pruning the grape plants and working to ensure a healthy harvest. By the time I got Adam to bed that night, I was exhausted.
‘How was the day?’ Cory mind-linked me as I was scrolling through TikTok.
‘Confusing,’ I answered.
‘How so?’
‘We had two rogues cross the borders and then run out. Didn’t attack anyone, didn’t say anything. They snarled and ran out,’ I explained.
‘Maybe they made a wrong turn?’
‘Maybe. I don’t know. It was just weird. It’s not the first time it happened, either,’ I mentioned.
‘Do you need help, Bells?’
‘With the rogues? No. They are only attacking every few weeks now, though I’d still love to figure out why.’
‘I meant in general.’
‘I need people, Cory. I need workers. I can’t get any new pack members until the council stops considering us high-risk.’
‘I’ll see what I can find out. Maybe Dad can talk to the c—’
‘No. I don’t want to use our connections. Especially if I can’t guarantee their safety.’
‘Alright, I’ll see what I can do about getting you some workers.’
‘Thanks Cor.’
‘Have you thought about what I offered?’ he asked.
‘I’m not ready to give up yet.’
‘Okay,’ I could hear the disappointment in his voice, but it was all I could give him right now.